university of california press the hellenistic settlements in syria the red sea basin and north africa oct 2006

The Hellenistic Settlements in Syria,
the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa
HELLENISTIC CULTURE AND SOCIETY
General Editors: Anthony W. Bulloch, Erich S. Gruen, A.A. Long, and Andrew F. Stewart
I. Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age,
by Peter Green
II. Hellenism in the East: The Interaction of Greek and Non-Greek Civilizations
from Syria to Central Asia after Alexander, edited by Amélie Kuhrt and
Susan Sherwin-White
III. The Question of “Eclecticism”: Studies in Later Greek Philosophy,
edited by J. M. Dillon and A. A. Long
IV. Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State,
by Richard A. Billows
V. A History of Macedonia, by R. Malcolm Errington, translated by
Catherine Errington
VI. Attic Letter-Cutters of 229 to 86 b.c., by Stephen V. Tracy
VII. The Vanished Library: A Wonder of the Ancient World, by Luciano Canfora
VIII. Hellenistic Philosophy of Mind, by Julia E. Annas
IX. Hellenistic History and Culture, edited by Peter Green
X. The Best of the Argonauts: The Redefinition of the Epic Hero in Book One
of Apollonius’ Argonautica, by James J. Clauss
XI. Faces of Power: Alexander’s Image and Hellenistic Politics, by Andrew Stewart
XII. Images and Ideologies: Self-definition in the Hellenistic World, edited by
Anthony W. Bulloch, Erich S. Gruen, A.A. Long, and Andrew Stewart
XIII. From Samarkhand to Sardis: A New Approach to the Seleucid Empire,
by Susan Sherwin-White and Amélie Kuhrt
XIV. Regionalism and Change in the Economy of Independent Delos, 314–167 b.c.,
by Gary Reger
XV. Hegemony to Empire: The Development of the Roman Imperium in the East
from 148 to 62 b.c., by Robert Kallet-Marx

XVI. Moral Vision in The Histories of Polybius, by Arthur M. Eckstein
XVII. The Hellenistic Settlements in Europe, the Islands, and Asia Minor,
by Getzel M. Cohen
XVIII. Interstate Arbitrations in the Greek World, 337–90 b.c., by Sheila L. Ager
XIX. Theocritus’s Urban Mimes: Mobility, Gender, and Patronage, by Joan B. Burton
XX. Athenian Democracy in Transition: Attic Letter-Cutters of 340 to 290 b.c.,
by Stephen V. Tracy
XXI. Pseudo-Hecataeus, “On the Jews”: Legitimizing the Jewish Diaspora,
by Bezalel Bar-Kochva
XXII. Asylia: Territorial Inviolability in the Hellenistic World, by Kent J. Rigsby
XXIII. The Cynics: The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and Its Legacy, edited by
R. Bracht Branham and Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé
XXIV. The Politics of Plunder: Aitolians and Their Koinon in the Early Hellenistic
Era, 279–217 b.c., by Joseph B. Scholten
XXV. The Argonautika, by Apollonios Rhodios, translated, with introduction,
commentary, and glossary, by Peter Green
XXVI. Hellenistic Constructs: Essays in Culture, History, and Historiography,
edited by Paul Cartledge, Peter Garnsey, and Erich S. Gruen
XXVII. Josephus’s Interpretation of the Bible, by Louis H. Feldman
XXVIII. Poetic Garlands: Hellenistic Epigrams in Context, by Kathryn J. Gutzwiller
XXIX. Religion in Hellenistic Athens, by Jon D. Mikalson
XXX. Heritage and Hellenism: The Reinvention of Jewish Tradition,
by Erich S. Gruen
XXXI. The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties,
by Shaye D. Cohen
XXXII. Thundering Zeus: The Making of Hellenistic Bactria, by Frank L. Holt
XXXIII. Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora: From Alexander to Trajan
(323 b.c.e.–117 c.e.), by John M. G. Barclay
XXXIV. From Pergamon to Sperlonga: Sculpture and Context, edited by
Nancy T. de Grummond and Brunilde S. Ridgway

XXXV. Polyeideia: The Iambi of Callimachus and the Archaic Iambic Tradition,
by Benjamin Acosta-Hughes
XXXVI. Stoic Studies, by A. A. Long
XXXVII. Seeing Double: Intercultural Poetics in Ptolemaic Alexandria,
by Susan A. Stephens
XXXVIII. Athens and Macedon: Attic Letter-Cutters of 300 to 229 b.c.,
by Stephen V. Tracy
XXXIX. Encomium of Ptolemy Philadelphus, by Theocritus, translated with
an introduction and commentary by Richard Hunter
XL. The Making of Fornication: Eros, Ethics, and Political Reform in Greek
Philosophy and Early Christianity, by Kathy L. Gaca
XLI. Cultural Politics in Polybius’s Histories, by Craige B. Champion
XLII. Cleomedes’ Lectures on Astronomy: A Translation of The Heavens, with an
introduction and commentary by Alan C. Bowen and Robert B. Todd
XLIII. Historical Fictions and Hellenistic Jewish Identity: Third Maccabees
in Its Cultural Context, by Sara Raup Johnson
XLIV. Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions,
by Frank L. Holt
XLV. The Horse and Jockey from Artemision: A Bronze Equestrian Monument
of the Hellenistic Period, by Seán Hemingway
XLVI. The Hellenistic Settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa,
by Getzel M. Cohen
XLVII. Into the Land of Bones: Alexander the Great in Afghanistan, by Frank L. Holt
In honor of beloved Virgil—
“O degli altri poeti onore e lume . . .”
—Dante, Inferno
The Joan Palevsky Imprint in Classical Literature
The Hellenistic Settlements
in Syria, the Red Sea Basin,
and North Africa

