First Book of Maccabees 15

¹ Antiochus, son of King Demetrius, addressed a letter from the islands of the sea to Simon, priest and ethnarch of the Jews, and to the whole nation;

² this was how it read: ‘King Antiochus to Simon, high priest and ethnarch, and to the Jewish nation, greetings.

³ Whereas certain scoundrels have seized control of the kingdom of our fathers, and I propose to claim back the kingdom so that I may re-establish it as it was before, and whereas I have accordingly recruited very large forces and fitted out warships,

⁴ intending to make a landing in the country and deal with the men who have ruined it and laid waste many towns in my kingdom,

⁵ now therefore I confirm in your favour all the remissions of tribute that my royal predecessors granted you, with any other concessions that they granted to you.

⁶ I hereby authorise you to mint your own coinage as legal tender for your own country.

⁷ I declare Jerusalem and the sanctuary exempt; all the arms you have manufactured and the fortresses you have built and now occupy are to remain yours.

⁸ All debts to the royal treasury, present or future, shall be cancelled from henceforth in perpetuity.

⁹ When we have gained possession of our kingdom we will bestow such great honour on yourself, your nation and the Temple as shall exhibit your glory to the whole world.’

¹⁰ In the year one hundred and seventy-four Antiochus mounted his expedition against the land of his ancestors, and all the troops rallied to him, so that few remained with Trypho.

¹¹ Antiochus pursued the usurper, who took refuge in Dor on the coast,

¹² knowing that misfortunes were piling up on him and that his troops had deserted him.

¹³ Antiochus pitched camp before Dor with a hundred and twenty thousand fighting men and eight thousand cavalry.

¹⁴ He laid siege to the city while the ships closed in from the sea, so that he had the city under attack from land and sea, and allowed no one to go in or come out.

¹⁵ Meanwhile Numenius and his companions arrived from Rome carrying letters addressed to various kings and states, in the following terms:

¹⁶ ‘Lucius[*a], consul of the Romans, to King Ptolemy, greetings.

¹⁷ The Jewish ambassadors have come to us as our friends and allies to renew our original friendship and alliance in the name of the high priest Simon and the Jewish people.

¹⁸ They have brought a gold shield worth a thousand minas.

¹⁹ Accordingly we have decided to write to various kings and states, warning them not to molest them nor to attack them or their towns or their country, nor ally themselves with any such aggressors.

²⁰ We have decided to accept the shield from them.

²¹ If then any scoundrels have fled their country to take refuge with you, hand them over to Simon the high priest to be punished by him according to their law.’

²² The consul sent the same letter to King Demetrius, to Attalus, Ariarathes and Arsaces,

²³ and to all states, including Sampsames, the Spartans, Delos, Myndos, Sicyon, Caria, Samos, Pamphylia, Lycia, Halicarnassus, Rhodes, Phaselis, Cos, Side, Aradus, Gortyna, Cnidus, Cyprus and Cyrene.

²⁴ They also drew up a copy for Simon the high priest.

²⁵ Meanwhile Antiochus, from his positions on the outskirts of Dor, was continually throwing detachments against the town. He constructed siege-engines, and blockaded Trypho, preventing movement in or out.

²⁶ Simon sent him two thousand picked men to support him in the fight, with silver and gold and plenty of equipment.

²⁷ But Antiochus would not accept them; instead, he repudiated all his previous agreements with Simon, and completely changed his attitude to him.

²⁸ He sent him Athenobius, one of his friends, for an interview at which he was to say, ‘You are now occupying Joppa and Gezer and the Citadel in Jerusalem, which are towns in my kingdom.

²⁹ You have laid waste their territory and done immense harm to the country; and you have seized many localities belonging to my kingdom.

³⁰ Now either surrender the towns you have taken, with the revenue from the localities you have seized beyond the limits of Judaea,

³¹ or else pay me five hundred talents of silver in compensation for them and for the destruction you have done, and another five hundred talents for the revenues of the towns; otherwise we shall come and make war on you.’

³² When Athenobius, one of the Friends of the King, reached Jerusalem and saw Simon’s magnificence, his cabinet of gold and silver plate, and his large retinue, he was dumbfounded. He delivered the king’s message,

³³ but Simon gave him this answer, ‘It is not any foreign land that we have taken, nor any foreign property that we have seized, but the inheritance of our ancestors, for some time unjustly wrested from us by our enemies;

³⁴ now that we have a favourable opportunity, we are merely recovering the inheritance of our ancestors.

³⁵ As for Joppa and Gezer, which you claim, these were towns that did great harm to the people and laid waste the countryside; we are prepared to give a hundred talents for them.’ Without so much as a word in answer,

³⁶ the envoy went back to the king in a rage and reported on Simon’s answer and his magnificence, and on everything he had seen, at which the king fell into a fury.

³⁷ Trypho now boarded a ship and escaped to Orthosia.

³⁸ The king appointed Cendebaeus commander-in-chief of the coastal region and allotted him a force of infantry and cavalry.

³⁹ He ordered him to deploy his men facing Judaea, and instructed him to strengthen Kedron and fortify its gates, and to make war on the people, while the king himself went in pursuit of Trypho.

⁴⁰ Cendebaeus arrived at Jamnia and began to harry the people forthwith, invading Judaea, imprisoning the people and massacring them.

⁴¹ He strengthened Kedron and stationed cavalry and troops there to make sorties and patrol the roads of Judaea, as the king had instructed him.