FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
JEWISH ANTIQUITIES
Book 13

¹In the previous volume we showed how the Jewish nation regained its freedom after being enslaved by the Macedonians, and how their general, Judas, died fighting on their behalf after undergoing many struggles and battles. ²After his death, all the wicked who transgressed their ancestral ways sprang up again in Judea and troubled them on every side. ³A famine that afflicted the country added to their wickedness, for many who were unable to endure the hardships both of hunger and their opponents, went over to the Macedonians. ⁴Bacchides gathered the Jews who had apostatized from their old ancestral lifestyle and adopted the new ways, and handed over to them the government of the country. Then these laid hold of the friends of Judas and his partisans and gave them over to Bacchides, and after torturing and tormenting them at his pleasure, he finally put them to death. ⁵When this plight of the Jews became worse than anything they had known since the return from Babylon, the remnants of Judas' companions, seeing the nation about to be so miserably destroyed, went to his brother Jonathan and asked him to care for his countrymen just like his brother, who had died for their freedom, and not to leave the nation leaderless, to perish like this. ⁶When Jonathan declared that he was ready to die for them and was seen as no less than his brother, he was appointed general of the Jews.

⁷Hearing of this Bacchides was afraid that Jonathan might pose a problem for the king and the Macedonians, as Judas had done before him, so he sought a way to kill him by treachery. ⁸But his intentions were not unknown to Jonathan and his brother Simon, and alerted to it, they quickly took all their companions and fled into the wilderness nearest to the city, and when they had come to the waters called lake Asphar, they stayed there. ⁹Bacchides knew that they had left and were in that place, and hurried to attack them with all his forces and camping beyond the Jordan, he gathered his forces. ¹⁰Knowing that Bacchides was marching on him, Jonathan sent his brother John, also known as Gaddis, to the Nabatean Arabs, to leave his baggage with them until after the battle with Bacchides, for they were his friends. ¹¹As John was going to the Nabateans, the sons of Ambri ambushed him from the city of Medaba and looted all that they had with them and killed John and all his companions. But they were well punished by John's brothers for what they did, as we shall soon relate.

¹²As Bacchides knew that Jonathan encamped among the lakes of the Jordan, he waited until the sabbath day and then attacked, not expecting him to fight on that day because of the law. ¹³But he urged on his companions, saying that their lives were at stake as they were between the river and by their foes, with no way to escape, with enemies in front of them and the river at their back; and praying to God for victory, he tackled the enemy. ¹⁴Many of them he destroyed, and when he saw Bacchides boldly coming at him, he stretched out his hand to strike him, but the other foresaw and avoided the stroke. Then Jonathan and his companions jumped into the river and swam over it and so escaped beyond the Jordan while the enemies did not cross the river, and Bacchides immediately returned to the citadel in Jerusalem, having lost about two thousand of his army. ¹⁵Bacchides took and fortified many cities of Judea, and Jericho and Emmaus and Bethoron and Bethel and Timna and Pharatho and Tochoa and Gazara. ¹⁶He built towers in each of these cities and surrounded them with strong, high walls, and put garrisons in them, who could sally out and harass the Jews. ¹⁷He fortified especially the citadel in Jerusalem and took the sons of the chiefs of Judea as hostages and shut them in the citadel and secured it in that way.

¹⁸About that time someone came to Jonathan and his brother Simon to tell them that the sons of Ambri were celebrating a marriage and bringing the bride, the daughter of a famous man among the Arabs, from the city of Gabatha, and that the girl was to be conducted with pomp and great splendour. ¹⁹Thinking this a good chance to avenge their brother's death and that they had enough forces to do it, Jonathan and Simon hurried to Medaba and hid in the mountains until their enemies arrived. ²⁰When they saw them conducting the virgin and her bridegroom and the usual large company of their friends at such a wedding, they rushed out from ambush and killed them all and took their ornaments and all the goods those people had and so returned. ²¹This was the punishment they dealt to the sons of Ambri for their brother John, for the sons themselves died along with their friends and wives and children, numbering about four hundred.

