March 3 117 – 12 Adar 3877
Emperor Trajan died, shortly before the Diaspora revolt against Roman rule came to a bitter end. The revolt began during the Roman wars against the Parthians, spreading through Cyprus to the major Jewish communities of Cyrenes and Alexandria. The Ta’anit chronicle, an early Tannaitic source, recounts that Trajan sentenced two Jewish brothers who had been leaders in the revolt, Pappus and Julianus, to death in Laodicea in Syria. According to the text, Trajan’s own death was what saved them. Rashi explains that they were accused of killing Trajan’s daughter, and their delivery accounts for the date of Trajan’s death being an occasion when fasting and mourning are forbidden.