Gaza: A City of Many Battles 4

Gaza: A City of Many Battles 4

FOOTNOTES:

 

[4] In Judith ii. 28; 1 Macc. x. 86, xi. 60; both in A.V. and R.V.

Askelon is called Ascalon.

 

[5] Ethnology of the Bible. _The Bible Educator_, vol. iii, pp. 197-200.

 

[6] See also _The Historical Geography of the Holy Land_, 1902, p. 189.

 

[7] See Josephus, _Antiq. Jews_, XI. 8, 4, section 325.

 

[8] The Revised Version of the Apocrypha reads "against Gazara." See

Josephus, _The Jewish War_, Book I, Chap. II, section 2 (50).

 

[9] In the Old Testament the distinction between a town and a village

is not generally defined. The former, as a rule, was an inhabited

place surrounded by a wall. The latter, one that is not so enclosed

(Lev. xxv. 29-31). Towns themselves, however, are also sometimes

distinguished as walled and unwalled (Deut. iii. 5; Esther ix. 19).

The New Testament and Josephus uniformly distinguish between

πόλις and κώμη (an unwalled village, opposite to a fortified

city).--Schürer, II. i. 154.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER II

 

SUMMARY OF CHIEF EVENTS RELATING TO GAZA[10] FROM 1503 B.C. to A.D. 1913

 

 

_Section_ I (1503 B.C. to 30 B.C.)[11]

 

1503-1449 B.C.--Eighteenth Dynasty. In the twenty-second year of his

reign, 1481 B.C. (according to Sayce), Thothmes III made his first

determined attempt to subdue Canaan. Gaza was occupied with much

difficulty. The fortress of the Prince of Gaza is mentioned in the

great expedition of Thothmes III.

 

_c._ 1444 B.C.--Eighteenth Dynasty. Amen-hetep II, successor of

Thothmes III, has hieroglyphic inscriptions in Gaza, which have been

lately discovered. They show that a temple had been built by this

Egyptian king to the goddess An Mut.

 

_c._ 1366 B.C.--Nineteenth Dynasty. Seti Mer-en Ptah I, the father of

Rameses II, drove the Beduins before him from the frontiers of Egypt to

those of Canaan, and established a line of fortresses and walls along

"the way of the Philistines," which ran by the way of the shore to Gaza

(Sayce).

 

1348-1281 B.C.--Nineteenth Dynasty. Rameses II, User-Maāt-Ra (the

Great), continued to hold Gaza till at least 1292, or later.

 

_c._ 1225 B.C.--Twentieth Dynasty. Rameses III, Hik-An, captured Gaza,

but it does not seem to have remained long in the possession of the

Egyptians (Sayce).

 

734-732 B.C.--Tiglath-pileser III, the founder of the second Assyrian

Empire, plundered Gaza, and made it subject to Assyria. It soon

revolted against its new masters, relying, no doubt, upon help from

Egypt, but in vain.

 

_c._ 720 B.C.--Hanno, King of Gaza, called to his aid So (Shabaka),

King of Egypt (2 Kings xvii. 4), against the Assyrian general Sargon,

and commenced that gigantic struggle between Asia and Egypt, of which

Gaza was the centre. Sargon chastised the rebels. In 715 B.C. Rabshakeh

(the title of the officer sent by Sennacherib) reproached Hezekiah:

"Thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, upon Egypt;

whereupon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: So is

Pharaoh King of Egypt unto all that trust on him" (2 Kings xviii. 21).

 

701 B.C.--Gaza remained subject to Sennacherib, the Assyrian king.

Sennacherib died in 681 B.C. Tirhakah, the last king but one of the

twenty-fifth (Ethiopian) dynasty, began to reign in 691 B.C. (2 Kings

xix. 9).

 

674 B.C.--Esar-haddon, son of Sennacherib, one of the greatest Assyrian

kings, retained Gaza (2 Kings xix. 37).

 

662 B.C.--One of Asshûr-bani-pal, King of Assyria's expeditions

enveloped the east coast of the Mediterranean, including Gaza, which

rendered him submission.

 

609 B.C.--Pharaoh Necho II took Gaza by force after the fall of the

Empire of the Sargonides (Jeremiah xlvii. 1).

 

The Hellenistic population after this period became more numerous.

 

"The eight days' march across the sands from the Delta requires that,

if an army came up that way into Syria, Gaza, being their first relief

from the desert, should be in friendly hands. Hence the continual

efforts of Egypt to hold the town."--_G. A. Smith._

 

624-596 B.C.--After some three generations of the dominion of

Babylonia, Egypt once more spread its power. The sturdy Psamtek I

(Psammetichus, "the lion's son") had, from 624-596, held the south of

Palestine, including Gaza.

