1. Aeschylus, Persians, 745-751, 820, 744 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 744. παῖς δʼ ἐμὸς τάδʼ οὐ κατειδὼς ἤνυσεν νέῳ θράσει· | |
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2. Hebrew Bible, 2 Chronicles, 7.1 (5th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 7.1. וּבְיוֹם עֶשְׂרִים וּשְׁלֹשָׁה לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי שִׁלַּח אֶת־הָעָם לְאָהֳלֵיהֶם שְׂמֵחִים וְטוֹבֵי לֵב עַל־הַטּוֹבָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה לְדָוִיד וְלִשְׁלֹמֹה וּלְיִשְׂרָאֵל עַמּוֹ׃ 7.1. וּכְכַלּוֹת שְׁלֹמֹה לְהִתְפַּלֵּל וְהָאֵשׁ יָרְדָה מֵהַשָּׁמַיִם וַתֹּאכַל הָעֹלָה וְהַזְּבָחִים וּכְבוֹד יְהוָה מָלֵא אֶת־הַבָּיִת׃ | 7.1. Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house." |
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3. Herodotus, Histories, 7.22, 7.33-7.36 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 7.22. Since those who had earlier attempted to sail around Athos had suffered shipwreck, for about three years preparations had been underway there. Triremes were anchored off Elaeus in the Chersonese; with these for their headquarters, all sorts of men in the army were compelled by whippings to dig a canal, coming by turns to the work; the inhabitants about Athos also dug. ,Bubares son of Megabazus and Artachaees son of Artaeus, both Persians, were the overseers of the workmen. Athos is a great and famous mountain, running out into the sea and inhabited by men. At the mountain's landward end it is in the form of a peninsula, and there is an isthmus about twelve stadia wide; here is a place of level ground or little hills, from the sea by Acanthus to the sea opposite Torone. ,On this isthmus which is at the end of Athos, there stands a Greek town, Sane; there are others situated seaward of Sane and landward of Athos, and the Persian now intended to make them into island and not mainland towns; they are Dion, Olophyxus, Acrothoum, Thyssus, and Cleonae. 7.33. After this he prepared to march to Abydos; meanwhile his men were bridging the Hellespont from Asia to Europe. On the Chersonese, which is on the Hellespont, between the city of Sestus and Madytus there is a broad headland running out into the sea opposite Abydos. It was here that not long afterwards the Athenians, when Xanthippus son of Ariphron was their general, took Artayctes, a Persian and the governor of Sestus, and crucified him alive; he had been in the habit of bringing women right into the temple of Protesilaus at Elaeus and doing impious deeds there. 7.34. The men who had been given this assignment made bridges starting from Abydos across to that headland; the Phoenicians one of flaxen cables, and the Egyptians a papyrus one. From Abydos to the opposite shore it is a distance of seven stadia. But no sooner had the strait been bridged than a great storm swept down, breaking and scattering everything. 7.35. When Xerxes heard of this, he was very angry and commanded that the Hellespont be whipped with three hundred lashes, and a pair of fetters be thrown into the sea. I have even heard that he sent branders with them to brand the Hellespont. ,He commanded them while they whipped to utter words outlandish and presumptuous, “Bitter water, our master thus punishes you, because you did him wrong though he had done you none. Xerxes the king will pass over you, whether you want it or not; in accordance with justice no one offers you sacrifice, for you are a turbid and briny river.” ,He commanded that the sea receive these punishments and that the overseers of the bridge over the Hellespont be beheaded. 7.36. So this was done by those who were appointed to the thankless honor, and new engineers set about making the bridges. They made the bridges as follows: in order to lighten the strain of the cables, they placed fifty-oared ships and triremes alongside each other, three hundred and sixty to bear the bridge nearest the Euxine sea, and three hundred and fourteen to bear the other; all lay obliquely to the line of the Pontus and parallel with the current of the Hellespont. ,After putting the ships together they let down very great anchors, both from the end of the ships on the Pontus side to hold fast against the winds blowing from within that sea, and from the other end, towards the west and the Aegean, to hold against the west and south winds. They left a narrow opening to sail through in the line of