It's the stupid stuff that gets you.
Chaos in Judaea
Judaea, now part of modern day Israel, had been a Roman ally since the second century BC and became a Roman province in 6 AD. Decades later, it was descending into chaos.
Local people had begun to rebel against Roman rule. To some, these men were freedom fighters, but to men like Josephus, a wealthy Jewish priest, they were no more than terrorists who killed at random.
A full-scale rebellion was triggered in 66 AD, when somebody emptied a pot full of urine outside a synagogue, defiling a holy site. The Jews were furious and a riot broke out, during which some Jews shouted insults at Florus, the Roman Governor of Judaea.