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| Among the business documents of [[Zenon of Kaunos|Zenon]], secretary of [[Apollonius (dioiketes)|Apollonius]], chief finance minister to [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus]], are two letters from a figure named Toubias, dated May 12 259 BCE, one addressed to Apollonius and the other to King Ptolemy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tcherikover |first=Victor A. |title=Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum Volume I |last2=Fuks |first2=Alexander |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1957 |location=Massachusetts |pages=125-129}}</ref> In these letters Toubias responds to a request by the king via Apollonius for him to send animals, due to the king's affinity to unusual beasts, and specifies the animals he sent, all of them domesticated.<ref>Tcherikover, Victor A.; Fuks, Alexander (1957). Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum Volume I. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 128–129.</ref> <ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=McCown |first=C. C. |date=1957 |title=The 'Araq el-Emir and the Tobiads |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3209340?seq=2 |journal=The Biblical Archaeologist |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=70 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> As a testimony of his high rank, Toubias addressed the king using the customary formula of subservience, though not in an exaggerated fashion, while he addressed Apollonius as an equal.<ref name=":2" /> Toubias is mentioned further, albeit not directly, in another [[papyrus]] dated April-May 259 BCE and written up in the fortress (Birta) of Ammon (Ammonitis), reporting the purchase of a slave-girl by Zenon from Nicanor of Cnidos, with Nicanor and two of the witnesses, one cavalryman and one Persian Jewish soldier, being "in the service of Toubias".<ref name=":2" /><ref>Rosenberg, Stephen Gabriel (2006). Airaq Al-Amir: The Architecture of the Tobiads. Oxford: BAR Publishing. p. 17</ref> Other papyri tell of Toubias providing Zenon and his company with pack animals ("beasts of burden") and flour on their journey through the region.<ref>Tcherikover, Victor A.; Fuks, Alexander (1957). Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum Volume I. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 118-121.</ref> Rosenberg concludes that "Toubias was head of a mixed-nationality [[cleruchy]] or military community and indulged in breeding animals and slaves and supplying them to the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic]] Court. Toubias must have been an important local landowner, as he was on friendly terms not only with Appolonios but even with the ruler [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus|Ptolemy II Philadelphos]]".<ref>Rosenberg, Stephen Gabriel (2006). Airaq Al-Amir: The Architecture of the Tobiads. Oxford: BAR Publishing. pp. 19-20.</ref> | Among the business documents of [[Zenon of Kaunos|Zenon]], secretary of [[Apollonius (dioiketes)|Apollonius]], chief finance minister to [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus]], are two letters from a figure named Toubias, dated May 12 259 BCE, one addressed to Apollonius and the other to King Ptolemy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tcherikover |first=Victor A. |title=Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum Volume I |last2=Fuks |first2=Alexander |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1957 |location=Massachusetts |pages=125-129}}</ref> In these letters Toubias responds to a request by the king via Apollonius for him to send animals, due to the king's affinity to unusual beasts, and specifies the animals he sent, all of them domesticated.<ref>Tcherikover, Victor A.; Fuks, Alexander (1957). Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum Volume I. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 128–129.</ref> <ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=McCown |first=C. C. |date=1957 |title=The 'Araq el-Emir and the Tobiads |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3209340?seq=2 |journal=The Biblical Archaeologist |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=70 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> As a testimony of his high rank, Toubias addressed the king using the customary formula of subservience, though not in an exaggerated fashion, while he addressed Apollonius as an equal.