fifty-oared ships and triremes, that so whoever wanted to could sail by small craft to the Pontus or out of it. ,After doing this, they stretched the cables from the land, twisting them taut with wooden windlasses; they did not as before keep the two kinds apart, but assigned for each bridge two cables of flax and four of papyrus. ,All these had the same thickness and fine appearance, but the flaxen were heavier in proportion, for a cubit of them weighed a talent. ,When the strait was thus bridged, they sawed logs of wood to a length equal to the breadth of the floating supports, and laid them in order on the taut cables; after placing them together they then made them fast. After doing this, they carried brushwood onto the bridge; when this was all laid in order they heaped earth on it and stamped it down; then they made a fence on either side, so that the beasts of burden and horses not be frightened by the sight of the sea below them. |
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4. Polybius, Histories, 31.9 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 31.9. 1. In Syria King Antiochus, wishing to provide himself with money, decided to make an expedition against the sanctuary of Artemis in Elymaïs.,2. On reaching the spot he was foiled in his hopes, as the barbarian tribes who dwelt in the neighbourhood would not permit the outrage,,3. and on his retreat he died at Tabae in Persia, smitten with madness, as some people say,,4. owing to certain manifestations of divine displeasure when he was attempting this outrage on the above sanctuary. IV. Affairs of Italy The Rival Ptolemie |
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5. Septuagint, 1 Maccabees, 2.2-2.5, 3.25, 3.42, 4.36, 4.59, 5.10, 5.34, 5.55, 5.61, 5.63, 5.65, 6.1-6.2, 6.5-6.13, 7.6, 7.10, 7.27, 8.20, 9.19, 9.31, 13.8, 13.41-13.42, 14.8, 14.12-14.49 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 2.2. He had five sons, John surnamed Gaddi 2.3. Simon called Thassi 2.4. Judas called Maccabeus 2.5. Eleazar called Avaran, and Jonathan called Apphus. 3.25. Then Judas and his brothers began to be feared, and terror fell upon the Gentiles round about them. 3.42. Now Judas and his brothers saw that misfortunes had increased and that the forces were encamped in their territory. They also learned what the king had commanded to do to the people to cause their final destruction. 4.36. Then said Judas and his brothers, "Behold, our enemies are crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it. 4.59. Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with gladness and joy for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev. 5.10. and sent to Judas and his brothers a letter which said, "The Gentiles around us have gathered together against us to destroy us. 5.34. And when the army of Timothy realized that it was Maccabeus, they fled before him, and he dealt them a heavy blow. As many as eight thousand of them fell that day. 5.55. Now while Judas and Jonathan were in Gilead and Simon his brother was in Galilee before Ptolemais 5.61. Thus the people suffered a great rout because, thinking to do a brave deed, they did not listen to Judas and his brothers. 5.63. The man Judas and his brothers were greatly honored in all Israel and among all the Gentiles, wherever their name was heard. 5.65. Then Judas and his brothers went forth and fought the sons of Esau in the land to the south. He struck Hebron and its villages and tore down its strongholds and burned its towers round about. 6.1. King Antiochus was going through the upper provinces when he heard that Elymais in Persia was a city famed for its wealth in silver and gold. 6.2. Its temple was very rich, containing golden shields, breastplates, and weapons left there by Alexander, the son of Philip, the Macedonian king who first reigned over the Greeks. 6.5. Then some one came to him in Persia and reported that the armies which had gone into the land of Judah had been routed; 6.6. that Lysias had gone first with a strong force, but had turned and fled before the Jews; that the Jews had grown strong from the arms, supplies, and abundant spoils which they had taken from the armies they had cut down; 6.7. that they had torn down the abomination which he had erected upon the altar in Jerusalem; and that they had surrounded the sanctuary with high walls as before, and also Beth-zur, his city. 6.8. When the king heard this news, he was astounded and badly shaken. He took to his bed and became sick from grief, because things had not turned out for him as he had planned. 