²²Simon and Jonathan returned to the lakes of the river and stayed there; but Bacchides had secured all Judea with his garrisons, and returned to the king, and then the affairs of the Jews were at peace for two years. ²³When the deserters and the wicked saw Jonathan and his companions living calmly in the country because of the peace, they sent to king Demetrius and roused him to send Bacchides to seize Jonathan, which they said could be done easily in a single night, for if they attacked them unawares, they could kill them all. ²⁴So the king sent Bacchides and arriving in Judea he wrote to all his friends, both Jews and allies to bring Jonathan to him. ²⁵Despite all their efforts they were unable to capture Jonathan, for he knew of their traps and carefully guarded against them, and Bacchides was angry with the renegades for having misled him and the king, so he took and killed fifty of their ring officers. ²⁶Then for fear of Bacchides, Jonathan with his brother and his companions retreated to Bethalaga, a village in the wilderness, and built towers in it and surrounded it with walls so it was safely guarded. ²⁷Hearing of this, Bacchides led his own army and some Jewish allies against Jonathan and attacked his fortifications and besieged him for many days. ²⁸And still, despite the zeal of the besiegers, he did not give in but fought back bravely. Then leaving his brother Simon in the city to fight Bacchides, he himself went out secretly into the country and gathered a large group of men of his own party and attacked Bacchides' camp at night and killed many of them; and his brother Simon knew of this attack, for he saw the enemies being killed. ²⁹So he too made sorties out at the enemy and burned the machines the Macedonians used for the siege and caused great slaughter among them. ³⁰When Bacchides saw himself surrounded by his enemies with some of them in front of him and some behind, he fell into despair and dejection of mind, shaken by the unexpected failure of this siege. ³¹He vented his anger at this on those deserters who sent to the king for him, for having misled him, and wanted to finish this siege properly if he could and then to return home.

³²When Jonathan learned of his intentions, he sent envoys to him about friendship and military alliance and a return of prisoners on both sides. ³³Bacchides thought this a decent way out of the situation and made a pact of friendship with Jonathan, where they swore to make no more war on each other; and returning the prisoners he took his men with him and returned to the king in Antioch, and after his departure, never came into Judea again. ³⁴Jonathan availed of the peace and went to live in the city of Machma, and there ruled the affairs of the people and punished the wicked and ungodly and so purged the nation of them.

³⁵In the hundred and sixtieth year, Alexander, the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, came up into Syria and took Ptolemais. The soldiers inside betrayed it to him in their disaffection from Demetrius for his contempt and surliness. ³⁶He had shut himself up in a palace with four towers which he had built for himself near Antioch, and admitted no one, and was slothful and negligent about the public affairs, all of which brought on him the hatred of his subjects, as we have already reported elsewhere. ³⁷When Demetrius heard that Alexander was in Ptolemais, he took his whole army and led it against him, also sending envoys to Jonathan about a pact of alliance and friendship, for he decided to forestall Alexander in case the other should treat with him first and become his ally. ³⁸This he did for fear that Jonathan might remember how badly he had treated him before, and take sides against him. So he gave orders that Jonathan be allowed to raise an army and have weapons made and receive back the Jewish hostages whom Bacchides had shut up in the citadel in Jerusalem. ³⁹When these concessions offered by Demetrius were told to Jonathan he came to Jerusalem and read the king's letter in the hearing of the people and of the garrison in the citadel. ⁴⁰When it was read, the rogues and fugitives in the citadel were alarmed by the king's permission to Jonathan to raise an army and to get back the hostages; and he restored all of them to their own parents. ⁴¹In this way Jonathan came to live in Jerusalem, reviving the city and restoring the buildings as he pleased, for he ordered that the walls of the city be rebuilt with square stones, to be more secure from their enemies. ⁴²When those who held the strongholds in Judea saw this, they all left them and fled to Antioch, except those in the city of Bethsura and in the citadel of Jerusalem, for the greater part of these were rogue Jews and deserters, unwilling to surrender their strongholds.

⁴³When Alexander learned of the promises Demetrius had made to Jonathan and of his courage and all he had done in the war against the Macedonians and the hardships he had endured from Demetrius and his general Bacchides, he told his friends that he could not at present find any braver ally in war than Jonathan, who deeply hated Demetrius for all he had suffered from him and the wrongs done by him. ⁴⁴"So if we decide to make him our friend against Demetrius, there is no better time than now to invite him into alliance." When he and his friends decided to send to Jonathan, he wrote him this letter: ⁴⁵"King Alexander to his brother Jonathan, greetings. We have already heard of your courage and your fidelity and so we send to you to make a pact of friendship and military alliance with you. We therefore appoint you this day as high priest of the Jews with the right to be called my friend. I have also sent you gifts of a purple robe and a golden crown and hope that as you are honoured by us, you will likewise respect us too."

