Roman general, son of Vespasian, later emperor
Titus
He took Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple in 70 CE. Whether he ordered the burning is debated. The Arch of Titus in Rome celebrates his victory.
What the sources say
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5 statements
When Vespasian went back to Rome to become emperor, the campaign halted; his son Titus resumed it with a huge army and won within a year. The rebel factions were attacking one another for mastery of the Temple Mount, and the city was crowded with refugees and Passover pilgrims. Some six months into the siege the walls gave way; in August of 70 CE the Temple was destroyed.
Contested interpretation
Josephus clears Titus: the fire supposedly came from a soldier, without orders and against the general's wishes. For some scholars this is another of Josephus's attempts to shield his imperial patrons; Titus, they hold, gave the order to burn the Temple.
Few monuments of the time were as impressive. Josephus reports that for this very reason Titus was reluctant to destroy the Temple, which he regarded as an 'ornament' of the empire.
In Rome, the Arch of Titus celebrates the victory over the Jews in the First Revolt. On one relief, a procession bears the menorah and other spoils from Jerusalem. The objects were kept in a Roman temple and later stolen or destroyed; the menorah, however, remained a Jewish symbol, found in synagogues of every age and on the emblem of the State of Israel.
Josephus was no exception: in Palestine (the Romans' name for the strip between the Mediterranean and the Jordan) and in Alexandria, many Jews not only accepted Rome but served it. In Philo's family, his nephew Tiberius Julius Alexander rose to governor-general and was Titus's deputy at the siege of 70 CE. Philo himself saw in emperors such as Augustus a reflection of divine virtues.