Apion Apocalypse
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
To make tlie fable still more when the Jews were at war with the Idumeans, a man bjTales About the name of Zabidiis, a worshiper of Apollo, the god of the city of Dora. had Jewish Worship, coiiic fortli promisini; that he would
668
for some time also against Christians (see Muel"Contra Apionem," jip. 2.")S-260. 203-204; and articles on Ass WoKsiiir and Hlood Accts.TioNs). Apion, however, found a jiowerful antagonist in Josephus, who, with great skill and fine sarcasm, refuted every one of his statements. Refuted by His work has become for both Jewish Josephus. and Christian writers the model of a
great deal of money.
and
interesting, he relulVs that
ler,
deliver iijv the noil inlu the Imiidsof the they would conic with him to the 'I'cniplc and briiij; the whole multitude of the Jews with them. lie then made a wooden instrument and put it around him. placiiiLT three rows of lamps therein, so that he appealed to the men in the distance like a walkinjr star on earth and while the people, alTiiiihtcd by the sisrht. remained ([iiiet and afar olT, he went into the
.lews
if
Tcniplc,
went
removed the
g-nlden
head of an ass, and DoRi ("Contra
in .Jireat liasle liiick to the city of
ii. 10). IJut as the worst of all calumnits, he lays the char.sre of human Siicrilice upon the Jewish faith a charge which despite all better knowlcdsre of the fact has so often been repeated. He narrates the following story: " Antiochus found in the Temupun it. with a small table ple abecl anil a man Iving iiefiire liim laden with dainties, from the tisli of the sea and the fowl of the land the man, on bciiigasked by the kin,g the reason for his being there, told him amid sobs an<l tears that he was a Greek, who had been traveling through the land to earn his livelihood, when he was suddenly seized and brought to the Temple, and there locked up and fattened on Wondering at these those dainties before him. things, he learned upon inquiry that, according to a law iif the Jews, they contrive each year at a certain time tocapturea flreek foreigner, fatten him up. and then bring him to a certain forest, where they slay him with religious rites; then, tasting of his entrails, they take an oath upon the sacrilicc to be at everlasting enmity with the Greeks, and afterward cast the carcass into a pit. And then the man implored Antiochus, out of reverence to the Greek gods, to rescue him from this jieril, inasmuch as he was to be slain within a few days." Finally, as denoting their hatred of all non-Jews, he makes the statement that "the Jews swear by God, the Maker of heaven, earth, and
Ap.
—
Hatred Against All
sea, to
eigner,
bear no good-will to any forand particularly to none of tlie
Greeks "(" Contra A p." ii. 11). He ridicules the Jewish sacrifices, their ab stention from swine's Hesh, and the rite of circum-
Nations.
As
special proof that the Jews have neither good laws nor the ri,glit worship of God, Apion singles out the fact that they are never rulers of other nations, but always stibiects; wherefore their own city (Jerusalem) had often suffered siege and misfortune. But while Koine was always destined to rule them, the Jews would not even submit to her dominion, notwithstanding her great magnacision
(lb.
ii.
14).
(il/. ii. 12). Xor, says Apion, have they ever produced among them any pronounced genius nor inventor of any kind, nor any one at all eminent for
nimity
wisdom (ib. ii. 13). The few excerpts preserved by Josephus
exhibit systematic defamation of the Jew. and are all the more remarkable as they have been repeated almost in the same form, mutiitin iiintiuidix. throughout the anti Semitic writings of the centuries, from Tacitus, who reechoed these charges in his " History," '. 2-5, down to these days. They comprise, first, aspersions cast upon the .Jewish race secondly, derogatory statements concerning their patriotism and loyally as citizens; and, thirdly, malicious misrepresentations of their faith, their religious beliefs and rites accusations originating in old pagan legends and made bja prejudiced multitude ever anew against the Jew.s,
—
systematic defense of the faith.
phus writes. "1 had
Jose-
my
doubts whether I should refute this dema.iiogue, but as there are so many people who are more easily caught by superficial talk than by accurate knowledge and delight in denunciation more than in commendations. I thought it to be necessiiry not to let that man off without examination into his accusjilions; for, after all, people might wish to see a traducer like this once for all exposed to public contempt." Quite characteristic is the portrait of Apion given in the "Clementine' Homilies," v. 2-20 (written about the end of the third century), where Clement relates that he knew Ai>ion to be a great hater of the Jews one who had written many books against them, and indeed had luade frien(lshi|i with Simon Magus, the Jew hater, in order to learn from him more against the Jens and that when, therefore. Apion once called to see him w bile he was contined to his bed, he pretended that he was sick from love of a woman he could not have. Thereupon Apion. as one proficient with the art of healing, promised to put him in possession of his desired object within six days by the heli> of magic, and wrote a loveletter or philter, in which he dwelt on all the loves of Zeus and other gods, and showed that to the ini-
—
—
tiated, as well as to the gods, all illicit loves are i)er-
mitted. Clement, pretending that he had actually sent the letter to his lady-love, wrote a fictitious reply, purporting to come from the woman, in which she ridiculed and severely censured the gods for their immoral conduct, and closed with the remark tliat she had learned from a certain Jew to understand and to <lo things pleasing to God. and not allow herself to beeiitrapped into adulClement tery by any lying fables; she prayed and Apion. that Clement too might be helped by God in the effort to be chaste. Apion was enraged upon healing the letter read, and said: " Have I not rea.son to hate the Jews'? Behold, some
Jew has converted herand persuaded
lierto chastity,
and she is no lon,ger accessible to my jiersuasions. For these fellows, setting God before them as the univer.sal inspector of men's actions, are extremely persistent in chastity, holding that the opposite can not be concealed from Him." Clement then told him that he was not in love with any woman at all. but that after a thorough examination of all other doctrines, he had adopted the doctrine of the unity of God taught him by a certain Jewish linen-merchant, whom he had been fortunate enough to meet "Apion then with his unreasonable hat red in Home. of the Jews, neither knowing nor wishing to know
what
their faith was,
forthwith quitted
and being
Rome
.senseles.sly
angry,
in silence."
BiBi.lOGRAPHV
Scliurer. Cla>r)i. iil. 4ili'i-tll ; Gulsclimld. K7ciiicrc SrJtriftrn. ls!t!. Iv. ;«tl-;iri : Ilausratb. XcutcKtament/.• iliir.-'iliii hi:, ii. lST-192: Rrinarh. I'l-rtes ir.iiitnii-K it hoinaiu--^ liclatifs nu Jurlaisme^ IStfi. pp. li'»-134; Lelirs, (jtiiil Ajiiii Hiimcro Pra^^littril, etc.. 1S!7. pp. 1-S4: S. Mmli.r. Do- Flaviuii Jn.<rji)nis S^chrift (/I'l/cH .Ipi'iii, 1877 I.iL'htfcifit, art. Apinn. in Smith anil Waco, Dicti'imininf C7in'.i/i'Oi liiii^irnphy; Cotin. in Pauly-Wis.snva, }falfiic]i' chipWIie. art. Apimt Wlllrirll. Juilen unit Grirehi H vur ilir HahkahHiMhrn Erhrtiuim. IKIB, pp. 172-17H: Fninkel, in.V"nnt.<iehrift, 18.t2, pp. 17. 41, SI, 121 ; Joel, ngriffe li. Hcidenthums geffen Juden und (^hristeni Zipser. D»'^ Flfii^itia Jo-
ticlii
Gncs
A
sephus 1S71
I.
Werk
das Hnhc Alter, etc.. ed. by Ad. Jellinek, Leri, in Rci: it. Juivcs, xli. pp. lS8-lft5. jj
llhcr
