By 68 CE, Jewish resistance in the north has been crushed by Vespasian, including the Jewish stronghold of Gamla in 67 CE. About a year after the death of Nero, in 69 CE, Vespasian heads back to Rome to take the title of Emperor (on the heels of The Year of the Four Emperors’ internecine power struggle in Rome).
Vespasian delegates his son Titus to complete the Judean campaign, and to break the stalemate surrounding the siege of Jerusalem.
Total death estimates in Judea over the course of the nearly 4 year war hostilities range from 600,000–1,300,000 Jews.
Josephus states that during the siege of Jerusalem, 500 people were crucified each day in front of its walls. (The figure sounds high, although it is widely disseminated and Josephus enjoys high credibility to this day. Note that Josephus’s account of Jerusalem is, in particular, somewhat compromised by his calls for Jewish surrender during the siege.)
The carnage was apparently gruesome: “There was no room for crosses and no crosses for the bodies.” –Dumont
By the end of the siege, hundreds, and possibly thousands, of crucified Jewish bodies encircled Jerusalem on the surrounding encircling Roman moat–road.
Note: This encircling moat–road was built at the same height as the walls of Jerusalem to isolate and starve Jerusalem.
The historian Josephus, a contentious Jewish personality, scholar, rebel commander (and neo–traitor), is the primary source of information for this period. It is hard to categorize Josephus, but it is clear that he adapts facts: His works are not always 100 percent consistent. His depiction of events, in particular, is suspect, as he was beholden to his Roman patrons, particularly Titus (who maintained him after his first career as a Jewish commander in the northern revolt). However, his overall credibility among scholars is relatively high, interestingly enough. Perhaps this is because he has no real competition as a chronicler of the Jews of this era. If Josephus is stripped of credibility, there is not all that much for a focused scholar of that period to do here. However, in my eyes Josephus does have true credibility in one specific circumstance: when his historiography is to the detriment of Rome.