came to power, Antiochus presided over a failing empire. Challenged in-
ternally by secessionist forces and confined from without by Ptolemy IV,
the young monarch spent the better part of two decades reconsolidating
Seleucid hegemony over Syria, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Iran, and central
Asia. Jews appear to have played some role in this process. Josephus repro-
duces the text of a letter announcing Antiochus’s decision to transplant
2,000 Jewish families from Mesopotamia and Babylonia to western Asia
Minor, in hopes of establishing a loyalist presence in the rebellious satra-
pies of Phrygia and Lydia (Ant.12.148-53).
The letter is not dated but cannot have been penned earlier than 213,
the year Antiochus completed his reduction of Anatolia and began turning
his attention to eastern affairs. If authentic, it supplies the earliest unambig-
uous testimony for Jewish settlement here. It also implies that Antiochus
had reason to trust the Jewish communities of Babylonia and Mesopota-
mia. The justifications offered in the letter, however, are less than convinc-
ing (devotion to their God and loyalty toward the king’s forefathers),
prompting some to regard the document as a pious fiction — but one un-
doubtedly concocted by Jewish inhabitants of the regions mentioned.
(Other documents in Josephus relating to Asia Minor in the late second and
mid-first centuryb.c.e.provide ample evidence for Jews living there.)
The death of Ptolemy IV in 204b.c.e.offered Antiochus a window of
opportunity to recapture the southern Levant (which he had been forced
to evacuate after an abortive conquest a decade and a half earlier). The de-
tails of the Fifth Syrian War that followed are imperfectly known. For the
Jews of Palestine, the decisive turning point was the Battle of Panion (200
b.c.e.), which put Ptolemaic forces on the run. Subsequent coastal victo-
ries over Sidon (199) and Tyre (198) sealed Seleucid control over the re-
gion. According to Polybius (apudJosephus,Ant.12.136), Jerusalem was
captured soon after Panion, the Jews having assisted Antiochus in dislodg-
ing the city’s Egyptian garrison (Ant.12.138).
Josephus adduces two documents of Antiochus regarding Jerusalem
and its people in the aftermath of Panion. The first promises royal finan-
cial underwriting for the Temple service and its physical repair from dam-
ages suffered in the conflict, mandates restoration to their homes of war
captives and other displaced persons, guarantees the Jews shall live accord-
ing to their traditional laws, exempts Temple personnel and other notables
from certain taxes, and offers partial remission of tribute until the city and
its hinterland recover from the ravages of war (Ant.12.138-44). The second
document asserts the sanctity of the Temple and its city, upholding purity37Jewish History from Alexander to HadrianEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:03:50 PM