Wannan ra'ayi mai fadin yanki game da Falasdinu ya samu karbuwa har ga marubutan Yahudawa na zamanin da, musamman Josephus (37–kimanin 100 AD; da Ibrananci: Yosef ben Matityahu), wanda aka haife shi a Urushalima cikin wata dangin firistoci, da kuma Philo na Alexandria (kimanin 25

The same wider territorial concept of Palestine was embraced by classical Jewish writers, especially Josephus (37–c. 100 AD; Hebrew: Yosef ben Matityahu), born in Jerusalem to a priestly family, and Philo of Alexandria (c. 25

BC–c. 50 CE; Ibrananci: Yedidia HaCohen; wanda ake kira Philo Judaeus), masanin falsafar Bayahude kuma abokin zamanin Yesu, wanda ya rayu a lardin Roman na Masar kuma ya zama wakili mafi muhimmanci na Yahudanci na Hellenanci. Philo (wanda mahaifinsa, a bayyane, ya taka muhimmiyar rawa a Falasdinu kafin ya koma Alexandria8), ya rubuta a cikin Quod Omnis Probus Liber Sit9 cewa Essenawa dubu hudu10 – wata darika ta Yahudawa da ta bunkasa daga karni na 2 BC zuwa karni na 1 CE, kuma da ta sami shahara a zamani saboda gano Littattafan Tekun Matattu – sun rayu a ‘Falasdinu da Siriya’.11

BC–c. 50 CE; Hebrew: Yedidia HaCohen; also called Philo Judaeus), the Jewish philosopher and a contemporary of Jesus who lived in the Roman province of Egypt and became the most important representative of Hellenistic Judaism. Philo (whose father had apparently played a prominent role in Palestine before moving to Alexandria8), wrote in Quod Omnis Probus Liber Sit9 that ‘four thousand’ Essenes10 – a Jewish sect that flourished from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD and who gained fame in modern times as a result of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls – lived in ‘Palestine and Syria’.11

Masana tarihi Yahudawa masu magana da Girkanci waɗanda suka karɓi al'adun Helenawa, irin su Philo da Josephus, sun rubuta da Girkanci na yau da kullum don manyan Yahudawa masu ilimi a yankin, da kuma masu sauraron Romawa da Helenawa. Kamar marubutan Girka da Roma da yawa da kuma Yahudawan da ke da zama ɗan ƙasar Roma, duka Josephus da Philo sun fahimci kalmar Palestine a matsayin "Palestine mai girma", wanda ya miƙe daga Lebanon ta yau zuwa Masar (Robinson 1865: 15; Jacobson 1999), ba kawai zuwa Philistia ba, wato yankin bakin teku na Palestine, ko tsohuwar "ƙasar Filistiyawa" daga Gaza zuwa Tantur.

Hellenised Greek-speaking Jewish authors such as Philo and Josephus wrote in standard Greek for educated Jewish classes in the region and for Roman and Greek audiences. Like Greek and Roman writers and many Jewish Roman citizens, both Josephus and Philo understood and applied the term Palestine to ‘greater Palestine’ extending from modern Lebanon to Egypt (Robinson 1865: 15; Jacobson 1999), and not just to Philistia, the coastal region of Palestine, or the former ‘land of the Philistines’ from Gaza to Tantur.

Sunan hukuma na lardin Romawa a matsayin Syria-Palaestina ya wanzu tun kafin tawayen Yahudawa na shekara ta 66–69 Miladiyya. Duk da haka, Vespasian – majibincin Josephus – wanda da kansa ya taka rawa wajen murkushe tawayen a Judaea, ya fadada iyakokin yankin Palestine a hukumance, kuma ya ayyana dukkan kasar a matsayin ‘Palestine’, kamar yadda tsabar kudin Romawa na wannan zamani ke nunawa. Sai dai, zai zama kuskure a dauka cewa lardin Romawa na Provincia Palaestina ya maye gurbin Judaea ko ya kawar da ita.

The official Roman designation of the province as Syria-Palaestina existed long before the Jewish revolt of 66–69 AD. However, Vespasian – the patron of Josephus – who was personally involved in subduing the revolt in Judaea, formally widened the territorial boundaries of Palestine and officially designated the whole country as ‘Palestine’, and this is evident from Roman coins of the period. However, it would be wrong to assume that Roman Provincia Palaestina displaced or replaced Judaea.