Getzel M. Cohen
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley Los Angeles London
Published with the support of the Classics Fund of the
University of Cincinnati, established by Louise Taft
Semple in memory of her father, Charles Phelps Taft.
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University of California Press
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© 2006 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cohen, Getzel M.
The Hellenistic settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North
Africa / Getzel M. Cohen.
p. cm. — (Hellenistic culture and society ; 46)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-520-24148-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-520-24148-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Cities and towns, Ancient—Syria. 2. Cities and towns,
Ancient—Red Sea Region. 3. Cities and towns, Ancient—Africa,
North. 4. Syria—History—333 b.c.–634 a.d. 5. Africa,
North—History—To 647. 6. Red Sea Region—History.
7. Greece—Colonies—History. I. Title. II. Series.

ds96.2c62 2006
930'.0971238—dc22 2005015751
Manufactured in the United States of America
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This book is printed on New Leaf EcoBook 60, containing 60%
post-consumer waste, processed chlorine free, 30% de-inked
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meets the minimum requirements of ansi/astm d5634-01
(Permanence of Paper).
In memory of my parents,
Hyman and Anna Cohen

Contents
preface / xiii
the scholarship and the sources / 1
Recent Scholarship, 1 The Sources, 3
a geographic overview / 21
Northern Syria, 21 Cyrrhestice and Chalcidice, 28 Commagene, 30
Phoenicia, 32 Southern Syria, 35 The Red Sea Basin, 43 Egypt, 50
Cyrenaica, 68
i. northern syria / 71
Achaia, 73 Alexandreia by Issos, 73 Antigoneia on the Orontes, 76
Antioch in Pieria, 79 Antioch near Daphne, 80 Antioch under Libanos,
93 Apameia on the Axios, 94 Apollonia, 101 Arethousa, 101 Arsinoe,
102 Astakos, 104 Charadros, 104 Demetrias, 105 Dipolis, 106
Epiphaneia, 106 Heraia, 108 Herakleia by the Sea, 108 Herakleia in
Pieria,
110 Kallipolis, 110 Kasiana, 111 Laodikeia by the Sea, 111

Laodikeia near Libanos, 116 Larisa Sizara, 117 Lysias, 119 Megara,
119 Nikopolis, 120 Pella, 121 Perinthos, 124 Ras Ibn Hani, 124
Seleukeia in Pieria, 126 Seleukeia near Belos, 135 Seleukeia on the Bay
of Issos,
136 Tegea, 139
ii. chalcidice / 141
Chalkis on Belos, 143 Maroneia, 146
iii. cyrrhestice and commagene / 147
Ainos, 149 Amphipolis, 149 Antioch near the Tauros, 150 Antioch
on the Euphrates,
151 Arsameia on the Euphrates, 152 Arsameia on
the Nymphaios,
152 Beroia, 153 Chaonia, 155 Doliche, 155 Doura
ix
Europos, 156 Epiphaneia on the Euphrates, 169 Europos Carchemish,
169 Gindaros, 170 Herakleia, 171 Hierapolis Bambyke, 172 Jebel
Khalid,
178 Kyrrhos, 181 Meleagrou Charax, 184 Nikatoris, 185
Oropos, 185 Samosata, 187 Seleukeia on the Euphrates/Zeugma, 190
Serre, 196 Stratonikeia near the Tauros, 196
iv. phoenicia / 199
Alexandroschene, 201 Demetrias by the Sea, 201 Eupatreia, 203
Herakleia in Phoenicia Arka, 204 Laodikeia in Phoenicia Berytos, 205
Leukas Balanaia, 209 Leuke Kome, 210 Marathos, 211 Orthosia, 211
Ptolemais/Antioch Ake, 213 Tyre, 221
v. southern syria / 223
Aenos, 225 Anthedon, 225 Antioch by Hippos, 226 Antioch in Huleh,
228 The Antiochenes in Jerusalem, 231 Apollonia (Arsuf), 233
Apollonia in Coele Syria, 234 Arethousa, 235 Arsinoe, 237 Birta of
the Ammanitis,

237 Capitolias, 239 Chalkis under Libanos, 239 Deme-
trias Damascus,
242 Dion, 245 Dionysias, 247 Gerasa Antioch on the
Chrysorhoas,
248 Helenoupolis, 253 Heliopolis Baalbek, 254 Hellas,
255 Jerusalem (The Akra), 255 Larisa, 263 Lysias, 263 Panias, 264
Pella/Berenike, 265 Philadelpheia Rabbat Amman, 268 Philoteria,
273 Samareia, 274 Seleukeia Abila, 277 Seleukeia/Antioch Gadara,
282 Seleukeia Gaza, 286 Seleukeia in the Gaulan, 288 Shechem, 289
Skythopolis, 290 Straton’s Tower, 299 Sykaminopolis, Boukolopolis, and
Krokodeilopolis,
302
vi. the red sea basin and indian ocean / 305
Ampelone, 307 Arsinoe/Kleopatris, 308 Arsinoe near Deire, 310
Arsinoe Trogodytika, 310 Berenike Epi Dires, 313 Berenike Ezion
Geber,
314 Berenike near Sabai, 315 Berenike Panchrysos, 316 Bere-
nike Trogodytika,
320 Dioskorides, 325 Kleopatris, 326 Klysma, 327
Leuke Kome, 329 Leukos Limen, 330 Myos Hormos, 332 Nechesia,
338 Philotera, 339 Ptolemais Theron, 341
vii. egypt / 345
Euergetis, 347 Kleopatra, 348 Paraitonion, 348 Philometoris, 349
Ptolemais in the Thebaid, 350
viii. alexandreia near egypt / 353
ix. cyrenaica / 383
Apollonia, 385 Arsinoe Taucheira, 387 Berenike Euesperides, 389
Kainopolis, 393 Ptolemais Barke, 393
appendices
I. Founders 399