6.9. He lay there for many days, because deep grief continually gripped him, and he concluded that he was dying. 6.10. So he called all his friends and said to them, "Sleep departs from my eyes and I am downhearted with worry. 6.11. I said to myself, `To what distress I have come! And into what a great flood I now am plunged! For I was kind and beloved in my power. 6.12. But now I remember the evils I did in Jerusalem. I seized all her vessels of silver and gold; and I sent to destroy the inhabitants of Judah without good reason. 6.13. I know that it is because of this that these evils have come upon me; and behold, I am perishing of deep grief in a strange land. 7.6. And they brought to the king this accusation against the people: "Judas and his brothers have destroyed all your friends, and have driven us out of our land. 7.10. So they marched away and came with a large force into the land of Judah; and he sent messengers to Judas and his brothers with peaceable but treacherous words. 7.27. So Nicanor came to Jerusalem with a large force, and treacherously sent to Judas and his brothers this peaceable message 8.20. Judas, who is also called Maccabeus, and his brothers and the people of the Jews have sent us to you to establish alliance and peace with you, that we may be enrolled as your allies and friends. 9.19. Then Jonathan and Simon took Judas their brother and buried him in the tomb of their fathers at Modein 9.31. And Jonathan at that time accepted the leadership and took the place of Judas his brother. 13.41. In the one hundred and seventieth year the yoke of the Gentiles was removed from Israel 13.42. and the people began to write in their documents and contracts, "In the first year of Simon the great high priest and commander and leader of the Jews. 14.12. Each man sat under his vine and his fig tree,and there was none to make them afraid. 14.13. No one was left in the land to fight them,and the kings were crushed in those days. 14.14. He strengthened all the humble of his people;he sought out the law,and did away with every lawless and wicked man. 14.16. It was heard in Rome, and as far away as Sparta, that Jonathan had died, and they were deeply grieved. 14.17. When they heard that Simon his brother had become high priest in his place, and that he was ruling over the country and the cities in it 14.18. they wrote to him on bronze tablets to renew with him the friendship and alliance which they had established with Judas and Jonathan his brothers. 14.19. And these were read before the assembly in Jerusalem. 14.20. This is a copy of the letter which the Spartans sent: "The rulers and the city of the Spartans to Simon the high priest and to the elders and the priests and the rest of the Jewish people, our brethren, greeting. 14.21. The envoys who were sent to our people have told us about your glory and honor, and we rejoiced at their coming. 14.22. And what they said we have recorded in our public decrees, as follows, `Numenius the son of Antiochus and Antipater the son of Jason, envoys of the Jews, have come to us to renew their friendship with us. 14.23. It has pleased our people to receive these men with honor and to put a copy of their words in the public archives, so that the people of the Spartans may have a record of them. And they have sent a copy of this to Simon the high priest. 14.24. After this Simon sent Numenius to Rome with a large gold shield weighing a thousand minas, to confirm the alliance with the Romans. 14.25. When the people heard these things they said, "How shall we thank Simon and his sons? 14.26. For he and his brothers and the house of his father have stood firm; they have fought and repulsed Israels enemies and established its freedom. 14.27. So they made a record on bronze tablets and put it upon pillars on Mount Zion. This is a copy of what they wrote: "On the eighteenth day of Elul, in the one hundred and seventy-second year, which is the third year of Simon the great high priest 14.28. in Asaramel, in the great assembly of the priests and the people and the rulers of the nation and the elders of the country, the following was proclaimed to us: 14.29. Since wars often occurred in the country, Simon the son of Mattathias, a priest of the sons of Joarib, and his brothers, exposed themselves to danger and resisted the enemies of their nation, in order that their sanctuary and the law might be perserved; and they brought great glory to their nation. 