| 1. Septuagint, Susanna, 79 (th cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 80 |
| 2. Theocritus, Idylls, 14.61, 17.128-17.134 (4th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii Found in books: Salvesen et al. (2020), Israel in Egypt: The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period, 223 |
| 3. Callimachus, Fragments, 392 (4th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii Found in books: Salvesen et al. (2020), Israel in Egypt: The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period, 223 |
| 4. Callimachus, Hymn To Jove Or Zeus, 65, 160 (4th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 168 |
| 5. Posidippus of Pella, Epigrams, None (3rd cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii Found in books: Salvesen et al. (2020), Israel in Egypt: The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period, 223 |
6. Polybius, Histories, 3.4.8, 3.4.13, 4.72.4, 8.30.3, 8.33.13, 28.21, 29.2, 29.23, 31.10.6-31.10.8, 31.17-31.18, 31.26-31.28, 33.1, 33.8 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) •ptolemy viii euergetes Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 21; Miltsios (2023), Leadership and Leaders in Polybius. 134; Schwartz (2008), 2 Maccabees, 363| 3.4.8. τὸ γὰρ ὠφέλιμον τῆς ἡμετέρας ἱστορίας πρός τε τὸ παρὸν καὶ πρὸς τὸ μέλλον ἐν τούτῳ πλεῖστον κείσεται τῷ μέρει. 3.4.13. ὑπὲρ ἧς διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ πράξεων καὶ τὸ παράδοξον τῶν συμβαινόντων, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, διὰ τὸ τῶν πλείστων μὴ μόνον αὐτόπτης, ἀλλʼ ὧν μὲν συνεργὸς ὧν δὲ καὶ χειριστὴς γεγονέναι, προήχθην οἷον ἀρ 4.72.4. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν αὖτις ἐπανῆλθον ὅθεν ὥρμησαν, ἔχοντες παράγγελμα μένειν κατὰ χώραν, ἕως ἂν ἡ δύναμις ἀναζεύξῃ, μή τινες ἀπειθήσαντες τῶν στρατιωτῶν διαρπάσωσιν αὐτούς· 8.30.3. ὅταν δὲ τοῦτο πράξωσι, τοῖς μὲν ἐγχωρίοις νεανίσκοις ἐξαιρεῖσθαι παρήγγειλε καὶ σῴζειν τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας τῶν πολιτῶν, ἀναβοῶντας ἐκ πολλοῦ μένειν κατὰ χώραν Ταραντίνους, ὡς ὑπαρχούσης αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀσφαλείας, 31.10.6. τοῦ δὲ Πτολεμαίου πᾶσι τούτοις ἀντιλέγοντος, ἡ σύγκλητος, ἅμα μὲν ὁρῶσα τὸν μερισμὸν γεγονότα τελέως, ἅμα δὲ βουλομένη διελεῖν τὴν βασιλείαν πραγματικῶς, αὐτῶν αἰτίων γενομένων τῆς διαιρέσεως, συγκατέθετο τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ νεωτέρου παρακαλουμένοις ἐπὶ τῷ σφετέρῳ συμφέροντι. 31.10.7. πολὺ γὰρ ἤδη τοῦτο τὸ γένος ἐστὶ τῶν διαβουλίων παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις, ἐν οἷς διὰ τῆς τῶν πέλας ἀγνοίας αὔξουσι καὶ κατασκευάζονται τὴν ἰδίαν ἀρχὴν πραγματικῶς, ἅμα χαριζόμενοι καὶ δοκοῦντες εὐεργετεῖν τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας. 31.10.8. διὸ καὶ καθορῶντες τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ δυναστείας καὶ δεδιότες, ἄν ποτε τύχῃ προστάτου, μὴ μεῖζον φρονήσῃ τοῦ καθήκοντος, | 3.4.8. And indeed it is just in this that the chief usefulness of this work for the present and the future will lie. 3.4.13. About this latter, owing to the importance of the actions and the unexpected character of the events, and chiefly because I not only witnessed most but took part and even directed some, I was induced to write as if starting on a fresh work. 4.72.4. They then returned whence they came with orders for all to remain where they were until the departure of the army, lest any of soldiery might disobey orders and plunder them. 8.30.3. and when they had done this he ordered the Tarentine young men to set apart and save any of the citizens they met and to shout from a distance advising all Tarentines to stay where they were, as their safety was assured. 28.21. 1. Eulaeus the eunuch persuaded Ptolemy to take all his money with him, abandon his kingdom to the enemy, and retire to Samothrace.,2. Who, reflecting on this, would not acknowledge that evil company does the greatest possible harm to men?,3. For a prince, standing in no immediate danger and so far removed from his enemies, not to take any steps to fulfil his duty, especially as he commanded such great resources, and ruled over so great a country and so vast a population, but to yield up at once without a single effort such a splendid and prosperous kingdom, can only be described as the act of one whose mind is effeminate and utterly corrupted.,4. Had Ptolemy been such a man by nature, we should have put the blame on nature and not accused anyone but himself.,5. But since by his subsequent actions, Nature defended herself by showing Ptolemy to have been a man who was fairly steadfast and brave when in danger, it is evident that we should attribute to the eunuch and association with him his cowardice on this occasion and his haste to retire to Samothrace. 29.2. 1. The senate, when they heard that Antiochus had become master of Egypt and very nearly of Alexandria itself,,2. thinking that the aggrandizement of this king concerned them in a measure, dispatched Gaius Popilius as their legate,3. to bring the war to an end, and to observe what the exact position of affairs was.,4. Such was the situation in Italy. II. The War with Perseus Genthius joins Perseus (Cp. Livy XLIV.23) 29.23. 1. In the Peloponnesus, when an embassy arrived while it was still winter from both kings, asking for help, there were several very warm debates.,2. Callicrates, Diophanes, and Hyperbatus did not approve of sending help,,3. but Archon, Lycortas, and Polybius were in favour of giving it according to the terms of the existing alliance.,4. For the people had already proclaimed the younger Ptolemy king owing to the dangerous situation, while the elder one had come down from Memphis and shared the throne with his brother;,5. and as they were in need of assistance from every possible quarter, they sent Eumenes and Dionysodorus on this embassy to the Achaeans begging for a thousand foot and two hundred horse, the whole force to be commanded by Lycortas and the cavalry by Polybius.,6. They also sent a message to Theodoridas of Sicyon begging him to raise a mercenary force of a thousand men.,7. The kings were particularly intimate with the men I have mentioned, owing to the circumstances narrated above.,8. When the envoys arrived, the Achaean Assembly being then in session at Corinth, and when after renewing the friendly relations of the Achaeans and the kings, which were of a very close character, they brought before their eyes the danger in which the kings stood, and begged for help,,9. the Achaean people were ready to go, not only with a part of their forces, but if necessary with the whole, to fight for the two kings, both of whom wore the crown and exercised royal authority.,10. Callicrates and the others, however, opposed it, saying that generally speaking they should not meddle with such matters, and at the present time should most strictly avoid it and give undivided attention to serving the cause of Rome.,11. For this was just the time when a decisive end of the war was expected, as Quintus Philippus was in winter quarters in Macedonia. 31.10.6. All this was denied by the younger Ptolemy, and the senate, seeing that the division had been quite unfair and wishing to make an effective partition of the kingdom due to themselves, acceded to the request of the younger brother, which coincided with their own interests. 31.10.7. For many decisions of the Romans are now of this kind: availing themselves of the mistakes of others they effectively increase and build up their own power, at the same time doing a favour and appearing to confer a benefit on the offenders. 31.10.8. So, seeing as they did the size of the Egyptian kingdom, and fearing lest if it once fell into the hands of a ruler capable of protecting it, he might have too high an idea of himself, 31.17. 1. After this the younger Ptolemy arriving in Greece with the legates, collected a powerful force of mercenaries,,2. among whom was the Macedonian Damasippus, who, after murdering the members of the council at Phacus fled from Macedonia with his wife and family.,3. Arriving in the Rhodian Peraea, the king was hospitably received there by the state, and proposed to sail for Cyprus.,4. Torquatus and his colleagues, seeing that he had got together this formidable force of mercenaries, reminded him of their instructions, which were that his return to Cyprus must be effected without war,,5. and finally persuaded him after proceeding as far as Side to dismiss the troops, and abandoning his attempt on Cyprus to meet them on the borders of Cyrene.,6. They themselves, they said, would sail to Alexandria, and after inducing the king to submit to the senate's request, would come to meet him on the frontier accompanied by his brother.,7. The younger Ptolemy, persuaded by these arguments, gave up his Cyprian project, disbanded his mercenary force,,8. and took ship first of all for Crete accompanied by Damasippus and one of the legates, Gnaeus Merula. After collecting in Crete a force of about a thousand soldiers he set sail and crossing to Africa landed at Apis. 31.18. 1. Meanwhile Torquatus and the other legates on arriving at Alexandria attempted to induce the elder Ptolemy to be reconciled to his brother and cede Cyprus to him.,2. When the king kept on alternately promising and refusing and thus wasted time,,3. his younger brother, who, as had been agreed, remained encamped with his Cretans near Apis in Africa, and was exceedingly put out at receiving no information, at first sent Gnaeus to Alexandria, supposing that he would bring Torquatus and the others.,4. But when Gnaeus proved equally inactive, and time dragged on, forty days having passed without any news, he did not know what to make of the whole matter.,5. For the elder king by every kind of complaisance won over the legates and detained them with him rather against their will than otherwise.,6. At the same time news reached the younger Ptolemy that the Cyreneans had revolted, that the towns were in sympathy with them, and that Ptolemy Sympetesis, an Egyptian, ,7. whom he had placed in charge of the country when he left for Rome, had taken the part of the insurgents.,8. When he received this news, and when soon afterwards he heard that the Cyreneans had taken the field, fearing lest by trying to add Cyprus to his dominions he should lose Cyrene also, he treated all other matters as of lesser moment and at once marched on Cyrene.,9. Upon reaching the place known as the Great Slope he found the Libyans and Cyreneans occupying the pass.,10. Ptolemy, taken aback by this, embarked half of his force on the ships with orders to sail round the pass and take the enemy in the rear, while he himself with the other half advanced directly to force the ascent.,11. Upon the Libyans taking fright at this double attack and abandoning their position, he made himself master of the ascent and the place called the Four Towers beneath it, where there was plenty of water.,12. Setting out thence he arrived after six days' march through the desert.,13. The force under Mochyrinus coasted along parallel to him until they found the Cyreneans encamped eight thousand strong in foot and five hundred in cavalry.,14. For the Cyreneans had gained experience of Ptolemy's character from his behaviour at Alexandria, and, seeing that his government and his whole disposition were those of a tyrant rather than a king,,15. they were by no means disposed to submit willingly to his rule, but were resolved to suffer anything for the prospect of liberty.,16. They, therefore, on his approach, at once offered battle and in the end he was worsted. 