⁴⁶On receipt of this letter, Jonathan donned the priestly robe at the time of the feast of tents, four years after the death of his brother Judas, for since that time no high priest had been appointed, and he raised a large force and had much armour forged. ⁴⁷Demetrius was greatly saddened to hear of it and blamed himself for his slowness, for not forestalling Alexander and winning Jonathan's goodwill, but leaving the other time to do so. But he too wrote a letter to Jonathan and the people, as follows. ⁴⁸"King Demetrius to Jonathan and the Jewish nation, greetings. Since you have preserved your friendship with us and did not yield to temptation from our enemies to ally with them, I commend you for your fidelity and urge you to continue in the same spirit, for which you will be repaid and rewarded by us. ⁴⁹I will exempt you from most of the tributes and taxes that you formerly paid to my royal predecessors and myself, and I now set you free from the age-old tributes you have paid. Besides, I exempt you the salt tax and the crowns which you used to present to me and from this day on I relinquish my right to a third of your produce and the half of the fruits of your trees. ⁵⁰I also relinquish now and for all time to come the poll-tax due to me from the people of Judea and the three regions adjoining Judea, Samaria and Galilee and Perea. ⁵¹I also intend to leave the city of Jerusalem out to its furthest boundaries holy and inviolable and free from the tithe and the taxes. I also cede my right to the citadel, and allow your high priest Jonathan to occupy it and place there a garrison that he considers faithful and loyal to himself, and guard it for us. ⁵²I set free all Jews who were prisoners and slaves in our kingdom and I order that the beasts of the Jews may not be commandeered and that their sabbaths and all their festivals and three days before each of them, be undisturbed. ⁵³Likewise I set free the Jewish inhabitants of my kingdom and order that no harm be done to them and permit any of them who wish to do so to join my army, up to the number of thirty thousand. Wherever they go, these Jewish soldiers shall have the same pay as my own army and some of them I will place in my garrisons and some in my own bodyguard and as officers in my court. ⁵⁴I also permit them to follow and keep their ancestral laws and I will that they have power over the three areas that are added to Judea, and it shall be in the power of the high priest to see that no Jew shall have any other temple to worship in except that in Jerusalem. ⁵⁵From my own revenues I grant you one hundred and fifty thousand yearly, toward the costs of the sacrifices, and if any of this money is left over shall be yours too. I also exempt you of the ten thousand drachmae which the kings used to receive from the temple, as they belong to the priests ministering in that temple. ⁵⁶Furthermore, whoever takes refuge in the Jerusalem temple, or any place belonging to it, due to money owed to the king, or on any other account, let them be set free and let their goods be secure. ⁵⁷Furthermore, I permit you to repair and rebuild your temple, all of it to be done at my expense, and you may build the walls of your city and raise high towers also at my expense. And if there be any fortress which it would benefit the land of the Jews to have strengthened, let it be done at my expense."

⁵⁸These were the promises that Demetrius conceded to the Jews by this letter. But king Alexander raised a large army of mercenaries and men who deserted to him from Syria and marched against Demetrius. ⁵⁹In the battle, the left wing of Demetrius put their opponents to flight and after a long pursuit killed many of them and spoiled their camp, but the right wing, where Demetrius happened to be, was defeated. ⁶⁰All the rest fled but Demetrius fought bravely on and killed many of the enemy, but as he was following the others his horse carried him into a deep, impassable bog, and there, once his horse fell, he could not avoid being killed. ⁶¹For when his enemies saw what had happened to him, they turned and surrounded Demetrius and all cast spears at him. Being now on foot, he fought bravely but finally received so many wounds that he could no longer fight, but fell. This is the end of Demetrius after he had ruled for eleven years, as we have said elsewhere.

⁶²But then the son of Onias the high priest, of the same name as his father, fled to king Ptolemy, surnamed Philometor, and now lived in Alexandria, as already said. When he saw how Judea was oppressed by the Macedonians and their kings, ⁶³wanting to win a name and eternal fame for himself he decided to send to king Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra, asking their permission to build a temple in Egypt like that in Jerusalem and to appoint Levites and priests from their own race. ⁶⁴He wanted to do so, especially relying on the prophet Isaias, who had foretold more than six hundred years earlier that by all means there would be a temple built in Egypt to Almighty God by a Jewish man. Buoyed up by this prediction Onias wrote the following letter to Ptolemy and Cleopatra: ⁶⁵"Having by God's help done you many great services in Coele-Syria and Phoenicia during the war, I finally came with the Jews to Heliopolis, the city of lions, and to other places of your nation. ⁶⁶There I found that most of your people have unsuitable sanctuaries and for this reason are hostile to each other, which affects the Egyptians because of the number of their temples and their differing opinions about worship. Now I have found a most suitable place in a stronghold that is named after the district of Bubastis, a place rich in many kinds of materials and abounding in sacred animals. ⁶⁷I beg you to allow me to purge this holy place, which belongs to no one and is in disrepair, and build there a temple to Almighty God, modelled on the one in Jerusalem and of the same size, for the sake of yourself and your wife and children, that the Jews living in Egypt may have a place to come and meet together in mutual harmony with each other and be at your service. ⁶⁸For the prophet Isaias foretold that there would be an altar in Egypt to the Lord God, and he prophesied many other such things about this place."

