1. Hebrew Bible, Ezekiel, 44.18 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •rome, jews in rome Found in books: Goodman (2006), Judaism in the Roman World: Collected Essays, 52| 44.18. "פַּאֲרֵי פִשְׁתִּים יִהְיוּ עַל־רֹאשָׁם וּמִכְנְסֵי פִשְׁתִּים יִהְיוּ עַל־מָתְנֵיהֶם לֹא יַחְגְּרוּ בַּיָּזַע׃", | 44.18. "They shall have linen tires upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.", |
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| 2. Aristotle, Politics, None (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 448 |
3. Septuagint, 2 Maccabees, 4.2 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •revolt, of jews against rome Found in books: Iricinschi et al. (2013), Beyond the Gnostic Gospels: Studies Building on the Work of Elaine Pagels, 407 | 4.2. He dared to designate as a plotter against the government the man who was the benefactor of the city, the protector of his fellow countrymen, and a zealot for the laws.' |
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4. Cicero, Pro Flacco, 28.66-28.69 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Goodman (2006), Judaism in the Roman World: Collected Essays, 52; Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 454, 464| 66. genere testium; sed tamen vestrum est, iudices, omnia quae dici possunt in hominum levitatem, inconstantiam, cupiditatem, etiam si a me minus dicuntur, vestris animis et cogitatione comprendere. sequitur auri illa invidia Iudaici. hoc nimirum est illud quod non longe a gradibus Aureliis haec causa dicitur. ob hoc crimen hic locus abs te, Laeli, atque illa turba quaesita est; scis quanta sit manus, quanta concordia, quantum valeat in contionibus. sic submissa voce agam tantum ut iudices audiant; neque enim desunt qui istos in me atque in optimum quemque incitent; quos ego, quo id facilius faciant, non adiuvabo. | |
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| 5. Cicero, On His Consulship, 7.15 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •jews, beggars in rome Found in books: Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 464 |
6. Philo of Alexandria, On The Embassy To Gaius, 156-157, 155 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 448, 449 | 155. How then did he look upon the great division of Rome which is on the other side of the river Tiber, which he was well aware was occupied and inhabited by the Jews? And they were mostly Roman citizens, having been emancipated; for, having been brought as captives into Italy, they were manumitted by those who had bought them for slaves, without ever having been compelled to alter any of their hereditary or national observances. |
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| 7. Seneca The Younger, Letters, 108.22 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •claudius, his treatment of the jews in rome Found in books: Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 458 |
8. New Testament, Matthew, 10.4 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •revolt, of jews against rome Found in books: Iricinschi et al. (2013), Beyond the Gnostic Gospels: Studies Building on the Work of Elaine Pagels, 407| 10.4. Σίμων ὁ Καναναῖος καὶ Ἰούδας ὁ Ἰσκαριώτης ὁ καὶ παραδοὺς αὐτόν. | 10.4. Simon the Canaanite; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. |
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9. New Testament, Mark, 3.18 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •revolt, of jews against rome Found in books: Iricinschi et al. (2013), Beyond the Gnostic Gospels: Studies Building on the Work of Elaine Pagels, 407| 3.18. καὶ Ἀνδρέαν καὶ Φίλιππον καὶ Βαρθολομαῖον καὶ Μαθθαῖον καὶ Θωμᾶν καὶ Ἰάκωβον τὸν τοῦ Ἁλφαίου καὶ Θαδδαῖον καὶ Σίμωνα τὸν Καναναῖον | 3.18. Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James, the son of Alphaeus; Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot; |
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10. Tacitus, Annals, 11.15.1, 15.44 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •claudius, his treatment of the jews in rome Found in books: Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 458, 485| 15.44. Et haec quidem humanis consiliis providebantur. mox petita dis piacula aditique Sibyllae libri, ex quibus supplicatum Vulcano et Cereri Proserpinaeque ac propitiata Iuno per matronas, primum in Capitolio, deinde apud proximum mare, unde hausta aqua templum et simulacrum deae perspersum est; et sellisternia ac pervigilia celebravere feminae quibus mariti erant. sed non ope humana, non largitionibus principis aut deum placamentis decedebat infamia quin iussum incendium crederetur. ergo abolendo rumori Nero subdidit reos et quaesitissimis poenis adfecit quos per flagitia invisos vulgus Christianos appellabat. auctor nominis eius Christus Tiberio imperitante per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio adfectus erat; repressaque in praesens exitiabilis superstitio rursum erumpebat, non modo per Iudaeam, originem eius mali, sed per urbem etiam quo cuncta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt celebranturque. igitur primum correpti qui fatebantur, deinde indicio eorum multitudo ingens haud proinde in crimine incendii quam odio humani generis convicti sunt. et pereuntibus addita ludibria, ut ferarum tergis contecti laniatu canum interirent, aut crucibus adfixi aut flammandi, atque ubi defecisset dies in usum nocturni luminis urerentur. hortos suos ei spectaculo Nero obtulerat et circense ludicrum edebat, habitu aurigae permixtus plebi vel curriculo insistens. unde quamquam adversus sontis et novissima exempla meritos miseratio oriebatur, tamquam non utilitate publica sed in saevitiam unius absumerentur. | 15.44. So far, the precautions taken were suggested by human prudence: now means were sought for appeasing deity, and application was made to the Sibylline books; at the injunction of which public prayers were offered to Vulcan, Ceres, and Proserpine, while Juno was propitiated by the matrons, first in the Capitol, then at the nearest point of the sea-shore, where water was drawn for sprinkling the temple and image of the goddess. Ritual banquets and all-night vigils were celebrated by women in the married state. But neither human help, nor imperial munificence, nor all the modes of placating Heaven, could stifle scandal or dispel the belief that the fire had taken place by order. Therefore, to scotch the rumour, Nero substituted as culprits, and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men, loathed for their vices, whom the crowd styled Christians. Christus, the founder of the name, had undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilatus, and the pernicious superstition was checked for a moment, only to break out once more, not merely in Judaea, the home of the disease, but in the capital itself, where all things horrible or shameful in the world collect and find a vogue. First, then, the confessed members of the sect were arrested; next, on their disclosures, vast numbers were convicted, not so much on the count of arson as for hatred of the human race. And derision accompanied their end: they were covered with wild beasts' skins and torn to death by dogs; or they were fastened on crosses, and, when daylight failed were burned to serve as lamps by night. Nero had offered his Gardens for the spectacle, and gave an exhibition in his Circus, mixing with the crowd in the habit of a charioteer, or mounted on his car. Hence, in spite of a guilt which had earned the most exemplary punishment, there arose a sentiment of pity, due to the impression that they were being sacrificed not for the welfare of the state but to the ferocity of a single man. |
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11. New Testament, Luke, 6.15 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •revolt, of jews against rome Found in books: Iricinschi et al. (2013), Beyond the Gnostic Gospels: Studies Building on the Work of Elaine Pagels, 407| 6.15. καὶ Μαθθαῖον καὶ Θωμᾶν [καὶ] Ἰάκωβον Ἁλφαίου καὶ Σίμωνα τὸν καλούμενον Ζηλωτὴν | 6.15. Matthew; Thomas; James, the son of Alphaeus; Simon, who was called the Zealot; |
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12. New Testament, Romans, 1.7, 1.11, 1.12, 1.13, 14.1-15.6, 16 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Ashbrook Harvey et al. (2015), A Most Reliable Witness: Essays in Honor of Ross Shepard Kraemer, 82| 1.7. πᾶσιν τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν Ῥώμῃ ἀγαπητοῖς θεοῦ, κλητοῖς ἁγίοις· χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. | 1.7. to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. |
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13. New Testament, Galatians, 1.13, 1.23 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •revolt, of jews against rome Found in books: Iricinschi et al. (2013), Beyond the Gnostic Gospels: Studies Building on the Work of Elaine Pagels, 407| 1.13. Ἠκούσατε γὰρ τὴν ἐμὴν ἀναστροφήν ποτε ἐν τῷ Ἰουδαϊσμῷ, ὅτι καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν ἐδίωκον τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἐπόρθουν αὐτήν, 1.23. μόνον δὲ ἀκούοντες ἦσαν ὅτι Ὁ διώκων ἡμᾶς ποτὲ νῦν εὐαγγελίζεται τὴν πίστιν ἥν ποτε ἐπόρθει, | 1.13. For you have heard of my way ofliving in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure Ipersecuted the assembly of God, and ravaged it. 1.23. but they only heard: "He who once persecuted us nowpreaches the faith that he once tried to destroy." |
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| 14. Suetonius, Nero, 16.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •claudius, his treatment of the jews in rome Found in books: Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 485 |
| 15. Suetonius, Claudius, 25.4 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •claudius, his treatment of the jews in rome •jews, status in the city of rome of Found in books: Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 237, 449, 457, 458, 485 |
16. New Testament, Acts, 1.13, 8.1, 8.3, 9.1, 18.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •revolt, of jews against rome •claudius, his treatment of the jews in rome Found in books: Iricinschi et al. (2013), Beyond the Gnostic Gospels: Studies Building on the Work of Elaine Pagels, 407; Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 458| 1.13. Καὶ ὅτε εἰσῆλθον, εἰς τὸ ὑπερῷον ἀνέβησαν οὗ ἦσαν καταμένοντες, ὅ τε Πέτρος καὶ Ἰωάνης καὶ Ἰάκωβος καὶ Ἀνδρέας, Φίλιππος καὶ Θωμᾶς, Βαρθολομαῖος καὶ Μαθθαῖος, Ἰάκωβος Ἁλφαίου καὶ Σίμων ὁ ζηλωτὴς καὶ Ἰούδας Ἰακώβου. 8.1. Σαῦλος δὲ ἦν συνευδοκῶν τῇ ἀναιρέσει αὐτοῦ.Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ διωγμὸς μέγας ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τὴν ἐν Ἰεροσολύμοις· πάντες [δὲ] διεσπάρησαν κατὰ τὰς χώρας τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ Σαμαρίας πλὴν τῶν ἀποστόλων. 8.3. Σαῦλος δὲ ἐλυμαίνετο τὴν ἐκκλησίαν κατὰ τοὺς οἴκους εἰσπορευόμενος, σύρων τε ἄνδρας καὶ γυναῖκας παρεδίδου εἰς φυλακήν. 9.1. Ὁ δὲ Σαῦλος, ἔτι ἐνπνέων ἀπειλῆς καὶ φόνου εἰς τοὺς μαθητὰς τοῦ κυρίου, 18.2. καὶ εὑρών τινα Ἰουδαῖον ὀνόματι Ἀκύλαν, Ποντικὸν τῷ γένει, προσφάτως ἐληλυθότα ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰταλίας καὶ Πρίσκιλλαν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ διὰ τὸ διατεταχέναι Κλαύδιον χωρίζεσθαι πάντας τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ἀπὸ τῆς Ῥώμης, προσῆλθεν αὐτοῖς, | 1.13. When they had come in, they went up into the upper room, where they were staying; that is Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. 8.1. Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. 8.3. But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house, and dragged both men and women off to prison. 9.1. But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, 18.2. He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them, |