31.26. 1. The first occasion was the death of the mother of his adoptive father. She was the sister of his own father, Lucius Aemilius, and wife of his grandfather by adoption, the great Scipio.,2. He inherited from her a large fortune and in his treatment of it was to give the first proof of his high principle.,3. This lady whose name was Aemilia, used to display great magnificence whenever she left her house to take part in the ceremonies that women attend, having participated in the fortune of Scipio when he was at the height of his prosperity.,4. For apart from the richness of her own dress and of the decorations of her carriage, all the baskets, cups, and other utensils for the sacrifice were either of gold or silver, and were borne in her train on all such solemn occasions,,5. while the number of maids and men-servants in attendance was correspondingly large.,6. Immediately after Aemilia's funeral all these splendid appointments were given by Scipio to his mother, who had been for many years separated from her husband, and whose means were not sufficient to maintain a state suitable to her rank.,7. Formerly she had kept to her house on the occasion of such functions, and now when a solemn public sacrifice happened to take place, and she drove out in all Aemilia's state and splendour, and when in addition the carriage and pair and the muleteers were seen to be the same,,8. all the women who witnessed it were lost in admiration of Scipio's goodness and generosity and, lifting up their hands, prayed that every blessing might be his.,9. Such conduct would naturally be admired anywhere, but in Rome it was a marvel; for absolutely no one there ever gives away anything to anyone if he can help it.,10. This then was the first origin of his reputation for nobility of character, and it advanced rapidly, for women are fond of talking and once they have started a thing never have too much of it. 31.27. 1. In the next place he had to pay the daughters of the great Scipio, the sisters of his adoptive father, the half of their portion.,2. Their father had agreed to give each of his daughters fifty talents,,3. and their mother had paid the half of this to their husbands at once on their marriage, but left the other half owing on her death.,4. Thus Scipio had to pay this debt to his father's sisters.,5. According to Roman law the part of the dowry still due had to be paid to the ladies in three years, the personal property being first handed over within ten months according to Roman usage.,6. But Scipio at once ordered his banker to pay each of them in ten months the whole twenty-five talents.,7. When the ten months had elapsed, and Tiberius Gracchus and Scipio Nasica, who were the husbands of the ladies, applied to the banker and asked him if he had received any orders from Scipio about the money, and when the banker asked them to receive the sum and made out for each of them a transfer of twenty-five talents, they said he was mistaken;,8. for according to law they should not at once receive the whole sum, but only a third of it.,9. But when he told them that these were Scipio's orders, they could not believe it, but went on to call on the young man, under the impression that he was in error.,10. And this was quite natural on their part; for not only would no one in Rome pay fifty talents three years before it was due, but no one would pay one talent before the appointed day;,11. so universal and so extreme is their exactitude about money as well as their desire to profit by every moment of time.,12. However, when they called on Scipio and asked him what orders he had given the banker, and he told them he had ordered him to pay the whole sum to his sisters, they said he was mistaken,,13. since he had the legal right to use the sum for a considerable time yet.,14. Scipio answered that he was quite aware of that, but that while as regards strangers he insisted on the letter of the law, he behaved as far as he could in an informal and liberal way to his relatives and friends.,15. He therefore begged them to accept the whole sum from the banker.,16. Tiberius and Nasica on hearing this went away without replying, astounded at Scipio's magimity and abashed at their own meanness, although they were second to none in Rome. 31.28. 1. Two years later, when his own father Aemilius died, and left him and his brother Fabius heirs to his estate, he again acted in a noble manner deserving of mention.,2. Aemilius was childless, as he had given some of his sons to be adopted by other families and those whom he had kept to succeed him were dead, and he therefore left his property to Scipio and Fabius.,3. Scipio, knowing that his brother was by no means well off, gave up the whole inheritance, which was estimated at more than sixty talents, to him in order that Fabius might thus possess a fortune equal to his own.,4. This became widely known, and he now gave an even more conspicuous proof of his generosity.,5. His brother wished to give a gladiatorial show on the occasion of his father's funeral, but was unable to meet the expense, which was very considerable, and Scipio contributed the half of it out of his own fortune.,6. The total expense of such a show amounts to not less than thirty talents if it is done on a generous scale.,7. While the report of this was still fresh, his mother died,,8. and Scipio, far from taking back any of the gifts I mentioned above, gave the whole of it and the residue of his mother's property to his sisters, who had no legal claim to it.,9. So that again when his sisters had thus come into the processional furniture and all the establishment of Aemilia, the fame of Scipio for magimity and family affection was again revived.,10. Having thus from his earliest years laid the foundations of it, Publius Scipio advanced in his pursuit of this reputation for temperance and nobility of character.,11. By the expenditure of perhaps sixty talents â for that was what he had bestowed from his own property â his reputation for the second of these virtues was firmly established, and he did not attain his purpose so much by the largeness of the sums he gave as by the seasonableness of the gift and the gracious manner in which he conferred it.,12. His reputation for temperance cost him nothing, but by abstaining from many and varied pleasures he gained in addition that bodily health and vigour which he enjoyed for the whole of his life,,13. and which by the many pleasures of which it was the cause amply rewarded him for his former abstention from common pleasures. 33.1. 1. The senate, while it was still winter, had heard what Publius Lentulus had to report about King Prusias, as this legate had just returned from Asia, and they now summoned also Athenaeus, the brother of King Attalus.,2. They did not, however, require many words about him, but at once appointed Gaius Claudius Cento, Lucius Hortensius, and Gaius Aurunculeius their legates and sent them off in company with Athenaeus with orders to prevent Prusias from making war on Attalus. Embassy on behalf of the Achaean exiles ,3. There came also to Rome an embassy from the Achaeans consisting of Xenon of Aegium and Telecles of Aegeira on behalf of those in detention.,4. After they had spoken in the senate, upon the matter being put to the vote, the senate came very near setting the suspects free.,5. That their liberation was not carried out was the fault of Aulus Postumius Albinus, at this time praetor and as such presiding over the senate.,6. For while there were three resolutions, one for their release, another opposed to this, and a third for postponement of the release for the present, the majority being in favour of release,,7. Aulus passing over the third alternative put the question in general terms: "Who is for releasing the men and who against it?",8. Consequently those who were for delay joined those who were for absolute refusal, and thus gave a majority against release. Such were these events. Embassy from Athens (From Aulus Gellius, N.A. VI (VII).14.8â10) 33.8. 1. At about the same time envoys also arrived from the people of Marseilles,,2. who had for long suffered from the incursions of the Ligurians, and were now entirely hemmed in, the cities of Antibes and Nice being besieged as well. They therefore sent envoys to Rome to inform the senate of this and beg for help.,3. Upon their coming before the senate, it was decided to send legates to witness with their own eyes what was happening, and to attempt by remonstrances to correct the misconduct of the barbarians. |
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7. Septuagint, 2 Maccabees, None (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Schwartz (2008), 2 Maccabees, 363, 367 | 4.21. When Apollonius the son of Menestheus was sent to Egypt for the coronation of Philometor as king, Antiochus learned that Philometor had become hostile to his government, and he took measures for his own security. Therefore upon arriving at Joppa he proceeded to Jerusalem.' |
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8. Hebrew Bible, Daniel, 11.25-11.30 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 21| 11.25. "וְיָעֵר כֹּחוֹ וּלְבָבוֹ עַל־מֶלֶךְ הַנֶּגֶב בְּחַיִל גָּדוֹל וּמֶלֶךְ הַנֶּגֶב יִתְגָּרֶה לַמִּלְחָמָה בְּחַיִל־גָּדוֹל וְעָצוּם עַד־מְאֹד וְלֹא יַעֲמֹד כִּי־יַחְשְׁבוּ עָלָיו מַחֲשָׁבוֹת׃", 11.26. "וְאֹכְלֵי פַת־בָּגוֹ יִשְׁבְּרוּהוּ וְחֵילוֹ יִשְׁטוֹף וְנָפְלוּ חֲלָלִים רַבִּים׃", 11.27. "וּשְׁנֵיהֶם הַמְּלָכִים לְבָבָם לְמֵרָע וְעַל־שֻׁלְחָן אֶחָד כָּזָב יְדַבֵּרוּ וְלֹא תִצְלָח כִּי־עוֹד קֵץ לַמּוֹעֵד׃", 11.28. "וְיָשֹׁב אַרְצוֹ בִּרְכוּשׁ גָּדוֹל וּלְבָבוֹ עַל־בְּרִית קֹדֶשׁ וְעָשָׂה וְשָׁב לְאַרְצוֹ׃", 11.29. "לַמּוֹעֵד יָשׁוּב וּבָא בַנֶּגֶב וְלֹא־תִהְיֶה כָרִאשֹׁנָה וְכָאַחֲרֹנָה׃", | 11.25. "And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall stir himself up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand, for they shall devise devices against him.", 11.26. "Yea, they that eat of his food shall destroy him, and his army shall be swept away; and many shall fall down slain.", 11.27. "And as for both these kings, their hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper, for the end remaineth yet for the time appointed.", 11.28. "And he shall return to his own land with great substance; and his heart shall be against the holy covet; and he shall do his pleasure, and return to his own land.", 11.29. "At the time appointed he shall return, and come into the south; but it shall not be in the latter time as it was in the former.", 11.30. "For ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be cowed, and he shall return, and have indignation against the holy covet, and shall do his pleasure; and he shall return, and have regard unto them that forsake the holy covet.", |
