For the source text click/tap here: Chullin 123
To download, click/tap here: PDF
The Gemara on our daf quotes a Tosefta that teaches:
Our Rabbis taught: If a Roman legion which passes from place to place enters a house, the house is impure, for there is not a legion that does not carry with it several scalps. And you should not be surprised at this; for Rabbi Yishmael’s scalp was placed upon the head of kings.
Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha served as one of the last High Priests during the Second Temple period. As one of the Ten Martyrs murdered by the Romans, he was taken to be killed together with his friend and colleague Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel the Elder.
According to the Rabbinic tradition, when he was taken to be killed the Caesar’s daughter was smitten with his beauty and asked that the skin of his face be removed while he was still alive. The Romans preserved his skin in Persimmon oil, and it was worn on occasion as a mask during Roman festivals.
We explore the history of rabbinic martyrology and roman military dismemberment.