II. Settlements Attributed to Alexander in Syria, Phoenicia,
and Egypt
403
III. Greek and Macedonian Toponyms That Reappear in Syria
and Phoenicia
407
IV. “Alexandria ad Aegyptum” 409
V. Refoundations and New Foundations 424
VI. Foundations at or near Major Religious Centers 426
VII. Civic Institutions and Offices 427
VIII. Ethnics and Toponyms 431
abbreviations / 437
select bibliography / 461
index of ancient place names / 473
maps / 479

Preface
This is the second of a three-volume study of the Hellenistic settlements.
The first, The Hellenistic Settlements in Europe, the Islands, and Asia Minor, dealt
with foundations in those regions. The present volume focuses on the Hel-
lenistic settlements of Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa. The third
volume will deal with the foundations in Mesopotamia and regions farther
east. The present volume, like the first, is organized by geographic areas.
Within each area the settlements are ordered alphabetically. The entry for
each foundation has two basic sections: narrative and annotation. In the
narrative I attempt to identify the settlements, their founders, and location.
I also try to present information about their history and organization dur-
ing the Hellenistic period. The extended annotation is keyed to the nar-
rative. The annotation provides detailed references, citations, and discus-
sions for the material covered in the narrative. At the end of the work I have

included various appendices that attempt to distill some of the information
in the collected entries. In addition there is an essay dealing with the topo-
nym “Alexandreia near Egypt.” For the region covered by the present
volume, Tcherikover identified approximately 100 settlements; I have in-
cluded entries for over 135.
A citation such as “APAMEIA Kelainai” or “SELEUKEIA on the Tigris” in-
dicates a cross-reference. I also use this format for references to entries that
have appeared in the first volume or will appear in the third volume.
I have attached a set of maps that will hopefully assist the reader in iden-
tifying the sites of the various settlements. In addition, I would call the
reader’s attention to the maps in the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman
World (Princeton, 2000).
As noted in the first volume, the transliteration of Greek personal and
place-names is a perennial problem. Here, as there, I have generally used
xiii
the Greek spelling for personal names of historical figures and town names
but have relied on Latin usage for regional names and ancient authors.
I am immensely grateful to the many friends and colleagues who have gra-
ciously offered assistance, criticism, and advice. Among these I would men-
tion Catherine Aubert, Roger Bagnall, Jean-Charles Balty, Bezalel Bar-
Kochva, Brian Bosworth, Glen Bowersock, Adam Bülow-Jacobsen, T. V.
Buttrey, Michel Chauveau, Graeme Clarke, Willy Clarysse, Hélène Cuvigny,
Jehan Desanges, Leah Di Segni, Susan Downey, David Gill, Christian Habicht,
Amir Harrak, Arthur Houghton, Benjamin Isaac, Charles Jones, Jonathan
Kagan, David Kennedy, Denis Knoepfler, Alla Kushnir-Stein, André Laronde,
Alan Lloyd, Pierre Leriche, Georges Le Rider, Alexandra Lesk, Catharine
Lorber, Henry MacAdam, Joseph Mélèze-Modzrejewski, John Oates, David
O’Connor, Thomas Parker, David Peacock, Daniel Potts, Kathleen Quinn,
Dominic Rathbone, Kent Rigsby, Maurice Sartre, Eric Schmitt, Stephen Self,
Steven Sidebotham, Adam Silverstein, Robert Steiglitz, Dorothy Thompson,

Yoram Tsafrir, Peter van Minnen, Thomas Weber, Ze’ev Weiss, Terry Wilfong,
and John Wineland. I am very grateful to Marian Rogers and Rose Vekony
for their careful editing of the manuscript and to Bill Nelson for his diligent
preparation of the maps. Of course I alone am responsible for any errors.
Much of this book was written in the Classics Library of the University
of Cincinnati and at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. I am
very grateful to the staff of these libraries for their continuing and gracious
assistance.
Princeton, New Jersey
August 2003
xiv preface
The Scholarship and the Sources
RECENT SCHOLARSHIP
Many of the historical investigations and reference works mentioned in The
Hellenistic Settlements in Europe, the Islands, and Asia Minor deal with (parts of)
the area under discussion in this volume.
1
I will not, therefore, note them
here. In addition, for particular regions under investigation in this volume,
one may profitably consult a number of other works.
Syria and Phoenicia
In general, for Syria and Phoenicia M. Sartre’s D’Alexandre à Zénobie, F. Mil-
lar’s Roman Near East, and the various essays in J M. Dentzer and W. Orth-
mann’s Archéologie et histoire de la Syrie II provide much useful information.
In addition, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East and J. D.
Grainger’s Seleukid Prosopography and Gazetteer are both helpful reference works.
Ernst Honigmann’s important work “Historische Topographie von Nordsyrien
im Altertum” provides a comprehensive list of the cities and towns of Syria.
In many cases Honigmann’s work supersedes articles in the Real-Encyclopädie;
in other cases there is no article in the RE. Other useful books include R. Dus-

