HOW ALEXANDER WHEN HE HAD TAKEN THE GOVERNMENT MADE AN EXPEDITION AGAINST PTOLEMAIS, AND THEN RAISED THE SIEGE OUT OF FEAR OF PTOLEMY LATHYRUS; AND HOW PTOLEMY MADE WAR AGAINST HIM, BECAUSE HE HAD SENT TO CLEOPATRA TO PERSUADE HER TO MAKE WAR AGAINST PTOLEMY, AND YET PRETENDED TO BE IN FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM, WHEN HE BEAT THE JEWS IN THE BATTLE. FJAJ 13.78
1. WHEN Aristobulus was dead, his wife Salome, who, by the Greeks, was
called Alexandra, let his brethren out of prison, (for Aristobulus had
kept them in bonds, as we have said already,) and made Alexander Janneus
king, who was the superior in age and in moderation
This child happened
to be hated by his father as soon as he was born, and could never be permitted
to come into his father's sight till he died. FJAJ 13.79
(32) The reason why Hyrcanus suffered not this son of his whom he did not love to come into Judea, but ordered him to be brought up in Galilee, is suggested by Dr. Hudson, that Galilee was not esteemed so happy and well cultivated a country as Judea, Matthew 26:73; John 7:52; Acts 2:7, although another obvious reason occurs also, that he was out of his sight in Galilee than he would have been in Judea. The occasion of which hatred is thus reported: when Hyrcanus chiefly loved the two eldest of his sons, Antigonus and Aristobutus, God appeared to him in his sleep, of whom he inquired which of his sons should be his successor. Upon God's representing to him the countenance of Alexander, he was grieved that he was to be the heir of all his goods, and suffered him to be brought up in Galilee However, God did not deceive Hyrcanus; for after the death of Aristobulus, he certainly took the kingdom; and one of his brethren, who affected the kingdom, he slew; and the other, who chose to live a private and quiet life, he had in esteem. FJAJ 13.80
2. When Alexander Janneus had settled the government in the manner that
he judged best, he made an expedition against Ptolemais; and having overcome
the men in battle, he shut them up in the city, and sat round about it,
and besieged it; for of the maritime cities there remained only Ptolemais
and Gaza to be conquered, besides Strato's Tower and Dora, which were held
by the tyrant Zoilus
Now while Antiochus Philometor, and Antiochus who
was called Cyzicenus, were making war one against another, and destroying
one another's armies, the people of Ptolemais could have no assistance
from them; but when they were distressed with this siege, Zoilus, who possessed
Strato's Tower and Dora, and maintained a legion of soldiers, and, on occasion
of the contest between the kings, affected tyranny himself, came and brought
some small assistance to the people of Ptolemais; nor indeed had the kings
such a friendship for them, as that they should hope for any advantage
from them
Both those kings were in the case of wrestlers, who finding
themselves deficient in
strength, and yet being ashamed to yield, put
off the fight by laziness, and by lying still as long as they can
The
only hope they had remaining was from the kings of Egypt, and from Ptolemy
Lathyrus, who now held Cyprus, and who came to Cyprus when he was driven
from the government of Egypt by Cleopatra his mother
So the people of
Ptolemais sent to this Ptolemy Lathyrus, and desired him to come as a confederate,
to deliver them, now they were in such danger, out of the hands of Alexander.
And as the ambassadors gave him hopes, that if he would pass over into
Syria, he would have the people of Gaza on the side of those of Ptolemais;
as also they said, that Zoilus, and besides these the Sidonians, and many
others, would assist them; so he was elevated at this, and got his fleet
ready as soon as possible. FJAJ 13.81
3. But in this interval Demenetus, one that was of abilities to persuade
men to do as he would have them, and a leader of the populace, made those
of Ptolemais change their opinions; and said to them, that it was better
to run the hazard of being subject to the Jews, than to admit of evident
slavery by delivering themselves up to a master; and besides that, to have
not only a war at present, but to expect a much greater war from Egypt;
for that Cleopatra would not overlook an army raised by Ptolemy for himself
out of the neighborhood, but would come against them with a great army
of her own, and this because she was laboring to eject her son out of Cyprus
also; that as for Ptolemy, if he fail of his hopes, he can still retire
to Cyprus, but that they will be left in the greatest danger possible.
