Tacitus, Histories 5.9
created: This entry is taken from Histories 5.9 written by Tacitus in 100-110 C .E.. This
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: la; la
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/420

Caesarea Maritima is indirectly attested at Tacitus, Histories 5.9. This passage was written ca. 100-110 C .E. possibly in Rome. Cornelius Tacitus (ca. 56-ca. 120 C.E.) was an ancient historian of the Roman Empire held in high esteem by scholars today. He enjoyed a successful career as a prominent lawyer, a rising official in both the civic and provincial spheres, and eventually suffect consul in 97 C.E. and then governor of Asia in 112-113 C.E. His major historical works, Histories and so-called Annals (“From the Departure of Augustus the God,” ab excessu divi Augusti), offered a detailed narrative with penetrating political analysis of the Imperial government and its ruling class from the death of Augustus through the Flavian dynasty, probably the death of Domitian (14-96 C.E.) Before his account of the fall of Jerusalem to Titus in 70 C.E. (Histories 5), Tacitus delivers a long excursus on the history, culture, and geography of the region. In this passage, he describes stages in the Roman subjugation of the Jews, from Pompey (63 B.C.E.) to the Antonius Felix, the procurator of Judaea whose base was Caesarea (52-60 C.E.)

Romanorum primus Cn. Pompeius Iudaeos domuit templumque iure victoriae ingressus est: inde vulgatum nulla intus deum effigie vacuam sedem et inania arcana. Muri Hierosolymorum diruti, delubrum mansit. mox civili inter nos bello, postquam in dicionem M. Antonii provinciae cesserant, rex Parthorum Pacorus Iudaea potitus interfectusque a P. Ventidio, et Parthi trans Euphraten redacti: Iudaeos C. Sosius subegit. Regnum ab Antonio Herodi datum victor Augustus auxit. Post mortem Herodis, nihil expectato Caesare, Simo quidam regium nomen invaserat. Is a Quintilio Varo obtinente Syriam punitus, et gentem coercitam liberi Herodis tripertito rexere. Sub Tiberio quies. Dein iussi a C. Caesare effigiem eius in templo locare arma potius sumpsere, quem motum Caesaris mors diremit. Claudius, defunctis regibus aut ad modicum redactis, Iudaeam provinciam equitibus Romanis aut libertis permisit, e quibus Antonius Felix per omnem saevitiam ac libidinem ius regium servili ingenio exercuit, Drusilla Cleopatrae et Antonii nepte in matrimonium accepta, ut eiusdem Antonii Felix progener, Claudius nepos esset.

[Ed. Fisher 2008]

The first Roman to subdue the Jews and enter their Temple by right of conquest was Gnaeus Pompey [in 63 B.C.E.]. From then on it was widely known that there were no images of the divine inside, but the sacred place was vacant and the secret shrine empty. The walls of Jerusalem were raised but the Sanctuary remained standing. Later, during our Civil Wars, after these provinces had fallen under the control of Mark Antony, the king of the Parthians, Pecorus, seized Judaea, but he was killed by Publius Ventidius, and the Parthians were driven back beyond the Euphrates; and Gaius Sosius subdued the Jews [in 37 B.C.E]. Antony gave the kingdom to Herod, and Augustus, after his victory, magnified it [in 31 B.C.E.] After the death of Herod, a certain Simon assumed the royal title without waiting for Caesar’s sanction [in 4 B.C.E.] He was punished by Quintilius Varus, governor of Syria, and, after the supression of the Jews, the sons of Herod ruled over a kingdom divided three ways. Under Tiberius all was quiet. Then, when Gaius Caesar (Caligula) to set up his statue in their Temple, they took up arms instead, but the emperor’s death put an end to the uprising [in 41 C.E.]. Now that the kings were dead or had been reduced to insignificance, Claudius made Judaea a province and entrusted it to Roman equestrians or to freedmen. One of the latter, Antonius Felix, perpetrating every kind of cruelty and lust, exercised his ruling power with a servile instinct [from 42 C.E.]. He married Drusilla, the granddaughter of Cleopatra and Antony, and so he was Antony’s grandson-in-law, while Claudius was Antony’s grandson.

[Adapted from Moore 1925]

Works Cited

[...] 5 9
[...] 2 190-191

[Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 20.7

Suetonius, Biography of the Caesars: Claudius 28.1]

[Euphrates River

Jerusalem

Judaea

Parthia

Syria]

[Antonius Felix, governor

Augustus, emperor

Claudius, emperor

Cleopatra VII, Ptolemaic queen

Drusilla, daughter of Antonia Minor

Gaius (Caligula), emperor

Gaius Sosius, general

Gnaeus Pompeius, general

Herod I, king

Marcus Antonius, triumvir

Pecorus, king of the Parthian

Publius Ventidius, general

Quintilius Varus, governor

Simon

Tiberius, emperor]

[Family

Government and Law

Military

Roman History]