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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

rot,'' cerii

contractuum, or era of contracts (see 'Ab.

Zarah 10a, and Rapoport, " 'Erek Millin," p. 73), which era was also officially adopted by Greek the Parthians. This so-called " Greek" Period. era survived in the Orient long after it had been abolished in the West (see Sherira's "Letter," ed. Neubauer, p. 28). Nicator's foundation of a city, Seleucia, on the Tigris is mentioned by the Rabbis (Midr. Teh. ix. 8); while both the " Large " and the " Small Chronicle " contain references to him. The important victory which the Jews are said to have gained over the Galatians in Babylonia (II Mace. viii. 20) must have happened under Seleucus Callinicus or under Antiochus III. The last-named settled a large number of Babylonian Jews as colonists in his western dominions, with the view of checking certain revolutionary tendencies disturbing those lands (Josephus, "Ant." xii. 8, § 4). Mithridates (174-136) subjugated, about the year 160, the province of Babylonia, and thus the Jews for four centuries came under Parthian domination. Jewish sources contain no mention of Parthian influence the very name " Parthian " does not occur, unless indeed " Parthian " is meant by Parthian " Persian, " which occurs now and then. Period. The Armenian prince Sanatroces, of the royal house of the Arsacides, is mentioned in the " Small Chronicle " as one of the

successors (diadochoi) of Alexander. Among other Asiatic princes, the Roman rescript in favor of the. Jews reached Arsaces as well (I Mace. xv. 22); it is not, however, specified which Arsaces. Not long after this, the Partho-Babylonian country was trodden by the army of a Jewish prince; the Syrian king, Antiochus Sidetes, marched, in company with Hyrcanus I., against the Parthians; and when the allied armies defeated the Parthians (129 B.C.) at the River Zab (Lycus), the king ordered a halt of two days on account of the Jewish Sabbath and Feast of Weeks (Josephus, " Ant. " xiii. 8, § 4). In 40 b. c. the Jewish puppet-king, Hyrcanus II. fell into the hands of the Parthians, who, according to their custom, cutoff his ears in order to render him unfit for rulerThe Jews of Babylonia, it seems, had the inship. tention of founding a high-priesthood for the exiled Hyrcanus, which they would have made quite independent of Palestine (Josephus, "Ant." xiv. 13, § 9; But the reverse was to come ib. "B. J." i. 13, § 6). about: the Palestinians received a Babylonian, Ananel by name, as their high priest (" Ant. " xv. 2, $4), which indicates the importance enjoyed by the Jews of Babylonia. In religious matters the Babylonians, as indeed the whole diaspora, were in many regards dependent upon Palestine. They went on pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the festivals, and one, whose full name is given in Mekilta on Deut. (xiv. 23, ed. Hoffmann), brought first-fruits of his land to Jerusalem (Hal. iv. but this case was not permitted to constitute a 11) precedent. Sherira himself, although strongly biased in favor of his own home, acknowledges that when ,



the Sanhedrin and the colleges were flourishing in Palestine, neither existed in Babylonia; which fact

would seem to warrant the inference that the BabyJews must have sent to Palestine for religious

lonian

instruction, as, for instance, in the case of Hillel.

Babylonia

According to the "Small Chronicle," however, the exilarchs at this period already had their courtscholars. How free a hand the Parthians permitted the Jews is perhaps best illustrated by the rise of the little Jewish robber- state in Nehardea (see Anilai and Asinai). Still more remarkable is the conversion of the king of Adiabene to Judaism (see Adiabbnb). These instances show not only the tolerance, but the weakness of the Parthian kings. The Babylonian Jews wanted to fight in common cause with their Palestinian brethren against Vespasian but it was not until the Romans waged war under Trajan

against Parthia that they made their hatred felt (Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl." iv. 2); so that it was in a great measure owing to the revolt of the Babylonian Jews that the Romans did not become masters of Babylonia too. Philo ("Legatio ad Cajum," § 36) speaks of the large number of Jews resident in that country, a population which was no doubt considerably swelled by new immigrants after the destruction of Jerusalem. Accustomed in Jerusalem from early times to look to the east for help (Barueh iv. 36, 37; Pseudo-Solomon, Ps. 11), and aware, as the Roman procurator Petronius was, that the Jews of Babylon could render effectual assistance, Babylonia became with the fall of Jerusalem the very bulwark of Judaism. Rabbi Akiba's journeys to Nehardea (Yeb., end) and Gazaka (Gen. R. xxxiii. 5) were undoubtedly connected with preparations for revolt (Rapoport, in "Bikkure ha-Tttim," 1823, p. 70), and it is a fact that Jews of the diaspora enrolled themselves under Bar Kokba ("Gola," in Saadia ibn Danan, in "Pe'er ha-Dor," No. 225); while it is undoubtedly erroneous when in the " Yuhasin " (ed. London, 2456) it is maintained that Bar Kokba waged war with the Romans in Mesopotamia: this can be only a reminiscence of the struggles under Trajan. The Bar Kokba disaster no doubt added to the number of Jewish refugees in Babylon. In the continuous struggles between the Parthians and the Romans, the Jews had every reason to hate the Romans, the destroyers of their sanctuary, and Possito side with the Parthians, their protectors. bly it was recognition of services thus rendered by the Jews of Babylonia, and by the Davidic house especially, that induced the Parthian kings to elevate the princes of the Exile, who till then had been little more than mere collectors of revenue, to the dignity of real princes (P. Lazarus, in Brail's " Jahrbucher," x. 62). Thus, then, the numerous Jewish subjects were provided with a central authority which assured an undisturbed develResh opment of their own internal affairs. It is in this period that the first certain Galuta. traces of the dignity of the prince of the Exile are found and the first-named resh galuta is Nahum or Nahunya. About the year 140 of the common era, Hananiah, nephew of R. Joshua, migrated to Babylonia before the Bar Kokba war, and

founded a college in Nehar-Pekod (compare in Jer.

1.

"

Pekod "

21; called in other places "Nehar-Pekor,''

probably after the celebrated Parthian general PaUpon the overthrow of the insurrection and interruption of communication with Palestine, Hananiah set about arranging the calendar, which hitherto had been the exclusive prerogative of the korus).