14.30. Jonathan rallied the nation, and became their high priest, and was gathered to his people. 14.31. And when their enemies decided to invade their country and lay hands on their sanctuary 14.33. He fortified the cities of Judea, and Beth-zur on the borders of Judea, where formerly the arms of the enemy had been stored, and he placed there a garrison of Jews. 14.34. He also fortified Joppa, which is by the sea, and Gazara, which is on the borders of Azotus, where the enemy formerly dwelt. He settled Jews there, and provided in those cities whatever was necessary for their restoration. 14.35. The people saw Simons faithfulness and the glory which he had resolved to win for his nation, and they made him their leader and high priest, because he had done all these things and because of the justice and loyalty which he had maintained toward his nation. He sought in every way to exalt his people. 14.36. And in his days things prospered in his hands, so that the Gentiles were put out of the country, as were also the men in the city of David in Jerusalem, who had built themselves a citadel from which they used to sally forth and defile the environs of the sanctuary and do great damage to its purity. 14.37. He settled Jews in it, and fortified it for the safety of the country and of the city, and built the walls of Jerusalem higher. 14.38. In view of these things King Demetrius confirmed him in the high priesthood 14.39. and he made him one of the kings friends and paid him high honors. 14.40. For he had heard that the Jews were addressed by the Romans as friends and allies and brethren, and that the Romans had received the envoys of Simon with honor. 14.41. And the Jews and their priests decided that Simon should be their leader and high priest for ever, until a trustworthy prophet should arise 14.42. and that he should be governor over them and that he should take charge of the sanctuary and appoint men over its tasks and over the country and the weapons and the strongholds, and that he should take charge of the sanctuary 14.43. and that he should be obeyed by all, and that all contracts in the country should be written in his name, and that he should be clothed in purple and wear gold. 14.44. And none of the people or priests shall be permitted to nullify any of these decisions or to oppose what he says, or to convene an assembly in the country without his permission, or to be clothed in purple or put on a gold buckle. 14.45. Whoever acts contrary to these decisions or nullifies any of them shall be liable to punishment. 14.46. And all the people agreed to grant Simon the right to act in accord with these decisions. 14.47. So Simon accepted and agreed to be high priest, to be commander and ethnarch of the Jews and priests, and to be protector of them all. 14.48. And they gave orders to inscribe this decree upon bronze tablets, to put them up in a conspicuous place in the precincts of the sanctuary 14.49. and to deposit copies of them in the treasury, so that Simon and his sons might have them. |
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6. Septuagint, 2 Maccabees, 1.1, 1.1-2.18, 1.7, 1.8, 1.12, 1.13, 1.14, 1.16, 1.31, 1.33, 1.34, 1.35, 1.36, 2.18, 2.19, 2.21, 2.22, 2.23, 2.24, 2.25, 2.26, 2.27, 2.28, 2.29, 2.30, 2.31, 2.32, 3, 3.1, 3.1-4.6, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, 3.14, 3.15, 3.16, 3.17, 3.18, 3.19, 3.20, 3.21, 3.22, 3.23, 3.24, 3.25, 3.26, 3.27, 3.28, 3.29, 3.30, 3.31, 3.32, 3.33, 3.34, 3.35, 3.36, 3.37, 3.38, 3.39, 3.40, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 4.8, 4.9, 4.10, 4.11, 4.12, 4.13, 4.14, 4.15, 4.16, 4.17, 4.30, 4.31, 4.32, 4.33, 4.34, 4.35, 4.36, 4.37, 4.38, 5, 5.17, 5.18, 5.19, 5.20, 5.21, 5.27, 6, 6.1, 6.12, 6.13, 6.14, 6.15, 6.16, 6.17, 6.18-7.42, 7, 7.2, 7.6, 7.34, 7.37, 7.42, 8, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.8, 8.9, 8.10, 8.11, 8.12, 8.13, 8.14, 8.15, 8.16, 8.17, 8.18, 8.19, 8.20, 8.21, 8.22, 8.23, 8.24, 8.25, 8.26, 8.27, 8.28, 8.29, 8.30, 8.31, 8.32, 8.33, 8.34, 8.35, 8.36, 9, 9.4, 9.6, 9.7, 9.8, 9.9, 9.10, 9.11, 9.17, 9.18, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, 10.9, 10.10, 10.16, 10.19, 10.21, 10.25, 10.30, 10.33, 10.35, 11, 11.4, 11.6, 11.7, 11.15, 11.21, 11.33, 11.38, 12.1, 12.19, 12.20, 12.24, 12.27, 12.30, 13.1, 13.3, 13.4, 13.5, 13.6, 13.7, 13.8, 13.9, 13.14, 13.26, 14, 14.1, 14.1-15.36, 14.2, 14.13, 14.17, 14.27, 14.29, 14.31, 15.7, 15.12, 15.13, 15.14, 15.15, 15.16, 15.21, 15.37, 15.38, 15.39 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 1.1. The Jewish brethren in Jerusalem and those in the land of Judea, To their Jewish brethren in Egypt, Greeting, and good peace.' |
