A Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East. Группа авторов. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Группа авторов
Издательство: John Wiley & Sons Limited
Серия:
Жанр произведения: История
Год издания: 0
isbn: 9781119037422
Скачать книгу
archōn (BJ 7.46). A story about a Jewish apostate, who caused great suffering for the Jewish community during the revolt against Rome, shows that the life of the Jews in Antioch was sometimes not a bed of roses. This man, named Antiochus, was the son of one of the Jewish magistrates called archōn. He stirred up the non-Jewish Antiochenes and accused his fellow Jews, including his own father, of a plan to set the city on fire. He caused some of them to be burned in the theater and forced others to renounce Judaism and sacrifice according to the customs of the Greeks. With the help of Roman soldiers he also forced the Jews to work on the Sabbath (BJ 7.46–53). After a fire did happen in the city, ignited by non-Jews who had hoped to get rid of their debts through the destruction of the archive, Antiochus’s earlier accusation caused the Antiochenes to be infuriated and to throw themselves upon the Jews. Only with great difficulty was the Roman legate Gnaeus Collega able to restore peace and quiet (BJ 7.54–58). Josephus also notes that notwithstanding the triumph over the Jews in 70 CE Titus did not comply with the request by the non-Jewish inhabitants of Antioch to cancel the engraved-in-bronze privileges of the local Jews and expel them (BJ 7.100–111).

      Josephus’s references to non-Jewish nations in the Near East add up to a long list, which includes the peoples that were neighbors of the Israelites (e.g. Ammanites, Amoraites, Gabalites, Midianites, and Moabites; see the Appendix to this chapter). He mentions the Parthians (see Chapters 2 and 27) more than 130 times, especially in War 1 and Antiquities 14. Josephus confirms that the Parthians were the most powerful enemy of the Romans, who sometimes even dared to take action within the Roman sphere of influence. He describes how the Parthians interfered in the power struggle between the Hasmoneans and Herod the Great after they managed to capture Syria in 40 BCE (Cassius Dio 48.24; Buchheim 1960: 11, 74–79; Schürer I 1973–87: 278–279). The Parthians supported the Hasmonean Antigonus, who opposed Herod’s appointment by the Senate. They managed to get hold of Jerusalem and delivered the city to Antigonus. They took Herod’s brother Phasael and Hyrcanus II prisoner and transferred the latter to Babylon (BJ 1.269, 273; AJ 14.330–369).

      Appendix: List of Groups of non-Jews in the Near East

      For the Hellenistic and Roman periods Josephus’s references to nations or inhabitants of a region or city include the Adiabenes (BJ 1.6, 4.567, 5.147, etc.), the Albani in the Caucasus (AJ 18.97), the Arabs (BJ 1.6, 90, etc.), the Antiochenes (AJ 14.323; also above), inhabitants of Arad (Phoenicia, AJ 14.323), Armenians (BJ 1.116; AJ 1.92, etc.), Auranites (inhabitants of the Hauran; BJ 2.421), the Babylonians (BJ 1.6 2.520, etc.), the Bataneans (BJ 2.421; AJ 18.106), the Beruthians (BJ 2.67, 506, etc.), the inhabitants of Borsippa (in Babylonia; Ap 1.152), the inhabitants of the Bosporus (BJ 2.366), the Cappadocians (BJ 1.446, 2.114, etc.), the Cilicians (BJ 1.88, 2.368; AJ 13.374), the Colchi (east/southeast of the Black Sea; BJ 2.366; Ap 1.168–170); the Commagenes (AJ 18.140; see also Chapter 19), the Cordyeans (Armenia; AJ 1.93), the Damascenes (BJ 1.103, 398, 2.559, etc.), the Dahae (Iranian people; AJ 18.100, 20.91), the Elamites (AJ 1.143), the Gadarenes (east of the Sea of Galilee; BJ 1.116, 2.478, etc.), the Heniochi (east of the Black Sea; BJ 2.366), the Ituraeans (AJ 13.318, 319; 15.185; see also Chapter 21), the Medes (BJ 1.13, 50, 62, etc.), the Nabataeans (BJ 1.178; AJ 12.335, etc.), the Parthians (BJ 1.6; 175, etc.), the Phoenicians (BJ 2.380; AJ 8.142, etc.; see also Chapter 20), the Sacae (Iranian people; AJ 18.100, 20.91), the Sarmates (Scythian tribe; BJ 7.90, 92), the Scythians (BJ 7.90, 244, etc.), the Sidonians (BJ 1.249, 539, etc.), the Syrians (BJ 1.88, 205, etc.), the Tauri (BJ 2.366), the Trachonites (BJ 2.58, 421, etc.), the Trallians (AJ 14.242), the inhabitants of Tripolis (Syria; AJ 14.39), and the Tyrians (BJ 1.231, 238, etc.).

      FURTHER READING

      Bilde 1988 and Rajak 2002 offer excellent and readable introductions to Josephus and his four works and Chapman and Rodgers 2016 includes detailed discussions of many topics connected with Josephus and the content and reception of his works. For the history of the first Jewish revolt against Rome (66–73/74 CE), which is the main topic of Josephus’s War, see especially the articles in Popovic 2011 and the excellent fresh interpretation of the events in Mason 2016a. Goodman 1994, Mason 2003b, 2005, Price 2005, Tuval 2013, and Den Hollander 2014 discuss the importance of Josephus’s Roman context for his audience, and his aims. For Josephus’s handling of geographic information, see especially Shahar 2004 and Van Henten and Huitink 2012. An overall study of Diaspora Judaism as presented by Josephus