 

529 B.C.--Cambyses (Ahasuerus) King of Persians and Medes, after the

fall of Babylon, set out for the conquest of Egypt. Gaza alone dared

to resist him, and was not subdued till after a very long siege. There

seems, however, to be considerable doubt as to Cambyses, the son of

Cyrus. Xerxes is certainly the Ahasuerus of Ezra iv. 6, and of the Book

of Esther.

 

332 B.C.--"Gaza was strong enough to resist for two months a siege of

Alexander the Great, during which he was wounded. It was ultimately

taken by storm, but not entirely destroyed. Bates, the Persian, who

defended the city against Alexander, employed Arab mercenaries."--_G.

A. Smith._

 

All the maritime towns, save Tyre and Gaza, appear to have welcomed

Alexander the Great and accepted his policy.

 

Gaza, next to Tyre, was the most important fortress in the

Philistinian-Phœnician coast. Plutarch (_c._ A.D. 66), telling the

story of its siege by Alexander, calls it "the biggest city of Syria."

 

After this siege, Gaza became more and more a Greek centre. New

colonists settled within the city, which ceased to be a Philistine

centre. Josephus expressly designated it a πόλις Ἑλληνίς.

 

315 B.C.--Gaza was conquered by Antigonus, King of Asia, having been

wrested from Ptolemy I, Soter, of Egypt (323-285), who had seized

Philistia and garrisoned Gaza in 320 B.C.

 

312 B.C.--The city fell again into the hands of Ptolemy I, in

consequence of his victory over Demetrius, the son of Antigonus.

 

In the same year, however, he renounced the possession of Cœle-Syria,

and on his retreat had the most important fortresses, Gaza among them,

demolished.

 

240 B.C.--The sovereignty over these districts changed several times

during the decades next following, till at length they were for a

longer period in the possession of the Ptolemies.

 

218-217 B.C.--Gaza, like the rest of Syria, was temporarily in the

possession of Antiochus III (the Great). He is mentioned in 1 Macc.

viii. 6-8. Becoming engaged in a quarrel with Egypt, he made four

successive expeditions from Antioch to that country, in each case

passing down the coast of Syria, inflicting misery on its inhabitants.

 

198 B.C.--Cœle-Syria came permanently under the dominion of the

Seleucidæ, through the victory of Antiochus the Great at Panias. Gaza

was conquered after a difficult siege.

 

The sway of the Seleucidæ is evidenced by a silver coin of Demetrius I,

Soter, 162-150 B.C., minted at Gaza.

 

161-143 B.C.--During the leadership and high-priesthood of Jonathan

"the wary" (who sided with Antiochus VI, son of Alexander Balas,

against the faithlessness of Demetrius I), he lost no time in bringing

the entire territory between Gaza and Damascus into subjection, with

the assistance of Jewish and Syrian troops. Jonathan's history is

one of constant intrigue, and his successes were due to craft and

duplicity, rather than to valour and wisdom.

 

Gaza only yielded after Jonathan had recourse to forcible measures.

He compelled the citizens to give hostages, and took them with him to

Jerusalem.

 

Gaza at this time had a Council of 500 members.

 

141 B.C.--Gaza, the last of the Philistine towns not conquered by the

Jews, was taken by Simon III, Ethnarch and High Priest. He is described

in 1 Maccabees ii. 65, as "A man of counsel." A beautiful picture of

him is to be found in 1 Maccabees xiv. 4-16.

 

96 B.C.--Gaza fell into the hands of King Alexander Jannæus, the third

son of Hyrcanus, high priest, and a prince of the Maccabean line.

He took the city after a year's siege, though at last only through

treachery. He gave the inhabitants up to the sword, and entirely

demolished the city.

 

"It was not till 96 B.C. that Jews actually crossed her walls, but in

that year the pent-up hatred of centuries burst in devastation upon

her."--_G. A. Smith._

 

65 B.C.--When Pompey the Great conquered Syria, Gaza obtained her

freedom. He arranged that the Roman general, A. Gabinius, Governor of

Syria, should divide Judæa into five parts. Gabinius rebuilt Gaza 57

B.C. which was once more securely inhabited, and allowed it to resume

its ancient prosperity under the power of Rome.[12] The newly built

"maritime" and free city began a "new era" from the time of Pompey.

According to some few authorities the ancient city was then forsaken,

and the new town built somewhat farther southwards, possibly close to

its harbour.

 

30 B.C.--Augustus, when in Egypt, handed Gaza over to King Herod

I, of Philistine origin, who placed over this "maritime city" his

brother-in-law, the Idumean Costobar. In favour of his _Ascalon_

descent are certain allusions of Herod I to that city. At the death of

Herod the Great, Gaza, still called a "maritime city," was annexed once

more by Augustus to the province of Syria.[13]