Page 20 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich
P. 20
6 Historical Review
The earliest mention of Straton’s Tower in literary sources is in one of the Zenon
papyri from 259 BCE, where it is referred to as the site of Zenon’s landing on the
Fig. 9 Syrian-Phoenician coast. Zenon was a senior personal aid to Ptolemy II’s minister
Proposed map of Straton’s of finances. The site was then a maritime station of some importance. Later, in
Tower, the Hellenistic city
that preceded Caesarea the second century BCE, with the dissolution of the Seleucid kingdom, Straton’s
Tower (together with nearby Dor) turned into a stronghold of a local tyrant named
Zoilus, until it fell into the hands of the
North Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus
Harbor
(103–76 BCE) at the beginning of his reign.
Quay To withstand Jannaeus and the Jews, Zoilus
requested help from Ptolemy Lathyrus – the
Residential Ptolemaic ruler of Cyprus, who invaded
Quarter Phoenicia and captured Acre from the
Mediterranean Sea Seleucids (who were then occupied with
internal wars). In the ensuing war, however,
Ptolemy Lathyrus betrayed Zoilus and
turned him over to Jannaeus for a bribe of
Tower 400 talents of silver. Straton’s Tower appears
South Zoilos indeed in a list of cities under Jannaeus’s
Harbor Palace (?) rule. Its capture was not easy. According to
Megillat Ta‘anit – a Scroll listing festivals that
0 250 m Temple of Agathe was consolidated for the most part during
Tyche/Isis (?)
a Second Temple times – Straton’s Tower
(“S.r Tower”, “S.wr Tower” or “Sˆr Tower”
in the scroll) was captured on the 14th of
Sivan and the date was set as a holiday. The
scroll’s commentary (Scholion) gives the
following explanation: [S. r or S.wr Tower] is
Qsri, Daughter of Edom, lying among the
dunes, it was like a thorn in Israel’s side since
Greek (i.e. Hellenistic) times. When the
Hasmoneans became more powerful, they
removed them and settled there people of
Israel” (Ms. Oxford).
In Ms. Parma the explanation states: “[S. r
Tower] is Qsri. Since they were not able
to capture it because there were mighty
warriors (heroes) in it, they made the day
that they captured it a holiday.” The heroism
Fig. 10a in the battle of the ancestors of Caesarea was praised by the renowned philosopher
Amphorae-burial from the
time of Straton’s Tower Apollonius of Tyana, who visited the city around the year 70 CE, during the time
of the struggle between Jews and Gentiles over predominance in the city. Then the
Gentiles stressed their being descendants of Straton, who ruled much earlier than
Herod, the founder of Caesarea. Possibly Apollonius of Tyana was referring to the
