3 BC

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3 notes:

Bill Heroman said...

Dio Cassius' text for 3 BC is fragmented. Josephus' tells the Fake Alexander story in Antiquities 17:324-338.

Josephus' information on the three Herodian rulers is scattered. (Look for specific references in the future, print version.)

Information about Aretas & Nabatea this year is based on the work of G.W. Bowersock in his book, Roman Arabia.

Information about Quirinius & Galatia this year is based on the work of R.Syme & B.Levick. Especially see Levick's book, Roman Colonies in Southern Asia Minor.

Further references and details will be provided in the future web and print versions of this Year Book.

5/21/2007 1:53 AM
Bill Heroman said...

Look for more reference notes in the printed version of Year by Year, Volume One:

Jesus in the Empire of Caesar Augustus, 9 BC to 14 AD

Available (hopefully) by October, 2007!

. . .

(Pray for me, y'all!)

:)

5/25/2007 7:51 PM
Bill Heroman said...

Here are the footnotes from the manuscript version, for 3 BC.

Sorry, the references aren't in the text... yet.
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1 Three years & seven months, actually. Jesus turns “4” in May, 3 BC.

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2 The 20 year old is now “Ethnarch” of Judea, Samaria & Idumea’s Jews. But he rules no Greek cities.. Ptolemy seems to be his chief advisor, now. We do not hear about Nicolas of Damascus again, after 4 BC.

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3 On horseback, going 30 miles a day (less thru the Mts), they crossed 2,400 miles in around 90 days.

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4 Other than the 50 Elders who were still waiting to sail back from Rome.

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5 Gratus (a Commander of Herod’s Army who saw action last year) had been unfunded, with no Jewish Army to command, all winter. He’d must’ve done well just to keep up the Fortress all winter, with Roman support.

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6 Athronges himself had died of a wound or an illness during winter, but his Brothers kept it a secret.

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7 Legion Twelve built their walled fort outside the Holy City in late April, last year.

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8 Others in Jerusalem told him how many other Palaces had been burned and looted, elsewhere.

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9 The two-drachma Temple Tax was collected before Passover. The Festival itself brought in tons of money from visiting Pilgrims – food, lodging, sacrifices, etc – and late Spring was the grain field harvest in Palestine. Firstly, the “Ethnarch” owned many of the Inns & fields, which was direct revenue. He could always claim a cut of the Temple Revenue, if the Priests knew what was good for them! And then the actual, annual taxes would start coming in as the harvest was counted and landowners turned a profit. So, Spring = Money!

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10 Joazar was the one appointed by Herod at Purim in 4 BC. A month later, Archelaus promised the Passover crowds he’d depose Joazar. Of course, he also promised to lower taxes, but that didn’t’ happen!

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11 In 4 BC, Joseph’s fear of Archelaus came before God told him to move to Galilee. It helped that Joseph’s fear was soothed by God’s instructions, but God never said that was His reason for choosing Galilee. The point, at the moment, is that Joseph’s fear of Archelaus was his own. It came before his third God-dream, and it stayed with him after the dream.

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12 Joseph is going to leave Jesus home every year that Archelaus rules Judea.

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13 By the way, the Jewish Year of Rest started in late September. Israel isn’t supposed to grow any food for the next 12½ months after that, until the new “Fiscal Year” begins in Autumn, 2 BC. The point is that the “money season” next spring is going to bring much smaller gains, making this season that much more critical.

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14 At least Herod built them their Temple. Now Archelaus was leaving them to rebuild it themselves, while draining the extra funds they needed to do so. (Archelaus is broke now, but he’s going to be rich again before 6 AD!) This extended poverty explains why it took the Jews so long to finish the Temple! (See 29 AD.)

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15 That’s one month as opposed to 6-8 weeks, going W E. Every April, strong NW winds would blow empty grain ships from Rome to Alexandria in under 3 weeks. From there, the trip to Judea is one week, tops.

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16 The Festival of First Fruits marked the spring harvest of wheat & grain. Royal Fields and City Fields (all over Israel) were being harvested and sold. Money was being counted and tax collectors were getting in gear. Philp & Antipas waited in Rome because they wouldn’t have made any money off of Passover (only Archelaus could reap from Jerusalem, now). But – no dummies – they sailed back just in time for tax season!

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17 Remember, Galilee settled down when Sepphoris was burned, and Trachonitis didn’t’ have problems last year, at all. Judea was the central concern.

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18 Antipas also made a tour of the Jordan Valley, his other region, called Peraea. He made plans for other new cities, for the future, but focused his efforts for now on Sepphoris.