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| 9. Septuagint, 1 Maccabees, 3.32, 3.33, 6.55, 6.56, 6.57, 6.58, 6.59, 6.60, 6.61, 6.62, 6.63, 10.51, 10.52, 10.53, 10.54, 10.55, 10.56, 10.57-11.12, 10.57, 10.58, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 11.5, 11.6, 11.7, 11.8, 11.9, 11.10, 11.11, 11.12, 11.13, 11.14, 11.15, 11.16, 11.17, 11.18, 15.22, 15.23 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 73 |
| 10. Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library, None (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 73 |
| 11. Anon., Sibylline Oracles, 1.289, 3.110-3.161, 3.193, 3.196-3.218, 3.271, 3.318, 3.350-3.387, 3.401-3.488, 3.608, 3.652-3.656, 3.827 (1st cent. BCE - 5th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 19, 21, 24, 161, 162, 180, 186, 188, 190 |
| 12. Livy, History, 44.19-45.11, 44.19, 45.12 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 24 |
13. Philo of Alexandria, On The Embassy To Gaius, 282 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 180 | 282. And not only are the continents full of Jewish colonies, but also all the most celebrated islands are so too; such as Euboea, and Cyprus, and Crete. "I say nothing of the countries beyond the Euphrates, for all of them except a very small portion, and Babylon, and all the satrapies around, which have any advantages whatever of soil or climate, have Jews settled in them. |
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14. Plutarch, Coriolanus, 11.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 23, 162| 11.2. ωι καὶ μάλιστα δῆλόν ἐστιν ὅτι τῶν ὀνομάτων ἴδιον ἦν ὁ Γάϊος, τὸ δὲ δεύτερον οἰκίας ἢ γένους κοινὸν ὁ Μάρκιος, τῷ δὲ τρίτῳ ὕστερον ἐχρήσαντο πράξεώς τινος ἢ τύχης ἢ ἰδέας ἢ ἀρετῆς ἐπιθέτῳ, καθάπερ Ἕλληνες ἐτίθεντο πράξεώς μὲν ἐπώνυμον τὸν Σωτῆρα καὶ τὸν Καλλίνικον, ἰδέας δὲ τὸν Φύσκωνα καὶ τὸν Γρυπόν, ἀρετῆς δὲ τὸν Εὐεργέτην καὶ τὸν Φιλάδελφον, εὐτυχίας δὲ τὸν Εὐδαίμονα τῷ δευτέρῳ τῶν Βάττων. | 11.2. |
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| 15. Plutarch, On The Education of Children, None (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii Found in books: Salvesen et al. (2020), Israel in Egypt: The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period, 223 |
16. Josephus Flavius, Against Apion, 1.186-1.189, 2.5, 2.49-2.56 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 22, 24, 162; Salvesen et al. (2020), Israel in Egypt: The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period, 166 | 1.186. Again, Hecateus says to the same purpose, as follows:—“Ptolemy got possession of the places in Syria after the battle at Gaza; and many, when they heard of Ptolemy’s moderation and humanity, went along with him to Egypt, and were willing to assist him in his affairs; 1.187. one of whom (Hecateus says) was Hezekiah, the high priest of the Jews; a man of about sixty-six years of age, and in great dignity among his own people. He was a very sensible man, and could speak very movingly, and was very skilful in the management of affairs, if any other man ever were so; 1.188. although, as he says, all the priests of the Jews took tithes of the products of the earth, and managed public affairs, and were in number not above fifteen hundred at the most.” 1.189. Hecateus mentions this Hezekiah a second time, and says, that “as he was possessed of so great a dignity, and was become familiar with us, so did he take certain of those that were with him, and explained to them all the circumstances of their people: for he had all their habitations and polity down in writing.” 2.5. For I also have observed, that many men are very much delighted when they see a man who first began to reproach another, to be himself exposed to contempt on account of the vices he hath himself been guilty of. 2.49. and as for Ptolemy Philometor and his wife Cleopatra, they committed their whole kingdom to Jews, when Onias and Dositheus, both Jews, whose names are laughed at by Apion, were the generals of their whole army; but certainly instead of reproaching them, he ought to admire their actions, and return them thanks for saving Alexandria, whose citizen he pretends to be; 2.50. for when these Alexandrians were making war with Cleopatra the queen, and were in danger of being utterly ruined, these Jews brought them to terms of agreement, and freed them from the miseries of a civil war. “But then (says Apion) Onias brought a small army afterward upon the city at the time when Thermus the Roman ambassador was there present.” 2.51. Yes, do I venture to say, and that he did rightly and very justly in so doing; for that Ptolemy who was called Physco, upon the death of his brother Philometor, came from Cyrene, and would have ejected Cleopatra as well as her sons out of their kingdom, 2.52. that he might obtain it for himself unjustly. For this cause then it was that Onias undertook a war against him on Cleopatra’s account; nor would he desert that trust the royal family had reposed in him in their distress. 2.53. Accordingly, God gave a remarkable attestation to his righteous procedure; for when Ptolemy Physco had the presumption to fight against Onias’s army, and had caught all the Jews that were in the city [Alexandria], with their children and wives, and exposed them naked and in bonds to his elephants, that they might be trodden upon and destroyed, and when he had made those elephants drunk for that purpose, the event proved contrary to his preparations; 2.54. for these elephants left the Jews who were exposed to them, and fell violently upon Physco’s friends, and slew a great number of them; nay, after this, Ptolemy saw a terrible ghost, which prohibited his hurting those men; 2.55. his very concubine, whom he loved so well (some call her Ithaca, and others Irene), making supplication to him, that he would not perpetrate so great a wickedness. So he complied with her request, and repented of what he either had already done, or was about to do; whence it is well known that the Alexandrian Jews do with good reason celebrate this day, on the account that they had thereon been vouchsafed such an evident deliverance from God. 2.56. However, Apion, the common calumniator of men, hath the presumption to accuse the Jews for making this war against Physco, when he ought to have commended them for the same. This man also makes mention of Cleopatra, the last queen of Alexandria, and abuses us, because she was ungrateful to us; whereas he ought to have reproved her, |
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| 17. Plutarch, Moralia, None (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 162 |
| 18. Pliny The Elder, Natural History, 6.59, 6.165-6.168 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii Found in books: Salvesen et al. (2020), Israel in Egypt: The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period, 222 |
19. Josephus Flavius, Jewish War, 1.86, 1.107-1.117, 7.420 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 22, 73 | 1.86. 2. Now it happened that there was a battle between him and Ptolemy, who was called Lathyrus, who had taken the city Asochis. He indeed slew a great many of his enemies, but the victory rather inclined to Ptolemy. But when this Ptolemy was pursued by his mother Cleopatra, and retired into Egypt, Alexander besieged Gadara, and took it; as also he did Amathus, which was the strongest of all the fortresses that were about Jordan, and therein were the most precious of all the possessions of Theodorus, the son of Zeno. 1.107. 1. Now Alexander left the kingdom to Alexandra his wife, and depended upon it that the Jews would now very readily submit to her, because she had been very averse to such cruelty as he had treated them with, and had opposed his violation of their laws, and had thereby got the goodwill of the people. 1.108. Nor was he mistaken as to his expectations; for this woman kept the dominion, by the opinion that the people had of her piety; for she chiefly studied the ancient customs of her country, and cast those men out of the government that offended against their holy laws. 1.109. And as she had two sons by Alexander, she made Hyrcanus the elder high priest, on account of his age, as also, besides that, on account of his inactive temper, no way disposing him to disturb the public. But she retained the younger, Aristobulus, with her as a private person, by reason of the warmth of his temper. 1.110. 2. And now the Pharisees joined themselves to her, to assist her in the government. These are a certain sect of the Jews that appear more religious than others, and seem to interpret the laws more accurately. 1.111. Now, Alexandra hearkened to them to an extraordinary degree, as being herself a woman of great piety towards God. But these Pharisees artfully insinuated themselves into her favor by little and little, and became themselves the real administrators of the public affairs: they banished and reduced whom they pleased; they bound and loosed [men] at their pleasure; and, to say all at once, they had the enjoyment of the royal authority, whilst the expenses and the difficulties of it belonged to Alexandra. 1.112. She was a sagacious woman in the management of great affairs, and intent always upon gathering soldiers together; so that she increased the army the one half, and procured a great body of foreign troops, till her own nation became not only very powerful at home, but terrible also to foreign potentates, while she governed other people, and the Pharisees governed her. 1.113. 3. Accordingly, they themselves slew Diogenes, a person of figure, and one that had been a friend to Alexander; and accused him as having assisted the king with his advice, for crucifying the eight hundred men [before mentioned]. They also prevailed with Alexandra to put to death the rest of those who had irritated him against them. Now, she was so superstitious as to comply with their desires, and accordingly they slew whom they pleased themselves. 1.114. But the principal of those that were in danger fled to Aristobulus, who persuaded his mother to spare the men on account of their dignity, but to expel them out of the city, unless she took them to be innocent; so they were suffered to go unpunished, and were dispersed all over the country. 1.115. But when Alexandra sent out her army to Damascus, under pretense that Ptolemy was always oppressing that city, she got possession of it; nor did it make any considerable resistance. 1.116. She also prevailed with Tigranes, king of Armenia, who lay with his troops about Ptolemais, and besieged Cleopatra, by agreements and presents, to go away. Accordingly, Tigranes soon arose from the siege, by reason of those domestic tumults which happened upon Lucullus’s expedition into Armenia. 1.117. 4. In the meantime, Alexandra fell sick, and Aristobulus, her younger son, took hold of this opportunity, with his domestics, of which he had a great many, who were all of them his friends, on account of the warmth of their youth, and got possession of all the fortresses. He also used the sums of money he found in them to get together a number of mercenary soldiers, and made himself king; 7.420. 2. Now Lupus did then govern Alexandria, who presently sent Caesar word of this commotion; |
