Josephus
τὸ σύμπαν ἔθνος, ἐπὶ μέγα πρότερον αἰρόμενον, 75ἐντὸς τῶν ἰδίων ὅρων συνέστειλεν. καὶ Γάδαρα μὲν μικρὸν ἔμπροσθεν κατασκαφεῖσαν1 ἀνέκτισε, Δημητρίῳ χαριζόμενος τῷ Γαδαρεῖ ἀπελευθέρῳ ἑαυτοῦ· τὰς δὲ λοιπὰς Ἵππον καὶ Σκυθόπολιν καὶ Πέλλαν καὶ Δῖον καὶ Σαμάρειαν ἔτι τε Μάρισαν καὶ Ἄζωτον καὶ Ἰάμνειαν καὶ Ἀρέθουσαν τοῖς 76οἰκήτορσιν ἀπέδωκεν. καὶ ταύτας μὲν ἐν τῇ μεσογείῳ χωρὶς τῶν κατεσκαμμένων, Γάζαν δὲ πρὸς τῇ θαλάττῃ καὶ Ἰόππην καὶ Δῶρα καὶ Στράτωνος πύργον (ἥ, κτίσαντος αὐτὴν Ἡρώδου μεγαλοπρεπῶς καὶ λιμέσιν τε καὶ ναοῖς κοσμήσαντος, Καισάρεια μετωνομάσθη) πάσας ὁ Πομπήιος ἀφῆκεν ἐλευθέρας καὶ προσένειμε τῇ ἐπαρχίᾳ.
77(5) Τούτου τοῦ πάθους τοῖς2 Ἱεροσολύμοις αἴτιοι κατέστησαν Ὑρκανὸς καὶ Ἀριστόβουλος πρὸς ἀλλήλους στασιάσαντες· τήν τε γὰρ ἐλευθερίαν ἀπεβάλομεν καὶ ὑπήκοοι Ῥωμαίοις κατέστημεν, καὶ τὴν χώραν ἣν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἐκτησάμεθα τοὺς Σύρους ἀφελόμενοι, ταύτην ἠναγκάσθημεν ἀποδοῦναι τοῖς 78Σύροις, καὶ προσέτι πλείω ἢ μύρια τάλαντα Ῥωμαῖοι ἐν βραχεῖ χρόνῳ παρ᾿ ἡμῶν εἰσεπράξαντο, καὶ ἡ βασιλεία πρότερον3 τοῖς κατὰ γένος ἀρχιερεῦσιν
Jewish Antiquities XIV
and the entire nation, which before had raised itself so high, he confined within its own borders. He also rebuilt Gadara,a which had been demolished a little while before, to please Demetrius the Gadarene, his freedman; and the other cities, Hippus, Scythopolis, Pella, Dium,b Samaria, as well as Marisa, Azotus, Jamneia and Arethusa,c he restored to their own inhabitants.d And not only these cities in the interior, in addition to those that had been demolished, but also the coast cities of Gaza, Joppa, Dora and Straton’s Tower—this last city, which Herod refounded magnificently and adorned with harbours and temples, was later renamed Caesareae—all these Pompey set free and annexed them to the province.f
(5)gFor this misfortune which befell JerusalemhThe Jewish leaders’ responsibility for the national misfortune. Hyrcanus and Aristobulus were responsible, because of their dissension. For we lost our freedom and became subject to the Romans, and the territory which we had gained by our arms and taken from the Syrians we were compelled to give back to them, and in addition the Romans exacted of us in a short space of time more than ten thousand talents; and the royal power which had formerly been bestowed
- aCf. Ant. xiii. 356, where its capture, but not its destruction, is mentioned.
- bDium is not mentioned in the parallel in B.J.
- cArethusa, not mentioned previously in Ant., should be a city on the coast, to judge from its position in the list, and is therefore presumably to be distinguished from the Arethusa (mod. Restān) in northern Syria, near Emesa (Homs).
- dTo this list of cities we should add several more in the Decapolis, as Schürer remarks, i. 299 n. 25, the era of which begins with their liberation by Pompey. Josephus here mentions only the most important cities in this region.
- eCf. Ant. xv. 331 ff.
- fOf Syria, as B.J. i. 157 explicitly says. On the civic status of Judaea and the surrounding territory under Roman rule, see works cited in Appendix L, preceding volume.
- g§§ 77–78 have no parallel in B.J. Laqueur, p. 162, sees in these sections another (indirect) attack of Josephus on the Herodian usurpers. One wonders why Josephus should here disguise a sentiment expressed so clearly elsewhere in Ant., e.g. § 491.
- hVariant “those in Jerusalem.”