Na ƙarshen kawai dai ya kasance, kuma ya ci gaba da kasancewa, ɗaya daga cikin yankunan Provincia Palaestina.

The latter simply was and remained one of the regions of Provincia Palaestina.

Ana ɗaukar Yahudiya a koyaushe a matsayin wakiltar wani ƙaramin ɓangare kawai na wannan babbar jimla, yayin da marubuta Helenawa na zamanin da da marubuta Yahudawa da 'yan siyasar Roma suka ɗauki Palaestina a matsayin wakiltar ƙasa baki ɗaya, tun daga Finikiya (wadda galibi ake danganta ta da Lebanon ta yau).

Judaea was always seen as representing only a specific and small component of this greater whole, while Palaestina was viewed by classical Greek and Jewish writers and Roman politicians as representative of the whole country from Phoenicia (mostly associated with modern Lebanon)

zuwa Masar.

to Egypt.

A cikin ƙarshen karni na farko, Josephus ya karɓi tsarin majiɓinci da wanda ake kāre shi na Romawa, kuma daga baya ya rubuta ayyukansa na tarihi Antiquities of the Jews, The Jewish War da Against Apion da harshen Girka; a cikin waɗannan ayyukan tarihi, Josephus ya tuna da Vespasian da kyau. Josephus ya bambanta sarai tsakanin Siriya da Falasdinu, kuma ya amince da labarin Herodotus game da Falasdinu daga karni na 5 kafin haihuwar Annabi Isa.

Writing in the late 1st century, Josephus embraced the Roman patron‒ protégé system and himself would later write his history works Antiquities of the Jews, The Jewish War and Against Apion in Greek; in these works of history Vespasian is positively remembered by Josephus. Josephus made a clear distinction between Syria and Palestine and endorsed Herodotus’ account of Palestine from the 5th century BC.

Josephus yana girmama Herodotus sosai a matsayin wanda ya kafa tarihi a matsayin ilimi, yana amincewa da ikonsa a fannin ethnographical (nazarin al'ummai), yana yabon yadda ya dogara da abin da ya gani da idonsa (autopsy) a matsayin tushen ilimi, yana amfani da kayan aiki, kalmomi da jigogi daga Histories, har ma yana amfani da bayanan tarihi don "gyara" Littafi Mai Tsarki. (Priestley and Zali 2016: 6)

Josephus holds Herodotus in high esteem as the founder of historiography, recognizes his authority on ethnographical matters, praises his reliance on autopsy as a basis for knowledge, uses material, vocabulary and themes from the Histories, and even uses historical information to ‘correct’ the Bible. (Priestley and Zali 2016: 6)

Ko da yake lokaci-lokaci Josephus yakan ambaci Palaestina dangane da Philistia da "ƙasar Filistiyawa", a mafi yawan lokuta ya karɓi fahimtar Romawa ta fi fadi game da Falasdinu, kuma ya yi amfani da sunan a cikin faffadan yanayin sunan hukuma na Romawa da kuma yadda ake kiran ƙasar da sunayen wurare (Flavius Josephus 1981, 2004, 2013).

Although occasionally Josephus would refer to Palaestina in connection with Philistia and the ‘land of the Philistines’, by and large he accepted the wider Roman conception of Palestine and used the name within the wider context of the official Roman designation and toponymic representation of the country (Flavius Josephus 1981, 2004, 2013).