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| 17. Martial, Epigrams, 12.57 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •jews, beggars in rome Found in books: Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 464 |
| 18. Martial, Epigrams, 12.57 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •jews, beggars in rome Found in books: Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 464 |
19. Josephus Flavius, Jewish Antiquities, 13.62-13.73, 14.194-14.195, 14.213-14.316, 18.1, 20.250 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Feldman (2006), Judaism and Hellenism Reconsidered, 319; Goodman (2006), Judaism in the Roman World: Collected Essays, 52; Iricinschi et al. (2013), Beyond the Gnostic Gospels: Studies Building on the Work of Elaine Pagels, 407; Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 448 | 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. 13.73. However, Onias found other Jews like to himself, together with priests and Levites, that there performed divine service. But we have said enough about this temple. 14.194. for these reasons I will that Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, and his children, be ethnarchs of the Jews, and have the high priesthood of the Jews for ever, according to the customs of their forefathers, and that he and his sons be our confederates; and that besides this, everyone of them be reckoned among our particular friends. 14.195. I also ordain that he and his children retain whatsoever privileges belong to the office of high priest, or whatsoever favors have been hitherto granted them; and if at any time hereafter there arise any questions about the Jewish customs, I will that he determine the same. And I think it not proper that they should be obliged to find us winter quarters, or that any money should be required of them.” 14.213. 8. “Julius Caius, praetor [consul] of Rome, to the magistrates, senate, and people of the Parians, sendeth greeting. The Jews of Delos, and some other Jews that sojourn there, in the presence of your ambassadors, signified to us, that, by a decree of yours, you forbid them to make use of the customs of their forefathers, and their way of sacred worship. 14.214. Now it does not please me that such decrees should be made against our friends and confederates, whereby they are forbidden to live according to their own customs, or to bring in contributions for common suppers and holy festivals, while they are not forbidden so to do even at Rome itself; 14.215. for even Caius Caesar, our imperator and consul, in that decree wherein he forbade the Bacchanal rioters to meet in the city, did yet permit these Jews, and these only, both to bring in their contributions, and to make their common suppers. 14.216. Accordingly, when I forbid other Bacchanal rioters, I permit these Jews to gather themselves together, according to the customs and laws of their forefathers, and to persist therein. It will be therefore good for you, that if you have made any decree against these our friends and confederates, to abrogate the same, by reason of their virtue and kind disposition towards us.” 14.217. 9. Now after Caius was slain, when Marcus Antonius and Publius Dolabella were consuls, they both assembled the senate, and introduced Hyrcanus’s ambassadors into it, and discoursed of what they desired, and made a league of friendship with them. The senate also decreed to grant them all they desired. 14.218. I add the decree itself, that those who read the present work may have ready by them a demonstration of the truth of what we say. The decree was this: 14.219. 10. “The decree of the senate, copied out of the treasury, from the public tables belonging to the quaestors, when Quintus Rutilius and Caius Cornelius were quaestors, and taken out of the second table of the first class, on the third day before the Ides of April, in the temple of Concord. 14.220. There were present at the writing of this decree, Lucius Calpurnius Piso of the Menenian tribe, Servius Papinins Potitus of the Lemonian tribe, Caius Caninius Rebilius of the Terentine tribe, Publius Tidetius, Lucius Apulinus, the son of Lucius, of the Sergian tribe, Flavius, the son of Lucius, of the Lemonian tribe, Publius Platins, the son of Publius, of the Papyrian tribe, Marcus Acilius, the son of Marcus, of the Mecian tribe, Lucius Erucius, the son of Lucius, of the Stellatine tribe, Mareils Quintus Plancillus, the son of Marcus, of the Pollian tribe, and Publius Serius. 14.221. Publius Dolabella and Marcus Antonius, the consuls, made this reference to the senate, that as to those things which, by the decree of the senate, Caius Caesar had adjudged about the Jews, and yet had not hitherto that decree been brought into the treasury, it is our will, as it is also the desire of Publius Dolabella and Marcus Antonius, our consuls, to have these decrees put into the public tables, and brought to the city quaestors, that they may take care to have them put upon the double tables. 14.222. This was done before the fifth of the Ides of February, in the temple of Concord. Now the ambassadors from Hyrcanus the high priest were these: Lysimachus, the son of Pausanias, Alexander, the son of Theodorus, Patroclus, the son of Chereas, and Jonathan the son of Onias.” 14.223. 11. Hyrcanus sent also one of these ambassadors to Dolabella, who was then the prefect of Asia, and desired him to dismiss the Jews from military services, and to preserve to them the customs of their forefathers, and to permit them to live according to them. 14.224. And when Dolabella had received Hyrcanus’s letter, without any further deliberation, he sent an epistle to all the Asiatics, and particularly to the city of the Ephesians, the metropolis of Asia, about the Jews; a copy of which epistle here follows: 14.225. 12. “When Artermon was prytanis, on the first day of the month Leneon, Dolabella, imperator, to the senate, and magistrates, and people of the Ephesians, sendeth greeting. 14.226. Alexander, the son of Theodorus, the ambassador of Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, the high priest and ethnarch of the Jews, appeared before me, to show that his countrymen could not go into their armies, because they are not allowed to bear arms or to travel on the Sabbath days, nor there to procure themselves those sorts of food which they have been used to eat from the times of their forefathers;— 14.227. I do therefore grant them a freedom from going into the army, as the former prefects have done, and permit them to use the customs of their forefathers, in assembling together for sacred and religious purposes, as their law requires, and for collecting oblations necessary for sacrifices; and my will is, that you write this to the several cities under your jurisdiction.” 14.228. 13. And these were the concessions that Dolabella made to our nation when Hyrcanus sent an embassage to him. But Lucius the consul’s decree ran thus: “I have at my tribunal set these Jews, who are citizens of Rome, and follow the Jewish religious rites, and yet live at Ephesus, free from going into the army, on account of the superstition they are under. This was done before the twelfth of the calends of October, when Lucius Lentulus and Caius Marcellus were consuls, 14.229. in the presence of Titus Appius Balgus, the son of Titus, and lieutet of the Horatian tribe; of Titus Tongins, the son of Titus, of the Crustumine tribe; of Quintus Resius, the son of Quintus; of Titus Pompeius Longinus, the son of Titus; of Catus Servilius, the son of Caius, of the Terentine tribe; of Bracchus the military tribune; of Publius Lucius Gallus, the son of Publius, of the Veturian tribe; of Caius Sentius, the son of Caius, of the Sabbatine tribe; 14.230. of Titus Atilius Bulbus, the son of Titus, lieutet and vice-praetor to the magistrates, senate, and people of the Ephesians, sendeth greeting. Lucius Lentulus the consul freed the Jews that are in Asia from going into the armies, at my intercession for them; and when I had made the same petition some time afterward to Phanius the imperator, and to Lucius Antonius the vice-quaestor, I obtained that privilege of them also; and my will is, that you take care that no one give them any disturbance.” 14.231. 14. The decree of the Delians. “The answer of the praetors, when Beotus was archon, on the twentieth day of the month Thargeleon. While Marcus Piso the lieutet lived in our city, who was also appointed over the choice of the soldiers, he called us, and many other of the citizens, and gave order, 14.232. that if there be here any Jews who are Roman citizens, no one is to give them any disturbance about going into the army, because Cornelius Lentulus, the consul, freed the Jews from going into the army, on account of the superstition they are under;—you are therefore obliged to submit to the praetor.” And the like decree was made by the Sardians about us also. 14.233. 15. “Caius Phanius, the son of Caius, imperator and consul, to the magistrates of Cos, sendeth greeting. I would have you know that the ambassadors of the Jews have been with me, and desired they might have those decrees which the senate had made about them; which decrees are here subjoined. My will is, that you have a regard to and take care of these men, according to the senate’s decree, that they may be safely conveyed home through your country.” 14.234. 16. The declaration of Lucius Lentulus the consul: “I have dismissed those Jews who are Roman citizens, and who appear to me to have their religious rites, and to observe the laws of the Jews at Ephesus, on account of the superstition they are under. This act was done before the thirteenth of the calends of October.” 14.235. 17. “Lucius Antonius, the son of Marcus, vice-quaestor, and vice-praetor, to the magistrates, senate, and people of the Sardians, sendeth greeting. Those Jews that are our fellowcitizens of Rome came to me, and demonstrated that they had an assembly of their own, according to the laws of their forefathers, and this from the beginning, as also a place of their own, wherein they determined their suits and controversies with one another. Upon their petition therefore to me, that these might be lawful for them, I gave order that these their privileges be preserved, and they be permitted to do accordingly.” 14.236. 18. The declaration of Marcus Publius, the son of Spurius, and of Marcus, the son of Marcus, and of Lucius, the son of Publius: “We went to the proconsul, and informed him of what Dositheus, the son of Cleopatrida of Alexandria, desired, that, if he thought good, 14.237. he would dismiss those Jews who were Roman citizens, and were wont to observe the rites of the Jewish religion, on account of the superstition they were under. Accordingly, he did dismiss them. This was done before the thirteenth of the calends of October.” /p 19. “In the month Quntius, when Lucius Lentulus and Caius Mercellus were consuls; 14.238. and there were present Titus Appius Balbus, the son of Titus, lieutet of the Horatian tribe, Titus Tongius of the Crustumine tribe, Quintus Resius, the son of Quintus, Titus Pompeius, the son of Titus, Cornelius Longinus, Caius Servilius Bracchus, the son of Caius, a military tribune, of the Terentine tribe, Publius Clusius Gallus, the son of Publius, of the Veturian tribe, Caius Teutius, the son of Caius, a milital tribune, of the EmilJan tribe, Sextus Atilius Serranus, the son of Sextus, of the Esquiline tribe, 14.239. Caius Pompeius, the son of Caius, of the Sabbatine tribe, Titus Appius Meder, the son of Titus, Publius Servilius Strabo, the son of Publius, Lucius Paccius Capito, the son of Lucius, of the Colline tribe, Aulus Furius Tertius, the son of Aulus, and Appius Menus. 14.240. In the presence of these it was that Lentulus pronounced this decree: I have before the tribunal dismissed those Jews that are Roman citizens, and are accustomed to observe the sacred rites of the Jews at Ephesus, on account of the superstition they are under.” 