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20. Josephus Flavius, Jewish Antiquities, 12.237, 12.242, 13.4.1-13.4.7, 13.10.1, 13.13.4, 13.58, 13.62-13.72, 13.80-13.119, 13.267, 13.331-13.349, 13.399-13.416 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 21, 22, 24, 73, 162 | 12.237. 1. About this time, upon the death of Onias the high priest, they gave the high priesthood to Jesus his brother; for that son which Onias left [or Onias IV.] was yet but an infant; and, in its proper place, we will inform the reader of all the circumstances that befell this child. 12.242. 2. Now Antiochus, upon the agreeable situation of the affairs of his kingdom, resolved to make an expedition against Egypt, both because he had a desire to gain it, and because he condemned the son of Ptolemy, as now weak, and not yet of abilities to manage affairs of such consequence; 13.58. 4. This was what Demetrius promised and granted to the Jews by this letter. But king Alexander raised a great army of mercenary soldiers, and of those that deserted to him out of Syria, and made an expedition against Demetrius. 13.62. 1. But then the son of Onias the high priest, who was of the same name with his father, and who fled to king Ptolemy, who was called Philometor, lived now at Alexandria, as we have said already. When this Onias saw that Judea was oppressed by the Macedonians and their kings, 13.63. out of a desire to purchase to himself a memorial and eternal fame he resolved to send to king Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra, to ask leave of them that he might build a temple in Egypt like to that at Jerusalem, and might ordain Levites and priests out of their own stock. 13.64. The chief reason why he was desirous so to do, was, that he relied upon the prophet Isaiah, who lived above six hundred years before, and foretold that there certainly was to be a temple built to Almighty God in Egypt by a man that was a Jew. Onias was elevated with this prediction, and wrote the following epistle to Ptolemy and Cleopatra: 13.65. “Having done many and great things for you in the affairs of the war, by the assistance of God, and that in Celesyria and Phoenicia, I came at length with the Jews to Leontopolis, and to other places of your nation, 13.66. where I found that the greatest part of your people had temples in an improper manner, and that on this account they bare ill-will one against another, which happens to the Egyptians by reason of the multitude of their temples, and the difference of opinions about divine worship. Now I found a very fit place in a castle that hath its name from the country Diana; this place is full of materials of several sorts, and replenished with sacred animals; 13.67. I desire therefore that you will grant me leave to purge this holy place, which belongs to no master, and is fallen down, and to build there a temple to Almighty God, after the pattern of that in Jerusalem, and of the same dimensions, that may be for the benefit of thyself, and thy wife and children, that those Jews which dwell in Egypt may have a place whither they may come and meet together in mutual harmony one with another, and he subservient to thy advantages; 13.68. for the prophet Isaiah foretold that, ‘there should be an altar in Egypt to the Lord God;’” and many other such things did he prophesy relating to that place. 13.69. 2. And this was what Onias wrote to king Ptolemy. Now any one may observe his piety, and that of his sister and wife Cleopatra, by that epistle which they wrote in answer to it; for they laid the blame and the transgression of the law upon the head of Onias. And this was their reply: 13.70. “King Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra to Onias, send greeting. We have read thy petition, wherein thou desirest leave to be given thee to purge that temple which is fallen down at Leontopolis, in the Nomus of Heliopolis, and which is named from the country Bubastis; on which account we cannot but wonder that it should be pleasing to God to have a temple erected in a place so unclean, and so full of sacred animals. 13.71. But since thou sayest that Isaiah the prophet foretold this long ago, we give thee leave to do it, if it may be done according to your law, and so that we may not appear to have at all offended God herein.” 13.72. 3. So Onias took the place, and built a temple, and an altar to God, like indeed to that in Jerusalem, but smaller and poorer. I do not think it proper for me now to describe its dimensions or its vessels, which have been already described in my seventh book of the Wars of the Jews. 13.80. 1. Demetrius being thus slain in battle, as we have above related, Alexander took the kingdom of Syria; and wrote to Ptolemy Philometor, and desired his daughter in marriage; and said it was but just that he should be joined an affinity to one that had now received the principality of his forefathers, and had been promoted to it by God’s providence, and had conquered Demetrius, and that was on other accounts not unworthy of being related to him. 13.81. Ptolemy received this proposal of marriage gladly; and wrote him an answer, saluting him on account of his having received the principality of his forefathers; and promising him that he would give him his daughter in marriage; and assured him that he was coming to meet him at Ptolemais, and desired that he would there meet him, for that he would accompany her from Egypt so far, and would there marry his child to him. 13.82. When Ptolemy had written thus, he came suddenly to Ptolemais, and brought his daughter Cleopatra along with him; and as he found Alexander there before him, as he desired him to come, he gave him his child in marriage, and for her portion gave her as much silver and gold as became such a king to give. 13.83. 2. When the wedding was over, Alexander wrote to Jonathan the high priest, and desired him to come to Ptolemais. So when he came to these kings, and had made them magnificent presents, he was honored by them both. 13.84. Alexander compelled him also to put off his own garment, and to take a purple garment, and made him sit with him in his throne; and commanded his captains that they should go with him into the middle of the city, and proclaim, that it was not permitted to any one to speak against him, or to give him any disturbance. 13.85. And when the captains had thus done, those that were prepared to accuse Jonathan, and who bore him ill-will, when they saw the honor that was done him by proclamation, and that by the king’s order, ran away, and were afraid lest some mischief should befall them. Nay, king Alexander was so very kind to Jonathan, that he set him down as the principal of his friends. 13.86. 3. But then, upon the hundred and sixty-fifth year, Demetrius, the son of Demetrius, came from Crete with a great number of mercenary soldiers, which Lasthenes, the Cretian, brought him, and sailed to Cilicia. 13.87. This thing cast Alexander into great concern and disorder when he heard it; so he made haste immediately out of Phoenicia, and came to Antioch, that he might put matters in a safe posture there before Demetrius should come. 13.88. He also left Apollonius Daus governor of Celesyria, who coming to Jamnia with a great army, sent to Jonathan the high priest, and told him that it was not right that he alone should live at rest, and with authority, and not be subject to the king; that this thing had made him a reproach among all men, that he had not yet made him subject to the king. 13.89. “Do not thou therefore deceive thyself, and sit still among the mountains, and pretend to have forces with thee; but if thou hast any dependence on thy strength, come down into the plain, and let our armies be compared together, and the event of the battle will demonstrate which of us is the most courageous. 13.90. However, take notice, that the most valiant men of every city are in my army, and that these are the very men who have always beaten thy progenitors; but let us have the battle in such a place of the country where we may fight with weapons, and not with stones, and where there may be no place whither those that are beaten may fly.” 13.91. 4. With this Jonathan was irritated; and choosing himself out ten thousand of his soldiers, he went out of Jerusalem in haste, with his brother Simon, and came to Joppa, and pitched his camp on the outside of the city, because the people of Joppa had shut their gates against him, for they had a garrison in the city put there by Apollonius. 13.92. But when Jonathan was preparing to besiege them, they were afraid he would take them by force, and so they opened the gates to him. But Apollonius, when he heard that Joppa was taken by Jonathan, took three thousand horsemen, and eight thousand footmen and came to Ashdod; and removing thence, he made his journey silently and slowly, and going up to Joppa, he made as if he was retiring from the place, and so drew Jonathan into the plain, as valuing himself highly upon his horsemen, and having his hopes of victory principally in them. 13.93. However, Jonathan sallied out, and pursued Apollonius to Ashdod; but as soon as Apollonius perceived that his enemy was in the plain, he came back and gave him battle. 