⁶⁹This was what Onias wrote to king Ptolemy. We can see his piety and that of his sister and wife Cleopatra, by the letter they wrote in reply, for they laid on the head of Onias the blame for the transgression of the law. ⁷⁰This was their reply: "King Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra to Onias, greetings. We have read your petition, asking to be granted permission to re-purify the broken-down temple in the City of Lions in Heliopolis, which is named after the district of Bubastis, but we are amazed that it pleases God to have a temple built in a place so unclean and so full of sacred animals. ⁷¹But since you say that Isaias the prophet foretold this long ago, we give you leave to do it, if it can be done according to your law, so that we may not seem to offend God in any way in this matter."

⁷²So Onias took the place and erected a temple and an altar to God, similar to that in Jerusalem, but smaller and poorer. I do not think I need here describe its dimensions or its vessels, which are already described in my seventh book of the Judaic Wars. ⁷³Then Onias found some like-minded Jews and priests and Levites to worship God there. But we have said enough about this temple.

⁷⁴The Alexandrian Jews and the Samaritans who worshipped in the temple that was built at Mount Garizim in the days of Alexander, now came into conflict with each other and disputed about their temples in Ptolemy's presence, the Jews saying that according to the Mosaic Laws, the temple was to be built in Jerusalem, and the Samaritans saying it was to be built at Garizim. ⁷⁵They asked the king in session with his friends to hear the debates about these matters and to punish the losers with death. Now Sabbeus and Theodosius managed the argument for the Samaritans and Andronicus, son of Messalamus, for the people of Jerusalem. ⁷⁶They swore on oath before God and the king to offer proofs according to the law, requesting Ptolemy to put to death anyone he found breaking these oaths. The king took many of his friends into the conference and sat to listen to the speakers. ⁷⁷The Jews in Alexandria were very anxious about the men who would argue in defence of the temple in Jerusalem and would be badly offended if anyone sullied the reputation of so ancient a temple, celebrated all over the world. ⁷⁸When Sabbeus and Theodosius allowed Andronicus to speak first, he set out to prove from the law and the successions of the high priests, each of them had received that dignity from his father and governed the temple, and how all the kings of Asia had honoured that temple with the splendid gifts they dedicated to it, while making no mention of the one in Garizim, as if it had never existed. ⁷⁹By this speech and other arguments, Andronicus persuaded the king to decide that the temple in Jerusalem was built according to the Mosaic laws, and to put Sabbeus and Theodosius to death. These things happened to the Jews in Alexandria in the days of Ptolemy Philometor.

⁸⁰When Demetrius was killed in battle as we have said above, Alexander took over the kingdom of Syria, and wrote to Ptolemy Philometor asking for his daughter in marriage, and saying it was only right for him to be related to one who had now inherited the realm of his ancestors, promoted to it by God's providence, after defeating Demetrius, and in other respects was not unworthy of being related to him. ⁸¹Ptolemy gladly received this proposal of marriage, and wrote in reply, saluting him for winning the realm of his ancestors, and promising to give him his daughter in marriage, assuring him that he would come to meet him at Ptolemais, where he asked him to meet him, as he would lead her up to there from Egypt, and would hold the girl's marriage there. ⁸²After writing this, Ptolemy came quickly to Ptolemais bringing with him his daughter Cleopatra and finding Alexander there before him, as he had requested, he gave him the girl in marriage and gave her a dowry of as much silver and gold as was fit for such a king.

⁸³After the wedding, Alexander wrote to the high priest Jonathan with instructions to come to Ptolemais. When he came to the kings he gave them magnificent gifts and was honoured by them both. ⁸⁴Alexander also made him set aside his own garment and put on a purple garment and made him sit alongside him on the dais, and ordered his officers to go with him into the city centre and proclaim that no one was permitted to speak against him, or disturb him in any way. ⁸⁵After the officers had done so, those who were prepared to accuse Jonathan and those who bore him ill-will ran away when they saw the honor that was done to him by the proclamation of the king's order. They were afraid that some harm might come upon them. And indeed king Alexander showed such favour to Jonathan that he set him up as the first of his friends.

⁸⁶But then, on the hundred and sixty-fifth year, Demetrius, the son of Demetrius, came from Crete with many mercenaries paid for by Lasthenes, the Cretian, and sailed to Cilicia. ⁸⁷When he heard it, Alexander was thrown into anxiety and confusion and he hurried from Phoenicia to Antioch immediately, to secure it before Demetrius arrived. ⁸⁸As ruler of Coele-Syria, he left Apollonius Taos, who came with a large force to Jamneia and sent to the high priest Jonathan declaring that it was not right that he alone should live peacefully, with independant authority and not be subject to the king, and that he was mocked by everyone for not yet making him subject to the king. ⁸⁹"So do not deceive yourself and sit quietly among your mountains thinking yourself strong, but if you trust in your strength, come down to the plain and let our armies come to judgment and the outcome of the battle will show which of us is bravest. ⁹⁰Note that the most valiant men of every city are in my army, the very ones who have always defeated your ancestors, but let us have the battle in a part of the country where we can fight with weapons and not with stones and there is nowhere for the defeated to escape."