14.241. 20. “The magistrates of the Laodiceans to Caius Rubilius, the son of Caius, the consul, sendeth greeting. Sopater, the ambassador of Hyrcanus the high priest, hath delivered us an epistle from thee, whereby he lets us know that certain ambassadors were come from Hyrcanus, the high priest of the Jews, and brought an epistle written concerning their nation, 14.242. wherein they desire that the Jews may be allowed to observe their Sabbaths, and other sacred rites, according to the laws of their forefathers, and that they may be under no command, because they are our friends and confederates, and that nobody may injure them in our provinces. Now although the Trallians there present contradicted them, and were not pleased with these decrees, yet didst thou give order that they should be observed, and informedst us that thou hadst been desired to write this to us about them. 14.243. We therefore, in obedience to the injunctions we have received from thee, have received the epistle which thou sentest us, and have laid it up by itself among our public records. And as to the other things about which thou didst send to us, we will take care that no complaint be made against us.” 14.244. 21. “Publius Servilius, the son of Publius, of the Galban tribe, the proconsul, to the magistrates, senate, and people of the Milesians, sendeth greeting. 14.245. Prytanes, the son of Hermes, a citizen of yours, came to me when I was at Tralles, and held a court there, and informed me that you used the Jews in a way different from my opinion, and forbade them to celebrate their Sabbaths, and to perform the sacred rites received from their forefathers, and to manage the fruits of the land, according to their ancient custom; and that he had himself been the promulger of your decree, according as your laws require: 14.246. I would therefore have you know, that upon hearing the pleadings on both sides, I gave sentence that the Jews should not be prohibited to make use of their own customs.” 14.247. 22. The decree of those of Pergamus. “When Cratippus was prytanis, on the first day of the month Desius, the decree of the praetors was this: Since the Romans, following the conduct of their ancestors, undertake dangers for the common safety of all mankind, and are ambitious to settle their confederates and friends in happiness, and in firm peace, 14.248. and since the nation of the Jews, and their high priest Hyrcanus, sent as ambassadors to them, Strato, the son of Theodatus, and Apollonius, the son of Alexander, and Eneas, the son of Antipater, 14.249. and Aristobulus, the son of Amyntas, and Sosipater, the son of Philip, worthy and good men, who gave a particular account of their affairs, the senate thereupon made a decree about what they had desired of them, that Antiochus the king, the son of Antiochus, should do no injury to the Jews, the confederates of the Romans; and that the fortresses, and the havens, and the country, and whatsoever else he had taken from them, should be restored to them; and that it may be lawful for them to export their goods out of their own havens; 14.250. and that no king nor people may have leave to export any goods, either out of the country of Judea, or out of their havens, without paying customs, but only Ptolemy, the king of Alexandria, because he is our confederate and friend; and that, according to their desire, the garrison that is in Joppa may be ejected. 14.251. Now Lucius Pettius, one of our senators, a worthy and good man, gave order that we should take care that these things should be done according to the senate’s decree; and that we should take care also that their ambassadors might return home in safety. 14.252. Accordingly, we admitted Theodorus into our senate and assembly, and took the epistle out of his hands, as well as the decree of the senate. And as he discoursed with great zeal about the Jews, and described Hyrcanus’s virtue and generosity, 14.253. and how he was a benefactor to all men in common, and particularly to every body that comes to him, we laid up the epistle in our public records; and made a decree ourselves, that since we also are in confederacy with the Romans, we would do every thing we could for the Jews, according to the senate’s decree. 14.254. Theodorus also, who brought the epistle, desired of our praetors, that they would send Hyrcanus a copy of that decree, as also ambassadors to signify to him the affection of our people to him, and to exhort them to preserve and augment their friendship for us, and be ready to bestow other benefits upon us, 14.255. as justly expecting to receive proper requitals from us; and desiring them to remember that our ancestors were friendly to the Jews even in the days of Abraham, who was the father of all the Hebrews, as we have [also] found it set down in our public records.” 14.256. 23. The decree of those of Halicarnassus. “When Memnon, the son of Orestidas by descent, but by adoption of Euonymus, was priest, on the —— day of the month Aristerion, the decree of the people, upon the representation of Marcus Alexander, was this: 14.257. Since we have ever a great regard to piety towards God, and to holiness; and since we aim to follow the people of the Romans, who are the benefactors of all men, and what they have written to us about a league of friendship and mutual assistance between the Jews and our city, and that their sacred offices and accustomed festivals and assemblies may be observed by them; 14.258. we have decreed, that as many men and women of the Jews as are willing so to do, may celebrate their Sabbaths, and perform their holy offices, according to the Jewish laws; and may make their proseuchae at the sea-side, according to the customs of their forefathers; and if any one, whether he be a magistrate or private person, hindereth them from so doing, he shall be liable to a fine, to be applied to the uses of the city.” 14.259. 24. The decree of the Sardians. “This decree was made by the senate and people, upon the representation of the praetors: Whereas those Jews who are fellowcitizens, and live with us in this city, have ever had great benefits heaped upon them by the people, and have come now into the senate, 14.260. and desired of the people, that upon the restitution of their law and their liberty, by the senate and people of Rome, they may assemble together, according to their ancient legal custom, and that we will not bring any suit against them about it; and that a place may be given them where they may have their congregations, with their wives and children, and may offer, as did their forefathers, their prayers and sacrifices to God. 14.261. Now the senate and people have decreed to permit them to assemble together on the days formerly appointed, and to act according to their own laws; and that such a place be set apart for them by the praetors, for the building and inhabiting the same, as they shall esteem fit for that purpose; and that those that take care of the provision for the city, shall take care that such sorts of food as they esteem fit for their eating may be imported into the city.” 14.262. 25. The decree of the Ephesians. “When Menophilus was prytanis, on the first day of the month Artemisius, this decree was made by the people: Nicanor, the son of Euphemus, pronounced it, upon the representation of the praetors. 14.263. Since the Jews that dwell in this city have petitioned Marcus Julius Pompeius, the son of Brutus, the proconsul, that they might be allowed to observe their Sabbaths, and to act in all things according to the customs of their forefathers, without impediment from any body, the praetor hath granted their petition. 14.264. Accordingly, it was decreed by the senate and people, that in this affair that concerned the Romans, no one of them should be hindered from keeping the Sabbath day, nor be fined for so doing, but that they may be allowed to do all things according to their own laws.” 14.265. 26. Now there are many such decrees of the senate and imperators of the Romans and those different from these before us, which have been made in favor of Hyrcanus, and of our nation; as also, there have been more decrees of the cities, and rescripts of the praetors, to such epistles as concerned our rights and privileges; and certainly such as are not ill-disposed to what we write may believe that they are all to this purpose, and that by the specimens which we have inserted; 14.266. for since we have produced evident marks that may still be seen of the friendship we have had with the Romans, and demonstrated that those marks are engraven upon columns and tables of brass in the capitol, that axe still in being, and preserved to this day, we have omitted to set them all down, as needless and disagreeable; 14.267. for I cannot suppose any one so perverse as not to believe the friendship we have had with the Romans, while they have demonstrated the same by such a great number of their decrees relating to us; nor will they doubt of our fidelity as to the rest of those decrees, since we have shown the same in those we have produced, And thus have we sufficiently explained that friendship and confederacy we at those times had with the Romans. 14.268. 1. Now it so fell out, that about this very time the affairs of Syria were in great disorder, and this on the occasion following: Cecilius Bassus, one of Pompey’s party, laid a treacherous design against Sextus Caesar, and slew him, and then took his army, and got the management of public affairs into his own hand; so there arose a great war about Apamia, while Caesar’s generals came against him with an army of horsemen and footmen; 14.269. to these Antipater also sent succors, and his sons with them, as calling to mind the kindnesses they had received from Caesar, and on that account he thought it but just to require punishment for him, and to take vengeance on the man that had murdered him. 14.270. And as the war was drawn out into a great length, Marcus came from Rome to take Sextus’s government upon him. But Caesar was slain by Cassius and Brutus in the senate-house, after he had retained the government three years and six months. This fact however, is related elsewhere. 14.271. 2. As the war that arose upon the death of Caesar was now begun, and the principal men were all gone, some one way, and some another, to raise armies, Cassius came from Rome into Syria, in order to receive the [army that lay in the] camp at Apamia; 14.272. and having raised the siege, he brought over both Bassus and Marcus to his party. He then went over the cities, and got together weapons and soldiers, and laid great taxes upon those cities; and he chiefly oppressed Judea, and exacted of it seven hundred talents: 14.273. but Antipater, when he saw the state to be in so great consternation and disorder, he divided the collection of that sum, and appointed his two sons to gather it; and so that part of it was to be exacted by Malichus, who was ill-disposed to him, and part by others. 14.274. And because Herod did exact what is required of him from Galilee before others, he was in the greatest favor with Cassius; for he thought it a part of prudence to cultivate a friendship with the Romans, and to gain their goodwill at the expense of others; 14.275. whereas the curators of the other cities, with their citizens, were sold for slaves; and Cassius reduced four cities into a state of slavery, the two most potent of which were Gophna and Emmaus; and, besides these, Lydia and Thamna. 14.276. Nay, Cassius was so very angry at Malichus, that he had killed him, (for he assaulted him,) had not Hyrcanus, by the means of Antipater, sent him a hundred talents of his own, and thereby pacified his anger against him. 14.277. 