Explanation: During the First Jewish-Roman War, the Iudean rebels had the additional ‘advantage’ of being heavily factionalized, to the point of having multiple civil wars ongoing at the same time of their rebellion. The most obvious, and most forgivable, was that of pro-Roman Iudeans (some with Hellenized theologies) and anti-Roman Iudeans. The rest of the splits were… less intuitive. Many of them were predicated on issues of Jewish theology rather than disagreements on the core issue of “There is a massive Roman army coming to crush our rebellion, maybe we should band together so we don’t all end up crucified?”

Naturally, the initial rebels, seeking a vaguely republican structure to their rebellion, were couped by a charismatic military-religious leader, and they ceased to be a major factor in the coming events. During the subsequent Siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, there was a three-way civil war for control of the city… excluding, of course, the aforementioned initial rebels, and the massive fucking Roman army waiting outside. But what if the Jews who believe the WRONG THING end up WINNING the war??? 😭

… luckily, that did not end up a problem, as the Iudeans did not win the First Jewish-Roman War. The Siege of Jerusalem, for that matter, was such an abject failure that some Jewish notables defected mid-siege to the Roman side, abandoning themselves to the mercy of the famously unmerciful Romans (they actually lucked out on that bit for once, since it was seen as a good omen for the siege) rather than continue being locked up with a bunch of bloodthirsty fanatics.