⁹¹Jonathan was furious at this and selecting ten thousand of his soldiers, he quickly left Jerusalem with his brother Simon and came to Joppa and encamped outside the city, because the people of Joppa had shut their gates against him, for Apollonius had placed a garrison in the city. ⁹²As Jonathan prepared to besiege them, they feared he would take them by force and so they opened the gates to him. But hearing that Joppa was taken by Jonathan, Apollonius took three thousand cavalry and eight thousand infantry and went to Azotus, and from there he travelled on silently and slowly. Reaching Joppa, he made as though to withdraw from the place and so drew Jonathan into the plain, confident of his cavalry and setting his hopes of victory mainly on them. ⁹³Jonathan sallied out and pursued Apollonius to Azotus, and as soon as Apollonius saw his enemy out in the plain, he turned around and gave him battle. ⁹⁴Apollonius had set a thousand cavalry in ambush in a valley, that they might be seen by their enemies when they turned around. Noting this, Jonathan showed no alarm but ordered his army into a solid formation and told them to attack the enemy on both sides and set them to face those who attacked them both from front and rear. ⁹⁵When the fight lasted until evening, he assigned part of his forces to his brother Simon with orders to attack the enemy, and instructed his own companions to cover themselves with their armour and face the missiles of the cavalry. ⁹⁶They did as ordered, so that the enemy's cavalry did them no harm although they threw all the spears they had, for the missiles did not reach their bodies, as they were caught by the united shields that were joined together, whose compactness easily overcame the force of the spears so that they flew by with no effect. ⁹⁷When the enemy grew tired of throwing at them from morning until late evening, Simon noted their weariness and attacked the phalanx before him, and with his soldiers showing great spirit he put the enemy to flight. ⁹⁸Seeing the infantry running away, the cavalry did not stay either, because they were weary from having fought until evening. Also, since any hope based on the infantry was gone, they fled in cowardice and confusion. Thus they were separated and scattered all over the plain. ⁹⁹Jonathan pursued them as far as Azotus and killed many of them and forced the rest, in despair of escaping, to retreat to the temple of Dagon in Azotus. Then Jonathan took the city on the first onset and burned it and the villages around it. ¹⁰⁰He did not spare even the temple of Dagon but burned it also and killed those who had fled to it. The enemy numbers that fell in the battle and were burned in the temple were eight thousand. ¹⁰¹When Jonathan had defeated this large army, he moved on from Azotus to Askalon, and when he had encamped outside the city the people of Askalon came out to meet him with gifts and honoured him. He accepted their good intentions and returned to Jerusalem with a large amount of booty, which he had taken from the defeat of his enemies. ¹⁰²When Alexander heard that his general Apollonius had been defeated, he pretended to be glad and that it was contrary to his orders that he had fought against his friend and ally Jonathan; and he sent to Jonathan, praising his bravery and awarding him as a mark of honour a golden button, which it is customary to give to the king's relatives and assigning him Akkaron and its district as an inheritance.

¹⁰³About this time king Ptolemy, surnamed Philometor, led an army by sea and land to Syria, to the help of his son-in-law, Alexander. ¹⁰⁴At Alexander's orders all the cities received him willingly and conducted him as far as Azotus, where they all loudly complained about the burning of the temple of Dagon, and accused Jonathan of ravaging it and destroying the adjoining country with fire and killing many people. ¹⁰⁵Ptolemy heard these accusations, but said nothing. Then Jonathan went as far as Joppa to meet Ptolemy and from him received gifts of glorious quality, with every of esteem and when he had conducted him as far as the river called Eleutherus, he returned again to Jerusalem.

¹⁰⁶While Ptolemy was in Ptolemais, he had a very near escape from death, for Alexander, through his friend Ammanius, made a treacherous plot against his life. ¹⁰⁷When the plot was uncovered Ptolemy wrote to Alexander demanding that Ammanius be suitably punished, saying how he had plotted against him. When Alexander did not comply, he realized that the man himself was behind the plot and he was very angry with him. ¹⁰⁸Alexander had previously been on bad terms with the people of Antioch, for they had suffered much through Ammanius. But Ammanius was punished as he deserved, for he was killed ingloriously as a woman, while trying to hide in feminine dress, as we have elsewhere reported.

