246
CESAR
C^SAREA PHILIPPI
Samaria. He was deposed and banished by Aug- ustus to Vienne in Gaul in a.d. 6. His ten-itory was put under direct Roman rule, becoming a part of the province of Syria, with a Roman of eques- trian rank for its governor. An end was thus put to the uniform consideration for Jewish traditions and national prejudices shown by Herod and his sons. The first notable instance of this in history is met with in the rebellion of A.D. 6, on the occasion of the great census, while Quirinius was governor of Syria, which is referred to in Ac 5". The tumult, with its accompanjring bloodshed, must have been of no slight moment, when a quarter of a century thereafter Gamaliel could eflectually use it in restraining the Council from slaying the Apostles. Between A.D. 6 and A.D. 30, whichever length of cycle for the imperial census be taken, there must have been at least another ' enrolment ' for purposes of taxation. We do not read of a serious revolt having taken place then as in 6 A.D. The Roman authorities, no doubt, were better prepared for what might happen, and the Jewish people also had learned the fruitlessness of rebellion. As the time of Christ's public ministry approached, their spirit nevertheless became more and more embittered. It was inevitable that at some point or other in that ministry the question should be pressed upon Him, ' Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?' (Mt 22" II). It was one of the burning questions of His time. A dis- tinction must here be drawn between the ' customs ' or duties upon goods and the land tax with poll tax. The latter only passed into the ' Fiscus ' or im- perial treasury. With jjerfect accuracy, therefore, it could be described as 'tribute to Ca'sar.' This tax was exacted annually, and as the Jews were not yet subject to military conscription, it formed the chief sign of their subjection to the Roman yoke. Officers of state collected it, the procurator for the tax in the case of Judsea being also the governor, Pilate. It was difl'erent with the ' cus- toms,' which were farmed out to the liighest bidder, thus creating that intense antipathy which is revealed in the phrase 'publicans and sinners.'
The tribute payment after all was based on the fact of the kingship of Ctesar. The combination of ' Cajsar ' with ' long ' sounds entirely unhistori- cal to one familiar with the rise and growth of the Roman Empire. ' King ' was a term which Augustus was most careful to avoid from the time tliat it may be said to have oo.^t the first ' Ca'sar' his life. Among Eastern peoples, lioweNcr, it was the most u.sual title for their ruler. Buring the long reign of Herod no name was more familiar to the Jews than 'king.' It was most natural for them to transfer it to ' C»sar.' Any one claiming to be a 'king' within the wide dominion of Ca>sar was seeking to establish a rival authority. This was the charge which they found it so easy to frame against Jesus when He and they were in the presence of Pilate : ' forbidding to give tribute to Ccesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king' (Lk 23"). No more powerful appeal could they have made to Pilate's fears, as they thought, than when they cried out, ' If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's fi-iend : whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Caisar' (Jn 19'-). The title on the cross, 'Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews' (Jn 19''), as Pilate actually wrote it, served him better than their proposed modifica- tion, ' He said, I am king of the Jews' (v.'>). Should he ever be called in auestion by Caesar for giving Jesus up to death, that title, written out by his own hand, would form an ample justification. The greater probability lies in the supposition that Pilate so named Hiui to spite the Jews, in accord- ance with those other words, ' Shall I crucify your king ? ' (v."). The whole attitude of Jesus towards
Ca>sar, not only in the question of the tribute, but throughout the trial before Pilate, must have en- tirely disarmed the Roman governor of any fear that He was. or ever had been, a rival of Caesar's. J. GonooN Grav.
C^ESAREA PHILIPPI.— Tlie town called Caesarea Philippi in the Synoptic Gospels (Mt 16", Mk 8", cf. Jos. Ant. XX. ix. 4, BJ III. ix. 7, vii. ii. 1) bore at one time, certainly as early as B.C. 198 (Polybius, HUt. xvi. 18, xxviii. 1), the name Panias (iroKids or, naKeds), which is still preserved in the modern Banias. Situated to the north of the Sea of Gali- lee on a plateau at the southern foothills of Mount Hermon, it lay in the territory that Philip re- ceived from his father, Herod the Great. The place, as well as the surrounding country, received its original name from a cave or grotto in a hUl near by, which was called rd Ildvfioc, because sacred to Pan and the Nymphs. In the face of the cliff" there are still several niches with inscrip- tions in which Pan is mentioned. From the cave (Mugharet Eas en-Nebd), now partly filled with fallen stone, issues a strong stream of water which has long been reckoned one of the chief sources of the Jordan (Jos. Ant. XV. x. 3). On the hill above, Herod built a white marble temple in honour of Augustus (Jos. Ant. XV. x. 3, BJ I. xxi. 3), and here the Crusaders built a castle, the ruins of which still stand some fifteen hundred feet above the town, and about a mile and a quarter to the east (Kuldt Subeibch). Philip enlarged and beauti- fied Panias, and called it Ct-esarea (Kai<rdp«o) in honour of Augustus. The statement of Euselaius {Chron. ed. Schoene, pp. 146-147) that Philip built Panias, and called it Caesarea, in the reign of Tiberius, is rendered improbable by coins which show that Caesarea had an era dating from B.C. 3 or 2. To distinguish it from Caesarea on the seacoast ( Kaiadpcia ^Tpdrajpos or Kattrdpeta t^s UaSaLaTh-ns), it was commonly called Ca;.sarea Philippi (Kaicrd/jfia ij '^Mttwov). Under Agrippa II. it received and bore for a short time tlie name Neronias (Nepwi-ids, Jos. Ant. xx. ix. 4). The place has probably no part in OT history, since its identification with Dan (Smith, HGHL pp. 473, 480) is not certain (Buhl, GAP p. 238).