13.94. But Apollonius had laid a thousand horsemen in ambush in a valley, that they might be seen by their enemies as behind them; which when Jonathan perceived, he was under no consternation, but ordering his army to stand in a square battle-array, he gave them a charge to fall on the enemy on both sides, and set them to face those that attacked them both before and behind; 13.95. and while the fight lasted till the evening, he gave part of his forces to his brother Simon, and ordered him to attack the enemies; but for himself, he charged those that were with him to cover themselves with their armor, and receive the darts of the horsemen, who did as they were commanded; so that the enemy’s horsemen, 13.96. while they threw their darts till they had no more left, did them no harm, for the darts that were thrown did not enter into their bodies, being thrown upon the shields that were united and conjoined together, the closeness of which easily overcame the force of the darts, and they flew about without any effect. 13.97. But when the enemy grew remiss in throwing their darts from morning till late at night, Simon perceived their weariness, and fell upon the body of men before him; and because his soldiers showed great alacrity, he put the enemy to flight. 13.98. And when the horsemen saw that the footmen ran away, neither did they stay themselves, but they being very weary, by the duration of the fight till the evening, and their hope from the footmen being quite gone, they basely ran away, and in great confusion also, till they were separated one from another, and scattered over all the plain. 13.99. Upon which Jonathan pursued them as far as Ashdod, and slew a great many of them, and compelled the rest, in despair of escaping, to fly to the temple of Dagon, which was at Ashdod; but Jonathan took the city on the first onset, and burnt it, and the villages about it; 13.100. nor did he abstain from the temple of Dagon itself, but burnt it also, and destroyed those that had fled to it. Now the entire multitude of the enemies that fell in the battle, and were consumed in the temple, were eight thousand. 13.101. When Jonathan therefore had overcome so great an army, he removed from Ashdod, and came to Askelon; and when he had pitched his camp without the city, the people of Askelon came out and met him, bringing him hospitable presents, and honoring him; so he accepted of their kind intentions, and returned thence to Jerusalem with a great deal of prey, which he brought thence when he conquered his enemies. 13.102. But when Alexander heard that Apollonius, the general of his army, was beaten, he pretended to be glad of it, because he had fought with Jonathan his friend and ally against his directions. Accordingly, he sent to Jonathan, and gave testimony to his worth; and gave him honorary rewards, as a golden button, which it is the custom to give the king’s kinsmen, and allowed him Ekron and its toparchy for his own inheritance. 13.103. 5. About this time it was that king Ptolemy, who was called Philometor, led an army, part by the sea, and part by land, and came to Syria, to the assistance of Alexander, who was his son-in-law; 13.104. and accordingly all the cities received him willingly, as Alexander had commanded them to do, and conducted him as far as Ashdod; where they all made loud complaints about the temple of Dagon, which was burnt, and accused Jonathan of having laid it waste, and destroyed the country adjoining with fire, and slain a great number of them. 13.105. Ptolemy heard these accusations, but said nothing. Jonathan also went to meet Ptolemy as far as Joppa, and obtained from him hospitable presents, and those glorious in their kinds, with all the marks of honor; and when he had conducted him as far as the river called Eleutherus, he returned again to Jerusalem. 13.106. 6. But as Ptolemy was at Ptolemais, he was very near to a most unexpected destruction; for a treacherous design was laid for his life by Alexander, by the means of Ammonius, who was his friend; 13.107. and as the treachery was very plain, Ptolemy wrote to Alexander, and required of him that he should bring Ammonius to condign punishment, informing him what snares had been laid for him by Ammonius, and desiring that he might be accordingly punished for it. But when Alexander did not comply with his demands, he perceived that it was he himself who laid the design, and was very angry at him. 13.108. Alexander had also formerly been on very ill terms with the people of Antioch, for they had suffered very much by his means; yet did Ammonius at length undergo the punishment his insolent crimes had deserved, for he was killed in an opprobrious manner, like a woman, while he endeavored to conceal himself in a feminine habit, as we have elsewhere related. 13.109. 7. Hereupon Ptolemy blamed himself for having given his daughter in marriage to Alexander, and for the league he had made with him to assist him against Demetrius; so he dissolved his relation to him, 13.110. and took his daughter away from him, and immediately sent to Demetrius, and offered to make a league of mutual assistance and friendship with him, and agreed with him to give him his daughter in marriage, and to restore him to the principality of his fathers. Demetrius was well pleased with this embassage, and accepted of his assistance, and of the marriage of his daughter. 13.111. But Ptolemy had still one more hard task to do, and that was to persuade the people of Antioch to receive Demetrius, because they were greatly displeased at him, on account of the injuries his father Demetrius had done them; 13.112. yet did he bring this about; for as the people of Antioch hated Alexander on Ammonius’s account, as we have shown already, they were easily prevailed with to cast him out of Antioch; who, thus expelled out of Antioch, came into Cilicia. 13.113. Ptolemy came then to Antioch, and was made king by its inhabitants, and by the army; so that he was forced to put on two diadems, the one of Asia, the other of Egypt: 13.114. but being naturally a good and a righteous man, and not desirous of what belonged to others, and besides these dispositions, being also a wise man in reasoning about futurities, he determined to avoid the envy of the Romans; so he called the people of Antioch together to an assembly, and persuaded them to receive Demetrius; 13.115. and assured them that he would not be mindful of what they did to his father in case he should be now obliged by them; and he undertook that he would himself be a good monitor and governor to him, and promised that he would not permit him to attempt any bad actions; but that, for his own part, he was contented with the kingdom of Egypt. By which discourse he persuaded the people of Antioch to receive Demetrius. 13.116. 8. But now Alexander made haste with a numerous and great army, and came out of Cilicia into Syria, and burnt the country belonging to Antioch, and pillaged it; whereupon Ptolemy, and his son-in-law Demetrius, brought their army against him, (for he had already given him his daughter in marriage,) and beat Alexander, and put him to flight; 13.117. and accordingly he fled into Arabia. Now it happened in the time of the battle that Ptolemy’ horse, upon hearing the noise of an elephant, cast him off his back, and threw him on the ground; upon the sight of which accident, his enemies fell upon him, and gave him many wounds upon his head, and brought him into danger of death; for when his guards caught him up, he was so very ill, that for four days’ time he was not able either to understand or to speak. 13.118. However, Zabdiel, a prince among the Arabians, cut off Alexander’s head, and sent it to Ptolemy, who recovering of his wounds, and returning to his understanding, on the fifth day, heard at once a most agreeable hearing, and saw a most agreeable sight, which were the death and the head of Alexander; 13.119. yet a little after this his joy for the death of Alexander, with which he was so greatly satisfied, he also departed this life. Now Alexander, who was called Balas, reigned over Asia five years, as we have elsewhere related. 13.267. 3. And thus stood the affairs of Hyrcanus the high priest. But as for king Demetrius, who had a mind to make war against Hyrcanus, there was no opportunity nor room for it, while both the Syrians and the soldiers bare ill-will to him, because he was an ill man. But when they had sent ambassadors to Ptolemy, who was called Physcon, that he would send them one of the family of Seleucus, in order to take the kingdom, 13.331. for that Cleopatra would not overlook an army raised by Ptolemy for himself out of the neighborhood, but would come against them with a great army of her own, and this because she was laboring to eject her son out of Cyprus also; that as for Ptolemy, if he fail of his hopes, he can still retire to Cyprus, but that they will be left in the greatest danger possible. 13.332. Now Ptolemy, although he had heard of the change that was made in the people of Ptolemais, yet did he still go on with his voyage, and came to the country called Sycamine, and there set his army on shore. 13.333. This army of his, in the whole horse and foot together, were about thirty thousand, with which he marched near to Ptolemais, and there pitched his camp. But when the people of Ptolemais neither received his ambassadors, nor would hear what they had to say, he was under a very great concern. 13.334. 4. But when Zoilus and the people of Gaza came to him, and desired his assistance, because their country was laid waste by the Jews, and by Alexander, Alexander raised the siege, for fear of Ptolemy: and when he had drawn off his army into his own country, he used a stratagem afterwards, by privately inviting Cleopatra to come against Ptolemy, but publicly pretending to desire a league of friendship and mutual assistance with him; 13.335. and promising to give him four hundred talents of silver, he desired that, by way of requital, he would take off Zoilus the tyrant, and give his country to the Jews. And then indeed Ptolemy, with pleasure, made such a league of friendship with Alexander, and subdued Zoilus; 13.336. but when he afterwards heard that he had privily sent to Cleopatra his mother, he broke the league with him, which yet he had confirmed with an oath, and fell upon him, and besieged Ptolemais, because it would not receive him. However, leaving his generals, with some part of his forces, to go on with the siege, he went himself immediately with the rest to lay Judea waste; 13.337. and when Alexander understood this to be Ptolemy’s intention, he also got together about fifty thousand soldiers out of his own country; nay, as some writers have said, eighty thousand He then took his army, and went to meet Ptolemy; but Ptolemy fell upon Asochis, a city of Galilee, and took it by force on the Sabbath day, and there he took about ten thousand slaves, and a great deal of other prey. 13.338. 