<ref name=":2" /> Toubias is mentioned further, albeit not directly, in another [[papyrus]] dated April-May 259 BCE and written up in the fortress (Birta) of Ammon (Ammonitis), reporting the purchase of a slave-girl by Zenon from Nicanor of Cnidos, with Nicanor and two of the witnesses, one cavalryman and one Persian Jewish soldier, being "in the service of Toubias".<ref name=":2" /><ref>Rosenberg, Stephen Gabriel (2006). Airaq Al-Amir: The Architecture of the Tobiads. Oxford: BAR Publishing. p. 17</ref> Other papyri tell of Toubias providing Zenon and his company with pack animals ("beasts of burden") and flour on their journey through the region.<ref>Tcherikover, Victor A.; Fuks, Alexander (1957). Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum Volume I. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 118-121.</ref> Rosenberg concludes that "Toubias was head of a mixed-nationality [[cleruchy]] or military community and indulged in breeding animals and slaves and supplying them to the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic]] Court. Toubias must have been an important local landowner, as he was on friendly terms not only with Appolonios but even with the ruler [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus|Ptolemy II Philadelphos]]".<ref>Rosenberg, Stephen Gabriel (2006). Airaq Al-Amir: The Architecture of the Tobiads. Oxford: BAR Publishing. pp. 19-20.</ref> |
| Josephus wrote extensively about Joseph the nephew of the High Priest Onias and the son of Tobias.<ref>Josephus. ''Antiquities'' 12:154–236.</ref><ref>Rosenberg, Stephen G. (2007). "Tobiads". In Skolnik, Fred (ed.). Encyclopaedia Judaica Volume 20 To–Wei (2nd ed.). Michigan: Thomson Gale. p. 8.</ref>Although, since the known individuals mentioned in the account all belonged to patronymic and papponymic dynasties, their precise identities are still disputed among modern scholars, as are the precise dates of the events.<ref>Rosenberg, Stephen Gabriel (2006). Airaq Al-Amir: The Architecture of the Tobiads. Oxford: BAR Publishing. pp. 32-39.</ref> According to this narrative, Joseph was granted the rights to farm taxes from Syria, Phoenicia and Samaria instead of his uncle Onias, by King Ptolemy, due to the former’s refusal to pay tribute to the latter, and did so for twenty-two years.<ref name=":3">Rosenberg, Stephen G. (2007). "Tobiads". In Skolnik, Fred (ed.). Encyclopaedia Judaica Volume 20 To–Wei (2nd ed.). Michigan: Thompson Gale. pp. 8-9.</ref> It is further stated that Hyrcanus, the youngest of Joseph's seven sons was sent to represent his family in Ptolemy's celebration in honor of the birth of his son.<ref name=":3" /> It was at this celebration that Hyrcanus reportedly supplanted his father as tax farmer, an act which his father and brothers resented deeply.<ref name=":3" /> The population then split into two camps, though the majority and the high priest supported the older brothers.<ref name=":4">Rosenberg, Stephen G. (2007). "Tobiads". In Skolnik, Fred (ed.). Encyclopaedia Judaica Volume 20 To–Wei (2nd ed.). Michigan: Thompson Gale. p. 9.</ref> After killing two of his brothers in battle and being refused entry into Jerusalem, Hyrcanus fled across the Jordan river and set up the family estate where he lived in conflict with his Arab neighbors for seven years. <ref name=":4" />The story of Hyrcanus concludes with his suicide after Antiochus IV Epiphanes rose to power in 175 BCE, and the destruction of the estate.<ref name=":4" /> | Josephus wrote extensively about Joseph the nephew of the High Priest Onias and the son of Tobias.<ref>Josephus. ''Antiquities'' 12:154–236.</ref><ref>Rosenberg, Stephen G. (2007). "Tobiads". In Skolnik, Fred (ed.). Encyclopaedia Judaica Volume 20 To–Wei (2nd ed.). Michigan: Thomson Gale. p. 8.</ref>Although, since the known individuals mentioned in the account all belonged to patronymic and papponymic dynasties, their precise identities are still disputed among modern scholars, as are the precise dates of the events.<ref>Rosenberg, Stephen Gabriel (2006). Airaq Al-Amir: The Architecture of the Tobiads. Oxford: BAR Publishing. pp. 32-39.</ref> According to this narrative, Joseph was granted the rights to farm taxes from [[Syria (region)|Syria]], Phoenicia and Samaria instead of his uncle Onias, by King Ptolemy, due to the former’s refusal to pay tribute to the latter, and did so for twenty-two years.<ref name=":3">Rosenberg, Stephen G. (2007). "Tobiads". In Skolnik, Fred (ed.). Encyclopaedia Judaica Volume 20 To–Wei (2nd ed.). Michigan: Thompson Gale. pp. 8-9.</ref> It is further stated that Hyrcanus, the youngest of Joseph's seven sons was sent to represent his family in Ptolemy's celebration in honor of the birth of his son.<ref name=":3" /> It was at this celebration that Hyrcanus reportedly supplanted his father as tax farmer, an act which his father and brothers resented deeply.