In his account of the numerous massacres of J ews which occurred in the immediate
aftermath of the outbreak of war against Rome, Josephus includes in his Jewish
War (11466-471) a curious passage concerning the city of Scythopolis:
So far the Jews had be en attacking foreigners, but when they raided Scythopolis
they found the Jews there opposed to them; for they lined up with the
Scythopolitans, ... So they ordered them, ifthey wished to prove their loyalty
and demonstrate their fidelity to their foreign neighbours, to go with their
families into the Grove. The Jews carried out the order, suspecting nothing,
and for two days the Scythopolitans made no move, thus deceiving them into
thinking themselves safe; but on the third night they watched their opportunity
when some were off their guard and others asleep, slaughtered them all -
more than 13,000 of them - and looted the property of the whole colony.
This was one of the most prominent Hellenic enclaves in Palestine, and during the
Maccabean revolt it was considered to be a gentile city (2 Macc. 12,29-31)
