Pilate Recalled to Rome

Nor did the Samaritan nation escape disturbances. The man who stirred them up was one who thought lying a thing of little consequence, and who contrived everything to please the crowd. He told them to gather on Mount Gerizim, which they regard as the holiest of all mountains, and assured them that when they got there he would show them the sacred vessels buried at that spot, because Moses had put them there. So they came there armed, thinking the man’s story plausible. Staying at a village called Tirathana, they gathered the rest to them and wanted to go up the mountain in a great crowd. But Pilate prevented their going up by seizing the roads with a large force of cavalry and infantry. These fell on those who had gathered in the village, and when it came to a fight they killed some, put others to flight, and took a great many alive. Pilate ordered the leaders among these, and the most influential of those who had fled, to be put to death. [a] When this disturbance had been put down, the Samaritan council sent an embassy to Vitellius, a former consul who was now governor of Syria, and accused Pilate of murdering those who had been killed. They had not gone to Tirathana, they said, to revolt from the Romans, but to escape Pilate’s violence. So Vitellius sent Marcellus, a friend of his, to take charge of the affairs of Judea, and ordered Pilate to go to Rome to answer before the emperor to the accusations of the Samaritans. So Pilate, after spending ten years in Judea, hurried to Rome in obedience to the orders of Vitellius, which he dared not refuse. But before he could reach Rome, Tiberius was dead. [d]

Vitellius came into Judea and went up to Jerusalem at the time of the festival called the Passover. He was magnificently received there. He released the inhabitants of Jerusalem from all taxes on produce bought and sold, and gave them leave to take charge of the high priest’s vestments with all their ornaments, and to keep them in the temple in the custody of the priests, a right they had once had. At that time the vestments were stored in the Antonia, the citadel of that name, for the following reason. [f]

One of the priests was named Hyrcanus. There were many of that name, and he was the first of them. This man built a tower near the temple, and after building it he generally lived in it. He kept these vestments with him, because he alone was allowed to put them on, and he left them stored there when he went down into the city and put on his ordinary clothes. His sons did the same, and their sons after them. But when Herod became king, he rebuilt this tower, which was very conveniently placed, on a magnificent scale, and because he was a friend of Antony he named it Antonia. Finding these vestments lying there, he kept them in the same place, believing that while he had them in his keeping the people would attempt no uprising against him. His son Archelaus, who was made king after him, did the same as Herod. After him, when the Romans took over the government, they took possession of these vestments of the high priest and had them stored in a stone chamber under the seal of the priests and of the temple treasurers, the captain of the guard lighting a lamp there every day. Seven days before a festival the captain of the guard handed them over to the priests. The high priest purified them and wore them, and then, on the very next day after the feast was over, laid them up again in the same chamber where they had been before. This was the practice at the three yearly festivals and on the fast day.

But Vitellius put those garments into our own hands, as in the days of our forefathers, and ordered the captain of the guard not to trouble himself about where they were kept or when they were to be used. He did this as a kindness, to bind the nation to himself. Besides this, he removed Joseph, who was also called Caiaphas, from the high priesthood, and appointed Jonathan, the son of Ananus the former high priest, to succeed him. After this he went back to Antioch.

Tiberius also sent a letter to Vitellius ordering him to make a treaty of friendship with Artabanus, the king of Parthia. For while Artabanus was his enemy he alarmed Tiberius, because he had taken Armenia from him, and Tiberius feared he would go further. He told Vitellius to trust Artabanus on no other terms than his giving hostages, and especially his son. While writing this to Vitellius, Tiberius, by offering great sums of money, persuaded both the king of Iberia and the king of Albania to make war on Artabanus without delay. They would not do it themselves, but they gave the Alans a passage through their country, opened the Caspian Gates to them, and brought them against Artabanus. So Armenia was again taken from the Parthians, the country of Parthia was filled with war, the leading men among them were killed, and everything among them was in disorder. The king’s son himself fell in these wars, together with many tens of thousands of his army. [i]

Vitellius had also sent such great sums of money to Artabanus’s own kinsmen and friends that he had almost brought about Artabanus’s own death through the bribes they had taken. Artabanus saw that the plot laid against him could not be escaped, because it was laid by the leading men, and a great many of them, and would certainly succeed. And he reckoned that even those who seemed to stand by him honestly were either already corrupted and feigning loyalty to deceive him, or would go over to those who had already deserted him when it came to the test. So he escaped to the upper provinces, where he afterward raised a great army from the Dahae and the Sacae, fought his enemies, and kept his kingdom.

When Tiberius heard of these things, he wanted a treaty of friendship made between himself and Artabanus. When Artabanus received the proposal kindly, he and Vitellius went to the Euphrates. A bridge was laid across the river, and each came with his guards about him, and they met in the middle of the bridge. When they had agreed on terms of peace, Herod the tetrarch put up a rich tent in the middle of the crossing and gave them a feast there. Artabanus also sent his son Darius to Tiberius as a hostage, with many presents. Among them was a man about ten and a half feet tall, a Jew by birth, named Eleazar, who was called the Giant because of his height. After this Vitellius went to Antioch and Artabanus to Babylon. [k]

But Herod, wanting to be the first to tell Caesar that they had obtained hostages, sent couriers with letters in which he described every detail exactly, leaving nothing for the consular Vitellius to report. When Vitellius’s letters arrived and Caesar let him know that he already knew of these affairs, because Herod had given him an account of them before, Vitellius was very much troubled. Supposing that he had suffered a greater wrong than he really had, he nursed a secret anger over this until he could take revenge on Herod, which he did after Gaius had come to power.

About this time Philip, Herod’s brother, died, in the twentieth year of the reign of Tiberius, after he had been tetrarch of Trachonitis and Gaulanitis, and of the people of Batanea as well, for thirty-seven years. He had shown himself a man of moderation and quiet in his life and government. He always lived in the country subject to him. He used to make his rounds with a few chosen friends, and the tribunal on which he sat in judgment went with him on his travels. Whenever anyone who needed his help met him, he made no delay, but had the tribunal set down at once, wherever he happened to be, sat down on it, and heard the complaint. There he ordered the guilty who were convicted to be punished, and acquitted those who had been unjustly accused. He died at Julias, and when he was carried to the tomb he had built for himself beforehand, he was buried with great pomp. Tiberius took his principality, since he left no sons, and added it to the province of Syria, but ordered that the tribute raised from it should be collected and kept within his tetrarchy. [n]