many
3st of
the city. Another congregation of Jews was formed at Lcontopolis in the nonie of Heliopolis on the Eastern border of the Nile delta. The high priest Onias, son of Simon the Just, was granted permission by Ptolemy VI. Philometor to settle there when he fled with some adherents in 173 or 170 from his enemies Antiochus IV. Epi- phanes and the sons of Tobias. He built a fort- ress, and within it a temple where the worship of Jehovah was carried on. This continued till .\.li. 73, when the temple was destroyed by order of Vespasian (Jos. Ant. XIII. iii. 2, XIV. viii. 1 ; BJ I. ix. 4, VII. X. 2-4).
(c) Syria. — The Egyptian Diaspora had been formed largely owing to the increased facilities for travel and intercourse resnltin.o; from Alex- ander's conquests. And the sai an^i- o].ernted
in Syria. Damascus had recei\ecl l-r:ie|;ic colon- ists 'in very early times (1 K 2i) '). I n Nei.. ., reign there were, according to Je~e|iliiw ( /;./ ii. \\. _), no fewer than lO.diiu .l,.« - in liie.it.v. .\ni inrhus iv.
EpiphaneS C(jnee.le,l lo Ihe .lews I lie llullt of
free settlement in Aiitioeli ; ani, owiii.i; to llie su(t- ce.sses and prestige of tlie Maccabees in Palestine, the neighbouring provinces of Syria received a larger admixture of Jews than any other country [BJ VII. iii. 3).
(d) Asia Minor.* —'Y\\\o\vA\ Syria .lews passed to Asia Minor and the neiulilioiMiu' inlands, Cyprus, Crete, etc., where from i;.i'. l:;ii and onwards they flourished under Roman prolerli<.n. See Hort, 1 Peter, Add. note, pp. 157-184, and Ac 13-20.
(e) Greece.— It is related in 1 Mac 12-'' that the Spartans sent a letter to the high priest Onias saying ' it hath been found in writing concerning
• It is convenient to nse the term, although its first known occurrence is in Orosius (Hist. i. 2. 20), a.d. 417. He speaks as though it were his own coinage ; ' Asia regio vel, ut proprie
466
DISPERSION
DISPERSION
the Spartans and the Jews that they are brethren, and that they are of tlie stock of Abraham.' This, though legendary, implies that tliere was at least an acquaintance between members of the two races. Jewish inscriptions, moreover, have been found in Greece ; and there were firmly established Jewish communities in Thessalonica, Beroea, and Corinth wlien St. Paul visited them (Ac 17. 18).
(/) liomc. —The lii>t contact of tlie Jews with Rome was in tlie time nf llic M.iccaljees ; cii'lia-- sieswere sent by Juda^ ami .(uiiatlian, and a formal alliance was concluded liy Simon in B.C. 14U(1 .Mac J424 1515-2J) j^ fg^y Jews probably reached Rome as traders ; but the first large settlement dates from the capture of Jerusalem by Pompey , B.C. 63. Julius and Augustus admitted them to a legal standing throughout the Empire (see the series of enactments in Jos. Atit. XIV. viii. 5, x. 1-8) ; the latter allowed them to form a colony on the further side of the Tiber ; but they soon gained a footing within the city, and had synagogues of their own. Tiberius in A.D. 19 banished 4000 to Sardinia. In the early days of Claudius the Jewish cause was upheld at court by the two Agrippas ; but before 52 ' Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome ' (Ac 18-) — ' impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantes ' (Suet. Claud. 25). Under Nero the Jews in Rome once more gained ground.
3. The Jews dispersed in these various settle- ments did not entirely cut themselves off from their national centre, Jerusalem. Even the Jews
at ], i(i| <ili,. ili.>ugh their w^orship was strictly
siK K ileal, did not allow their religi-
on- In quench their national feeling.
Tlie\ eiili ;:i.M (lesar's cause in Egypt, contrary to their first impulse, because of the injunctions of Hyrcanus the high, priest at Jerusalem, and Anti- pater the Jewish general (Jos. Ant. Xiv. viii. 1 ; BJ I. i.\. 4).
There were two important links which bound the Diaspora in all parts of the world to their mother city.
(n) The annual payment of the Temple-tax (the half-shekel or didrachm), and of other offerings. One of the privileges which they enjoyed under the Diadochi and afterwards under the Romans was that of roiniiiLT ttieir own money for sacred ]inr)in-e>. [It M.i- I 111- -Mcieil ioiiia,i;e that foreign ,le\\> wcie ol.lij.',! lu ;_ei (i.im tile nioney-cliaugers ill exeliaiiue to; ilii' oidinaiv ei\il monev, when they came to.l,ni>alem tor the lestivals, Mt 2V\ Mk 1 1'-', .In l"^'-. Anil it Ava- this variety of coin- age that cnaliled our Lord to yive His absolutely simple lait uiiansweralile decision on what the Jews thought was a dilemma ; decj) spiritual meaning, no doubt, underlay His words, but their surface meaning was sufficient to silence His opponents : ' Render to Ctesar the civil coin on which his iiiijige is stamped, and render to God the sacred coin which belongs to Him and His Temple wor- sliii),' Mt 22=', Mk 12", Lk 20"-=]. The sacred money was collected at different centres (cf. Mt 17-' ol rd SiSpaxjJ-a Xa/ij3di'oi'Tts) and carried under safe escort to Jerusalem (Pliilo, cle Monarch, ii. 3). Josephus relates (Ant. XVI. vi.) that the Jews in Asia and Cyrene w^ere ill-treated, and that the G.reeks took from them their sacred money ; but that decrees were issued by Augustus, Agrippa, and two proconsuls to the effect tliat the sacred money of the Jews was to be untouched, and that tlioy were to be given full liberty to send it to .ler'usalein. The Babylonian Jews made use of the two strong cities Neliardea and Nisibis to .-.tore their sacred money till th<' time lame li> .n,! ii i,, Palestine. 'The "Jcv,-. .leiicnlin^j o,, il,.. i:,ii.,.:,l strength of these ].l:M'e-. ,ie|„iMie(l in \\,, ui iln- half-shekel which everyone. Iiy the eu-lo,,, of o,,, country, offers to God, and as many other dedi-