predecessors.[1] The disaster which the Roman arms had suffered at Carrhae made certain the supremacy, at least for the time being, of pro-Parthian over pro-Roman sentiment among the Jews.
In 52 b.c. raids were made on Syria; but the Parthians were driven out by Cassius, who then hastily marched southward into Judea, where he assaulted and captured the city of Taricheae. Large numbers of Jews who had revolted, perhaps inspired by the Parthian success, were sold into slavery.[2] The Jews discovered in plots against members of the pro-Roman party naturally turned toward Parthia as a certain refuge.[3]
The next, more determined, attempt by Parthia opened the way for expansion to its farthest western limits. This advance forms the subject of the following chapter.
- ↑ Eleazar Isar Szadzunski, The Talmudical Writings as a Source for Parthian and Sassanid History (unpublished M.A. diss., University of Chicago, 1932), pp. 30–34, and abstract of a paper in JAOS, LII (1932), 305.
- ↑ Dio Cass. xl. 28; Josephus Bell. i. 180.
- ↑ Cf. the example in Josephus Bell. i. 485 f.