5. He then tried to take Sepphoris, which was a city not far from that which was destroyed, but lost many of his men; yet did he then go to fight with Alexander; which Alexander met him at the river Jordan, near a certain place called Saphoth, [not far from the river Jordan,] and pitched his camp near to the enemy. 13.339. He had however eight thousand in the first rank, which he styled Hecatontomachi, having shields of brass. Those in the first rank of Ptolemy’s soldiers also had shields covered with brass. But Ptolemy’s soldiers in other respects were inferior to those of Alexander, and therefore were more fearful of running hazards; 13.340. but Philostephanus, the camp-master, put great courage into them, and ordered them to pass the river, which was between their camps. Nor did Alexander think fit to hinder their passage over it; for he thought, that if the enemy had once gotten the river on their back, that he should the easier take them prisoners, when they could not flee out of the battle: 13.341. in the beginning of which, the acts on both sides, with their hands, and with their alacrity, were alike, and a great slaughter was made by both the armies; but Alexander was superior, till Philostephanus opportunely brought up the auxiliaries, to help those that were giving way; 13.342. but as there were no auxiliaries to afford help to that part of the Jews that gave way, it fell out that they fled, and those near them did no assist them, but fled along with them. However, Ptolemy’s soldiers acted quite otherwise; 13.343. for they followed the Jews, and killed them, till at length those that slew them pursued after them when they had made them all run away, and slew them so long, that their weapons of iron were blunted, and their hands quite tired with the slaughter; 13.344. for the report was, that thirty thousand men were then slain. Timagenes says they were fifty thousand. As for the rest, they were part of them taken captives, and the other part ran away to their own country. 13.345. 6. After this victory, Ptolemy overran all the country; and when night came on, he abode in certain villages of Judea, which when he found full of women and children, he commanded his soldiers to strangle them, and to cut them in pieces, and then to cast them into boiling caldrons, and then to devour their limbs as sacrifices. 13.346. This commandment was given, that such as fled from the battle, and came to them, might suppose their enemies were cannibals, and eat men’s flesh, and might on that account be still more terrified at them upon such a sight. 13.347. And both Strabo and Nicholaus [of Damascus] affirm, that they used these people after this manner, as I have already related. Ptolemy also took Ptolemais by force, as we have declared elsewhere. 13.348. 1. When Cleopatra saw that her son was grown great, and laid Judea waste, without disturbance, and had gotten the city of Gaza under his power, she resolved no longer to overlook what he did, when he was almost at her gates; and she concluded, that now he was so much stronger than before, he would be very desirous of the dominion over the Egyptians; 13.349. but she immediately marched against him, with a fleet at sea and an army of foot on land, and made Chelcias and Aias the Jews generals of her whole army, while she sent the greatest part of her riches, her grandchildren, and her testament, to the people of Cos. 13.399. But when his queen saw that he was ready to die, and had no longer any hopes of surviving, she came to him weeping and lamenting, and bewailed herself and her sons on the desolate condition they should be left in; and said to him, “To whom dost thou thus leave me and my children, who are destitute of all other supports, and this when thou knowest how much ill-will thy nation bears thee?” 13.400. But he gave her the following advice: That she need but follow what he would suggest to her, in order to retain the kingdom securely, with her children: that she should conceal his death from the soldiers till she should have taken that place; 13.401. after this she should go in triumph, as upon a victory, to Jerusalem, and put some of her authority into the hands of the Pharisees; for that they would commend her for the honor she had done them, and would reconcile the nation to her for he told her they had great authority among the Jews, both to do hurt to such as they hated, and to bring advantages to those to whom they were friendly disposed; 13.402. for that they are then believed best of all by the multitude when they speak any severe thing against others, though it be only out of envy at them. And he said that it was by their means that he had incurred the displeasure of the nation, whom indeed he had injured. 13.403. “Do thou, therefore,” said he, “when thou art come to Jerusalem, send for the leading men among them, and show them my body, and with great appearance of sincerity, give them leave to use it as they themselves please, whether they will dishonor the dead body by refusing it burial, as having severely suffered by my means, or whether in their anger they will offer any other injury to that body. Promise them also that thou wilt do nothing without them in the affairs of the kingdom. 13.404. If thou dost but say this to them, I shall have the honor of a more glorious funeral from them than thou couldst have made for me; and when it is in their power to abuse my dead body, they will do it no injury at all, and thou wilt rule in safety.” So when he had given his wife this advice, he died, after he had reigned twenty-seven years, and lived fifty years within one. 13.405. 1. So Alexandra, when she had taken the fortress, acted as her husband had suggested to her, and spake to the Pharisees, and put all things into their power, both as to the dead body, and as to the affairs of the kingdom, and thereby pacified their anger against Alexander, and made them bear goodwill and friendship to him; 13.406. who then came among the multitude, and made speeches to them, and laid before them the actions of Alexander, and told them that they had lost a righteous king; and by the commendation they gave him, they brought them to grieve, and to be in heaviness for him, so that he had a funeral more splendid than had any of the kings before him. 13.407. Alexander left behind him two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, but committed the kingdom to Alexandra. Now, as to these two sons, Hyrcanus was indeed unable to manage public affairs, and delighted rather in a quiet life; but the younger, Aristobulus, was an active and a bold man; and for this woman herself, Alexandra, she was loved by the multitude, because she seemed displeased at the offenses her husband had been guilty of. 13.408. 2. So she made Hyrcanus high priest, because he was the elder, but much more because he cared not to meddle with politics, and permitted the Pharisees to do every thing; to whom also she ordered the multitude to be obedient. She also restored again those practices which the Pharisees had introduced, according to the traditions of their forefathers, and which her father-in-law, Hyrcanus, had abrogated. 13.409. So she had indeed the name of the regent, but the Pharisees had the authority; for it was they who restored such as had been banished, and set such as were prisoners at liberty, and, to say all at once, they differed in nothing from lords. However, the queen also took care of the affairs of the kingdom, and got together a great body of mercenary soldiers, and increased her own army to such a degree, that she became terrible to the neighboring tyrants, and took hostages of them: 13.410. and the country was entirely at peace, excepting the Pharisees; for they disturbed the queen, and desired that she would kill those who persuaded Alexander to slay the eight hundred men; after which they cut the throat of one of them, Diogenes; and after him they did the same to several, one after another, 13.411. till the men that were the most potent came into the palace, and Aristobulus with them, for he seemed to be displeased at what was done; and it appeared openly, that if he had an opportunity, he would not permit his mother to go on so. These put the queen in mind what great dangers they had gone through, and great things they had done, whereby they had demonstrated the firmness of their fidelity to their master, insomuch that they had received the greatest marks of favor from him; 13.412. and they begged of her, that she would not utterly blast their hopes, as it now happened, that when they had escaped the hazards that arose from their [open] enemies, they were to be cut off at home by their [private] enemies, like brute beasts, without any help whatsoever. 13.413. They said also, that if their adversaries would be satisfied with those that had been slain already, they would take what had been done patiently, on account of their natural love to their governors; but if they must expect the same for the future also, they implored of her a dismission from her service; for they could not bear to think of attempting any method for their deliverance without her, but would rather die willingly before the palace gate, in case she would not forgive them. 13.414. And that it was a great shame, both for themselves and for the queen, that when they were neglected by her, they should come under the lash of her husband’s enemies; for that Aretas, the Arabian king, and the monarchs, would give any reward, if they could get such men as foreign auxiliaries, to whom their very names, before their voices be heard, may perhaps be terrible; 13.415. but if they could not obtain this their second request, and if she had determined to prefer the Pharisees before them, they still insisted that she would place them every one in her fortresses; for if some fatal demon hath a constant spite against Alexander’s house, they would be willing to bear their part, and to live in a private station there. 13.416. 3. As these men said thus, and called upon Alexander’s ghost for commiseration of those already slain, and those in danger of it, all the bystanders brake out into tears. But Aristobulus chiefly made manifest what were his sentiments, and used many reproachful expressions to his mother, [saying,] |
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| 21. Appian, Civil Wars, 1.102 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 73 |
| 22. Appian, The Mithridatic Wars, None (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii Found in books: Salvesen et al. (2020), Israel in Egypt: The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period, 222 |
23. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1.7.1, 1.9.1-1.9.3 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 24, 73; Salvesen et al. (2020), Israel in Egypt: The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period, 223| 1.7.1. οὗτος ὁ Πτολεμαῖος Ἀρσινόης ἀδελφῆς ἀμφοτέρωθεν ἐρασθεὶς ἔγημεν αὐτήν, Μακεδόσιν οὐδαμῶς ποιῶν νομιζόμενα, Αἰγυπτίοις μέντοι ὧν ἦρχε. δεύτερα δὲ ἀδελφὸν ἀπέκτεινεν Ἀργαῖον ἐπιβουλεύοντα, ὡς λέγεται, καὶ τὸν Ἀλεξάνδρου νεκρὸν οὗτος ὁ καταγαγὼν ἦν ἐκ Μέμφιδος· ἀπέκτεινε δὲ καὶ ἄλλον ἀδελφὸν γεγονότα ἐξ Εὐρυδίκης, Κυπρίους ἀφιστάντα αἰσθόμενος. Μάγας δὲ ἀδελφὸς ὁμομήτριος Πτολεμαίου παρὰ Βερενίκης τῆς μητρὸς ἀξιωθεὶς ἐπιτροπεύειν Κυρήνην— ἐγεγόνει δὲ ἐκ Φιλίππου τῇ Βερενίκῃ Μακεδόνος μέν, ἄλλως δὲ ἀγνώστου καὶ ἑνὸς τοῦ δήμου—, τότε δὴ οὗτος ὁ Μάγας ἀποστήσας Πτολεμαίου Κυρηναίους ἤλαυνεν ἐπʼ Αἴγυπτον. 1.9.1. ὁ δὲ Φιλομήτωρ καλούμενος ὄγδοος μέν ἐστιν ἀπόγονος Πτολεμαίου τοῦ Λάγου, τὴν δὲ ἐπίκλησιν ἔσχεν ἐπὶ χλευασμῷ. οὐ γάρ τινα τῶν βασιλέων μισηθέντα ἴσμεν ἐς τοσόνδε ὑπὸ μητρός, ὃν πρεσβύτατον ὄντα τῶν παίδων ἡ μήτηρ οὐκ εἴα καλεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχήν, πρότερον δὲ ἐς Κύπρον ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς πεμφθῆναι πράξασα· τῆς δὲ ἐς τὸν παῖδα τῇ Κλεοπάτρᾳ δυσνοίας λέγουσιν ἄλλας τε αἰτίας καὶ ὅτι Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν νεώτερον τῶν παίδων κατήκοον ἔσεσθαι μᾶλλον ἤλπιζε. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἑλέσθαι βασιλέα Ἀλέξανδρον ἔπειθεν Αἰγυπτίους· 1.9.2. ἐναντιουμένου δέ οἱ τοῦ πλήθους, δεύτερα ἐς τὴν Κύπρον ἔστειλεν Ἀλέξανδρον, στρατηγὸν μὲν τῷ λόγῳ, τῷ δὲ ἔργῳ διʼ αὐτοῦ Πτολεμαίῳ θέλουσα εἶναι φοβερωτέρα, τέλος δὲ κατατρώσασα οὓς μάλιστα τῶν εὐνούχων ἐνόμιζεν εὔνους, ἐπήγετο σφᾶς ἐς τὸ πλῆθος ὡς αὐτή τε ἐπιβουλευθεῖσα ὑπὸ Πτολεμαίου καὶ τοὺς εὐνούχους τοιαῦτα ὑπʼ ἐκείνου παθόντας. οἱ δὲ Ἀλεξανδρεῖς ὥρμησαν μὲν ὡς ἀποκτενοῦντες τὸν Πτολεμαῖον, ὡς δὲ σφᾶς ἔφθασεν ἐπιβὰς νεώς, Ἀλέξανδρον ἥκοντα ἐκ Κύπρου ποιοῦνται βασιλέα. 1.9.3. Κλεοπάτραν δὲ περιῆλθεν ἡ δίκη τῆς Πτολεμαίου φυγῆς ἀποθανοῦσαν ὑπὸ Ἀλεξάνδρου, ὃν αὐτὴ βασιλεύειν ἔπραξεν Αἰγυπτίων. τοῦ δὲ ἔργου φωραθέντος καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου φόβῳ τῶν πολιτῶν φεύγοντος, οὕτω Πτολεμαῖος κατῆλθε καὶ τὸ δεύτερον ἔσχεν Αἴγυπτον· καὶ Θηβαίοις ἐπολέμησεν ἀποστᾶσι, παραστησάμενος δὲ ἔτει τρίτῳ μετὰ τὴν ἀπόστασιν ἐκάκωσεν, ὡς μηδὲ ὑπόμνημα λειφθῆναι Θηβαίοις τῆς ποτε εὐδαιμονίας προελθούσης ἐς τοσοῦτον ὡς ὑπερβαλέσθαι πλούτῳ τοὺς Ἑλλήνων πολυχρημάτους, τό τε ἱερὸν τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς καὶ Ὀρχομενίους. Πτολεμαῖον μὲν οὖν ὀλίγῳ τούτων ὕστερον ἐπέλαβε μοῖρα ἡ καθήκουσα· Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ παθόντες εὖ πολλά τε καὶ οὐκ ἄξια ἐξηγήσεως χαλκοῦν καὶ αὐτὸν καὶ Βερενίκην ἀνέθηκαν, ἣ μόνη γνησία οἱ τῶν παίδων ἦν. | 1.7.1. This Ptolemy fell in love with Arsinoe , his full sister, and married her, violating herein Macedonian custom, but following that of his Egyptian subjects. Secondly he put to death his brother Argaeus, who was, it is said, plotting against him; and he it was who brought down from Memphis the corpse of Alexander. He put to death another brother also, son of Eurydice, on discovering that he was creating disaffection among the Cyprians. Then Magas, the half-brother of Ptolemy, who had been entrusted with the governorship of Cyrene by his mother Berenice—she had borne him to Philip, a Macedonians but of no note and of lowly origin—induced the people of Cyrene to revolt from Ptolemy and marched against Egypt . 1.9.1. The one called Philometor is eighth in descent from Ptolemy son of Lagus, and his surname was given him in sarcastic mockery, for we know of none of the kings who was so hated by his mother. Although he was the eldest of her children she would not allow him to be called to the throne, but prevailed on his father before the call came to send him to Cyprus . Among the reasons assigned for Cleopatra's enmity towards her son is her expectation that Alexander the younger of her sons would prove more subservient, and this consideration induced her to urge the Egyptians to choose Alexander as king. 1.9.2. When the people offered opposition, she dispatched Alexander for the second time to Cyprus , ostensibly as general, but really because she wished by his means to make Ptolemy more afraid of her. Finally she covered with wounds those eunuchs she thought best disposed, and presented them to the people, making out that she was the victim of Ptolemy's machinations, and that he had treated the eunuchs in such a fashion. The people of Alexandria rushed to kill Ptolemy, and when he escaped on board a ship, made Alexander, who returned from Cyprus , their king. 1.9.3. Retribution for the exile of Ptolemy came upon Cleopatra, for she was put to death by Alexander, whom she herself had made to be king of the Egyptians. When the deed was discovered, and Alexander fled in fear of the citizens, Ptolemy returned and for the second time assumed control of Egypt . He made war against the Thebans, who had revolted, reduced them two years after the revolt, and treated them so cruelly that they were left not even a memorial of their former prosperity, which had so grown that they surpassed in wealth the richest of the Greeks, the sanctuary of Delphi and the Orchomenians. Shortly after this Ptolemy met with his appointed fate, and the Athenians, who had been benefited by him in many ways which I need not stop to relate, set up a bronze likeness of him and of Berenice , his only legitimate child. |
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24. Cassius Dio, Roman History, 10.41 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii Found in books: Salvesen et al. (2020), Israel in Egypt: The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period, 223 | 10.41. 1. Ptolemy, nicknamed Philadelphus, king of Egypt, when he learned that Pyrrhus had fared badly and that the Romans were growing powerful, sent gifts to them and made a compact. The Romans, accordingly, pleased that a monarch living so very far away should have come to regard them highly, despatched ambassadors to him in turn. From him the envoys received magnificent gifts; but when they offered these to the treasury, they were not accepted. When they learned that the Romans were disposed to make war upon them, they despatched envoys to Rome and obtained peace. And Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, when he learned that Pyrrhus had fared badly and that the Romans were growing powerful, sent gifts to them and made a compact. And the Romans, pleased with this, despatched ambassadors to him in turn. The latter received magnificent gifts from him, which they desired to place in the treasury; the senate, however, would not accept them, but allowed the envoys to keep them. After this, they subdued the Samnites through the activity of Carvilius and overcame the Lucanians and Bruttians at the hands of Papirius. This same Papirius subjugated the Tarentines also. The latter, angry at Mio and harassed by their own countrymen, who, as has been related, had made the attack on Milo, called in the Carthaginians to their aid when they learned that Pyrrhus was dead. Milo, finding himself in a tight place, since the Romans were besetting him on the land side and the Carthaginians on the water front, surrendered the citadel to Papirius on condition of being permitted to depart unharmed with his followers and his money. Then the Carthaginians, inasmuch as they were at peace with the Romans, sailed away, and the city surrendered to Papirius. They delivered to him their arms and their ships, demolished their walls, and agreed to pay tribute. When the Romans had thus secured control of Tarentum, they turned their attention to Rhegium, whose inhabitants, after taking Croton by treachery, had razed the city to the ground and had slain the Romans who were there. They averted the danger that threatened them from the side of the Mamertines in possession of Messana, whom the people of Rhegium were expecting to secure as allies, by coming to an agreement with them; but in the siege of Rhegium they suffered hardships because of the scarcity of food, among other reasons, until Hiero by sending them grain and soldiers from Sicily strengthened their hands and aided them in capturing the city. The place was restored to the survivors among the original inhabitants, while those who had plotted against it were punished. Now Hiero, who was not of distinguished family even on his father's side, and on his mother's side actually belonged to the slave class, ruled almost the whole of Sicily, and was considered a friend and ally of the Romans. After the flight of Pyrrhus he had become master of Syracuse, and being on his guard against the Carthaginians, who were encroaching upon Sicily, he was inclined to favour the Romans; and the first mark of favour that he showed them was the alliance and the sending of grain already related. After this came a winter so severe that the Tiber was frozen to a great depth and trees were killed. The people of Rome suffered hardships, and the cattle perished for want of grass. |
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| 25. Athenaeus, The Learned Banquet, None (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Salvesen et al. (2020), Israel in Egypt: The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period, 222 |
26. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of The Philosophers, 5.58, 5.78-5.79 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii Found in books: Salvesen et al. (2020), Israel in Egypt: The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period, 222, 223 | 5.58. 3. STRATOHis successor in the school was Strato, the son of Arcesilaus, a native of Lampsacus, whom he mentioned in his will; a distinguished man who is generally known as the physicist, because more than anyone else he devoted himself to the most careful study of nature. Moreover, he taught Ptolemy Philadelphus and received, it is said, 80 talents from him. According to Apollodorus in his Chronology he became head of the school in the 123rd Olympiad, and continued to preside over it for eighteen years. 5.78. And in the official list the year in which he was archon was styled the year of lawlessness, according to this same Favorinus.Hermippus tells us that upon the death of Casander, being in fear of Antigonus, he fled to Ptolemy Soter. There he spent a considerable time and advised Ptolemy, among other things, to invest with sovereign power his children by Eurydice. To this Ptolemy would not agree, but bestowed the diadem on his son by Berenice, who, after Ptolemy's death, thought fit to detain Demetrius as a prisoner in the country until some decision should be taken concerning him. There he lived in great dejection, and somehow, in his sleep, received an asp-bite on the hand which proved fatal. He is buried in the district of Busiris near Diospolis. 5.79. Here are my lines upon him:A venomous asp was the death of the wise Demetrius, an asp withal of sticky venom, darting, not light from its eyes, but black death.Heraclides in his epitome of Sotion's Successions of Philosophers says that Ptolemy himself wished to transmit the kingdom to Philadelphus, but that Demetrius tried to dissuade him, saying, If you give it to another, you will not have it yourself. At the time when he was being continually attacked in Athens, Meder, the Comic poet, as I have also learnt, was very nearly brought to trial for no other cause than that he was a friend of Demetrius. However, Telesphorus, the nephew of Demetrius, begged him off.In the number of his works and their total length in lines he has surpassed almost all contemporary Peripatetics. For in learning and versatility he ha |