Now Ptolemy, although he had heard of the change that was made in the people
of Ptolemais, yet did he still go on with his voyage, and came to the country
called Sycamine, and there set his army on shore
This army of his, in
the whole horse and foot together, were about thirty thousand, with which
he marched near to Ptolemais, and there pitched his camp
But when the
people of Ptolemais neither received his ambassadors, nor would hear what
they had to say, he was under a very great concern. FJAJ 13.82
4. But when Zoilus and the people of Gaza came to him, and desired his
assistance, because their country was laid waste by the Jews, and by Alexander,
Alexander raised the siege, for fear of Ptolemy: and when he had drawn
off his army into his own country, he used a stratagem afterwards, by privately
inviting Cleopatra to come against Ptolemy, but publicly pretending to
desire a league of friendship and mutual assistance with him; and promising
to give him four hundred talents of silver, he desired that, by way of
requital, he would take off Zoilus the tyrant, and give his country to
the Jews
And then indeed Ptolemy, with pleasure, made such a league of
friendship with Alexander, and subdued Zoilus; but when he afterwards heard
that he had privily sent to Cleopatra his mother, he broke the league with
him, which yet he had confirmed with an oath, and fell upon him, and besieged
Ptolemais, because it would not receive him
However, leaving his generals,
with some part of his forces, to go on with the siege, he went himself
immediately with the rest to lay Judea waste; and when Alexander understood
this to be Ptolemy's intention, he also got together about fifty thousand
soldiers out of his own country; nay, as some writers have said, eighty
thousand (33)
From these, and other occasional expressions, dropped by Josephus, we may
learn, that where the sacred hooks of the Jews were deficient, he had several
other histories then extant, (but now most of them lost,) which he faithfully
followed in his own history; nor indeed have we any other records of those
times, relating to Judea, that can be compared to these accounts of Josephus,
though when we do meet with authentic fragments of such original records,
they almost always confirm his history.
He then took his army, and went to meet Ptolemy; but Ptolemy fell upon
Asochis, a city of Galilee, and took it by force on the sabbath day, and
there he took about ten thousand slaves, and a great deal of other prey. FJAJ 13.83
5. He then tried to take Sepphoris, which was a city not far from that
which was destroyed, but lost many of his men; yet did he then go to fight
with Alexander; which Alexander met him at the river Jordan, near a certain
place called Saphoth, [not far from the river Jordan,] and pitched his
camp near to the enemy
He had however eight thousand in the first rank,
which he styled Hecatontomachi, having shields of brass
Those in the first
rank of Ptolemy's soldiers also had shields covered with brass
But Ptolemy's
soldiers in other respects were inferior to those of Alexander, and therefore
were more fearful of running hazards; but Philostephanus, the camp-master,
put great courage into them, and ordered them to pass the river, which
was between their camps
Nor did Alexander think fit to hinder their passage
over it; for he thought, that if the enemy had once gotten the river on
their back, that he should the easier take them prisoners, when they could
not flee out of the battle: in the beginning of which, the acts on both
sides, with their hands, and with their alacrity, were alike, and a great
slaughter was made by both the armies; but Alexander was superior, till
Philostephanus opportunely brought up the auxiliaries, to help those that
were giving way; but as there were no auxiliaries to afford help to that
part of the Jews that gave way, it fell out that they fled, and those near
them did no assist them, but fled along with them
However, Ptolemy's soldiers
acted quite otherwise; for they followed the Jews, and killed them, till
at length those that slew them pursued after them when they had made them
all run away, and slew them so long, that their weapons of iron were blunted,
and their hands quite tired with the slaughter; for the report was, that
thirty thousand men were then slain
Timagenes says they were fifty thousand.
As for the rest, they were part of them taken captives, and the other part
ran away to their own country. FJAJ 13.84
6. After this victory, Ptolemy overran all the country; and when night
came on, he abode in certain villages of Judea, which when he found full
of women and children, he commanded his soldiers to strangle them, and
to cut them in pieces, and then to cast them into boiling caldrons, and
then to devour their limbs as sacrifices
This commandment was given, that
such as fled from the battle, and came to them, might suppose their enemies
were cannibals, and eat men's flesh, and might on that account be still
more terrified at them upon such a sight
And both Strabo and Nicholaus
[of Damascus] affirm, that they used these people after this manner, as
I have already related
Ptolemy also took Ptolemais by force, as we have
declared elsewhere. FJAJ 13.85