¹⁰⁹Ptolemy blamed himself for letting his daughter marry Alexander and for his alliance with him against Demetrius. ¹¹⁰So he dissolved his relationship with him and took his daughter from him and immediately sent to Demetrius about an alliance and friendship with him and promised him his daughter in marriage and to restore him to the kingdom of his fathers. Demetrius was well pleased with the envoys and accepted the alliance and the marriage with his daughter. ¹¹¹Ptolemy had another difficult task, to persuade the people of Antioch to welcome Demetrius, as they were averse to him due to the wrongs done them by his father Demetrius. ¹¹²But because the people of Antioch hated Alexander on account of Ammanius, as we have said, they were easily persuaded to expel him from Antioch. When he was thrown out of Antioch, he came into Cilicia. ¹¹³Ptolemy then came to Antioch and was made king by its inhabitants and the army, so that he had to wear two crowns, one of Asia and the other of Egypt. ¹¹⁴Being of a good and a righteous nature and not eager for splendour and also being wise in looking to the future, he decided to avoid the envy of the Romans, so he called the people of Antioch to a meeting and persuaded them to receive Demetrius. ¹¹⁵He assured them that he would forget what they had done to his father if they now did him this favour, and promised to be a good guide and monitor to him and that he would not allow him to attempt any foolish actions, while for his own part, he was content to rule the kingdom of Egypt. With these words he persuaded the people of Antioch to accept Demetrius.

¹¹⁶Alexander now hurried from Cilicia into Syria with a large army and ample supplies and burned the district of Antioch and pillaged it; whereupon Ptolemy and his son-in-law Demetrius brought their army against him, for he had given him his daughter in marriage, and beat Alexander and routed him so that he fled into Arabia. ¹¹⁷During the battle Ptolemy's horse, hearing the noise of an elephant, reared up and threw him to the ground. And seeing it, his enemies attacked him and gave him many wounds on the head and put him in danger of death. For when his bodyguards snatched him away, he was so ill that for four days he was unable to think or to speak. ¹¹⁸Zabeilos, an Arab prince, cut off Alexander's head and sent it to Ptolemy, who recovering from his wounds and returning to consciousness on the fifth day, gladly heard of Alexander's death and saw his head. ¹¹⁹But soon after being filled with joy by the death of Alexander, he too departed this life. Now Alexander, who was surnamed Balas, ruled over Asia five years, as we have elsewhere reported.

¹²⁰When Demetrius, who was surnamed Nicator, became king, he wickedly began to massacre Ptolemy's soldiers, forgetful of the pact of alliance between them, or that he was his son-in-law and kinsman, by Cleopatra's marriage to him, so the soldiers fled to Alexandria from his assault, but Demetrius got control of the elephants. ¹²¹Then the high priest Jonathan levied an army from all Judea and attacked and besieged the citadel in Jerusalem, which was held by a garrison of Macedonians and by some of the godless Jews who had deserted their ancestral customs. ¹²²Confident of the strength of the place, these at first made light of Jonathan's attempts to take it, but some of those rogues went out by night and reached Demetrius and told him about the siege of the citadel. ¹²³Furious at the news, he took his army and came from Antioch against Jonathan. When he reached Ptolemais, he wrote to him ordering him to come to him quickly to Ptolemais. ¹²⁴Without abandoning the siege, Jonathan took with him the elders of the people and the priests and brought gold and silver and clothing and many tokens of friendship and came to Demetrius and presented them to him. Having thereby pacified the king's anger he was honoured by him and received from him the confirmation of the high priesthood he had received from his royal predecessors. ¹²⁵When the fugitives accused him, Demetrius ignored them and asked him for only three hundred talents for the government of all Judea and the three toparchies of Samaria and Perea and Galilee, and gave him a letter confirming all those grants; whose contents were as follows: ¹²⁶"King Demetrius to Jonathan his brother and to the Jewish nation, greetings. We have sent you a copy of that letter which we have written to Lasthones our kinsman, that you may know its contents. ¹²⁷'King Demetrus to Lasthenes our father, greetings. In thanks for the loyalty of the Jewish nation in our regard I have decided to transfer to them, from Samaria to Judea, the three prefectures, Aphairema and Lydda and Ramathain, along with their dependencies. ¹²⁸And I exempt them from whatever my royal predecessors received from those who offered sacrifices in Jerusalem and the taxes on the fruits of the earth and of the trees and whatever else belongs to us; with the salt-pits and the crowns customarily presented to us, nor shall they be forced to pay any of those taxes from this time onward. Take care to have a copy of this letter made and given to Jonathan and prominently displayed in their holy temple.' " Such were the contents of this writing. ¹²⁹When Demetrius saw that there was peace everywhere and that there was no danger or fear of war, he disbanded most of his army and lessened their pay and paid only the foreigners who came with him from Crete and from the other islands. ¹³⁰This provoked the ill-will and hatred of the soldiers, to whom he gave nothing at this time, while the kings before him used to pay them in time of peace also, so as to have their goodwill and keep them ready to bear the ordeals of war when the need arose.

¹³¹The ill-will of the soldiers toward Demetrius was noted by one of Alexander's generals, an Apamean by birth, named Diodotus who was surnamed Tryphon, who went to Malichus the Arabian, who had reared Alexander's son Antiochus, and told him how displeased the troops were with Demetrius and persuaded him to hand over Antiochus to him, for he would make him king and restore to him his father's kingdom. ¹³²At first he opposed this, distrusting him, but when Tryphon kept at it for a long time, he persuaded him to go with his project. This was the man's current state.

