George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 594.5-595.14
created: This entry is taken from Chronographic Selection 594.5-595.14 written by George
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: grc; grc
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/351

Στράτωνος πύργον

,

Καισάρειαν

,

Straton’s Tower

, and

Caesarea

are directly attested at George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 594.5-595.14. 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 long entry concerning the early reign of Augustus, George summarized the career of Herod the Great, including his refounding cities.

Τὰ ὑπόλοιπα τοῦ Ἡρώδου Ὑρκανὸν ἐκ Παρθικῆς ἐπανελθόντα γηραιὸν φόβῳ τῆς εὐγενείας Ἡρώδης ἀνεῖλεν, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Ἀριστόβουλον υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἀρχιερέα. Ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ Μαριάμνην ἰδίαν γαμετὴν θυγατέρα Ὑρκανοῦ σὺν δυσὶν παισὶν αὐτοῦ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀνδρωθεῖσιν ἤδη φονεύει καὶ τὴν Μαριάμνης μητέρα, οἰκείαν δὲ πενθερὰν ὁ μιαιφόνος. Κατὰ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν μέγας ἐγένετο σεισμός. Ἡρώδης πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα ἔκτισεν ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ. Ἡρώδης τὴν πάλαι Σαμάρειαν ἔρημον οὖσαν ἐκ θεμελίων ἤγειρε, Σεβαστὴν εἰς τιμὴν τοῦ Καίσαρος ὀνομάσας. Ὁ αὐτὸς τὸ Πάνιον εἰδωλεῖον κατεσκεύασεν ἐν Παναιάδι τῷ Πανί. Λιμὸς μέγας κατὰ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν καὶ ὅλην Συρίαν ἐγένετο. Ἡρώδης τὸν Ἱεροσολύμων ναὸν διπλοῦν ἀνῳκοδόμησεν. Ἡρώδης τὸν πάλαι Στράτωνος πύργον Καισάρειαν εἰς τιμὴν τοῦ Καίσαρος ἐπικτίσας ὠνόμασεν. Ὁ αὐτὸς Ἀνθηδόνα ἐπέκτισεν Ἀγριππίναν μετονομάσας, ἔτι τε Παρσανάβαν εἰς τιμὴν Ἀντιπάτρου τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ Ἀντιπατρίδα ὠνόμασε, καὶ ἄλλην εἰς οἰκεῖον ἐκάλεσεν ὄνομα πόλιν ἐγείρας Ἡρώδιον. Ὁ αὐτὸς τὴν ἐν τῇ Γαλιλαίᾳ Γαβὰλ καὶ κατὰ πάσας πόλεις Συρίας καὶ Παλαιστίνης ἐπέκτισεν. Ὁ αὐτὸς πρὸς ταῖς πολλαῖς μιαιφονίαις τὸν ἄνδρα Σαλώμης οἰκείας ἀδελφῆς ἀνεῖλε καὶ πάλιν ἕτερον αὐτῇ ἄνδρα δεύτερον ἔδωκεν. Ὁ αὐτὸς τοὺς Ἰουδαίων νομομαθεῖς καὶ τῶν πατρίων ζηλωτὰς ἀπέκτεινεν. Ὁ αὐτὸς τὰς ἀναγράπτους Ἰουδαίων γενεαλογίας ἐνέπρησεν, ἀμάρτυρον ὡς ἑαυτῷ κἀκείνοις πραγματευόμενος τὴν εὐγένειαν.

[Ed. Dindorf 1829] [Minor corr. J. L. Rife with ref. to Mosshammer 1984]

The remaining events in the life of Herod. When Hyrcanus returned an old man from Parthia, Herod, out of fear of his noble lineage, killed him as well as Hyrcanus’ son, the high priest Aristobulus. He then also murdered Mariamne, his own wife and Hyrcanus’ daughter, along with the two sons that he had from her, already grown into men; this bloodthirsty man also killed the mother of Mariamne, his own mother-in-law. In Judaea there was a great eathquake. Herod built many great buildings in Jerusalem. Herod restored from its foundations the ancient city of Samaria, which was in ruins; he named it Sebaste in honor of Caesar. He also established the Panion, a temple with a cult-statue, in Panaias for the god Pan. There was a great famine in Judaea and all Syria. Herod reconstructed the Jerusalem Temple to twice its former size. Herod rebuilt the ancient city of Straton’s Tower, and called it Caesarea in honor of Caesar. He rebuilt Anthedon and renamed it Agrippina, and furthermore Parsanabas he named Antipatris in honor of his father Antipater. And another city he built he named Herodion after himself. He rebuilt Gabal in the Galilee, and made restorations throughout all the cities of Syria and Palestine. To add to his many other acts of bloodshed, he killed the husband of his own sister Salome, and in turn gave her someone else as a second husband. Her executed all Jews who were scribes and strict observers of the ancestral laws. He burned the genealogical records of the Jews, ensuring that documentation of noble lineage did not exist both for them and for himself.

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

Works Cited

[...] 594.5-595.14
[...] 453

Additional Bibliography

[...] 379.16-380.14

[Eusebius, Canons 2.167d

George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 584.8-16]

[Anthedon

Antipatris (Parsanabas)

Gabala

Galilee

Jerusalem

Judaea

Palestine

Panaias (Banias, Caesarea Philippi)

Parthia

Samaria Sebaste

Syria (Roman province??)]

[Agrippina the Elder

Alexias Helcias

Antipatros, father of Herod I

Aristobulus III

Augustus, Roman emperor

Costobarus

Herod I, king

Hyrcanus II

Mariamne I, wife of Herod I

Salome I, sister of Herod I]

[Culture and Society

Death and Burial

Education (sacred)

Family

Geography

Government and Law

Hasmonean Dynasty

Hellenistic History

Herodian Dynasty

History of Israel

Judaism

Natural Environment

Paganism

Roman History]