saud’s Topographie historique de la Syrie antique et médiévale and Grainger’s Cities
of Seleukid Syria.
Southern Syria
For southern Syria E. Schürer’s History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus
Christ
2
, A. Kasher’s Jews and Hellenistic Cities in Eretz-Israel, V. Tcherikover’s
1
1. See especially Settlements in Europe, 1–13.
Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews, M. Avi-Yonah’s Gazetteer of Roman Palestine
and Holy Land from the Persian to the Arab Conquest (536 b.c. to a.d. 640): A
Historical Geography, and Y. Tsafrir, L. Di Segni, and J. Green’s TIR Iudaea-
Palaestina are especially useful. A number of archaeological reference
works, such as the Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land and The New
Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, are important re-
sources. In a similar vein, one may profitably consult the Encyclopedia Judaica
as well as a number of biblical dictionaries; among the most useful is The
Anchor Bible Dictionary.
For southern Syria as well as Phoenicia one may also consult reports and
surveys in, for example, the Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan,
Excavations and Surveys in Israel, and the American Journal of Archaeology.
The Red Sea Basin and North Africa
For the Red Sea coast one may consult with great profit J. Desanges’s
Recherches sur l’activité des Méditerranéens aux confins de l’Afrique and S.E. Side-
botham’s Roman Economic Policy in the Erythra Thalassa. For Alexandreia the
essential work is P.M. Fraser’s important Ptolemaic Alexandria. One may also
consult a number of reference works, among them, The Oxford Encyclopedia
of Ancient Egyptand the Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. For Cyre-
naica, A. Laronde’s important study Cyrène et la Libye hellénistique provides a
thorough introduction to the history of the region.

In addition, one may also consult the surveys and reports in, for exam-
ple, the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, the Bulletin de l’Institut Français
d’Archéologie Orientale, Orientalia, and the American Journal of Archaeology.
Alexander Foundations
For the Alexander foundations the pioneering works of J G. Droysen (His-
toire de l’Hellénisme) and H. Berve (Das Alexanderreich) should be consulted.
W.W. Tarn, in The Greeks in Bactria and India and especially in the second vol-
ume of his Alexander the Great, made significant contributions to the subject.
Fraser’s Cities of Alexander the Great is an indispensable resource, both for his
discussion of the various Alexandreias and for his studies of the sources.
Finally, N. G. L. Hammond, in an article entitled “Alexander’s Newly-found
Cities,” in Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 39 (1998) 243–69, discussed
the evidence and the conclusions of Tarn and Fraser.
2 hellenistic settlements
THE SOURCES
Syria
A number of scholars have observed, correctly, that the extant evidence for
ancient Syria is heavily weighted to the Roman period.
2
Thus most of the
extant ancient authors date from the Roman period and later; coins and in-
scriptions are predominantly of Roman date, as is the archaeological evi-
dence. As a result, we know much more about the Roman phase of most set-
tlements in Syria than we do about the Hellenistic. However, it is well to
remember that the situation for Syria is not very different from that found
throughout the Greco-Roman Near East. Whether it be ALEXANDREIA near
Egypt, settlements in the Fayum, in Syria, or in Asia Minor, much of the sur-
viving evidence—literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological—
tends to date from and/or focus on the Roman period.
Literary Evidence. In the first volume I discussed briefly the sources for the

study of the Hellenistic settlements in Europe, the Islands, and Asia Minor.
Many of these same Greek and Latin authors—Polybius, Diodorus Siculus,
Strabo, and Pliny, for example—give information about Syria or Mesopo-
tamia as well. In addition, there are a number of other Greek and Latin au-
thors who provide useful information about the Hellenistic settlements in
these regions.
Appian (c. 95–c. 165 a.d.) was born in Alexandreia. He wrote a Roman
history, book 11 of which is the Syriake, an account of the Syrian Wars. The
Syriake also contains information about the Seleucids and a list of founda-
tions that Appian ascribed to Seleukos I Nikator (57). This passage is of great
importance in trying to identify Seleucid foundations in Syria and regions
farther east. Nevertheless, the information in Appian must be used with cau-
tion, both because the list is selective and because Appian occasionally makes
mistakes. In connection with this text one may profitably consult K. Broder-
sen’s Appians Abriss der Seleukidengeschichte (Syriake 45, 232–70, 369), Text und
Kommentar.
3
Josephus (b. 37/8 a.d.) is an important source for information about
the scholarship and the sources 3
2. For example, Frézouls pointed out (in Hellenismos, 313) that in the list of inscriptions
for the first four volumes of IGLS less than twenty date to the pre-Roman period (see the list
that was compiled by H. Seyrig at the end of IGLS IV); see also M. Sartre in L’epigrafia, 117–35.
And Mehl noted (in Hellenismos, 99) that in his important book A History of Antioch in Syria:
From Seleucus to the Arab Conquest Glanville Downey devoted approximately 90 pages to Helle-
nistic Antioch and 435 pages to the Roman city.
3. See also Tcherikover, HS, 166; Brodersen, Komment., 158; Frézouls, AAS 4–5 [1954–55]
92; HIERAPOLIS Bambyke, n. 1. In addition, see Brodersen, ANRW 2:34.1 (1993) 339–63,
and Appians Antiochike (Syriake 1, 1–44, 232), Text und Kommentar (Munich, 1991).
Hellenistic settlements throughout the Near East. His Jewish Antiquities pro-
vides information about, among other places, the settlements in Asia Minor,

