under alexander, the province of iudaea had enjoyed a period of relative peace, but that proved to be transient, as cumanus' governorship was marked by a series of serious public disturbances. trouble started while jewish pilgrims were gathered in jerusalem for the passover feast. cumanus, following the precedent set by earlier governors, assembled a detachment of roman soldiers on the roof of the temple portico to maintain order among the crowds, but one caused chaos by exposing himself to the jews in the courtyard while calling out insults. some of the jews brought their complaints to cumanus, but others began to retaliate by hurling stones at the soldiers. some openly accused cumanus of being responsible for the provocation – a sign that relations between governor and provincials may already have been poor. finding himself unable to calm the angry crowd, cumanus called for fully armed reinforcements, who assembled either in the temple courtyard or on the roof of the antonia fortress, overlooking the temple. in the ensuing stampede, according to josephus' estimates, between twenty and thirty thousand people were crushed to death. these numbers may be exaggerated, but the loss of life was substantial; the feast, says josephus, "became the cause of mourning to the whole nation".