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| 27. Papyri, P.Hal., None Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 24, 162 |
| 28. Epigraphy, I. Paphos, 90, 45 Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 42 |
| 29. Appian, Historia Romana [Syriaca], 11.68 Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 73 |
30. Strabo, Geography, 17.1.5, 17.1.11 Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 23; Salvesen et al. (2020), Israel in Egypt: The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period, 222 | 17.1.5. The ancients understood more by conjecture than otherwise, but persons in later times learnt by experience as eyewitnesses, that the Nile owes its rise to summer rains, which fall in great abundance in Upper Ethiopia, particularly in the most distant mountains. On the rains ceasing, the fulness of the river gradually subsides. This was particularly observed by those who navigated the Arabian Gulf on their way to the Cinnamon country, and by those who were sent out to hunt elephants, or for such other purposes as induced the Ptolemies, kings of Egypt, to despatch persons in that direction. These sovereigns had directed their attention to objects of this kind, particularly Ptolemy surnamed Philadelphus, who was a lover of science, and on account of bodily infirmities always in search of some new diversion and amusement. But the ancient kings paid little attention to such inquiries, although both they and the priests, with whom they passed the greater part of their lives, professed to be devoted to the study of philosophy. Their ignorance therefore is more surprising, both on this account and because Sesostris had traversed the whole of Ethiopia as far as the Cinnamon country, of which expedition monuments exist even to the present day, such as pillars and inscriptions. Cambyses also, when he was in possession of Egypt, had advanced with the Egyptians as far even as Meroe; and it is said that he gave this name both to the island and to the city, because his sister, or according to some writers his wife, Meroe died there. For this reason therefore he conferred the appellation on the island, and in honour of a woman. It is surprising how, with such opportunities of obtaining information, the history of these rains should not have been clearly known to persons living in those times, especially as the priests registered with the greatest diligence in the sacred books all extraordinary facts, and preserved records of everything which seemed to contribute to an increase of knowledge. And, if this had been the case, would it be necessary to inquire what is even still a question, what can possibly be the reason why rain falls in summer, and not in winter, in the most southerly parts of the country, but not in the Thebais, nor in the country about Syene ? nor should we have to examine whether the rise of the water of the Nile is occasioned by rains, nor require such evidence for these facts as Poseidonius adduces. For he says, that Callisthenes asserts that the cause of the rise of the river is the rain of summer. This he borrows from Aristotle, who borrowed it from Thrasyalces the Thasian (one of the ancient writers on physics), Thrasyalces from some other person, and he from Homer, who calls the Nile 'heaven-descended:' back to Egypt's heaven-descended stream. But I quit this subject, since it has been discussed by many writers, among whom it will be sufficient to specify two, who have (each) composed in our times a treatise on the Nile, Eudorus and Aristo the Peripatetic philosopher. [They differ little from each other] except in the order and disposition of the works, for the phraseology and execution is the same in both writers. (I can speak with some confidence in this matter), for when at a loss (for manuscripts) for the purpose of comparison and copy, I collated both authors. But which of them surreptitiously substituted the other's account as his own, we may go to the temple of Ammon to be informed. Eudorus accused Aristo, but the style is more like that of Aristo.The ancients gave the name of Egypt to that country only which was inhabited and watered by the Nile, and the extent they assigned to it was from the neighbourhood of Syene to the sea. But later writers, to the present time, have included on the eastern side almost all the tract between the Arabian Gulf and the Nile (the Aethiopians however do not make much use of the Red Sea); on the western side, the tract extending to the Auases and the parts of the sea-coast from the Canobic mouth of the Nile to Catabathmus, and the kingdom of Cyrenaea. For the kings who succeeded the race of the Ptolemies had acquired so much power, that they became masters of Cyrenaea, and even joined Cyprus to Egypt. The Romans, who succeeded to their dominions, separated Egypt, and confined it within the old limits.The Egyptians give the name of Auases (Oases) to certain inhabited tracts, which are surrounded by extensive deserts, and appear like islands in the sea. They are frequently met with in Libya, and there are three contiguous to Egypt, and dependent upon it.This is the account which we have to give of Egypt in general and summarily. I shall now describe the separate parts of the country and their advantages. 17.1.11. Alexander was succeeded by Ptolemy the son of Lagus, the son of Lagus by Philadelphus, Philadelphus by Euergetes; next succeeded Philopator the lover of Agathocleia, then Epiphanes, afterwards Philometor, the son (thus far) always succeeding the father. But Philometor was succeeded by his brother, the second Euergetes, who was also called Physcon. He was succeeded by Ptolemy surnamed Lathurus, Lathurus by Auletes of our time, who was the father of Cleopatra. All these kings, after the third Ptolemy, were corrupted by luxury and effeminacy, and the affairs of government were very badly administered by them; but worst of all by the fourth, the seventh, and the last, Auletes (or the Piper), who, besides other deeds of shamelessness, acted the piper; indeed he gloried so much in the practice, that he scrupled not to appoint trials of skill in his palace; on which occasions he presented himself as a competitor with other rivals. He was deposed by the Alexandrines; and of his three daughters, one, the eldest, who was legitimate, they proclaimed queen; but his two sons, who were infants, were absolutely excluded from the succession.As a husband for the daughter established on the throne, the Alexandrines invited one Cybiosactes from Syria, who pretended to be descended from the Syrian kings. The queen after a few days, unable to endure his coarseness and vulgarity, rid herself of him by causing him to be strangled. She afterwards married Archelaus, who also pretended to be the son of Mithridates Eupator, but he was really the son of that Archelaus who carried on war against Sulla, and was afterwards honourably treated by the Romans. He was grandfather of the last king of Cappadocia in our time, and priest of Comana in Pontus. He was then (at the time we are speaking of) the guest of Gabinius, and intended to accompany him in an expedition against the Parthians, but unknown to Gabinius, he was conducted away by some (friends) to the queen, and declared king.At this time Pompey the Great entertained Auletes as his guest on his arrival at Rome, and recommended him to the senate, negotiated his return, and contrived the execution of most of the deputies, in number a hundred, who had undertaken to appear against him: at their head was Dion the academic philosopher.Ptolemy (Auletes) on being restored by Gabinius, put to death both Archelaus and his daughter; but not long after he was reinstated in his kingdom, he died a natural death, leaving two sons and two daughters, the eldest of whom was Cleopatra.The Alexandrines declared as sovereigns the eldest son and Cleopatra. But the adherents of the son excited a sedition, and banished Cleopatra, who retired with her sister into Syria.It was about this time that Pompey the Great, in his flight from Palaepharsalus, came to Pelusium and Mount Casium. He was treacherously slain by the king's party. When Caesar arrived, he put the young prince to death, and sending for Cleopatra from her place of exile, appointed her queen of Egypt, declaring also her surviving brother, who was very young, and herself joint sovereigns.After the death of Caesar and the battle at Pharsalia, Antony passed over into Asia; he raised Cleopatra to the highest dignity, made her his wife, and had children by her. He was present with her at the battle of Actium, and accompanied her in her flight. Augustus Caesar pursued them, put an end to their power, and rescued Egypt from misgovernment and revelry. |
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| 31. Athenaeus, Fgrh 270, None Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 23 |
| 32. Papyri, Papyri, 63 Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 22 |
| 33. Justinus, Epitome Historiarum Philippicarum, 36.1, 38.8-39.2, 38.8, 38.8.4, 38.9, 38.10, 38.11, 38.12, 38.13, 39.1, 39.2, 39.3, 39.4 Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 73 |
| 38. Pseudo-Hecataeus, Apud Josephus, Ap., 1.186-1.189 Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii Found in books: Salvesen et al. (2020), Israel in Egypt: The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period, 166 |
| 39. Eusebius of Caesarea, Chronicon, 1.61, 1.165, 1.257-1.259 Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 24, 73 |
| 40. Epigraphy, Teos, 62 Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii Found in books: Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 78 |
| 41. Papyri, Cpj, 1.132 Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 22 |
| 42. Epigraphy, C.Ord.Ptol. No., 53 Tagged with subjects: •ptolemy viii euergetes ii (physcon) Found in books: Bacchi (2022), Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, and Politics, 24 |
