The Hellenistic Settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa (Hellenistic Culture and Society)

503 Pages·2006·2.43 MB·English

by  Getzel M. Cohen

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
The Joan Palevsky Imprint in Classical Literature
In honor of beloved Virgil—
“O degli altri poeti onore e lume . . .”
—Dante,Inferno
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.
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished
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and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
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University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 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
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on New Leaf EcoBook 60, containing 60%
post-consumer waste, processed chlorine free, 30% de-inked
recycled fiber, elemental chlorine free, and 10% FSC certified
virgin fiber, totally chlorine free. EcoBook 60 is acid free, and
meets the minimum requirements of ansi/astmd5634-01
(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