3. But after Cassius was gone out of Judea, Malichus laid snares for Antipater, as thinking that his death would-be the preservation of Hyrcanus’s government; but his design was not unknown to Antipater, which when he perceived, he retired beyond Jordan, and got together an army, partly of Arabs, and partly of his own countrymen. 14.278. However, Malichus, being one of great cunning, denied that he had laid any snares for him, and made his defense with an oath, both to himself and his sons; and said that while Phasaelus had a garrison in Jerusalem, and Herod had the weapons of war in his custody, he could never have a thought of any such thing. So Antipater, perceiving the distress that Malichus was in, was reconciled to him, 14.279. and made an agreement with him: this was when Marcus was president of Syria; who yet perceiving that this Malichus was making a disturbance in Judea, proceeded so far that he had almost killed him; but still, at the intercession of Antipater, he saved him. 14.280. 4. However, Antipater little thought that by saving Malichus he had saved his own murderer; for now Cassius and Marcus had got together an army, and intrusted the entire care of it with Herod, and made him general of the forces of Celesyria, and gave him a fleet of ships, and an army of horsemen and footmen; and promised him, that after the war was over they would make him king of Judea; for a war was already begun between Antony and the younger Caesar: 14.281. but as Malichus was most afraid of Antipater, he took him out of the way; and by the offer of money, persuaded the butler of Hyrcanus, with whom they were both to feast, to kill him by poison. This being done, and he having armed men with him, settled the affairs of the city. 14.282. But when Antipater’s sons, Herod and Phasaelus, were acquainted with this conspiracy against their father, and had indignation at it, Malichus denied all, and utterly renounced any knowledge of the murder. 14.283. And thus died Antipater, a man that had distinguished himself for piety and justice, and love to his country. And whereas one of his sons, Herod, resolved immediately to revenge their father’s death, and was coming upon Malichus with an army for that purpose, the elder of his sons, Phasaelus, thought it best rather to get this man into their hands by policy, lest they should appear to begin a civil war in the country; 14.284. o he accepted of Malichus’s defense for himself, and pretended to believe him that he had had no hand in the violent death of Antipater his father, but erected a fine monument for him. Herod also went to Samaria; and when he found them in great distress, he revived their spirits, and composed their differences. 14.285. 5. However, a little after this, Herod, upon the approach of a festival, came with his soldiers into the city; whereupon Malichus was affrighted, and persuaded Hyrcanus not to permit him to come into the city. Hyrcanus complied; and, for a pretense of excluding him, alleged, that a rout of strangers ought not to be admitted when the multitude were purifying themselves. 14.286. But Herod had little regard to the messengers that were sent to him, and entered the city in the night time, and affrighted Malichus; yet did he remit nothing of his former dissimulation, but wept for Antipater, and bewailed him as a friend of his with a loud voice; 14.287. but Herod and his friends though, it proper not openly to contradict Malichus’s hypocrisy, but to give him tokens of mutual friendship, in order to prevent his suspicion of them. 14.288. 6. However, Herod sent to Cassius, and informed him of the murder of his father; who knowing what sort of man Malichus was as to his morals, sent him back word that he should revenge his father’s death; and also sent privately to the commanders of his army at Tyre, with orders to assist Herod in the execution of a very just design of his. 14.289. Now when Cassius had taken Laodicea, they all went together to him, and carried him garlands and money; and Herod thought that Malichus might be punished while he was there; 14.290. but he was somewhat apprehensive of the thing, and designed to make some great attempt, and because his son was then a hostage at Tyre, he went to that city, and resolved to steal him away privately, and to march thence into Judea; and as Cassius was in haste to march against Antony, he thought to bring the country to revolt, and to procure the government for himself. 14.291. But Providence opposed his counsels; and Herod being a shrewd man, and perceiving what his intention was, he sent thither beforehand a servant, in appearance indeed to get a supper ready, for he had said before that he would feast them all there, but in reality to the commanders of the army, whom he persuaded to go out against Malichus, with their daggers. 14.292. So they went out and met the man near the city, upon the sea-shore, and there stabbed him. Whereupon Hyrcanus was so astonished at what had happened, that his speech failed him; and when, after some difficulty, he had recovered himself, he asked Herod what the matter could be, and who it was that slew Malichus; 14.293. and when he said that it was done by the command of Cassius, he commended the action; for that Malichus was a very wicked man, and one that conspired against his own country. And this was the punishment that was inflicted on Malichus for what he wickedly did to Antipater. 14.294. 7. But when Cassius was marched out of Syria, disturbances arose in Judea; for Felix, who was left at Jerusalem with an army, made a sudden attempt against Phasaelus, and the people themselves rose in arms; 14.295. but Herod went to Fabius, the prefect of Damascus, and was desirous to run to his brother’s assistance, but was hindered by a distemper that seized upon him, till Phasaelus by himself had been too hard for Felix, and had shut him up in the tower, and there, on certain conditions, dismissed him. Phasaelus also complained of Hyrcanus, that although he had received a great many benefits from them, yet did he support their enemies; 14.296. for Malichus’s brother had made many places to revolt, and kept garrisons in them, and particularly Masada, the strongest fortress of them all. In the mean time, Herod was recovered of his disease, and came and took from Felix all the places he had gotten; and, upon certain conditions, dismissed him also. 14.297. 1. Now Ptolemy, the son of Menneus, brought back into Judea Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, who had already raised an army, and had, by money, made Fabius to be his friend, add this because he was of kin to him. Marion also gave him assistance. He had been left by Cassius to tyrannize over Tyre; for this Cassius was a man that seized on Syria, and then kept it under, in the way of a tyrant. 14.298. Marion also marched into Galilee, which lay in his neighborhood, and took three of his fortresses, and put garrisons into them to keep them. But when Herod came, he took all from him; but the Tyrian garrison he dismissed in a very civil manner; nay, to some of the soldiers he made presents out of the good-will he bare to that city. 14.299. When he had despatched these affairs, and was gone to meet Antigonus, he joined battle with him, and beat him, and drove him out of Judea presently, when he was just come into its borders. But when he was come to Jerusalem, Hyrcanus and the people put garlands about his head; 14.300. for he had already contracted an affinity with the family of Hyrcanus by having espoused a descendant of his, and for that reason Herod took the greater care of him, as being to marry the daughter of Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, add the granddaughter of Hyrcanus, by which wife he became the father of three male and two female children. He had also married before this another wife, out of a lower family of his own nation, whose name was Doris, by whom he had his eldest son Antipater. 14.301. 2. Now Antonius and Caesar had beaten Cassius near Philippi, as others have related; but after the victory, Caesar went into Gaul, [Italy,] and Antony marched for Asia, who, when he was arrived at Bithynia, he had ambassadors that met him from all parts. 14.302. The principal men also of the Jews came thither, to accuse Phasaelus and Herod; and they said that Hyrcanus had indeed the appearance of reigning, but that these men had all the power: 14.303. but Antony paid great respect to Herod, who was come to him to make his defense against his accusers, on which account his adversaries could not so much as obtain a hearing; which favor Herod had gained of Antony by money. 14.304. But still, when Antony was come to Ephesus, Hyrcanus the high priest, and our nation, sent an embassage to him, which carried a crown of gold with them, and desired that he would write to the governors of the provinces, to set those Jews free who had been carried captive by Cassius, and this without their having fought against him, and to restore them that country, which, in the days of Cassius, had been taken from them. 14.305. Antony thought the Jews’ desires were just, and wrote immediately to Hyrcanus, and to the Jews. He also sent, at the same time, a decree to the Tyrians; the contents of which were to the same purpose. 14.306. 3. “Marcus Antonius, imperator, to Hyrcanus the high priest and ethnarch of the Jews, sendeth greeting. It you be in health, it is well; I am also in health, with the army. 14.307. Lysimachus, the son of Pausanias, and Josephus, the son of Menneus, and Alexander, the son of Theodorus, your ambassadors, met me at Ephesus, and have renewed the embassage which they had formerly been upon at Rome, and have diligently acquitted themselves of the present embassage, which thou and thy nation have intrusted to them, and have fully declared the goodwill thou hast for us. 14.308. I am therefore satisfied, both by your actions and your words, that you are well-disposed to us; and I understand that your conduct of life is constant and religious: so I reckon upon you as our own. 14.309. But when those that were adversaries to you, and to the Roman people, abstained neither from cities nor temples, and did not observe the agreement they had confirmed by oath, it was not only on account of our contest with them, but on account of all mankind in common, that we have taken vengeance on those who have been the authors of great injustice towards men, and of great wickedness towards the gods; for the sake of which we suppose that it was that the sun turned away his light from us, as unwilling to view the horrid crime they were guilty of in the case of Caesar. 14.310. We have also overcome their conspiracies, which threatened the gods themselves, which Macedonia received, as it is a climate peculiarly proper for impious and insolent attempts; and we have overcome that confused rout of men, half mad with spite against us, which they got together at Philippi in Macedonia, when they seized on the places that were proper for their purpose, and, as it were, walled them round with mountains to the very sea, and where the passage was open only through a single gate. This victory we gained, because the gods had condemned those men for their wicked enterprises. 14.311. Now Brutus, when he had fled as far as Philippi, was shut up by us, and became a partaker of the same perdition with Cassius; and now these have received their punishment, we suppose that we may enjoy peace for the time to come, and that Asia may be at rest from war. 14.312. We therefore make that peace which God hath given us common to our confederates also, insomuch that the body of Asia is now recovered out of that distemper it was under by the means of our victory. I, therefore, bearing in mind both thee and your nation, shall take care of what may be for your advantage. 