Читать онлайн "Jews and Greeks in ancient Cyrene" - Эпплбаум Шимон - RuLit

More graphic is the evidence of an inscription from Cyrene first published in 1963.[1548] This is mutilated and its five surviving fragments are not sufficient to complete the entire text. It is a marble stele on which is inscribed a Greek text of which twenty-two lines survive incomplete; these are divided into a preamble and a list of names. It is therefore evident that this is a stele recording thanks for aid or assistance to a number of people. The first line which is to any extent decipherable (no. 3) contains a number (the word “hundred” is visible), and the word “wheat” appears in the second, followed by the word “given as a present”. The fifth includes the words “wheat which was not expected” or something similar (σείτων ἀνελπισ [- - -]) the sixth, “Hellenes, save!” Line seven begins with the words “Cyrene the mother” in the accusative. The list of contributors opens with the name of Hadrian himself, but he is entitled “god”, meaning that the inscription was cut after his death. The remaining people listed after him possess Greek names, in so far they can be read or restored, and Claudii are prominent among them, in contradistinction to the high proportion of Aurelii who appear in the inscriptions of gymnasium pupils at Cyrene after the revolt.[1549] Thus there is little doubt that the people mentioned also include citizens of the old families — as is evidenced by characteristic names such as Barkaios and Clearchos. Among the contributors therefore are Greek citizens of Cyrene who had escaped from the Jewish insurgents and returned to their native place, or at least, if they had remained in another province, were in a position to make contributions. The remaining words of the stele leave no room for doubt that these were consignments of a not inconsiderable quantity of grain sent to save their native city, Cyrene, and in the circumstances it is probable that the citizens concerned were still abroad. The appearance of Hadrian’s name reflects his activity on behalf of the stricken province, and the erection of the stele after his death in 138, proves that the consignments were despatched a short time after the rising, on a scale that caused them to be graven deep in the memory of the surviving inhabitants. But is clear that the inscription itself was executed a long time after Hadrian’s death: the letter style is characteristic of the 3rd century and even of its second half, to judge from an epitaph of similar type at Cyrene,[1550] in which the year A.D. 262 is recorded. Generally it may be assumed, that we have here a copy of the original inscription, which had been damaged or become illegible and was replaced by the city authorities.

This replacement has a parallel in the Cyrenean stele bearing fragments of the orders or rescripts of Hadrian to the city some time (A.D. 135) after the end of the Jewish revolt.[1551] The epigraphical style of this document shows that the stele itself belongs to the 3rd century, a considerable time after the composition of the original text, which was copied afresh in order to preserve its contents.[1552] This inscription too dealt, in so far as its text can be restored (see below), with the city’s still unstable plight after the events of 115-117. Hence it is clear that the stele recording the corn contributions was thought important enough to be renewed a hundred or even a hundred and fifty years or more after its first publication. In its preamble, despite its defective condition, the echo can be heard of the despairing cry of the city’s surviving inhabitants or of its new settlers — “save Cyrene, city and mother”; this is an appeal first and foremost to Greeks, and probably to the cities of Dorian origin which still saw themselves bound to Cyrene by ties of history and sentiment,[1553] and also to past inhabitants of Cyrene possessed of means and still resident abroad, probably due to the great dearth prevailing in the country.[1554]

The third inscription, which is the late copy of Hadrian’s order of 135 already mentioned, also reflects the plight of Cyrene in the years after the end of the revolt. Following the Emperor’s name and titles, the text begins with a short letter by Hadrian directed to the citizens. This is followed by part of a letter, evidently from the governor of the province, Salvius Carus, and by extracts from the imperial order. The stele is incomplete and the stone is broken obliquely from the righthand upper to the lower lefthand side, so that nearly half the text is missing, and its restoration involves numerous difficulties. It is nevertheless clear that the subject of the contents is Cyrene’s membership of the league of Greek cities known as the Panhellenion,[1555] the right of an unnamed community to join the organization, and the problem of the repopulation of the city. The last surviving sections speak of the gymnasia of Cyrene, and Hadrian is probably rebuking the city authorities for the unsatisfactory condition of these institutions. Oliver[1556] has suggested that the inscription deals with some doubt cast upon the hellenic origin of the Cyreneans, notwithstanding that they are sending two deputies to the assembly of the Panhellenion. Larsen has rightly criticized this suggestion,[1557] pointing out that if the derivation of the Cyreneans had been impugned, they would not have commemorated the fact in their archives, whereas the inscription, as stated, is a late copy made for the records. Larsen correctly concluded that Cyrene was in fact accepted into the Panhellenion, since we are informed of the membership of Apollonia, Cyrene’s port, in the League.[1558] He therefore interprets the second paragraph of the inscription as a decision taken by Hadrian in favour of the Cyreneans in the matter concerned, supposing that it was the latter who had expressed doubts on the hel-lenic origin of some other group of people. These he thinks to have been the inhabitants of Marmarica in the east of the territory. His conjecture is reasonable, but there is no absolute proof of it; the doubts concerning that region may have arisen because of its pending transfer to Egypt, which was implemented towards the middle of the century.[1559] Whatever the case, it can be deduced from the text, that the repopulation of Cyrene at the end of Hadrian’s reign was creating various problems in the cultural sphere, and that the Emperor, as an enthusiastic hellenist, was displaying concern for the new community’s cultural level which had declined due to the mixed composition of the new settlers. This concern seems to have found expression both in the incorporation of Cyrene in the Panhellenion and in the fostering of the cities’ educational institutions in order to raise their standards.

ii. The Revolt in Egypt The evidence of Archaeology, Literature and Papyrology

The Jewish revolt in Egypt has been studied by a number of scholars; our object here is to recapitulate the evidence and to embody it in the general account. The conclusion has already been drawn, that the battle which took place between Jews and Romans in Alexandria before October, 115, was an isolated event. Disorders began subsequently in the Egyptian countryside during the autumn, but only when the Jews of Cyrene invaded Egypt at the beginning of 116, did real fighting break out in the country’s rural areas. The sources relate, that after the Greeks had been defeated on the countryside, they fled to Alexandria, and there attacked the Jews;[1560] thereupon, it appears, there broke out the violent conflict in which not only the city’s great synagogue, but also the Temple of Nemesis and the Serapeium were destroyed. Meantime the Jews of Cyrene, having “lost the alliance” of the Alexandrian Jews (τῆς δὲ παρὰ τούτων συμμαχίας ἀποτύχοντες) ravaged wide areas of the countryside. The scope of the conflict in Alexandria is indicated by two principal items of evidence, namely, a) Jerome’s statement that “Alexandria was destroyed by the Romans”,[1561] which need not be an error, since it is highly probable that the Roman forces were compelled to demolish buildings for military reasons, as Alon has conjectured:[1562] Eusebius moreover tells us that Hadrian set about rebuilding the city;[1563] b) we hear of the destruction of the three public buildings already referred to; that of the great synagogue is described by a talmudic tradition,[1564] and that of the Sanctuary of Nemesis is recorded by Appian.[1565] Evidence for the demolition of the Serapeium was found when the edifice was excavated in 1943.[1566]