Jews were killed (Ant.18.372-76). Those who managed to escape fled to
Ctesiphon, a Greek city near Seleucia, but there too the local Greek popu-
lation did not receive them favorably, so they had to leave and take refuge
at Nearda and Nisibis (Ant.18.377-79).Syria
According to Josephus the Jews in Syria enjoyed “the protection of the
Seleucid kings” (J.W.7.43) and were granted citizen rights “on equality
with the Greeks” (J.W.7.44), a claim that is difficult to accept at face value.
In any case, the resentment of the Greek population reached its peak in 66
c.e.when the Jewish rebellion started in Judea and “hatred of the Jews was
everywhere at its height” (J.W.7.47). Josephus writes that at Antioch a Jew
named Antiochus approached the Greek magistrates and accused his fel-
low Jews of conspiring to burn the whole city to the ground. Then a real
fire broke out that destroyed the market square, the magistrates’ quarters,
the record office, and the basilicas. The Greeks “rushed for the Jewish
masses, believing the salvation of their native place to be dependent on
their prompt chastisement.” Antiochus sought to furnish proof of his con-
version and of his detestation of Jewish customs by sacrificing after the
manner of the Greeks. He recommended that other Jews be compelled to
do the same. As a result observance of the Sabbath was prohibited not only
in Antioch but also in other cities (J.W.7.46-62). Possibly in this context,
efforts were made to abolish the privileges of the Jews to get their own
non-Gentile oil (Josephus,Ant.1.120).
Another episode reported by Josephus took place in Damascus.
Learning of the disaster that had befallen the Romans at the beginning of
the Jewish revolt in Judea, the Greeks “were fired with a determination to
kill the Jews who resided among them. As they had for a long time past
kept them shut up in the gymnasium... they fell upon the Jews, cooped
up as they were and unarmed, and within one hour slaughtered them all
with impunity, to the number of ten thousand five hundred” (J.W.2.559-
61). Then, at the end of the war, the Greeks of Antioch asked Titus to expel
the Jews, or at least to have their rights abolished (J.W.7.100-111).378
miriam pucci ben zeevEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:04:16 PM