ANTIOCH near Daphne, Jerusalem, ALEXANDREIA near Egypt, and
SELEUKEIA on the Tigris. In addition, we learn about the Jewish commu-
nity in Alexandreia from the Contra Apionem.
4
Procopius (fl. first half of the sixth century a.d.) was born in Caesarea in
Palestine. He was the author of the History of the Wars of Justinian and On the
Buildings of Justinian; both works contain references to Hellenistic founda-
tions in the Middle East as well as in Cyrenaica.
Lucian (b. c. 120 a.d.) is aptly described in the Oxford Classical Dictionary
3
(s.v. “Lucian”) as an “accomplished belletrist and wit in the context of the
Second Sophistic.” Being a native of Samosata in Commagene, he was famil-
iar with Syria and Mesopotamia. His De Dea Syria is an important source for
HIERAPOLIS Bambyke and the cults found there.
5
In addition, in other
works he occasionally provides useful information about various settlements.
Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 330–395 a.d.) was born at Antioch near
Daphne and spent a good part of his adult life in the Near East. He wrote a
history that extended from 96 to 378 a.d. Of this, only the books dealing
with the period 353–378 survive. As many of the events covered in these
books took place in the Near East, he occasionally provides important in-
formation about various settlements there.
6
Isidore of Seville (c. 600–636 a.d.) was bishop of the city. He was the au-
thor of, among other works, a Chronica Maiora, which was a continuation of
Hieronymus’s Chronicle. He also wrote the Etymologiae, an encyclopedic work
that drew extensively on earlier writers. As such, it occasionally provides valu-
able information about various Hellenistic settlements.
Gaius Julius Solinus (probably after 200 a.d.) was the author of the Col-

lectanea Rerum Memorabilium, a geographical description of the world. Solinus
drew heavily—without acknowledgment—on Pliny and Pomponius Mela.
7
The Antonini Augusti Itineraria Provinciarum et Maritimum records land and
sea itineraries made for an Antonine emperor. It probably dates to the reign
of Caracalla. Some of the numbers given for the road mileage are corrupt
or inconsistent. Nevertheless, O. A. W. Dilke considered it an “extremely valu-
4 hellenistic settlements
4. The literature on Josephus is very extensive; see, for example, L.H. Feldman, Josephus
and Modern Scholarship (1937–1980) (Berlin, 1984), and Josephus: A Supplementary Bibliography
(New York and London, 1986), as well as other works cited in OCD
3
s.v. “Josephus.”
5. For text, translation, and commentary on the De Dea Syria see Lightfoot, Lucian.
6. See J. F. Matthews, OCD
3
s.v. “Ammianus Marcellinus” and bibliography cited there.
7. See further H. Walter, Die “Collectanea Rerum Memorabilium” des C. Iulius Solinus (Wies-
baden, 1969); Ross, Alexander Historiatus
2
, 77–79; E.H. Warmington, OCD
3
s.v. “Iulius Solinus,
Gaius.” For Solinus on North Africa see S. Bianchetti in L’Africa romana: Atti del IX convegno di
studio Nuoro, 13–15 dicembre 1991, ed. A. Mastino (Sassari, 1992) 803–11.
able document for tracing, alongside the Peutinger Table and other sources,
the numerous staging-points on the network of Roman roads”; L.P. Kirwan
refers to the Itineraria as the official road book of the Roman Empire.
8
Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea (c. 260–340 a.d.), was the author of a num-

ber of important works, among them the Ecclesiastical History and the Praepa-
ratio Evangelica. For the historian interested in the Hellenistic settlements
two of his works are particularly useful: the Chronicle and the Onomasticon.
Eusebius’s Chronicle, which is based on the like-named work of Sextus
Julius Africanus, is a universal history that was brought down to 325 a.d. It
has two parts, the Epitome or Chronography, and the Canons.
9
The first part,
the Chronography, consists of a general preface followed by brief discussions
of the chronological systems of the different peoples of the ancient Mediter-
ranean world together with lists of kings. Eusebius begins the discussion with
the Chaldaeans, the Assyrians, then Jewish history, Egypt, Greek history, and
Roman history. The primary technique employed in the Chronography is quo-
tation followed by the extrapolation of dates. The chronographic excerpts
provided the material for the second part, the Canons. The Canons presented
the annual lists in synchronistic tabular form along with brief notices men-
tioning persons and events contemporary with the years of the lists down
to the year 325 a.d. Within fifty years of Eusebius’s death in the late 330s,
translations, epitomes, redactions, and extensions began to circulate. The
most important of these translations/redactions was the Chronicle of Hieron-
ymus ( Jerome), a Latin translation and extension from 325 to 378 of the
Canons.
The Canons represents the most novel aspect of Eusebius’s work. Chron-
icles were, of course, nothing new. In writing his Chronicle Eusebius was build-
ing on a long and developed tradition of chronographic writing in the Hel-
lenistic and Roman worlds. The earlier chronographies, however, were
compilations of events of certain parts of the past. Similarly, earlier Chris-
tian writers had written chronographies of Greek and Jewish history. Euse-
bius was the first to write a truly universal chronicle in which he synchro-
nized the histories of all the known nations, from the beginning of history

