Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

natural spring on the summit, the city was not easy to defend despite

strong fortifications (including chamber gates very much in the Iron Age

tradition). Both city and sanctuary were destroyed by John Hyrcanus

around 112/111b.c.e.(Josephus,Ant.13.254-57). Greek inscriptions from

the second to fourth centuryc.e.witness to Samaritan pilgrimage to Mt.

Gerizim long after the temple there had been destroyed.

The Galilee

Settlement activity in the Galilee seems to have been low and sparse before

100 b.c.e., but this impression will probably change as a result of more in-

tensive surveys. Around the mid-third centuryb.c.e.veteran settlements

were established at Philoteria, et-Tell (Bethsaida), and Gamla to guard the

traffic arteries between the coast (especially Tyre) and the eastern plateau.

A large public building at Hamath Tiberias dates from the later Seleucid

period. Apart from that, there is growing material evidence of an indige-

nous, Semitic population in the hills of Upper and northern Lower Galilee.

Some elements of its material culture seem influenced by the Phoenicians;

others stand in the late Iron Age tradition. The sanctuaries at Dan and

Paneion had regional importance in the second centuryb.c.e.A Phoeni-

cian presence itself is evident in the administrative center at Qedesh, the

mountain sanctuary at Mitzpe Yamim, and the emporium at Tell Anafa. A

fortification on the acropolis at Sepphoris, probably dating to sometime

during the second half of the second centuryb.c.e., guarded the traffic

route running inland from Ptolemais. The fort reflects the strategic value

of the Galilee as a geographical link between harbors on the Mediterra-

nean and the cities of western Syria.

Perea

Ever since the Persian period, Jews had lived in Perea east of the Jordan.

Here the Ptolemies confirmed the descendants of the Persian governor

“Tobiah the Ammonite” as landholders. Ptolemy III Euergetes appointed

Joseph son of Tobiah as the highest civil functionary of the entire Ptole-

maic province. He resided in{Araq el-Amir, a palace in a large estate seven-

teen kilometers west of Amman. The beginnings of the estate date back to

the late Iron II period. The famous Tobiah inscriptions at the entrance to

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Archaeology, Papyri, and Inscriptions

EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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