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7. Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library, None (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
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8. Artemidorus, Oneirocritica, 2.44 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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9. Josephus Flavius, Jewish Antiquities, 13.354-13.356, 19.5-19.6 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 13.354. But Aias’s counsel was contrary to theirs, who said that “she would do an unjust action if she deprived a man that was her ally of that authority which belonged to him, and this a man who is related to us; for,” said he, “I would not have thee ignorant of this, that what injustice thou dost to him will make all us that are Jews to be thy enemies.” 13.355. This desire of Aias Cleopatra complied with, and did no injury to Alexander, but made a league of mutual assistance with him at Scythopolis, a city of Celesyria. 13.356. 3. So when Alexander was delivered from the fear he was in of Ptolemy, he presently made an expedition against Celesyria. He also took Gadara, after a siege of ten months. He took also Amathus, a very strong fortress belonging to the inhabitants above Jordan, where Theodorus, the son of Zeno, had his chief treasure, and what he esteemed most precious. This Zeno fell unexpectedly upon the Jews, and slew ten thousand of them, and seized upon Alexander’s baggage. 19.5. And other pranks he did like a madman; as when he laid a bridge from the city Dicearchia, which belongs to Campania, to Misenum, another city upon the sea-side 19.5. for Caius was terrible to all the great men, as appearing ready to act a mad part towards each of them in particular, and towards all of: them in general; 19.6. from one promontory to another, of the length of thirty furlongs, as measured over the sea. And this was done because he esteemed it to be a most tedious thing to row over it in a small ship, and thought withal that it became him to make that bridge, since he was lord of the sea, and might oblige it to give marks of obedience as well as the earth; so he enclosed the whole bay within his bridge, and drove his chariot over it; and thought that, as he was a god, it was fit for him to travel over such roads as this was. 19.6. and some affirm that he thereby confirmed Minuclanus in the prosecution of what had been agreed among them; for as Cherea entered into the court, the report runs, that a voice came from among the multitude to encourage him, which bid him finish what he was about, and take the opportunity that Providence afforded; |
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10. Josephus Flavius, Jewish War, 2.358, 7.453 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.358. While those Athenians, who, in order to preserve the liberty of Greece, did once set fire to their own city; who pursued Xerxes, that proud prince, when he sailed upon the land, and walked upon the sea, and could not be contained by the seas, but conducted such an army as was too broad for Europe; and made him run away like a fugitive in a single ship, and brake so great a part of Asia as the Lesser Salamis; are yet at this time servants to the Romans; and those injunctions which are sent from Italy become laws to the principal governing city of Greece. 7.453. This his distemper grew still a great deal worse and worse continually, and his very entrails were so corroded, that they fell out of his body, and in that condition he died. Thus he became as great an instance of Divine Providence as ever was, and demonstrated that God punishes wicked men. |
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11. Epigraphy, Ig Iv, 123
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12. Epigraphy, Ig Iv ,1, 122-124, 121
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13. Papyri, P.Oxy., 11.1382
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