14.313. I have also sent epistles in writing to the several cities, that if any persons, whether free-men or bond-men, have been sold under the spear by Caius Cassius, or his subordinate officers, they may be set free. And I will that you kindly make use of the favors which I and Dolabella have granted you. I also forbid the Tyrians to use any violence with you; and for what places of the Jews they now possess, I order them to restore them. I have withal accepted of the crown which thou sentest me.” 14.314. 4. “Marcus Antonius, imperator, to the magistrates, senate, and people of Tyre, sendeth greeting. The ambassadors of Hyrcanus, the high priest and ethnarch [of the Jews], appeared before me at Ephesus, and told me that you are in possession of part of their country, which you entered upon under the government of our adversaries. 14.315. Since, therefore, we have undertaken a war for the obtaining the government, and have taken care to do what was agreeable to piety and justice, and have brought to punishment those that had neither any remembrance of the kindnesses they had received, nor have kept their oaths, I will that you be at peace with those that are our confederates; as also, that what you have taken by the means of our adversaries shall not be reckoned your own, but be returned to those from whom you took them; 14.316. for none of them took their provinces or their armies by the gift of the senate, but they seized them by force, and bestowed them by violence upon such as became useful to them in their unjust proceedings. 18.1. 1. Now Cyrenius, a Roman senator, and one who had gone through other magistracies, and had passed through them till he had been consul, and one who, on other accounts, was of great dignity, came at this time into Syria, with a few others, being sent by Caesar to be a judge of that nation, and to take an account of their substance. 20.250. Accordingly, the number of the high priests, from the days of Herod until the day when Titus took the temple and the City, and burnt them, were in all twenty-eight; the time also that belonged to them was a hundred and seven years. |
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20. Josephus Flavius, Jewish War, 2.434, 6.127, 6.241, 7.1, 7.420-7.432 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •revolts, of jews against rome, causes of •revolts, of jews against rome, connections of with revolt of the maccabees •rome, jews in rome Found in books: Feldman (2006), Judaism and Hellenism Reconsidered, 319; Goodman (2006), Judaism in the Roman World: Collected Essays, 52 | 2.434. where he broke open king Herod’s armory, and gave arms not only to his own people, but to other robbers also. These he made use of for a guard, and returned in the state of a king to Jerusalem; he became the leader of the sedition, and gave orders for continuing the siege; 6.127. I appeal to the gods of my own country, and to every god that ever had any regard to this place (for I do not suppose it to be now regarded by any of them); I also appeal to my own army, and to those Jews that are now with me, and even to you yourselves, that I do not force you to defile this your sanctuary; 6.241. But Titus said, that “although the Jews should get upon that holy house, and fight us thence, yet ought we not to revenge ourselves on things that are iimate, instead of the men themselves;” and that he was not in any case for burning down so vast a work as that was, because this would be a mischief to the Romans themselves, as it would be an ornament to their government while it continued. 7.1. 1. Now, as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other such work to be done) Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as were of the greatest eminency; that is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and Mariamne; and so much of the wall as enclosed the city on the west side. 7.420. 2. Now Lupus did then govern Alexandria, who presently sent Caesar word of this commotion; 7.421. who having in suspicion the restless temper of the Jews for innovation, and being afraid lest they should get together again, and persuade some others to join with them, gave orders to Lupus to demolish that Jewish temple which was in the region called Onion, 7.422. and was in Egypt, which was built and had its denomination from the occasion following: 7.423. Onias, the son of Simon, one of the Jewish high priests, fled from Antiochus the king of Syria, when he made war with the Jews, and came to Alexandria; and as Ptolemy received him very kindly, on account of his hatred to Antiochus, he assured him, that if he would comply with his proposal, he would bring all the Jews to his assistance; 7.424. and when the king agreed to do it so far as he was able, he desired him to give him leave to build a temple somewhere in Egypt, and to worship God according to the customs of his own country; 7.425. for that the Jews would then be so much readier to fight against Antiochus who had laid waste the temple at Jerusalem, and that they would then come to him with greater goodwill; and that, by granting them liberty of conscience, very many of them would come over to him. 7.426. 3. So Ptolemy complied with his proposals, and gave him a place one hundred and eighty furlongs distant from Memphis. That Nomos was called the Nomos of Heliopoli 7.427. where Onias built a fortress and a temple, not like to that at Jerusalem, but such as resembled a tower. He built it of large stones to the height of sixty cubits; 7.428. he made the structure of the altar in imitation of that in our own country, and in like manner adorned with gifts, excepting the make of the candlestick, 7.429. for he did not make a candlestick, but had a [single] lamp hammered out of a piece of gold, which illuminated the place with its rays, and which he hung by a chain of gold; 7.430. but the entire temple was encompassed with a wall of burnt brick, though it had gates of stone. The king also gave him a large country for a revenue in money, that both the priests might have a plentiful provision made for them, and that God might have great abundance of what things were necessary for his worship. 7.431. Yet did not Onias do this out of a sober disposition, but he had a mind to contend with the Jews at Jerusalem, and could not forget the indignation he had for being banished thence. Accordingly, he thought that by building this temple he should draw away a great number from them to himself. 7.432. There had been also a certain ancient prediction made by [a prophet] whose name was Isaiah, about six hundred years before, that this temple should be built by a man that was a Jew in Egypt. And this is the history of the building of that temple. |
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| 21. Tacitus, Histories, 2.4.3, 5.2.2, 5.5.3 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •jews, beggars in rome •claudius, his treatment of the jews in rome Found in books: Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 464, 485 |
| 22. Juvenal, Satires, 3.10-3.18, 3.290-3.296, 6.542-6.547, 8.158-8.162, 14.100-14.104 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •jews, beggars in rome •christians, on jews in rome Found in books: Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 454, 464, 465 |
23. Tertullian, Apology, 21 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •jews, status in the city of rome of Found in books: Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 449 | 21. But having asserted that our religion is supported by the writings of the Jews, the oldest which exist, though it is generally known, and we fully admit that it dates from a comparatively recent period - no further back indeed than the reign of Tiberius- a question may perhaps be raised on this ground about its standing, as if it were hiding something of its presumption under shadow of an illustrious religion, one which has at any rate undoubted allowance of the law, or because, apart from the question of age, we neither accord with the Jews in their peculiarities in regard to food, nor in their sacred days, nor even in their well-known bodily sign, nor in the possession of a common name, which surely behooved to be the case if we did homage to the same God as they. Then, too, the common people have now some knowledge of Christ, and think of Him as but a man, one indeed such as the Jews condemned, so that some may naturally enough have taken up the idea that we are worshippers of a mere human being. But we are neither ashamed of Christ - for we rejoice to be counted His disciples, and in His name to suffer - nor do we differ from the Jews concerning God. We must make, therefore, a remark or two as to Christ's divinity. In former times the Jews enjoyed much of God's favour, when the fathers of their race were noted for their righteousness and faith. So it was that as a people they flourished greatly, and their kingdom attained to a lofty eminence; and so highly blessed were they, that for their instruction God spoke to them in special revelations, pointing out to them beforehand how they should merit His favor and avoid His displeasure. But how deeply they have sinned, puffed up to their fall with a false trust in their noble ancestors, turning from God's way into a way of sheer impiety, though they themselves should refuse to admit it, their present national ruin would afford sufficient proof. Scattered abroad, a race of wanderers, exiles from their own land and clime, they roam over the whole world without either a human or a heavenly king, not possessing even the stranger's right to set so much as a simple footstep in their native country. The sacred writers withal, in giving previous warning of these things, all with equal clearness ever declared that, in the last days of the world, God would, out of every nation, and people, and country, choose for Himself more faithful worshippers, upon whom He would bestow His grace, and that indeed in ampler measure, in keeping with the enlarged capacities of a nobler dispensation. Accordingly, He appeared among us, whose coming to renovate and illuminate man's nature was pre-announced by God- I mean Christ, that Son of God. And so the supreme Head and Master of this grace and discipline, the Enlightener and Trainer of the human race, God's own Son, was announced among us, born - but not so born as to make Him ashamed of the name of Son or of His paternal origin. It was not His lot to have as His father, by incest with a sister, or by violation of a daughter or another's wife, a god in the shape of serpent, or ox, or bird, or lover, for his vile ends transmuting himself into the gold of Danaus. They are your divinities upon whom these base deeds of Jupiter were done. But the Son of God has no mother in any sense which involves impurity; she, whom men suppose to be His mother in the ordinary way, had never entered into the marriage bond. But, first, I shall discuss His essential nature, and so the nature of His birth will be understood. We have already asserted that God made the world, and all which it contains, by His Word, and Reason, and Power. It is abundantly plain that your philosophers, too, regard the Logos- that is, the Word and Reason - as the Creator of the universe. For Zeno lays it down that he is the creator, having made all things according to a determinate plan; that his name is Fate, and God, and the soul of Jupiter, and the necessity of all things. Cleanthes ascribes all this to spirit, which he maintains pervades the universe. And we, in like manner, hold that the Word, and Reason, and Power, by which we have said God made all, have spirit as their proper and essential substratum, in which the Word has in being to give forth utterances, and reason abides to dispose and arrange, and power is over all to execute. We have been taught that He proceeds forth from God, and in that procession He is generated; so that He is the Son of God, and is called God from unity of substance with God. For God, too, is a Spirit. Even when