<ref name=":3" /> The population then split into two camps, though the majority and the high priest supported the older brothers.<ref name=":4">Rosenberg, Stephen G. (2007). "Tobiads". In Skolnik, Fred (ed.). Encyclopaedia Judaica Volume 20 To–Wei (2nd ed.). Michigan: Thompson Gale. p. 9.</ref> After killing two of his brothers in battle and being refused entry into Jerusalem, Hyrcanus fled across the Jordan river and set up the family estate where he lived in conflict with his Arab neighbors for seven years. <ref name=":4" />The story of Hyrcanus concludes with his suicide after Antiochus IV Epiphanes rose to power in 175 BCE, and the destruction of the estate.<ref name=":4" /> |
| Despite the many questions the complete narrative raises, the historicity of its main core brought above is not to be doubted,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McCown |first=C. C. |date=1957 |title=The 'Araq el-Emir and the Tobiads |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3209340?seq=2 |journal=The Biblical Archaeologist |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=75 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> and it can be viewed in light of the political upheavals in the region, which was a battleground for the Syrian wars between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids during the 3<sup>rd</sup>-2<sup>nd</sup> centuries BCE.<ref name=":4" /> It has been suggested that Onias was unwilling to pay tribute to Ptolemy due to the rise of the Seleucids, while Joseph was pro-Ptolemy. Eventually only Hyrcanus remained loyal to the Ptolemies, while the rest of Joseph’s sons supported the Seleucids, and when the Seleucids emerged victorious Hyrcanus was forced to retreat to his Trans-Jordanian estate where he would meet his demise, though it is doubtful that this happened in 175 BCE.<ref name=":4" /> As has been pointed out by Rosenberg, the Seleucids were too occupied with Jerusalem and Egypt at this point and it is probable that Hyrcanus survived, at least till 169-168 BCE, when Antiochus IV returned and took revenge on the Jews for believing he was dead, and possibly eradicated the remaining pockets of Ptolemaic resistance at the same opportunity.<ref name=":4" /> It seems the estate of the Tobiads “in the Ammonite country” served as a place of refuge for the Hellenizing high priest Jason when he fled from the usurper Menelaus in 171 BCE,<ref>II Maccabees 4:12</ref><ref name=":4" /> and was finally destroyed when Timotheus, the Seleucid general, overran the fortress and Massacred about a thousand of the “Jews in the region of Tubias” in 163 BCE.<ref>I Maccabees 5:13</ref><ref name=":4" /> | Despite the many questions the complete narrative raises, the historicity of its main core brought above is not to be doubted,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McCown |first=C. C. |date=1957 |title=The 'Araq el-Emir and the Tobiads |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3209340?seq=2 |journal=The Biblical Archaeologist |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=75 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> and it can be viewed in light of the political upheavals in the region, which was a battleground for the Syrian wars between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids during the 3<sup>rd</sup>-2<sup>nd</sup> centuries BCE.<ref name=":4" /> It has been suggested that Onias was unwilling to pay tribute to Ptolemy due to the rise of the Seleucids, while Joseph was pro-Ptolemy. Eventually only Hyrcanus remained loyal to the Ptolemies, while the rest of Joseph’s sons supported the Seleucids, and when the Seleucids emerged victorious Hyrcanus was forced to retreat to his Trans-Jordanian estate where he would meet his demise, though it is doubtful that this happened in 175 BCE.<ref name=":4" /> As has been pointed out by Rosenberg, the Seleucids were too occupied with Jerusalem and Egypt at this point and it is probable that Hyrcanus survived, at least till 169-168 BCE, when Antiochus IV returned and took revenge on the Jews for believing he was dead, and possibly eradicated the remaining pockets of Ptolemaic resistance at the same opportunity.<ref name=":4" /> It seems the estate of the Tobiads “in the Ammonite country” served as a place of refuge for the Hellenizing high priest Jason when he fled from the usurper Menelaus in 171 BCE,<ref>II Maccabees 4:12</ref><ref name=":4" /> and was finally destroyed when Timotheus, the Seleucid general, overran the fortress and Massacred about a thousand of the “Jews in the region of Tubias” in 163 BCE.<ref>I Maccabees 5:13</ref><ref name=":4" /> |
Okumaya devam et...