¹³³But Jonathan the high priest, wanting to be rid of those in the citadel of Jerusalem and the Jewish fugitives and rogues as well and all the garrisons in the country, sent gifts and envoys to Demetrius imploring him to remove his soldiers from the strongholds of Judea. ¹³⁴He replied promising to grant him not only that but also more, after the current war was over, and asking him to send some help now that his army had deserted him. So Jonathan chose three thousand of his soldiers and sent them to Demetrius.

¹³⁵The people of Antioch hated Demetrius, both for the harm he himself had done them and their resentment toward his father Demetrius, who had greatly abused them, so they looked for an opportunity to attack him. ¹³⁶When they learned of the help coming to Demetrius from Jonathan and at the same time knowing that he would raise a large army unless they got there first and captured him, they immediately took their weapons and surrounded his palace like a siege and blocking all the exits sought to subdue their king. ¹³⁷When he saw that the people of Antioch had become his bitter enemies and were so up in arms, he attacked the Antiochians with his mercenary soldiers and the Jews sent by Jonathan, but was overpowered and defeated by them, for they were many thousands. ¹³⁸When the Jews saw the Antiochians winning, they went up to the roof of the palace and from there shot at them, and because of their height, they suffered no losses on their side. Fighting from above, they did great damage to the others and drove them from the adjoining houses. ¹³⁹These they immediately set on fire, and it spread over the whole city and as the houses were close together and were mainly of wood, it consumed it all. ¹⁴⁰So the Antiochians, unable to help themselves or to stop the fire, were put to flight, and as the Jews jumped from the top of one house to another and in that way pursued them, it was an odd pursuit. ¹⁴¹When the king saw the Antiochians busy in saving their children and their wives and so no longer fighting, he attacked them in the narrow passages and fought and killed many of them, until finally they were forced to throw down their arms and to surrender to Demetrius. ¹⁴²So he pardoned their rash behaviour and put an end to the rebellion, and when he had given rewards to the Jews from the rich spoils he had taken and thanked them as the cause of his victory, he sent them away to Jerusalem to Jonathan, as a sign of their alliance. ¹⁴³Later he proved unfaithful to him and broke his promises and threatened to make war on him unless he paid all the tax the Jewish nation had paid to previous kings. This he would have done, if Tryphon had not hindered him and sidetracked his preparations against Jonathan into a concern for his own safety. ¹⁴⁴For now he returned from Arabia into Syria with the boy Antiochus, still only a youth, and put the crown on his head, and made war on Demetrius with the support of all the soldiers who had left Demetrius for not being paid, and overcame him in battle and took from him both his elephants and the city of Antioch.

¹⁴⁵Defeated, Demetrius retreated to Cilicia. Then, sending envoys and a letter to Jonathan, young Antiochus made him his friend and ally and confirmed him in the high priesthood and granted him the four prefectures which had been added to Judea. ¹⁴⁶He also sent him vessels and cups of gold and a purple garment which he was entitled to wear, and presented him with a golden button and styled him one of his principal friends and appointed his brother Simon as general of the army from the Ladder of Tyre to Egypt. ¹⁴⁷Jonathan was so pleased with these grants made to him by Antiochus, that he sent envoys to him and to Tryphon declaring himself to be their friend and ally and promising to be his ally in the war against Demetrius, saying that he had made no proper returns for the many marks of favour he had received from him in his time of need, but had repaid such good turns with further wrongs.

¹⁴⁸As Antiochus allowed him to raise a large force from Syria and Phoenicia to make war against Demetrius' generals; he went quickly to the various cities which received him splendidly, but gave him no soldiers. ¹⁴⁹When he reached Askalon and the Askalonites came out to meet him splendidly with gifts, he urged them and all the cities of Coele-Syria to forsake Demetrius and join Antiochus, and help him to punish Demetrius for his offences against them, and gave them many reasons in favour of this. ¹⁵⁰After persuading those cities into an alliance with Antiochus, he came to Gaza to win them also to Antiochus' side, but he found the people of Gaza much more averse to him than expected, for they shut their gates against him, and though they had abandoned Demetrius, they had not resolved to join Antiochus. ¹⁵¹This provoked Jonathan to besiege them and damage their district. He set part of his army around Gaza itself. With the rest, he overran their land and despoiled and burned it. When the people of Gaza saw their plight, with no help coming from Demetrius, troubles close at hand, and assistance far away and uncertain to come, they thought it prudent to cease one alliance and to cultivate the other. ¹⁵²So they sent to Jonathan offering friendship and military alliance. Such is the temper of men, that until they experience hardships they do not know what is good for them, but after enduring evils they change their minds and choose what they should have done before suffering such harm. ¹⁵³He made a pact of friendship with them and took hostages and sent them to Jerusalem, while he himself overran the whole region, as far as Damascus.