the ray is shot from the sun, it is still part of the parent mass; the sun will still be in the ray, because it is a ray of the sun - there is no division of substance, but merely an extension. Thus Christ is Spirit of Spirit, and God of God, as light of light is kindled. The material matrix remains entire and unimpaired, though you derive from it any number of shoots possessed of its qualities; so, too, that which has come forth out of God is at once God and the Son of God, and the two are one. In this way also, as He is Spirit of Spirit and God of God, He is made a second in manner of existence- in position, not in nature; and He did not withdraw from the original source, but went forth. This ray of God, then, as it was always foretold in ancient times, descending into a certain virgin, and made flesh in her womb, is in His birth God and man united. The flesh formed by the Spirit is nourished, grows up to manhood, speaks, teaches, works, and is the Christ. Receive meanwhile this fable, if you choose to call it so - it is like some of your own - while we go on to show how Christ's claims are proved, and who the parties are with you by whom such fables have been set a going to overthrow the truth, which they resemble. The Jews, too, were well aware that Christ was coming, as those to whom the prophets spoke. Nay, even now His advent is expected by them; nor is there any other contention between them and us, than that they believe the advent has not yet occurred. For two comings of Christ having been revealed to us: a first, which has been fulfilled in the lowliness of a human lot; a second, which impends over the world, now near its close, in all the majesty of Deity unveiled; and, by misunderstanding the first, they have concluded that the second - which, as matter of more manifest prediction, they set their hopes on - is the only one. It was the merited punishment of their sin not to understand the Lord's first advent: for if they had, they would have believed; and if they had believed, they would have obtained salvation. They themselves read how it is written of them that they are deprived of wisdom and understanding - of the use of eyes and ears. Isaiah 6:10 As, then, under the force of their pre-judgment, they had convinced themselves from His lowly guise that Christ was no more than man, it followed from that, as a necessary consequence, that they should hold Him a magician from the powers which He displayed - expelling devils from men by a word, restoring vision to the blind, cleansing the leprous, reinvigorating the paralytic, summoning the dead to life again, making the very elements of nature obey Him, stilling the storms and walking on the sea; proving that He was the Logos of God, that primordial first-begotten Word, accompanied by power and reason, and based on Spirit, - that He who was now doing all things by His word, and He who had done that of old, were one and the same. But the Jews were so exasperated by His teaching, by which their rulers and chiefs were convicted of the truth, chiefly because so many turned aside to Him, that at last they brought Him before Pontius Pilate, at that time Roman governor of Syria; and, by the violence of their outcries against Him, extorted a sentence giving Him up to them to be crucified. He Himself had predicted this; which, however, would have signified little had not the prophets of old done it as well. And yet, nailed upon the cross, He exhibited many notable signs, by which His death was distinguished from all others. At His own free-will, He with a word dismissed from Him His spirit, anticipating the executioner's work. In the same hour, too, the light of day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze. Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an eclipse. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives. Then, when His body was taken down from the cross and placed in a sepulchre, the Jews in their eager watchfulness surrounded it with a large military guard, lest, as He had predicted His resurrection from the dead on the third day, His disciples might remove by stealth His body, and deceive even the incredulous. But, lo, on the third day there a was a sudden shock of earthquake, and the stone which sealed the sepulchre was rolled away, and the guard fled off in terror: without a single disciple near, the grave was found empty of all but the clothes of the buried One. But nevertheless, the leaders of the Jews, whom it nearly concerned both to spread abroad a lie, and keep back a people tributary and submissive to them from the faith, gave it out that the body of Christ had been stolen by His followers. For the Lord, you see, did not go forth into the public gaze, lest the wicked should be delivered from their error; that faith also, destined to a great reward, might hold its ground in difficulty. But He spent forty days with some of His disciples down in Galilee, a region of Judea, instructing them in the doctrines they were to teach to others. Thereafter, having given them commission to preach the gospel through the world, He was encompassed with a cloud and taken up to heaven, - a fact more certain far than the assertions of your Proculi concerning Romulus. All these things Pilate did to Christ; and now in fact a Christian in his own convictions, he sent word of Him to the reigning C sar, who was at the time Tiberius. Yes, and the C sars too would have believed on Christ, if either the C sars had not been necessary for the world, or if Christians could have been C sars. His disciples also, spreading over the world, did as their Divine Master bade them; and after suffering greatly themselves from the persecutions of the Jews, and with no unwilling heart, as having faith undoubting in the truth, at last by Nero's cruel sword sowed the seed of Christian blood at Rome. Yes, and we shall prove that even your own gods are effective witnesses for Christ. It is a great matter if, to give you faith in Christians, I can bring forward the authority of the very beings on account of whom you refuse them credit. Thus far we have carried out the plan we laid down. We have set forth this origin of our sect and name, with this account of the Founder of Christianity. Let no one henceforth charge us with infamous wickedness; let no one think that it is otherwise than we have represented, for none may give a false account of his religion. For in the very fact that he says he worships another god than he really does, he is guilty of denying the object of his worship, and transferring his worship and homage to another; and, in the transference, he ceases to worship the god he has repudiated. We say, and before all men we say, and torn and bleeding under your tortures, we cry out, We worship God through Christ. Count Christ a man, if you please; by Him and in Him God would be known and be adored. If the Jews object, we answer that Moses, who was but a man, taught them their religion; against the Greeks we urge that Orpheus at Pieria, Mus us at Athens, Melampus at Argos, Trophonius in Bœotia, imposed religious rites; turning to yourselves, who exercise sway over the nations, it was the man Numa Pompilius who laid on the Romans a heavy load of costly superstitions. Surely Christ, then, had a right to reveal Deity, which was in fact His own essential possession, not with the object of bringing boors and savages by the dread of multitudinous gods, whose favour must be won into some civilization, as was the case with Numa; but as one who aimed to enlighten men already civilized, and under illusions from their very culture, that they might come to the knowledge of the truth. Search, then, and see if that divinity of Christ be true. If it be of such a nature that the acceptance of it transforms a man, and makes him truly good, there is implied in that the duty of renouncing what is opposed to it as false; especially and on every ground that which, hiding itself under the names and images of dead, the labours to convince men of its divinity by certain signs, and miracles, and oracles. |
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| 24. Palestinian Talmud, Sanhedrin, None (2nd cent. CE - 5th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •rome, jews as provincial minority Found in books: Hayes (2022), The Literature of the Sages: A Re-Visioning, 314 |
25. Cassius Dio, Roman History, 60.6.6 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •claudius, his treatment of the jews in rome •jews, status in the city of rome of Found in books: Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 449, 458 | 60.6.6. As for the Jews, who had again increased so greatly that by reason of their multitude it would have been hard without raising a tumult to bar them from the city, he did not drive them out, but ordered them, while continuing their traditional mode of life, not to hold meetings. He also disbanded the clubs, which had been reintroduced by Gaius. |
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| 26. Anon., Sifre Deuteronomy, 343 (2nd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •rome, jews as provincial minority Found in books: Hayes (2022), The Literature of the Sages: A Re-Visioning, 315 |
27. Justin, First Apology, 53 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •revolts, of jews against rome Found in books: Feldman (2006), Judaism and Hellenism Reconsidered, 11 | 53. Though we could bring forward many other prophecies, we forbear, judging these sufficient for the persuasion of those who have ears to hear and understand; and considering also that those persons are able to see that we do not make mere assertions without being able to produce proof, like those fables that are told of the so-called sons of Jupiter. For with what reason should we believe of a crucified man that He is the first-born of the unbegotten God, and Himself will pass judgment on the whole human race, unless we had found testimonies concerning Him published before He came and was born as man, and unless we saw that things had happened accordingly - the devastation of the land of the Jews, and men of every race persuaded by His teaching through the apostles, and rejecting their old habits, in which, being deceived, they had their conversation; yea, seeing ourselves too, and knowing that the Christians from among the Gentiles are both more numerous and more true than those from among the Jews and Samaritans? For all the other human races are called Gentiles by the Spirit of prophecy; but the Jewish and Samaritan races are called the tribe of Israel, and the house of Jacob. And the prophecy in which it was predicted that there should be more believers from the Gentiles than from the Jews and Samaritans, we will produce: it ran thus: Rejoice, O barren, you that do not bear; break forth and shout, you that do not travail, because many more are the children of the desolate than of her that has an husband. Isaiah 54:1 For all the Gentiles were desolate of the true God, serving the works of their hands; but the Jews and Samaritans, having the word of God delivered to them by the prophets, and always expecting the Christ, did not recognise Him when He came, except some few, of whom the Spirit of prophecy by Isaiah had predicted that they should be saved. He spoke as from their person: Unless the Lord had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom and Gomorrha. Isaiah 1:9 For Sodom and Gomorrha are related by Moses to have been cities of ungodly men, which God burned with fire and brimstone, and overthrew, no one of their inhabitants being saved except a certain stranger, a Chald an by birth, whose name was Lot; with whom also his daughters were rescued. And those who care may yet see their whole country desolate and burned, and remaining barren. And to show how those from among the Gentiles were foretold as more true and more believing, we will cite what was said by Isaiah the prophet; for he spoke as follows Israel is uncircumcised in heart, but the Gentiles are uncircumcised in the flesh. So many things therefore, as these, when they are seen with the eye, are enough to produce conviction and belief in those who embrace the truth, and are not bigoted in their opinions, nor are governed by their passions. |