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19 Most people in the ancient world had to live as extended-family households, just to survive.

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20 Herod the Great built a temple to ____ at Panias. The best choice for Philip, Panias was located in the foothills of Mt. Hermon, near the headwaters of the Jordan, and very close to the strategic Golan Heights. “Caesarea” was to honor the Emperor and “Philippi” was to distinguish it from Caesarea-by-the-Sea.

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21 Bethsaida (called “Julias” only in 3 & 2 BC) sits just across the Jordan from Galilee. Bethsaida, by the way, is where many of Jesus’ disciples were probably born, right around this time, or during the next few years. Peter, Andrew, Philip, Nathaniel (aka Bartholomew) and the Thunder Brothers, James & John… all these men are going to meet Jesus here, in Philip’s territory.

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22 Phrataces (aka, Phraates V) was the son of Musa, a Roman slave girl that Augustus gave Phraates many years before now. Phraates loved Musa, freed her, married her & sent his older children away to please her. Nice, hunh? Phraates’ four older sons (raised in Rome by a treaty with Caesar) were still in Rome in 3 BC.

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23 Births – In Spain, the philosopher Seneca will grow up to play a key role advising the Emperor Nero in the 50’s & 60’s AD. And in Italy, the future Emperor Galba is going to rule for six months in 68/69, after Nero dies.

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24 Josephus spent a long time on this story, pointing out how eagerly the Jews rose to support a man they admired, like “Alexander”. (Josephus wanted his Emperors, Vespasian & Titus, to make Israel into a Kingdom again.) But aside from that, it was just a well known scandal at the time.

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25 This part of the story is reconstructed from the work of G.W. Bowersock. The ancient Geographer, writing before 1 AD, said the Nabateans were “now subjects” of Rome. For more on this, see the Bonus Sections in the back of this book, and watch the footnotes from now until Nabatea gets restored in 1 AD.

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26 P.Quintus Varus won’t come back to the East, but we’ll see him again, in Germany, in a decade or so.

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27 No ancient author tells the name of Syria’s Governor from 3 to 1 BC. But inscriptional evidence indicates that it was most likely Piso. (See B.Levick, Roman Colonies in Southern Galatia, Appendix V.)

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28 The year before that, Governor Cornutus and Legions ___ & ___ had finished the military road. The Via Sebaste surrounded the hostile tribes on three sides, and was built largely to help in attacking those tribes. (See 6 BC.)

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29 Antioch-Pisidia & Lystra were two of the six colonies Augustus planted with Legionary Veterans in 25 BC. Both cities were part of the Via Sebaste road system, that was finished in 6 BC, that encircled the Homanadensians on three sides. Antioch-Pisidia was the Capital of Galatia at this time, sitting at the north entrance to those Mountains, and Lystra sat just to the East of Lake Trogidis, at the end of a long Mountain Pass. So basically, The hostile tribes were pinched between Antioch & Lystra. Incidently, it is a complete coincidence that these two cities will be visited by the apostles Paul & Barnabas in the late 40’s AD. But since we won’t see Lystra again, from now until then, this is our only chance to explain certain details.

While Antioch-Pisidia held on, somewhat, to it’s original nature as a Roman Colony, the Veterans who settled at Lystra became more assimilated into the Lycaonian culture. It’s most likely that neither group of colonists were Italian, and it’s possible that some of them were recruited from the Gauls or even the Galatians. At any rate, by the 40’s AD, Lystra had lost all trace of any Roman elements it was founded with. The best way to understand this is to say, finally, that both Lystra and Antioch were already cities when Caesar “founded them”. The truth is, Augustus simply claimed farmland and townhouses there and gave them to his retiring soldiers. The six colonies definitely helped civilize the region, but they never came close to “Romanizing” the region! Now… wasn’t that fascinating!?! 

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30 The Homanadensian War wasn’t a grand victory, but a particularly difficult task, from the wildness of the natives and their knowledge of those mountains. The Homanadensians were the ones who killed the last Galatian King, Amyntas, in 25 BC, after which Augustus incorporated Provincia Galatia, placed six military colonies and drew plans for the new military road. So basically, the Empire spent over 20 years preparing for this war, before Quirinius went there and finished it!

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31 In this year Galatia was still nearly 50 years away from hearing the good news about Jesus Christ. The coming decades are going to further civilize and pacify Galatia (at least somewhat) to the point where common travelers can get through Pisidia without being robbed and killed by a horde of wild Homanadensians. Now, ain’t that a good thing!?

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End of 3 BC Footnotes.

6/09/2007 4:12 AM

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