Hi back Dave.DCHindley wrote: ↑Sun Feb 11, 2018 7:34 amHi Lane,Jax wrote: ↑Sat Feb 10, 2018 5:12 pmIf I understand your question, I think that the only city that was invested with a heavy military presence, of the ones that I mention, in the 1st century was Syria.Ben C. Smith wrote: ↑Sat Feb 10, 2018 3:47 pm Good post.
Can you outline which of those cities, if any, with a military presence in the first century BC would have lacked one in the (middle of the) first century AD? In other words, if the connection between most of these cities is a military one, does that mean that it also has to be a combatant one? Does there have to be a war going on, or can it simply be one soldier going to the people he knows best, his "fellow soldiers" (taken literally)?
I'll have to look it up but I think that is correct. Augustus really cut down on the military in Greece, Macedonia, and Asia Minor after Actium and ramp'd things up in Spain, the Danube and Rhine areas with Germany, and the eastern areas with Parthia.
Aside from the revolt in Illyricun and the massacre at Teutoburg, for the most part, things were pretty quiet from Augustus to Nero.
You've probably heard of Emil Schürer's A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ. The English translation of the original 2nd German edition was published as 5 volumes between 1885 & 1910. There was a revision of the ET, based on the 3rd German edition, edited by Vermes, Miller, et al, as 4 volumes between 1973 & 1987. I always considered it rather good, and am surprised that it has never been reprinted in its entirety as either a hardback or even as paperbacks.
Well, volume 2 of the revised ET has sections devoted to overviews of most places of town size or larger in the area of Syria and Palestine, giving background histories and some interesting facts about them (and not "hokey" ones like in many bible commentaries). I think you would profit from finding copies of the revised ET at a local regional or college/university library and review it carefully. The problem is that it will probably be a "reference" copy that cannot be checked out. I have it, so if there are specific sections you want to look at at your leisure, let me know and I'll scan copies to send to you ("For research purposes only!" I say, stepping back a pace and holding up my hands in alarm).
The ETs based on the 2nd German edition are available online at www.archive.org if you hunt for them.*
CONTENTS OF DIVISION II. VOL. I.
22. THE STATE OF CULTURE IN GENERAL, .... 1
I. Mixture of Population, Language, .... 1
II. Diffusion of Hellenic Culture, . . . . .11
1. Hellenism in the Non-Jewish Regions, . . .11
2. Hellenism in the Jewish Region, . . . .29
III. Position of Judaism with respect to Heathenism, . . 51
23. CONSTITUTION. SANHEDRIM. HIGH PRIEST, . . .57
SECTIONS
I. The Hellenistic Towns, ..... 57
Raphia, 66. Gaza, 68. Anthedon, 72. Ascalon, 74.
Azotus, 76. Jamnia, 78. Joppa, 79. Apollonia, 83.
Straton's Tower Caesarea, 84. Dora, 87. Ptolemais,
90. Damascus, 96. Hippus, 98. Gadara, 100. Abila,
104. Raphana, 106. Kanata, 106. Kanatha, 108.
Scythopolis, 110. Pella, 113. Dium, 115. Gerasa,
116. Philadelphia, llr. Sebaste = Samaria, 123.
Gaba, 127. Esbon (Hesbon), 128. Antipatris, 130.
Phasaelis, 131. Caesarea Panias, 132. Julias = Bethsaida,
135. Sepphoris, 136. Julias = Livias, 141.
Tiberias, 143.
II. The strictly Jewish Territory, . . . . .149You'll have to go elsewhere for regions of Asia Minor and Greece. I'd recommend the following very detailed and FREE! resource:CONTENTS OF DIVISION I. VOL. II
APPENDICES
I, History of Chalcis, Iturea, and Abilene, . . 325
II. History of the Nabatean Kings, .... 345
(Smith, Wm) Dictionary of the Bible (4 volumes, sometime around 1870), all available for download at www.archive.org.
DCH
*By far one of the most important set of volumes in my library is Emil Schürer's History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C. - A.D. 135), Revised edition, T & T Clark, Edinburgh, 1973-1987.
This edition of the English translation was based on the three volume 3rd German edition, entitled Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes im zeitalter Jesu Christi. (2nd & 3rd vol 1898; 1st vol 1901); a "4th" German edition, identical to the 3rd, was published in 1909, plus an Index to the whole in 1911).
Volume I (ISBN 0 567 02242 0): A New English Edition, revised and edited by Geza Vermes & Fergus Millar, Literary Editor Pamela Vermes, Organizing Editor Matthew Black, 1973, Jewish History.
Volume II (ISBN 0 567 02243 9): A New English Edition, revised and edited by Geza Vermes, Fergus Millar, Matthew Black, Literary Editor Pamela Vermes, Organizing Editor Matthew Black, 1979, Jewish Culture, Political & Social Institutions, Messianism.
Volume III.1 (ISBN 0 567 02244 7): A New English Edition, revised and edited by Geza Vermes, Fergus Millar, Martin Goodman, Literary Editor Pamela Vermes, Organizing Editor Matthew Black, 1986, Jewish-Gentile relationships in the Diaspora, Jewish literature in Hebrew, Aramaic & Greek.
Volume III.2 (ISBN 0 567 09373 5): A New English Edition, revised and edited by Geza Vermes, Fergus Millar, Martin Goodman, Literary Editor Pamela Vermes, Organizing Editor Matthew Black, 1987, Jewish literature such as Apocrypha & Pseudepigrapha (including some that may by Christian revisions of originally Jewish works), Philo, and finally a complete index of all volumes.
The previous English translation, published in five volumes as A History of the Jewish People in the time of Jesus Christ (1885-1891), was based on the 2 volume 2nd revised German edition, which like the 3rd German edition, was entitled Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes im zeitalter Jesu Christi, published between 1885-1891 (ISBN 10 for the whole set is 1-56563-049-1, ISBN 13 is 978-1-56563-049-9). This set is still in print, and incredibly cheap to buy in hardcopy if you don't like to work from scans downloaded from the Internet, but outdated in many ways.
Volume 2 of the 2nd revised German edition was published as the "2nd Division" in three volumes (1885), while Volume 1 of the German 2nd revised edition was published in two volumes as the "1st Division" (1890). An index to the 5 volume set was published in 1891.
First Division: Political History of Palestine from BC 175 to AD 135.
Vol 1, 1890.
Vol 2, 1890
Second Division: The Internal Condition of Palestine, and the Jewish people, in the Time of Jesus Christ.
Vol 1, 1885
Vol 2, 1885
Vol 3, 1885
Index to all five volumes, 1891
This 2nd German edition was, in turn, was an expansion of Schürer's original one volume German handbook entitled Lehrbuch der neutestamentlichen Zeitgeschichte, which means "Manual of the History of New Testament Times," in 1874 (J C Heinrichs, i-vii, 698 pages).
Thank you for this information and source links, I'll look into them.