Notes from “Gaza a History” by Jean-Pierre Filiu
Part 2
“Alexander of Macedon’s assumption of power” Jean-Pierre Filiu tells us “and his conquest of Alexandria in 333 BC was the source of anxiety in Gaza, which was now Persian in its heart as well as for reasons of state. The population closed ranks around the garrison, backed up by Arab mercenaries, under the leadership of a redoubtable commander, who was known as the ‘King of Gaza’. Alexander surrounded the city in 332 BC and anticipated a swift victory, despite the fact that he had recently been obliged to besiege Tyre for months it was eventually taken. In the event the siege of Gaza involved 100 days of fruitless attacks and tunnelling. This is the first historical reference to the loose subsoil of Gaza, with the construction of tunnels and counter-tunnels prefiguring the current tunnels into the modern-day Gaza Strip. Alexander, who was wounded in the course of a counter-attack by the besieged force, was suffused with a vengeful rage when Gaza ultimately fell. All those suspected of having fought were slaughtered, while their families were sold into slavery. Batis, who refused to kneel before the conqueror, was bound to Alexander’s chariot after having his legs broken, and his body was then dragged in agony below the ramparts of the defeated city. The sack of Gaza filled six ships with booty to be sent back to Macedon.”
“In the aftermath of this military catastrophe Gaza was rebuilt by the Greek colonists, as well as the inhabitants of the region who became thoroughly Hellenized. However, after Alexander’s death in 323 BC, Gaza again found itself disputed among different powers as his heirs fought over control of his empire…”[1]
“As the second century BC began, the equilibrium between the empires swung more to the east. After a number of failed attempts, the Seleucids took control of Gaza along with the whole southern part of greater Syria. But this change of ruler did not affect Gaza’s development nor its appeal as a commercial centre. The worship of Zeus Marnas (in Aramaic ‘Our Lord’), the god of rain and corn, seems to have been connected with the Philistine cult of Dagon, the leading figure of their pantheon.”
“Yet the power of the Seleucids was destined to wane. Following the resounding defeat of Antiochus III, who went as far as to challenge the power of Rome…the Seleucid Empire was truncated and henceforth compelled to pay Rome a heavy tribute…Gaza was also affected by the local rebellion of the Jews of Judaea in 168 BC, led by the Maccabee family, who refused to worship what they viewed as pagan gods. The rebellious Jews attacked Gaza eight years after their uprising began, burning the surrounding orchards and making camp under its walls. The city yielded to their demands and sent the sons of the notable citizens as hostages to Jerusalem.”[2]
“All of the camel trains that made the two-month journey from Yemen passed through the Nabatean kingdom of Petra, and Gaza’s hope was that its close relations with such Arab centres of power would protect it from the ambitions of the Jews. However, when the Hasmonean ruler Alexander Jannai made a move against Gaza in 97 BC, appeals for help from Apollodotus, the governor of Gaza, to the Nabatean King Aretas II went unheeded.”
“The Hasmonean siege of Gaza continued for a year and only came to an end with the murder of Apollodotus by his own brother…This act of treason threw the city open to attackers who massacred the members of the Council…Like Alexander the Great before him, Alexander Jannai carried out reprisals against the population of Gaza for having held out for too long against him. Whereas the sacking of the city and the massacres of 332 BC had led to the exile of the population, the slaughter and devastation of 96 BC preceded a policy of voluntary Judaisation which had a severe effect on the indigenous communities. This was an era of desolation: ‘Gaza deserta’. The new masters neglected the city, preferring to inhabit and develop the port of Maiumas, close by.”[3]
“It fell to the great Roman General Pompey to draw the Levant into Rome’s orbit. The conquest of Jerusalem in 63 BC brought an end to the Hasmonean domination of Gaza, in recognition of which the inhabitants symbolically declared a ‘Pompean Era’ where Year 1 represented the commencement of the reconstruction of their city…In 40 BC, Herod, the king of Judaea, was granted control of Gaza along with other territories after subduing the last of the Hasmoneans. In 36 BC, Marcus Antonius, then the ruler of Egypt, reconquered Gaza in order to offer it as a gift to his wife, Cleopatra. But in 31 BC was again restored to Herod’s kingdom following the defeat of the armies of Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra.”
“…Gaza, once more a prosperous centre of commerce, enhanced its access to the sea with the development of the port of Anthedon, in what is now the Balakhiya area of Gaza. Gaza’s wealth at this time was indicated in the extravagance of the Temple of Zeus Marnas…
Such ostentation aroused the wrath of the Jewish zealots, who sacked Gaza in the course of their revolt in AD 66. But the cults continued…After the suppression of the Bar Kokhba rebellion of AD 132-5, Emperor Hadrian, who had visited Gaza in AD 130, granted its inhabitants permission to take vengeance by selling the Jewish prisoners taken during the revolt as slaves.”[4]
“The city, already established as a commercial crossroads, now began to develop orchards, fields and vines. Plutarch is said to have described Gaza as aromatophora – the dispenser of perfumes – in reference to the crucial position on the incense and aromatic trade route from Yemen and the Indian Ocean…The city boasted a hippodrome, a gymnasium and a theatre, as well as a stadium where Olympic-style sports contests were held every four years…Gaza was also proud of its schools of rhetoric and philosophy…”[5]
[1] p.7 Gaza a History, Jean-Pierre Filiu
[2] p.8 Ibid
[3] p.9 Ibid
[4] p.10 Ibid
[5] p.11 Ibid