until his time. Furthermore, it is important to bear in mind that in writing
the Chronicle Eusebius was not just writing a historical work for its own sake.
He was also writing a Christian apologetic treatise that would, among other
things, demonstrate the continuity of the Christians with the Jews and place
the scholarship and the sources 5
8. Dilke, Maps, 125–28; Kirwan, GJ 147 (1981) 82; see also Fugmann, RAC s.v. “Itinerar-
ium”; for a text see O. Cuntz (Leipzig, 1929).
9. See, for example, A. Mosshammer, The Chronicle of Eusebius and Greek Chronographic Tra-
dition (Lewisburg, 1979); T. D. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius (Cambridge, 1981) 112–25;
B. Croke, “The Origins of the Christian World Chronicle,” in History and Historians in Late An-
tiquity, ed. B. Croke and A.M. Emmett (Sydney, 1983) 116–31; Witakowski, Chronicle, 59–75.
Christianity within the chronological context of the expected second com-
ing of Christ. As A. Momigliano remarked, “Christian chronology was also
a philosophy of history.”
10
For the Hellenistic historian the list of Hellenis-
tic kings in the Canons is of primary importance, as are the various notices
about the founders of settlements.
The original Greek text of Eusebius is lost. What remains are (a) Hieron-
ymus’s Latin translation, expansion, and continuation down to 378 a.d. of
the Canons, (b) an Armenian translation of the whole work (with lacunae),
possibly dating to the sixth century, and (c) fragments of the Chronography
in various Byzantine and Syriac chronicles. The most important of the lat-
ter category include George Synkellos, George Kedrenos, and the Syriac
Chronicle to the Year 724 a.d.
In the mid-nineteenth century A. Schoene collected and published all
the source material then available in Eusebii Chronicorum Libri Duo (Frank-
furt, 1866, 1875; repr. 1967). Volume 1 (1875) contained a Latin translation
of the first part of Eusebius’s Chronicle—the Chronography. Volume 2 (1866)
contained editions of the Latin translation of the Armenian text of the

Canons, Hieronymus’s Chronicle (i.e., the Canons of Eusebius), and the Greek
fragments from the Byzantine writers.
In 1911 J. Karst published a German translation of the Armenian text of
Eusebius (i.e., both the Chronography and the Canons) in Die Chronik des Eu-
sebius, GCS 20 (Leipzig, 1911). For another text of Hieronymus see R. Helm
and U. Treu’s Die Chronik des Hieronymus
3
, GCS 47 (Berlin, 1984).
The Onomasticon has been rightly described by T.D. Barnes as a “biblical
gazetteer which is still the main literary source for the historical geography
and territorial history of Palestine both in biblical times and under the Ro-
man Empire.”
11
The overall work is arranged alphabetically. For each letter
the entries are then arranged by biblical book (i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Leviti-
cus, etc.) and within each book by the order of their occurrence. The Ono-
masticon was also translated by Hieronymus. As there are occasional errors
or confusion in the work, it should be used with caution.
Already in the early fourth century a.d. Eusebius mentioned that Chris-
tians were coming to Jerusalem. The accounts of pilgrims who traveled to
Palestine and other parts of the Near East occasionally provide information
6 hellenistic settlements
10. A. Momigliano, “Pagan and Christian Historiography in the Fourth Century a.d.,” in
his Conflict between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century (Oxford, 1963) 83f.; Croke,
History and Historians in Late Antiquity, ed. Croke and Emmett, 121f.
11. T.D. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 106. For a text see E. Klostermann, Das Onomas-
tikon, GCS 11.1 (Berlin, 1904); see also Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 337 n. 1 and works
cited there; and L. Di Segni in The Madaba Map, ed. M. Piccirillo and E. Alliata ( Jerusalem,
1999) 115–20. In general see F.M. Abel, RB 43 (1934) 347–73; Barnes, Constantine and Euse-
bius, 106–10; B. Isaac in Roman Army, 153–67 ( = Isaac, Near East, 284–309).

regarding ancient places. The Itinerarium Burdigalense, for example, which
dates from 333 a.d., provides the itinerary for a pilgrimage from Bordeaux
to Jerusalem. Its central section (585.7–599.9) deals with Palestine.
12
Egeria (or Etheria) was a pilgrim who traveled to the Near East in the lat-
ter part of the fourth century a.d. The only surviving manuscript of Egeria’s
Itinerarium dates to the eleventh century a.d. It preserves the middle of her
book; the beginning and end remain lost. The Itinerarium is essentially a di-
ary recording what Egeria saw in the course of her travels in the Near East.
The first twenty-three chapters of the surviving text describe four journeys
that Egeria took; an additional twenty-six chapters describe the liturgy of
the Jerusalem church. It is important to bear in mind that Egeria undertook
her travels for religious, not secular, purposes. She was especially interested
in the places recorded in the Bible, particularly those mentioned in the Pen-
tateuch. Among other pilgrimages, she retraced the route of the Exodus and
journeyed to the tomb of Saint Thomas in Edessa.
13
In 1137 Peter the Deacon, a monk at Monte Cassino who was also its li-
brarian, wrote a book on the holy places, in which he quoted extensively from
the Itinerarium.
14
Among early Christian writers after Eusebius I would mention three, each
of whom provides information about or refers to various Hellenistic settle-
ments in Syria or Mesopotamia. The Christian writer Theodoret of Kyrrhos
(c. 393–c. 466 a.d.) was the author of, among other works, Ecclesiastical His-
tory and Religious History (Philotheos Historia). The first is a continuation of Eu-
sebius down to 428; the second is an account of various well-known ascetics
in northern Syria.
15
The important Church History of the ecclesiastical histo-

