Strabo on the Land of the Jews
(c. 22 CE)
These districts (of Jerusalem and Joppa) lie towards the north; they are inhabited generally, and
each place in particular, by mixed tribes of Egyptians, Arabians, and
Phoenicians. Of this description are the inhabitants of Galilee,
of the plain of Jericho, and of the
territories of Philadelphia and Samaria, surnamed Sebaste by Herod;
but though there is such a mixture of inhabitants, the report most credited,
among many things believed respecting the temple and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, is that the Egyptians were
the ancestors of the present Jews. An Egyptian priest named Moses, who
possessed a portion of the country called Lower Egypt, being dissatisfied
with the established institutions there, left it and came to Judea with
a large body of people who worshiped the Divinity. He declared and taught
that the Egyptians and Africans entertained erroneous sentiments, in
representing, the Divinity under the likeness of wild beasts and cattle
of the field; that the Greeks also were error in making images of their
gods after the human form. For God, said he, may be this one thing which
encompasses us all, land and sea, which we call heaven, or the universe,
or the nature of things. Who, then, of any understanding would venture
to form an image of this Deity, resembling anything with which we are
conversant? On the contrary, we ought not to carve any images, but to
set apart some sacred ground as a shrine worthy of the Deity, and to
worship Him without any similitude. He taught that those who made fortunate
dreams were to be permitted to sleep in the temple, where they might
dream both for themselves and others; that those who practiced temperance
and justice, and none else, might expect good, or some gift or sign
from the God, from time to time.
By such doctrine Moses persuaded a large body of
right-minded persons to accompany him to the place where Jerusalem now
stands. He easily obtained possession of it as the spot was not such as to
excite jealousy, nor for which there could be any fierce contention; for it
is rocky, and, although well supplied with water, it is surrounded by a
barren and waterless territory. The space within the city is 60 stadia in
circumference, with rock underneath the surface. Instead of arms, he taught
that their defense was in their sacred things and the Divinity, for whom he
was desirous of finding a settled place, promising to the people to deliver
such a kind of worship and religion as should not burden those who adopted
it with great expense, nor molest them with so-called divine possessions,
nor other absurd practices. Moses thus obtained their good opinion, and
established no ordinary kind of government. All the nations around
willingly united themselves to him, allured by his discourses and promises.
His successors continued for some time to observe the
same conduct, doing justly, and worshipping God with sincerity. Afterwards
superstitious persons were appointed to the priesthood, and then tyrants.
From superstition arose abstinence from flesh, from the eating of which it
is now the custom to refrain, circumcision, cliterodectomy, and other
practices which the people observe. The tyrannical government produced
robbery; for the rebels plundered both their own and the neighboring
countries. Those also who shared in the government seized upon the property
of others, and ravaged a large part of Syria and of Phoenicia. Respect,
however, was paid to the Acropolis [Zion, or the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem]; it was not abhorred as the seat of tyranny, but honoured and
venerated as a temple. . . .Such was Moses and his successors; their
beginning was good, but they degenerated.
When Judaea openly became subject to a tyrannic
government, the first person who exchanged the title of priest for that of
king was Alexander [Alexander Jannaeus]. His sons were Hyrcanus and
Aristobulus. While they were disputing the succesion to the kingdom, Pompey
came upon them by surprise, deprived them of their power, and destroyed
their fortress first taking Jerusalem itself by storm [63 B.C.]. It was a
stronghold situated on a rock, well-fortified and well-supplied with water
within, but externally entirely parched with drought. A ditch was cut in
the rock, 60 feet in depth, and in width 250 feet. On the wall of the
temple were built towers, constructed of the materials procured when the
ditch was excavated. The city was taken, it is said, by waiting for the day
of fast, on which the Jews were in the habit of abstaining from all work.
Pompey, availing himself of this, filled up the ditch, and threw bridges
over it. He gave orders to raze all the walls, and he destroyed, as far as
was in his power, the haunts of the robbers and the treasure-holds of the
tyrants. Two of these forts, Thrax and Taurus, were situated in the passes
leading to Jericho. Others were Alexandrium, Hyrcanium, Machaerus, Lysias,
and those about Philadelphia, and Scythopolis near
Galilee.
Pompey curtailed the territory which had been forcibly
appropriated by the Jews, and assigned to Hyrcanus the priesthood. Some
time afterwards, Herod, of the same family, and a native of the country,
having surreptitiously obtained the priesthood, distinguished himself so
much above his predecessors, particularly in his intercourse, both civil
and political, with the Romans, that he received the title and authority of
king, first from Antony, and afterwards from Augustus Caesar. He put to
death some of his sons, on the pretext of their having conspired against
him; other sons he left at his death [in 4 B.C.] to succeed him, and
assigned to each portions of his kingdom. Caesar bestowed upon the sons
also of Herod marks of honor, as also upon their sister Salome, and on her
daughter Berenice too. The sons were unfortunate, and were publicly
accused. One of them [Archelaus] died in exile among the Galatae Allobroges,
whose country [Vienne, south of Lyons in France] was assigned for his
abode. The others, by great interest and solicitation, but with difficulty,
obtained leave to return to their own country, each with his tetrarchy
restored to him.
Sources: From Strabo, The Geography, Book XVI. ii.34-38, 40,
46, c. 22 CE quoted in the Ancient
History Sourcebook. |