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28. Babylonian Talmud, Nedarim, None (3rd cent. CE - 6th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •revolts, of jews against rome Found in books: Feldman (2006), Judaism and Hellenism Reconsidered, 11| 50a. דלי ציפתא ואמר ליה לשלוחא חזי מאי איכא מיהו לא ניחא לי דאיתהני בהדין עלמא,ר' עקיבא איתקדשת ליה ברתיה (דבר) דכלבא שבוע שמע (בר) כלבא שבוע אדרה הנאה מכל נכסיה אזלא ואיתנסיבה ליה,בסיתוא הוה גנו בי תיבנא הוה קא מנקיט ליה תיבנא מן מזייה אמר לה אי הואי לי רמינא ליך ירושלים דדהבא אתא אליהו אידמי להון כאנשא וקא קרי אבבא אמר להו הבו לי פורתא דתיבנא דילדת אתתי ולית לי מידעם לאגונה אמר לה ר' עקיבא לאנתתיה חזי גברא דאפילו תיבנא לא אית ליה,אמרה ליה זיל הוי בי רב אזל תרתי סרי שנין קמי דר' אליעזר ור' יהושע למישלם תרתי סרי שנין קא אתא לביתיה שמע מן אחורי ביתיה דקאמר לה חד רשע לדביתהו שפיר עביד ליך אבוך חדא דלא דמי ליך ועוד [שבקך] ארמלות חיות כולהון שנין אמרה ליה אי צאית לדילי ליהוי תרתי סרי שנין אחרנייתא אמר הואיל ויהבת לי רשותא איהדר לאחורי הדר אזל הוה תרתי סרי שני אחרנייתא,אתא בעשרין וארבעה אלפין זוגי תלמידי נפוק כולי עלמא לאפיה ואף היא קמת למיפק לאפיה אמר לה ההוא רשיעא ואת להיכא אמרה ליה (משלי יב, י) יודע צדיק נפש בהמתו אתת לאיתחזויי ליה קא מדחן לה רבנן אמר להון הניחו לה שלי ושלכם שלה הוא שמע (בר) כלבא שבוע אתא ואיתשיל על נידריה ואשתריי ואשתרי,מן שית מילי איעתר רבי עקיבא מן כלבא שבוע מן אילא דספינתא דכל ספינתא עבדין ליה מין עינא זימנא חדא אנשיוה על כיף ימא אתא הוא אשכחיה,ומן גווזא דזימנא חדא יהיב ארבעה זוזי לספונאי אמר להו אייתי לי מדעם ולא אשכחו אלא גווזא על כיף ימא אתיוה ליה אמרו ליה עביד מרנא עליה אישתכח דהוה מלי דינרי דזימנא חדא טבעת ספינתא וכולי עיסקא הוה מחית בההוא גווזא ואישתכח בההוא זימנא,דמן דסרוקיתא ומן מטרוניתא | 50a. b He lifted the mat [ i tzifeta /i ] /b upon which he was sitting b and said to the messenger: See what there is /b here. The place was miraculously filled with gold dinars. This demonstrated that Rabbi Yehuda could have had plenty of money if he had so desired. He explained: b However, it is not amenable to me to derive benefit in this world. /b ,§ In connection to the above incident concerning the poverty of scholars and their potential to become wealthy through remarkable circumstances, the Gemara relates an incident: b Rabbi Akiva became betrothed to the daughter of bar Kalba Savua. /b When b bar Kalba Savua heard /b about their betrothal, he took a vow b prohibiting her from /b eating b all of his property. /b Despite this, b she went /b ahead b and married /b Rabbi Akiva., b In the winter they would sleep in a storehouse of straw, /b and Rabbi Akiva b would gather /b strands of b straw from her hair. He said to her: If I had /b the means b I would place on your /b head b a Jerusalem of Gold, /b a type of crown. b Elijah /b the prophet b came /b and b appeared to them as /b a regular b person and /b started b calling /b and knocking b on the door. He said to them: Give me a bit of straw, as my wife gave birth and I do not have anything on which to lay her. Rabbi Akiva said to his wife: See /b this b man, who does not even have straw. /b We should be happy with our lot, as we at least have straw to sleep on., b She said to him: Go /b and b be a student /b of Torah. b He went /b and studied Torah for b twelve years before Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua. At the completion of /b the b twelve years, he was coming home /b when b he heard from behind his house that one wicked person was saying to his wife: Your father behaved well toward you. /b He was right to disinherit you. b One /b reason is b that /b your husband b is not similar to you, /b i.e., he is not suitable for you. b And furthermore, he has left you in widowhood in his lifetime all these years. She said to him: If he listens to me, he should be /b there for b another twelve years. /b Rabbi Akiva b said: Since she has given me permission /b through this statement, b I will go back /b and study more. b He turned back /b and b went /b to the study hall, and he b was /b there for b another twelve years. /b ,Eventually b he came /b back accompanied b by 24,000 pairs of students. Everyone went out to /b greet b him, /b as he was by then a renowned teacher, b and she too arose to go out to /b greet b him. That wicked person said to her: And to where are you /b going? As she was excessively poor, she was not dressed in a grand manner, as fit for the wife of one so esteemed. b She said to him: “A righteous man regards the life of his beast” /b (Proverbs 12:10); he knows that I am in this state as a result of my dedication to him. b She came to present herself before /b Rabbi Akiva, but b the Sages /b tried to b fend her off, /b as they were unaware of her identity. b He said to them: Leave her. /b Both b my /b Torah knowledge b and yours are hers. /b When b bar Kalba Savua heard /b that the famous man was his son-in-law, b he came /b before halakhic authorities b and requested the dissolution of his vow, and it was dissolved. /b ,The Gemara adds: b Rabbi Akiva became wealthy from six things. /b First, b from /b the money he received from b Kalba Savua /b after his vow was dissolved. Second, he gained money b from the ram of a ship [ i eila disfineta /i ], as /b craftsmen would b fashion /b a sculpture of b a type of sheep for every ship, /b which would be placed on its bow, and which would be used to conceal money. On b one occasion, /b the sailors b forgot /b this ram b on the seashore, /b and Rabbi Akiva b came /b and b found it /b with the money stored inside., b And /b third, he became wealthy b from a log [ i gavza /i ] /b of wood, b as /b on b one occasion he gave four dinars to sailors /b and b said to them: Bring me something /b worthwhile. b And they found only a log /b of wood b on the seashore. They brought it to him /b and b said to him: May our master wait with this /b until we bring a more worthy item. b He found that /b the log b was full of dinars, as /b on b one occasion a ship sunk and all the merchandise, /b i.e., the money, owned by the people on the ship b was placed in that log, and it was found on that occasion /b by the sailors.,Rabbi Akiva became wealthy b from /b a convoy of b Ishmaelites [ i Serukita /i ]. And /b he became wealthy b from /b a certain b lady. /b Rabbi Akiva borrowed money from a lady and said that God would be his guarantor. When it came time to return the loan, the king’s daughter became insane and threw a purse of jewelry into the sea, which was found by that lady. She told Rabbi Akiva that his guarantor had paid his debt and she allowed him to keep the loan. |
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29. Babylonian Talmud, Gittin, None (3rd cent. CE - 6th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •revolts, of jews against rome, causes of •revolts, of jews against rome, connections of with revolt of the maccabees Found in books: Feldman (2006), Judaism and Hellenism Reconsidered, 319| 56b. איברא מלכא את דאי לאו מלכא את לא מימסרא ירושלים בידך דכתיב (ישעיהו י, לד) והלבנון באדיר יפול ואין אדיר אלא מלך דכתיב (ירמיהו ל, כא) והיה אדירו ממנו וגו' ואין לבנון אלא ביהמ"ק שנאמר (דברים ג, כה) ההר הטוב הזה והלבנון ודקאמרת אי מלכא אנא אמאי לא קאתית לגבאי עד האידנא בריוני דאית בן לא שבקינן,אמר ליה אילו חבית של דבש ודרקון כרוך עליה לא היו שוברין את החבית בשביל דרקון אישתיק קרי עליה רב יוסף ואיתימא רבי עקיבא (ישעיהו מד, כה) משיב חכמים אחור ודעתם יסכל איבעי ליה למימר ליה שקלינן צבתא ושקלינן ליה לדרקון וקטלינן ליה וחביתא שבקינן לה,אדהכי אתי פריסתקא עליה מרומי אמר ליה קום דמית ליה קיסר ואמרי הנהו חשיבי דרומי לאותיבך ברישא הוה סיים חד מסאני בעא למסיימא לאחרינא לא עייל בעא למשלפא לאידך לא נפק אמר מאי האי,אמר ליה לא תצטער שמועה טובה אתיא לך דכתיב (משלי טו, ל) שמועה טובה תדשן עצם אלא מאי תקנתיה ליתי איניש דלא מיתבא דעתך מיניה ולחליף קמך דכתיב (משלי יז, כב) ורוח נכאה תיבש גרם עבד הכי עייל אמר ליה ומאחר דחכמיתו כולי האי עד האידנא אמאי לא אתיתו לגבאי אמר ליה ולא אמרי לך אמר ליה אנא נמי אמרי לך,אמר ליה מיזל אזילנא ואינש אחרינא משדרנא אלא בעי מינאי מידי דאתן לך אמר ליה תן לי יבנה וחכמיה ושושילתא דרבן גמליאל ואסוותא דמסיין ליה לרבי צדוק קרי עליה רב יוסף ואיתימא רבי עקיבא (ישעיהו מד, כה) משיב חכמים אחור ודעתם יסכל איבעי למימר ליה לשבקינהו הדא זימנא,והוא סבר דלמא כולי האי לא עביד והצלה פורתא נמי לא הוי,אסוותא דמסיין ליה לרבי צדוק מאי היא יומא קמא אשקיוה מיא דפארי למחר מיא דסיפוקא למחר מיא דקימחא עד דרווח מיעיה פורתא פורתא,אזל שדריה לטיטוס ואמר (דברים לב, לז) אי אלהימו צור חסיו בו זה טיטוס הרשע שחירף וגידף כלפי מעלה,מה עשה תפש זונה בידו ונכנס לבית קדשי הקדשים והציע ספר תורה ועבר עליה עבירה ונטל סייף וגידר את הפרוכת ונעשה נס והיה דם מבצבץ ויוצא וכסבור הרג את עצמו שנאמר (תהלים עד, ד) שאגו צורריך בקרב מועדיך שמו אותותם אותות,אבא חנן אומר (תהלים פט, ט) מי כמוך חסין יה מי כמוך חסין וקשה שאתה שומע ניאוצו וגידופו של אותו רשע ושותק דבי רבי ישמעאל תנא (שמות טו, יא) מי כמוכה באלים ה' מי כמוכה באלמים,מה עשה נטל את הפרוכת ועשאו כמין גרגותני והביא כל כלים שבמקדש והניחן בהן והושיבן בספינה לילך להשתבח בעירו שנאמר (קהלת ח, י) ובכן ראיתי רשעים קבורים ובאו וממקום קדוש יהלכו וישתכחו בעיר אשר כן עשו אל תיקרי קבורים אלא קבוצים אל תיקרי וישתכחו אלא וישתבחו,איכא דאמרי קבורים ממש דאפילו מילי דמטמרן איגלייא להון,עמד עליו נחשול שבים לטובעו אמר כמדומה אני שאלהיהם של אלו אין גבורתו אלא במים בא פרעה טבעו במים בא סיסרא טבעו במים אף הוא עומד עלי לטובעני במים אם גבור הוא יעלה ליבשה ויעשה עמי מלחמה יצתה בת קול ואמרה לו רשע בן רשע בן בנו של עשו הרשע בריה קלה יש לי בעולמי ויתוש שמה,אמאי קרי לה בריה קלה דמעלנא אית לה ומפקנא לית לה,עלה ליבשה ותעשה עמה מלחמה עלה ליבשה בא יתוש ונכנס בחוטמו ונקר במוחו שבע שנים יומא חד הוה קא חליף אבבא דבי נפחא שמע קל ארזפתא אישתיק אמר איכא תקנתא כל יומא מייתו נפחא ומחו קמיה לנכרי יהיב ליה ארבע זוזי לישראל אמר ליה מיסתייך דקא חזית בסנאך עד תלתין יומין עבד הכי מכאן ואילך כיון דדש דש,תניא אמר רבי פנחס בן ערובא אני הייתי בין גדולי רומי וכשמת פצעו את מוחו ומצאו בו כצפור דרור משקל שני סלעים במתניתא תנא כגוזל בן שנה משקל שני ליטרין,אמר אביי נקטינן פיו של נחושת וצפורניו של ברזל כי הוה קא מיית אמר להו ליקליוה לההוא גברא ולבדרי לקיטמיה אשב ימי דלא לשכחיה אלהא דיהודאי ולוקמיה בדינא,אונקלוס בר קלוניקוס בר אחתיה דטיטוס הוה בעי לאיגיורי אזל אסקיה לטיטוס בנגידא אמר ליה מאן חשיב בההוא עלמא אמר ליה ישראל מהו לאידבוקי בהו אמר ליה מילייהו נפישין ולא מצית לקיומינהו זיל איגרי בהו בההוא עלמא והוית רישא דכתיב (איכה א, ה) היו צריה לראש וגו' כל המיצר לישראל נעשה ראש אמר ליה דיניה דההוא גברא במאי א"ל | 56b. b in truth, you are a king, /b if not now, then in the future. b As if you are not a king, Jerusalem will not be handed over into your hand, as it is written: “And the Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one” /b (Isaiah 10:34). b And “mighty one” /b means b only a king, as it is written: “And their mighty one shall be of themselves, /b and their ruler shall proceed from the midst of them” (Jeremiah 30:21), indicating that “mighty one” parallels “ruler.” b And “Lebanon” /b means b only the Temple, as it is stated: “That good mountain and the Lebanon” /b (Deuteronomy 3:25). b And /b as for b what you said /b with your second comment: b If I am a king why didn’t you come to me until now, there are zealots among us /b who b did not allow us /b to do this.,Understanding that Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai was prepared to ask him not to destroy the Temple, Vespasian b said to him: If /b there is b a barrel of honey and a snake [ i derakon /i ] is wrapped around it, wouldn’t they break the barrel in order to /b kill b the snake? /b In similar fashion, I am forced to destroy the city of Jerusalem in order to kill the zealots barricaded within it. Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai b was silent /b and did not answer. In light of this, b Rav Yosef /b later b read /b the following verse b about him, and some say /b that it was b Rabbi Akiva /b who applied the verse to Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai: “I am the Lord… b Who turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolish” /b (Isaiah 44:25). As Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai b should have said /b the following b to /b Vespasian in response: In such a case, b we take tongs, remove the snake, and kill it, and /b in this way b we leave the barrel /b intact. So too, you should kill the rebels and leave the city as it is., b In the meantime, /b as they were talking, b a messenger [ i feristaka /i ] arrived from Rome, /b and b said to him: Rise, for the emperor has died, and the noblemen of Rome plan to appoint you as /b their b leader /b and make you the next emperor. At that time Vespasian b was wearing /b only b one shoe, /b and when b he tried to put on the other one, it would not go on /b his foot. b He /b then b tried to remove the other /b shoe that he was already wearing, but b it would not come off. He said: What is this? /b ,Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai b said to him: Be not distressed /b or troubled, for b good tidings have reached you, as it is written: “Good tidings make the bone fat” /b (Proverbs 15:30), and your feet have grown fatter out of joy and satisfaction. Vespasian said to him: b But what is the remedy? /b What must I do in order to put on my shoe? Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai b said to him: Have someone with whom you are displeased come and pass before you, as it is written: “A broken spirit dries the bones” /b (Proverbs 17:22). b He did this, and /b his shoe b went on /b his foot. Vespasian b said to him: Since you are so wise, why didn’t you come to /b see b me until now? /b Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai b said to him: But didn’t I /b already b tell you? /b Vespasian b said to him: I also told you /b what I had to say.,Vespasian then b said to /b Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai: b I will be going /b to Rome to accept my new position, b and I will send someone else /b in my place to continue besieging the city and waging war against it. b But /b before I leave, b ask something of me that I /b can b give you. /b Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai b said to him: Give me Yavne and its Sages /b and do not destroy it, b and /b spare b the dynasty of Rabban Gamliel /b and do not kill them as if they were rebels, b and /b lastly give me b doctors to heal Rabbi Tzadok. Rav Yosef read /b the following verse b about him, and some say /b that it was b Rabbi Akiva /b who applied the verse to Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai: “I am the Lord… b Who turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolish” /b (Isaiah 44:25), as b he should have said to him to leave /b the Jews alone b this time. /b , b And /b why didn’t Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai make this request? b He maintained /b that Vespasian b might not do that much /b for him, b and there would not be even a small /b amount of b salvation. /b Therefore, he made only a modest request, in the hope that he would receive at least that much.,The Gemara asks: b What /b was he requesting when he asked for b doctors to heal Rabbi Tzadok? /b How did they heal him? b The first day they gave him water to drink /b that contained b bran [ i parei /i ]. The next /b day they gave him b water /b containing b flour mixed with bran [ i sipuka /i ]. The following day /b they gave him b water /b containing b flour. /b In this way they slowly restored his ability to eat, allowing b his stomach to broaden little by little. /b ,§ Vespasian b went /b back to Rome and b sent Titus /b in his place. The Gemara cites a verse that was expounded as referring to Titus: b “And he shall say: Where is their God, their rock in whom they trusted?” /b (Deuteronomy 32:37). b This is the wicked Titus, who insulted and blasphemed God on High. /b , b What did /b Titus b do /b when he conquered the Temple? b He took a prostitute with his hand, and entered the Holy of Holies /b with her. b He /b then b spread out a Torah scroll /b underneath him b and committed a sin, /b i.e., engaged in sexual intercourse, b on it. /b Afterward b he took a sword and cut into the curtain /b separating between the Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies. b And a miracle was performed and blood spurted forth. /b Seeing the blood, b he /b mistakenly b thought /b that b he had killed himself. /b Here, the term himself is a euphemism for God. Titus saw blood issuing forth from the curtain in God’s meeting place, the Temple, and he took it as a sign that he had succeeded in killing God Himself. b As it is stated: “Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place; they have set up their own signs for signs” /b (Psalms 74:4)., b Abba Ḥa says: /b The verse states: b “Who is strong like You, O Lord?” /b (Psalms 89:9). b Who is strong and indurate like You, as You hear the abuse and the blasphemy of that wicked man and remain silent. /b Similarly, b the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught /b that the verse: b “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods [ i elim /i ]” /b (Exodus 15:11), should be read as: b Who is like You among the mute [ i ilmim /i ], /b for You conduct Yourself like a mute and remain silent in the face of Your blasphemers., b What /b else did Titus b do? He took the curtain and formed it like a large basket, and brought all of the /b sacred b vessels of the Temple and placed them in it. And he put them on a ship to go and be praised in his city /b that he had conquered Jerusalem, b as it is stated: “And so I saw the wicked buried, and come to their rest; but those that had done right were gone from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city; this also is vanity” /b (Ecclesiastes 8:10). b Do not read /b the word b as “buried [ i kevurim /i ].” Rather, /b read it as b collected [ i kevutzim /i ]. /b And b do not read /b the word b as “and were forgotten [ i veyishtakeḥu /i ].” Rather, /b read it as: b And they were praised [ i veyishtabeḥu /i ]. /b According to this interpretation, the verse speaks of those who will gather and collect items “from the holy place,” the Temple, and be praised in their city about what they had done., b There are /b those b who say /b that the verse is to be read as written, as it is referring to items that were b actually buried. /b This is because b even items that had been buried were revealed to them, /b i.e., Titus and his soldiers, as they found all of the sacred vessels.,It is further related about Titus that he was once traveling b at sea /b and b a wave rose up against him /b and threatened b to drown him. /b Titus b said: It seems to me that their God, /b the God of Israel, b has power only in water. Pharaoh rose /b against them and b He drowned him in water. Sisera rose /b against them and b He drowned him in water. /b Here b too, He has risen up against me to drown me in water. If He is /b really b mighty, let Him go up on dry land and /b there b wage war against me. A Divine Voice issued forth and said to him: Wicked one, son of a wicked one, grandson of Esau the wicked, /b for you are among his descendants and act just like him, b I have a lowly creature in My world and it is called a gnat. /b ,The Gemara interjects: b Why is it called a lowly creature? /b It is called this b because it has an entrance /b for taking in food, b but it does not have an exit /b for excretion.,The Gemara resumes its story about Titus. The Divine Voice continued: b Go up on dry land and make war with it. He went up on dry land, /b and b a gnat came, entered his nostril, and picked at his brain for seven years. /b Titus suffered greatly from this until b one day he passed by the gate of a blacksmith’s shop. /b The gnat b heard the sound of a hammer /b and b was silent /b and still. Titus b said: /b I see that b there is a remedy /b for my pain. b Every day they would bring a blacksmith who hammered before him. He would give four dinars /b as payment b to a gentile /b blacksmith, and b to a Jew he would /b simply b say: It is enough for you that you see your enemy /b in so much pain. b He did this for thirty days /b and it was effective until then. b From that /b point b forward, since /b the gnat b became accustomed /b to the hammering, b it became accustomed /b to it, and once again it began to pick away at Titus’s brain., b It is taught /b in a i baraita /i that b Rabbi Pineḥas ben Arova said: I was /b at that time b among the noblemen of Rome, and when /b Titus b died they split open his head and found /b that the gnat had grown to b the size of a sparrow weighing two i sela /i . It was taught in /b another b i baraita /i : /b It was b like /b a one- b year-old pigeon weighing two i litra /i . /b , b Abaye said: We have a tradition /b that b its mouth /b was made b of copper and its claws were /b fashioned of b iron. When /b Titus b was dying, he said to /b his attendants: b Burn that man, /b i.e., me, b and scatter his ashes across the seven seas, so that the God of the Jews should not find me and stand me for judgment. /b ,§ The Gemara relates: b Onkelos bar Kalonikos, the son of Titus’s sister, wanted to convert /b to Judaism. b He went /b and b raised Titus /b from the grave b through necromancy, /b and b said to him: Who is /b most b important in that world /b where you are now? Titus b said to him: The Jewish people. /b Onkelos asked him: b Should I /b then b attach /b myself b to them /b here in this world? Titus b said to him: Their commandments are numerous, and you will not be able to fulfill them. /b It is best that you do as follows: b Go /b out and b battle against them in that world, and you will become the chief, as it is written: “Her adversaries [ i tzareha /i ] have become the chief” /b (Lamentations 1:5), which means: b Anyone who distresses [ i meitzer /i ] Israel will become the chief. /b Onkelos b said to him: What is the punishment of that man, /b a euphemism for Titus himself, in the next world? Titus b said to him: /b |
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| 30. Gregory The Great, Letters, 2.45, 8.25, 9.38, 9.196 (6th cent. CE - 7th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •rome, gregory the great on jews in Found in books: Kraemer (2020), The Mediterranean Diaspora in Late Antiquity: What Christianity Cost the Jews, 338 |
| 31. Babylonian Talmud, San, None Tagged with subjects: •rome, jews as provincial minority Found in books: Hayes (2022), The Literature of the Sages: A Re-Visioning, 314 |
| 32. Mishna, Yad, 4.6-4.8 Tagged with subjects: •rome, jews as provincial minority Found in books: Hayes (2022), The Literature of the Sages: A Re-Visioning, 325 |
| 33. Palestinian Talmud, Ber, None Tagged with subjects: •rome, jews as provincial minority Found in books: Hayes (2022), The Literature of the Sages: A Re-Visioning, 325 |
| 34. Severus, Chronica, 2.30.6-2.30.7 Tagged with subjects: •revolts, of jews against rome, causes of •revolts, of jews against rome, connections of with revolt of the maccabees Found in books: Feldman (2006), Judaism and Hellenism Reconsidered, 319 |
| 35. Valerius Maximus, Memorable Deeds And Sayings, 1.3.3 Tagged with subjects: •claudius, his treatment of the jews in rome Found in books: Isaac (2004), The invention of racism in classical antiquity, 237 |
| 36. Valerius Flaccus Gaius, Argonautica, 1.13-1.14 Tagged with subjects: •revolts, of jews against rome, causes of •revolts, of jews against rome, connections of with revolt of the maccabees Found in books: Feldman (2006), Judaism and Hellenism Reconsidered, 319 |