rian Socrates (c. 380–after 439 a.d.) covers the period 305–439.
16
The Church
History of Sozomenos (fl. first half of the fifth century a.d.) was a continua-
the scholarship and the sources 7
12. For a text see O. Cuntz (Leipzig, 1929). See also Dilke, Maps, 128–29; Fugmann, RAC
s.v. “Itinerarium”; J. Elsner, JRS 90 (2000) 181–95; Stemberger, Jews, 40–42, 88–95.
13. In recent years a number of editions of the Itinerarium have appeared. For a text (with
introduction and German translation) see G. Röwekamp and D. Thönnes, Egeria Itinerarium Reise-
bericht mit Auszügen aus Petrus Diaconus De Locis Sanctis Die heiligen Stätten (Freiburg, 1995) as well
as CCL 175 and the edition of P. Maraval (Paris, 1982). See also the translation (and introduc-
tion) by G. Gingras, Egeria: Diary of a Pilgrimage (New York, 1970); J. Wilkinson, Egeria’s Travels
(London,1971; also 3d ed., 1999); J. Fugmann,RAC s.v. “Itinerarium”; Stemberger, Jews, 95–98.
14. For a text (with German translation) see, for example, Röwekamp and Thönnes, Ege-
ria, 316–59 (intro., 310–14); for an English translation see Wilkinson, Egeria, 180–210 (intro.,
179–80).
15. See further R. M. Price, A History of the Monks of Syria (Kalamazoo, 1985) ix–xxxvii; Ches-
nut, Histories
2
, 207–14; B. Baldwin, ODB s.v. “Theodoret of Cyrrhus.”
16. See further Chesnut, Histories
2
, 175–98; B. Baldwin, ODB s.v. “Sokrates.”
tion of Eusebius. Sozomenos’s work covered the period 324–425; the final
part of book 9, dealing with the events of 425–439, is lost.
17
George Synkellos (d. after 810) wrote the Ekloge Chronographias, which
deals with the history of the world from the creation to Diocletian. In the
sixteenth century Joseph Scaliger attacked Synkellos and claimed that,
among other things, he had simply transcribed Eusebius’s chronology with-

out any alteration of words. In fact Synkellos did use other sources, such as
Josephus and Africanus. Although other scholars have subsequently come
to his defense, the general assessment of Synkellos is that his information is
“sometimes repetitious or contradictory.”
18
The Chronographia of the histo-
rian Theophanes (760–817 a.d.) covered the years 285–813 and was a con-
tinuation of George Synkellos.
19
The Suda or Suidas is not an author’s name; rather it is the title of a lexi-
con. This historical encyclopedia, written around the end of the tenth cen-
tury a.d., consists of about 30,000 entries, arranged essentially in alphabetical
order. The work has been described as a “compilation of compilations.” There
are contradictions and other shortcomings in the material. Nevertheless, be-
cause it preserves so much of earlier authorities and because the range of
subjects covered is so wide, it remains a significant resource.
20
The Syriac chronicles are another valuable source. Syriac is an eastern Ara-
maic dialect that was spoken and written by the inhabitants of Syria, Meso-
potamia, and adjoining areas from about the third to the seventh century
a.d. From the third century a.d. until the rise of Islam this region was largely
Christian. Even after the spread of Islam throughout the area Syriac con-
tinued to be the daily language of the Christian community. It is useful to
bear in mind the Christian character of the region and (many of) its in-
habitants because the Syriac chronicles were Christian in both “content and
expression.”
21
We can—somewhat arbitrarily—distinguish at least two cate-
gories of chronicles, the local and the universal. The origin of the local chron-
icle is probably pre-Christian, in the archives of Mesopotamian cities; the

building of these archives probably began in the early Seleucid period if not
earlier. The only Syriac survival of these records is to be found in the Chron-
8 hellenistic settlements
17. See further Chesnut, Histories
2
, 199–207; B. Baldwin, ODB s.v. “Sozomen.”
18. So A. Kazhdan, ODB s.v. “George the Synkellos.” In general see R. Laqueur, RE s.v.
“Synkellos,” 1388–1410; Adler, Time Immemorial, 132–206; G. L. Huxley, Proceedings of the Royal
Irish Academy 81 (1981) no. 6, 207–17; W. Adler and P. Tuffin, The Chronography of George Synkel-
los (Oxford, 2002) (introductory essay and translation).
19. See further H. Turtledove, The Chronicle of Theophanes (Philadelphia, 1982) vii–xix;
A. Khazdan, ODB s.v. “Theophanes the Confessor.”
20. See further Wilson, Scholars, 145–48; R. Browning, OCD
3
s.v. “Suda” and bibliography
cited there.
21. J.B. Segal, in Historians of the Middle East, ed. B. Lewis and P.M. Holt (London, 1962) 247.
icle of Edessa, which dates to the middle of the sixth century a.d. On the other
hand, practically all Syriac universal chronicles are based on a Syriac trans-
lation of the Chronicle of Eusebius.
22
The surviving universal chronicles date
from the eighth to the thirteenth century a.d.
23
Although primarily inter-
ested in the period between the fourth and the fourteenth centuries a.d.,
the chronicles occasionally provide, among other things, lists of Hellenistic
monarchs, the length of their reigns, and occasional notices of Hellenistic
settlements and their founders. For example, the Chronicle to the Year 724 says
that Alexander founded ALEXANDREIA in the seventh year of his reign.

