Jews as Seleucid Soldiers

Josephus

Jewish Antiquities 12.119–121

93–94

The Jews also received honors from the kings of Asia when they served them in war; for example, Seleucus Nicator made them citizens of the cities that he built in Asia and in lower Syria, and in the city of Antioch itself, and he gave them privileges equal to those of the Macedonians and Greeks who inhabited these cities, to the point that those privileges continue to this very day. The proof of this is that, while Jews will not make use of oil prepared by foreigners, they receive a sum of money from the proper officers to buy their own oil; and when the people of Antioch tried to deprive them of that money in the last war, Mucianus, who was then the president of Syria, preserved it for them. And when, at the time Vespasian and his son Titus governed the habitable earth, the people of Alexandria and Antioch sought to have these privileges taken away, they did not succeed in their request.

Translated byWilliam Whiston, adapted bySheila Keiter, in consultation withRalph Marcus.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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The military program of Seleucus I Nicator (r. 305–281 BCE) resulted in the founding of the four cities of Antioch, Apamea, Seleuceia Pierea, and Laodiceia toward the close of the fourth century BCE. The populations of these cities were probably ethnically diverse and included a substantial Jewish element. This is more likely the case for Antioch. The first Jewish settlers in Antioch may have constituted a military colony, and these soldiers’ honorable service to the Seleucids may have been the basis for the Seleucids granting Jews equal citizenship in certain cities of Asia and lower Syria. The Roman emperors Vespasian and Titus are thought to have maintained this privilege even after the Great Revolt. Scholars disagree, however, as to whether the Jewish populations of these cities—Antioch in particular—were granted equal rights as citizens of the Greek polis or were instead privileged foreigners (xenoi) with rights derived from the central imperial authority.

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Creator Bio

Josephus

37–100

Flavius Josephus was born into a prominent Jewish priestly family and served as a general stationed in the Galilee during the First Jewish Revolt (66–73 CE). He was captured by the Romans and eventually integrated into the Flavian imperial aristocracy, who commissioned him to compose chronicles of the Jewish–Roman war and the history of the Jews. Josephus’ works, all written in Greek, include The Jewish War, Jewish Antiquities, Against Apion, and his autobiography, Life of Josephus. These writings provide important insights into the Judaisms of the Second Temple period and include one of the few surviving accounts of the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.

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