Bar Kokhba was the nickname of Shimeon ben Kosiba, leader of the third great revolt against Rome (119? – 136 AD) . (For this unconventional dating, see Mantel , 237-242). In 117 Hadrian succeeded Trajan, whom he'd helped to end a revolt by Diaspora Jews (115-117). No sooner had it been quelled than preparations for yet another revolt began in Judea itself. These revolts, like the one of 66-70, were sparked by a belief, held by many Jews then, that the time of the birthpangs had come to its climax and redemption was about to occur. We have no Josephus, however, for the last two revolts; the sources are scanty and dubious. It seems likely that the Jews of Judaea were encouraged by the following fact: thinking to consolidate the empire and make it more defensible, Hadrian had pulled the Roman army out of all the lands conquered by Trajan east of the Euphrates. (The same policy led to the building of his wall in England.) The spectacle of a unilateral Roman withdrawal may have fired the Jews into thinking that they could make their land into a "hot potato" and gain the same liberation. By 129, a well prepared revolt was in full swing.

Bar Kohba's nickname means "son of a star," from the prophetic verse of Balaam, "a star will come out of Jacob" (Numbers 24:17). His great contemporary, Rabbi Akiba, quoted it concerning him, adding, "This is the King Messiah." Another rabbi retorted, "Akiba, grass will grow in your jawbones, and he still won't have come."