Furthermore, it says that Antigonos founded ANTIGONEIA on the Orontes
River, that Seleukos completed it and called it ANTIOCH and also founded
APAMEIA, EDESSA, ALEPPO, and PELLA.
24
The Chronicle to the Year 846
says that Edessa was founded in the thirteenth year of the Seleucid era.
25
And
Ps Dionysius of Tell Mahre provides important information about AMIDA
in northern Mesopotamia.
26
Generally, the information in the various chron-
icles is reliable. Errors, however, do occur. Thus the Chronicle to the Year 724
says that Seleukos completed Antigoneia and called it Antioch.
Rabbinic sources are also valuable. The oldest extant code of Jewish law
is the Mishnah, which was compiled in Palestine by c. 200 a.d. The Talmud
or Gemara is the extended commentary on the Mishnah. There are, in fact,
two Talmuds: the Jerusalem or Palestinian and the Babylonian. Both Talmuds
were redacted long after the Hellenistic period. The first, as the name indi-
cates, was composed in Palestine and completed soon after c. 400 a.d. The
second was composed in Babylonia and completed c. 500 a.d. It is impor-
tant to bear in mind that the Talmud is not a historical work. Rather it is a
collection of—often lengthy and complex—legal discussions that serve as
an extended commentary on the laws articulated in the Mishnah.
27
The presence of Jews in Babylonia dates, of course, from the exile under
Nebuchadnezzar after the destruction of the first temple in 586 b.c. In the
first century a.d., according to Josephus (AJ 11.133), the community was very
the scholarship and the sources 9
22. See especially P. Keseling, Oriens Christianus 1(1926/7) 23–48, 223–41; 2 (1927) 33–56.

23. In general see S. P. Brock, “Syriac Historical Writing,” Journal of the Iraqi Academy Syriac
Corporation 5 (1979–80) 1–30.
24. See E.W. Brooks, ed., and J B. Chabot, trans., Chronicon miscellaneum ad annum Domini
724 pertinens, in CSCO Scriptores Syri Versio Series III, Tomus IV, Chronica Minora (Leipzig, 1903)
p. 83.
25. See E. W. Brooks, ed., and J B. Chabot, trans., Chronicon ad annum Domini 846 pertinens,
in CSCO Scriptores Syri Versio Series III, Tomus IV, Chronica Minora (Leipzig, 1903) p. 130.
26. On Ps Dionysius see Witakowski, Chronicle.
27. The literature on the rabbinic sources is quite large; see, for example, appropriate ar-
ticles in the Encyclopedia Judaica; Schürer, History
2
, 1: 68–118; G. Stemberger, Introduction to the
Talmud and Midrash, 2d ed. (Philadelphia, 1996); G. G. Porton, ABD s.v. “Talmud”; and bibli-
ography in each of the preceding.
large. The vicissitudes of their brethren in Palestine in the first few centuries
a.d. combined with the rise and triumph of Christianity in the Roman Em-
pire significantly reduced the stature and influence of the Palestinian com-
munity. Furthermore these same vicissitudes prompted many Palestinian Jews
to migrate eastward to Babylonia, which contained the only significant Jew-
ish community not under Roman rule. The difficult situation of the Pales-
tinian Jews may in part explain the uneven nature of the Jerusalem Talmud
as compared with the Babylonian.
For the historian of Babylonia in the Hellenistic and particularly the
Parthian and Sassanid periods the Babylonian Talmud is an important
source of information about the social, economic, and religious life of Jews
in that region. It contains numerous references to, among other places, the
various towns and villages of Babylonia and the surrounding regions where
Jews lived. Thus anyone interested in Babylonian geography from 200 to 500
a.d. may profitably consult the Babylonian Talmud. The Hellenistic histo-
rian may likewise look to the Babylonian Talmud for references to Seleucid

settlements and their survival into the Parthian and Sassanid periods.
28
The
Jerusalem Talmud, although more diffuse and less well redacted, still occa-
sionally provides useful information for the Hellenistic historian about var-
ious settlements in the region.
29
In addition to the legal discussion and codification in the Mishnah and
Talmud, a great body of homiletic literature grew up. This corpus, the
Midrash, developed from comments on and explanations of biblical passages.
The earliest Midrashim date from the fifth century a.d., and the latest from
the twelfth. There are occasional references in the Midrash to geographic
locations.
30
P.M. Fraser correctly emphasized the importance of early Arabic geograph-
ical literature.
31
As he noted, “the classical Arab geographers, compilers of
lists of postal routes, and cosmographers, and the records of early travellers
through the Islamic world, describe the world of their own day, the world of
the first two or three Islamic centuries, through which they travelled . . . the
10 hellenistic settlements
28. See also D. Goodblatt, ANRW 2:19.2 (1979) 257–336. For questions relating to the Jew-
ish communities in Babylonia and the adjacent regions in the Talmudic period Aharon Op-
penheimer’s Babylonia Judaica in the Talmudic Period is a particularly valuable resource.
29. For the Jerusalem Talmud, see references cited above and B.M. Bokser, ANRW 2:19.1
(1979) 139–256. For Roman Palestine see, for example, Safrai, Roman Palestine; D. Sperber, Ro-
man Palestine, 200–400: The Land (Ramat-Gan, 1978), and Roman Palestine, 200–400: Money
and Prices, 2d ed. (Ramat-Gan, 1991).
30. On the Midrash see, for example, references cited above and G. Porton, ANRW 2:19.1

(1979) 103–38.
31. Cities, 52. See also S. M. Ahmad, s.v. “Djughrafiya” in the Encyclopedia of Islam, new ed.
(Leiden/London, 1960–2002) and the articles on the various geographers, as well as J. Mei-
sami and P. Starkey, eds., Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature (London, 1998).