Strong central government in Parthia was a thing of the past, and for some years to come the empire remained in a state of turmoil. Under such conditions party, racial, and religious strife found ample opportunity to develop. The Parthians had long enjoyed friendly relations with the Jews both within and without their political domain. The return of Hyrcanus from Parthia to Jerusalem in 37 b.c. is but the last demonstration of this entente cordiale. The breakdown of royal power brought a change in the situation. Sometime not long before 6 b.c. a Babylonian Jew, Zamaris, fled with one hundred of his relatives and five hundred of his armed cavalry to Antioch, where he sought refuge with C. Sentius Saturninus, then governor of Syria.[1] Such a man was no city merchant but a rich and powerful landowner, one of the feudal nobility who lived on vast estates out side of the city areas. Indeed, many other Babylonian Jews, like Zamaris, were agriculturists, not merchants, even as they were in the time when Babylon flourished.[2] Only some desperate situation could force a man who could raise five hundred armed retainers to flee from his homeland; perhaps Zamaris had espoused the cause of the Mithradates mentioned by Josephus. Saturninus gave him land at Ulatha near Daphne; but Herod offered a tract in Batanaea
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THE CONTEST FOR THE EUPHRATES
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