Kamar yadda yake a game da zanen hotuna da alamomi na Tsabar kudin Filistiya na ƙarni na 5 da na 4 kafin haihuwar Annabi Isa (wanda aka tattauna a sama), shekaru masu yawa ayyukan tunani da fasaha na Hellenawa da na Athens sun yi tasiri sosai a kan al'adun biranen bakin tekun Falasɗinu na Ascalon, Gaza da Ashdod, da kuma masana ilimin su waɗanda suka karɓi al'adun Hellenawa. Shahararren masanin ilimi na Falasɗinu shi ne Antiochus na Ascalon (130‒68/67 kafin haihuwar Annabi Isa), wanda ya fi kowane masanin falsafar Falasɗinu fice a zamanin Roma. An haife shi a birnin Falasɗinu na Ascalon a gabar tekun Bahar Rum, abokin ƙasarsa Sosus na Ascalon, wani masanin Stoic, ya taka muhimmiyar rawa a ilimin falsafarsa (Sedley 2012: 11). Antiochus ya yi tafiya zuwa Athens, a lokacin cibiyar falsafa ta duniya, a kusan shekara ta 110 kafin haihuwar Annabi Isa, kuma ya zama fitaccen masanin falsafar Platon kuma abokin Cicero, babban ɗan siyasa kuma mai jawabi na Roma; Cicero ya kasance almajirinsa a Athens a kusan shekara ta 78‒79 kafin haihuwar Annabi Isa. Antiochus almajirin Philon na Larisa ne, kuma ya gaji Philon a matsayin shugaban Sabuwar Makarantar Academy wadda Platon ya kafa a Athens. Bayan ya koyar da falsafa a Athens, ya yi tafiya zuwa Alexandria, daga baya ya kafa nasa makarantar falsafa wadda ta "goyi bayan yiwuwar ilimi, ta haka ta juya al'adar shakka ta Academy ta baya-bayan nan" (Sedley 2012:

As with the iconography of the Coinage of Philistia of the 5th and 4th centuries BC (discussed above), for many centuries Hellenistic and Athenian intellectual and artistic creations had exercised considerable influence on the culture of the coastal Palestinian cities of Ascalon, Gaza and Ashdod and their Hellenised intellectuals. The most famous Palestinian academic was Antiochus of Ascalon (130‒68/67 BC), by far the most distinguished Palestinian philosopher of the Roman era. Born in the Palestinian city of Ascalon on the Mediterranean coast, Antiochus’ compatriot Sosus of Ascalon, a Stoic, played an important part in his philosophical education (Sedley 2012: 11). Antiochus travelled to Athens, at the time the world centre of philosophy, at around 110 BC and became an eminent Platonic philosopher and a friend of Cicero, Rome’s greatest politician and orator; the latter was his pupil in Athens in about 78‒79 BC. Antiochus was a pupil of Philon of Larisa and succeeded Philon as the head of the New Academy which had been founded in Athens by Plato. After teaching philosophy in Athens, he travelled to Alexandria and later founded his own school of philosophy which ‘advocated the possibility of knowledge, thus reversing the sceptical tradition of the recent Academy’ (Sedley 2012:

3). Ya kuma yi ƙoƙarin sasanta ka'idojin ilimin Platon da na Stoics, kuma a shekara ta 87/86 ya tafi wani aiki zuwa Alexandria da yankunan Gabas na Daular Roma don yada ra'ayoyinsa (Gerson 2005: 42).

3). He also attempted to reconcile the principles of Platonic epistemology with those of the Stoics and in 87/86 he went on a mission to Alexandria and the Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire to spread his ideas (Gerson 2005: 42).

Ta’limin Antiochus, musamman ilimin hanyoyin sanin gaskiya (epistemology) da ɗabi’a na Antiochian, yana da "tasiri mai girma a tsakanin Romawa na zamaninsa", ciki har da Cicero (Sedley 2012: 4); "tasirin Antiochus a Alexandria ma yana da girma" (Sedley 2012: 5). Duk da haka, babu wata shaida da ke nuna cewa Antiochus ya koma koyarwa a garinsa na haihuwa, Ascalon. Amma, kamar yadda za mu gani a ƙasa, bayan rabin ƙarni da ya jagoranci makarantun Plato a Athens da Alexandria, wani garin Falasɗinu mai magana da Girkanci a gaɓar tekun Bahar Rum, kilomita 20 kawai daga kudancin Ascalon, zai maye gurbin Athens da Alexandria a matsayin cibiyar falsafar Hellenanci ta gargajiya mafi muhimmanci a yankin Bahar Rum.

Antiochus’ school of philosophy, especially Antiochian epistemology and ethics, had ‘a considerable impact among the Romans of his day’, Cicero included (Sedley 2012: 4); ‘Antiochus’ influence at Alexandria was also considerable’ (Sedley 2012: 5). However, there is no evidence to suggest that Antiochus went back to teach in his native Ascalon. Nevertheless, as we shall see below, half a millennium after he led Platonic academies of Athens and Alexandria, another Greek-speaking Palestinian city on the Mediterranean coast, only 20 kilometres to the south of Ascalon, would replace both Athens and Alexandria as the most important centre of classicising Hellenistic philosophy in the Mediterranean region.