George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 565.1-566.3
https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/349
Context
George Syncellus (“cellmate”), whose career spanned the late 8th to
very early 9th centuries, was a Palestinian monk before his appointment as the assistant
to Tarasius, Patriarch of Contantinople. Apparently facing hostility from the emperor
Nicephorus I, he retired to monastic solitude in ca. 808, where he devoted himself to
writing his Chronographic Selection (Ἐκλογὴ Χρονογραφίας). This work was
a universal history in the form of a synchronic tabulation by year, following the
chronographic models of the Late Antique Near East and Egypt that were rooted in the
works of Sextus Julius Africanus and Eusebius of Caesarea. In his narrative of events
under the Late Roman Republic, George recorded Pompey’s annexation of Judaea, along with
its great cities such as Caesarea, for Rome in 63 B.C.E., following the conflict over
the Hasmonean throne between Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II.
Text
Πομπήιος οὖν ἁλούσης τῆς πόλεως εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν ἅμα τοῖς φίλοις εἰσελθὼν
μέχρι τοῦ ἁγιάσματος οὐδενὸς τῶν ἱερῶν ἥψατο σκευῶν ἢ χρημάτων ὄντων προδήλων ταλάντων
͵β ἐκτὸς ἀρωμάτων λυχνίας τε καὶ λύχνου καὶ σπονδίων καὶ θυμιατηρίων ἁπάντων ὀλοχρύσων,
ἀλλὰ καὶ καθαρθῆναι τῶν αἱμάτων τὸ ἱερὸν ἐπέταξε τοῖς νεωκόροις. τῇ ἐπαύριον ἀναδείξας
Ὑρκανὸν ἀρχιερέα, τὸν δ’ Ἀριστόβουλον δεσμήσας εἶχε σὺν τῷ πενθερῷ, πάντας ἀνελὼν σιδήρῳ
τοὺς τῆς μάχης αἰτίους καὶ λαμπροῖς ἀμειψάμενος τοῖς συμμαχήσασι δώροις, Φαύστῳ μάλιστα
Σύλλου παιδὶ γενναίῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀμφ’ αὐτόν. οὗτος Ἰουδαίους ὑποφόρους Ῥωμαίοις κατέστησεν,
ἀφελόμενος αὐτῶν πάσας πόλεις Ἑλληνίδας Συρίας κοίλης, ἃς εἷλον ἐπὶ τῶν Μακκαβαίων, καὶ
μόνοις περικλείσας τοῖς ἰδίοις ὅροις. πρὸς ταύταις καὶ τὰς ἐν τῷ μεσογείῳ πόλεις
ἠλευθέρωσε τῆς Ἰουδαίων ἀρχῆς, ὧν ἦσαν ἐπισημότεραι αὗται· Σκυθόπολις ἤτοι Βασὰν, Ἵππος,
Πέλλα, Σαμάρεια, Μάρισσα, Ἄζωτος, Ἰάμνεια, Ἀρέθουσα, τάς τε παραλίους Γάζαν, Ἰώππην,
Δῶρα, Στράτωνος πύργον ἤτοι Καισάρειαν.
ταύτας ἀποδοὺς τοῖς γνησίοις πολίταις ὑπὸ τὴν Συριακὴν ἐπαρχίαν ἔταξε σὺν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ ἀπὸ
τῶν ὁρίων Αἰγύπτου μέχρις Εὐφράτου ποταμοῦ. Ὁ Πομπήιος παραδοὺς Σκαύρῳ διέπειν καὶ δύο
Ῥωμαϊκὰ τάγματα πρὸς συμμαχίαν εἰς Ῥώμην ἠπείγετο διὰ Κιλικίας, αὐτὸς τὸν μέγιστον
κατατάξων θρίαμβον …1
Textual Note
Ed. Dindorf 1829Textual Note
Minor corr. with ref. to Mosshammer 1984Translation
Now when the city (sc. Jerusalem) had been captured, Pompey and
those close to him entered the Temple as far as the sanctuary. He touched none of the
sacred vessels or the treasure in plain sight before him worth 2,000 talents except for
the aromatics, the lightstand, the lamp, the libation cups, and the censers, all solid
gold. Instead he ordered to the Temple officers that the Temple be purified of blood. On
the next day he proclaimed Hyrcanus high priest but held Aristobulus and his
father-in-law under arrest, killing by the sword all those responsible for the battle.
And he rewarded his allies with splendid gifts, especially Faustus the brave son of
Sulla and his men. (Pompey) made the Jews tributaries to the Romans, depriving them of
all the Greek cities of Koile Syria that they had seized during the time of the
Maccabees. And he confined them solely to their own borders. Besides these cities he
liberated those in the interior from Jewish rule, of which the better known are
Scythopolis or Basan, Hippos, Pella, Samareia, Marissa, Azotos, Iamneia, Arethousa, and
the coastal cities Gaza, Ioppe, Dora, and Straton’s Tower or
Caesarea. When he had returned these to the legitimate
citizenry, he annexed them to the province of Syria along with Judaea from the border of
Egypt to the River Euphrates. After Pompey had turned (these cities) over to Scaurus to
administer and two Roman legions as an auxiliary force, he set out to Rome by way of
Cilicia in order to arrange the grandest triumph …2
Translation Note
Adapted from Adler and Tuffin 2002 with ref. to Dindorf 1829Works Cited
- 1 George Syncellus, Georgius Syncellus et Nicephorus Cp. I, ed. Wilhelm Dindorfius, vol. 1, 2 vols., Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae (Bonn: Weber, 1829), p: 565.1-566.3.
- 2 George Syncellus, The Chronography of George Synkellos: A Byzantine Chronicle of Universal History from the Creation, trans. William Adler and Paul Tuffin (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), p: 430-431.
Additional Bibliography
- Origen, Der Brief des Origenes an Gregorios Thaumaturgos [Letter to Gregory the Miracle-Worker], in Des Gregorios Thaumaturgos Dankrede an Origenes, ed. Paul Koetschau, Sammlung ausgewählter kirchen- und dogmengeschichtlicher Quellenschriften 9 (Freiburg & Leipzig: Mohr, 1894), 40–44, p: 358.31-359.18.
How to Cite This Entry
Joseph L. Rife, “George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 565.1-566.3,” in Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, entry published June 30, 2023, https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/349.
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Bibliography:
Joseph L. Rife, “George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 565.1-566.3.” In Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, edited by Joseph L. Rife., edited by Joseph L. Rife. Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project, 2023. Entry published June 30, 2023. https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/349.About this Entry
Entry Title: George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 565.1-566.3
Authorial and Editorial Responsibility:
- Joseph L. Rife, general editor, Vanderbilt University
- Joseph L. Rife, editor, Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia
- David A. Michelson, Daniel L. Schwartz, and William L. Potter, technical editor, “George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 565.1-566.3”
- Joseph L. Rife, entry contributor, “George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 565.1-566.3”
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