George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 565.1-566.3
created: This entry is taken from Chronographic Selection 565.1-566.3 written by George S
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/349

Στράτωνος πύργον

,

Καισάρειαν

,

Straton’s Tower

, and

Caesarea

are directly attested at George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 565.1-566.3. This passage was written ca. 808-815 C.E. possibly in Constantinople. 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.

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 …

https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_MM4GAAAAQAAJ/page/n15/mode/2up [Ed. Dindorf 1829] [Minor corr. with ref. to Mosshammer 1984]

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 …

[Adapted from Adler and Tuffin 2002 with ref. to Dindorf 1829]

Works Cited

[...] 565.1-566.3
[...] 430-431

Additional Bibliography

[...] 358.31-359.18

[Josephus, Jewish War 1.152-157]

[Arethousa

Azotos

Cilicia

Dora

Egypt

Euphrates River

Gaza

Hippos

Iamneia

Ioppe

Jerusalem

Judaea

Koile Syria

Marissa

Pella

Rome

Samaria

Scythopolis (Basan)

Syria (Roman province)]

[Aristobulus II

Faustus Cornelius Sulla

Hyrcanus II

Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Maccabees

Marcus Aemilius Scaurus

Pompey the Great (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus)]

[Early Roman History

Economy and Commerce

Family

Geography

Government and Law

Hasmonean Dynasty

Hellenistic History

History of Israel

Judaism

Military

Travel]