¹⁵⁴Then he heard that Demetrius' generals had come with a large army to the city of Cadesh, between the land of the Tyrians and Galilee, for they thought to draw him out of Syria in order to save Galilee and that he would not neglect the people of Galilee when war was made on them, ¹⁵⁵He went to meet them, leaving Simon in Judea, who raised from the country as great an army as he could and then set to besiege Bethsura, the strongest place in all Judea, held, as we have said, by a garrison belonging to Demetrius. ¹⁵⁶But as Simon was raising earthworks and bringing his machines of war against Bethsura and pressing on with the siege, the garrison feared that he would take the place by storm and they be put to the sword, so they sent to Simon requesting his sworn guarantee not to harm them but let them leave the place and go off to Demetrius. ¹⁵⁷He gave them his oath and expelled them from the city and put in it a garrison of his own.

¹⁵⁸Jonathan moved from Galilee, from the waters known as Gennesar, where he had been camped, and came into the plain called Asor, without knowing that the enemy was there. ¹⁵⁹When therefore Demetrius' men knew a day in advance that Jonathan was coming against them, they set an ambush on the mountainside, while they themselves met him with an army in the plain. And when Jonathan saw them ready to engage him, he also prepared his own soldiers as best he could for the battle. ¹⁶⁰But when the Jews saw behind them the ambush set by Demetrius' generals, they feared being caught in the middle and killed so they quickly fled away. ¹⁶¹Almost all of them abandoned Jonathan, but about fifty remained with him including Mattathias, son of Absalom and Judas, son of Chapseus, officers of the army. These marched boldly and desperately against the enemy and pushed them so hard that they alarmed them by their courage and brandishing their weapons put them to flight. ¹⁶²When Jonathan's soldiers who had retreated saw the enemy giving way, they turned from their flight and vigorously pursued them as far as Cadesh, where the enemy camp lay.

¹⁶³After winning a glorious victory and killing two thousand of the enemy, Jonathan returned to Jerusalem, and seeing all of his affairs prospering as he hoped, by the providence of God, he sent envoys to the Romans, being eager to renew their nation's former friendship with them. ¹⁶⁴He told those envoys, that on their return they should go to the Spartans and remind them of the friendship and family ties between them. When the envoys came to Rome, they went into the Senate and said as the high priest Jonathan had directed, that they were sent to confirm their alliance. ¹⁶⁵The Senate confirmed what had been formerly decreed about their friendship with the Jews and gave them letters to take to all the kings of Asia and Europe and to the officers of the cities, to provide them with safe conduct to their homeland. On their return journey they went to Sparta and delivered to them the letter they had received from Jonathan, ¹⁶⁶Here is a copy of it: "Jonathan the high priest of the Jewish nation and the elders and community of the priests, to our brothers the Ephoroi and senate and people of the Spartans, greetings. If you are well and your public and private affairs flourish as you desire, it is our desire too. And we are also well. ¹⁶⁷When in times past a letter was brought by Demoteles to Onias, our then high priest, from Areus, who was your king, about the bond of kinship between us and you, a copy of which is attached, we received the letter joyfully and were well pleased with Demoteles and Areus, although we needed no such proof, since the sacred writings assured us of it. ¹⁶⁸Still, we do not think fit to begin to claim this bond with you lest we should seem too quick to assume the glory with which you now honour us. It is a long time since our bond with you has been renewed, and when on holy festival days, we offer sacrifices to God, we pray to him for your safety and victory. ¹⁶⁹For ourselves, though many wars have surrounded us through the greed of our neighbours, we did not want to trouble you or others related to us, but now that we have defeated our enemies and have occasion to send to Rome honoured men of our senate, Numenius the son of Antiochus and Antipater the son of Jason, we also gave them this letter to you, to renew our mutual friendship. ¹⁷⁰It would be fine if you yourselves were to write to us an account of what you may need from us, as we are in all things disposed to act according to your wishes." The Spartans received the envoys kindly and made a decree of friendship and military alliance and sent it to them.

¹⁷¹Meanwhile there were three sects among the Jews, who had different opinions about human actions; the first was of the Pharisees, the second of the Sadducees and the third of the Essenes. ¹⁷²The Pharisees say that some actions, but not all, are the work of fate while some of them are in our own power and are not caused by fate. But the sect of the Essenes affirm that fate governs all things and that nothing befalls men except at its decree. ¹⁷³The Sadducees deny fate and say there is no such thing and that the events of human affairs are not at its disposal, but that all our actions are in our own power, so that we are ourselves the causes of what is good and receive what is evil from our own foolishness. But I have given a more detailed account of these opinions in the second book of the Judaic War.