Paralia (Seleucid eparchy)
Paralia | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Eparchy of Hellenistic era | |||||||||
• Seleucid annexation | 197 BCE | ||||||||
• Simon Thassi captured Jaffa | 143 BCE | ||||||||
125 BCE | |||||||||
• Conquests of Alexander Jannaeus | 103-99 BCE | ||||||||
conquest | 99 BCE | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Today part of | Israel Gaza Strip |
The Paralia (Greek: Παραλία - beach), also known as Medinat HaYam (Hebrew: מדינת הים - country by the sea) was a coastal eparchy in Palestine during Hellenistic and Roman times,[1] ruled by the Seleucid Empire between 197 and 99 BCE, as part of the Coele-Syria province. According to Josephus, the inhabitants of the region were primarily Greek city-dwellers.[2] The name appears in the 6th-century Madaba Map, appended to the town of Ashdod-Yam, as Azotos Paralos (Greek: Αζωτος Παραλος), ca. 3 kilometers south of Modern Ashdod.
The region was originally set up by the
Etymology
The region was described as the Coastal Country in 1 Maccabees (11:59; 15:38) and 2 Maccabees (13:24).[5]
In earlier Halakha it was described at "Medinat HaYam" (cities of the sea).[6]
History
The region was originally set up by the
Part of the Paralia region was first conquered by Jews under the
Demographics
According to Josephus, the inhabitants of the region were primarily Greek city-dwellers.[2]
See also
Footnotes
- ^ The Myth of a Gentile Galilee, Mark A. Chancey, p.36
- ^ a b Rosenfeld 2000, p. 168.
- ^ a b Rosenfeld 2000, p. 143.
- ^ a b c d Rosenfeld 2000, p. 146.
- ^ a b The Apocrypha, edited by Martin Goodman, John Barton, John Muddiman, p.154
- ^ Social Life and Social Values of the Jewish People, Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson, Samuel Ettinger, 1968, p.70
- ^ B. Bar-Kochva. Judas Maccabaeus: The Jewish Struggle Against the Seleucids. Cambridge University Press. p239.
Sources
- Rosenfeld, Ben-Zion (2000), "Flavius Josephus and His Portrayal of the Coast (Paralia) of Contemporary Roman Palestine: Geography and Ideology", The Jewish Quarterly Review, 91 (1), University of Pennsylvania Press: 143–183, JSTOR 1454789