they appointed a king over themselves. When word of this reached Ilya, son of Caesar Hadrian, he sent against them one of his generals at the head of a vast host. The general laid siege to the city; every inhabitant perished from hunger and thirst. When he finally captured it, he slew an uncountable number of Jews, demolished the citadel, and ravaged the city until it became a desolate wasteland.
He said: This was the last devastation of Jerusalem. Those Jews who escaped fled to Egypt, to al-Shām, to the mountains, and to the Jordan Valley.
The king decreed that no Jew was ever again to reside in the city; that the Jews were to be killed and eradicated; and that the Greeks were to settle the city. He ordered them to build a tower over the Temple gate, to place tablets atop it, and to inscribe upon them the name “King Ilya.” This occurred in the eighth year of his reign.
He said: The tower still stands today at the gate of Jerusalem and is called the Mihrab of David.
He said: From that time until now Jerusalem has been known as “Ilya.”
From the first destruction wrought by Titus to this devastation fifty-three years elapsed.
Jerusalem was then filled with Greeks, and they watched the Christians coming