Dhana hiyo hiyo ya eneo pana la Palestina ilikubaliwa pia na waandishi wa Kiyahudi wa kale, hasa Josephus (37–c. 100 BK; kwa Kiebrania: Yosef ben Matityahu), aliyezaliwa Yerusalemu katika familia ya kikuhani, na Philo wa Alexandria (c. 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; Kiebrania: Yedidia HaCohen; pia anajulikana kama Philo Judaeus), mwanafalsafa Myahudi na mwenzake wa Yesu aliyeishi katika mkoa wa Kirumi wa Misri, na kuwa mwakilishi muhimu zaidi wa Uyahudi wa Kihelenistiki. Philo (ambaye baba yake inasemekana alicheza nafasi maarufu huko Palestina kabla ya kuhamia Alexandria8), aliandika katika Quod Omnis Probus Liber Sit9 kwamba Waessene 'elfu nne'10 – dhehebu la Kiyahudi lililostawi kuanzia karne ya 2 KK hadi karne ya 1 BK, na ambalo lilipata umaarufu katika nyakati za kisasa kutokana na ugunduzi wa Hati-kunjo za Bahari ya Chumvi – waliishi katika 'Palestina na Siria'.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

Waandishi Wayahudi wa Kigiriki waliostaarabika kama Philo na Josephus, ambao walizungumza Kigiriki, waliandika kwa Kigiriki sanifu kwa tabaka lililoelimika la Wayahudi katika eneo hilo, na pia kwa wasomaji wa Kirumi na Wagiriki. Kama waandishi wa Kigiriki na Kirumi, na kama Wayahudi wengi raia wa Roma, Josephus na Philo walielewa na kutumia neno Palestina kwa maana ya "Palestina kubwa", inayoenea kutoka Lebanon ya leo hadi Misri, na si kwa Filistia pekee, eneo la pwani la Palestina, au "nchi ya Wafilisti" ya zamani kutoka Gaza hadi 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.

Jina rasmi la Kirumi la jimbo hilo kama Syria-Palaestina lilikuwepo muda mrefu kabla ya uasi wa Wayahudi wa miaka 66–69 BK. Hata hivyo, Vespasian – mlinzi wa Josephus – ambaye alishiriki binafsi katika kuukandamiza uasi huo huko Yudea, aliupanua rasmi mipaka ya eneo la Palestina na kuitangaza rasmi nchi nzima kuwa 'Palestina', jambo ambalo linaonekana katika sarafu za Kirumi za kipindi hicho. Hata hivyo, itakuwa makosa kudhani kwamba Jimbo la Kirumi la Provincia Palaestina liliondoa au kuchukua nafasi ya Yudea.

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.

Eneo la mwisho lilikuwa tu, na liliendelea kuwa, mojawapo ya maeneo ya Provincia Palaestina.

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

Yudea daima ilionekana kuwakilisha sehemu maalum na ndogo tu ya nzima hii kubwa zaidi, wakati Palaestina ilionekana na waandishi wa kale wa Kigiriki na Kiyahudi pamoja na wanasiasa wa Kirumi kuwakilisha nchi nzima kuanzia Foinike (inayohusishwa zaidi na Lebanoni ya leo).

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)

kwenda Misri.

to Egypt.

Akiandika mwishoni mwa karne ya kwanza, Josephus alikubali mfumo wa Kirumi wa mlezi na mlinzi (patron–protégé), na yeye mwenyewe baadaye aliandika kazi zake za historia, Antiquities of the Jews, The Jewish War na Against Apion, kwa lugha ya Kigiriki; katika kazi hizi za kihistoria, Vespasian anakumbukwa kwa wema na Josephus. Josephus alitofautisha wazi kati ya Syria na Palestina, na aliunga mkono simulizi ya Herodotus kuhusu Palestina kutoka karne ya 5 KK.

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 anamheshimu sana Herodotus kama mwanzilishi wa historiografia, anatambua mamlaka yake katika mambo ya kikabila (ethnografia), anasifu utegemezi wake juu ya kuona kwa macho mwenyewe (autopsy) kama msingi wa maarifa, hutumia nyenzo, msamiati na mada kutoka kwenye Histories, na hata hutumia taarifa za kihistoria kuu "kusahihisha" Biblia. (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)

Ingawa mara kwa mara Josephus alitaja Palaestina kuhusiana na Filisti na 'nchi ya Wafilisti', kwa ujumla alikubali dhana pana ya Kirumi kuhusu Palestina, na akatumia jina hilo ndani ya muktadha mpana wa jina rasmi la Kirumi na uwakilishi wa kijiografia wa nchi hiyo (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).

Kama ilivyo kwenye taswira za Sarafu za Filistia za karne ya 5 na 4 KK (zilizojadiliwa hapo juu), kwa karne nyingi kazi za kiakili na kisanii za Kihelenistiki na Kiathene zilikuwa na ushawishi mkubwa kwenye utamaduni wa miji ya pwani ya Palestina ya Ashkeloni, Gaza na Ashdodi, pamoja na wasomi wao waliohelenishwa. Msomi maarufu zaidi wa Kipalestina alikuwa Antiochus wa Ashkeloni (130‒68/67 KK), kwa mbali mwanafalsafa mashuhuri zaidi wa Palestina wa enzi ya Kiroma. Akiwa amezaliwa katika mji wa Palestina wa Ashkeloni kwenye pwani ya Mediterania, mwenzake Antiochus, Sosus wa Ashkeloni, aliyekuwa Mstoiki, alichangia pakubwa katika elimu yake ya kifalsafa (Sedley 2012: 11). Antiochus alisafiri hadi Athene, wakati huo kitovu cha falsafa duniani, karibu mwaka 110 KK, na akawa mwanafalsafa mashuhuri wa Kiplato na rafiki wa Cicero, mwanasiasa na mhutubu mkuu wa Roma; huyu wa mwisho alikuwa mwanafunzi wake huko Athene karibu mwaka 78‒79 KK. Antiochus alikuwa mwanafunzi wa Philon wa Larisa na alimrithi Philon kama mkuu wa Chuo Kipya kilichoanzishwa Athene na Plato. Baada ya kufundisha falsafa Athene, alisafiri hadi Aleksandria na baadaye akaanzisha shule yake mwenyewe ya falsafa ambayo ‘ilitetea uwezekano wa maarifa, hivyo ikiipindua mapokeo ya kishaka ya Chuo cha hivi karibuni’ (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). Pia alijaribu kuoanisha kanuni za elimu ya maarifa ya Plato na zile za Wastoa, na mwaka 87/86 alisafiri kwenda Alexandria na mikoa ya Mashariki ya Dola ya Roma kueneza mawazo yake (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).

Ushawishi wa shule ya falsafa ya Antiochus, hasa elimu ya maarifa na maadili ya Antiochia, ulikuwa "mkubwa kati ya Warumi wa zama zake", pamoja na Cicero (Sedley 2012: 4); "Ushawishi wa Antiochus huko Alexandria pia ulikuwa mkubwa" (Sedley 2012: 5). Hata hivyo, hakuna ushahidi unaoonyesha kwamba Antiochus alirudi kufundisha katika mji wake wa asili, Ascalon. Pamoja na hayo, kama tutakavyoona hapa chini, takriban miaka mia tano baada ya yeye kuongoza shule za Plato za Athene na Alexandria, mji mwingine wa Kipalestina unaozungumza Kigiriki kwenye pwani ya Mediterania, kilomita 20 tu kusini mwa Ascalon, ungechukua nafasi ya Athene na Alexandria kama kituo kikuu cha falsafa ya Kihelenistiki ya kuiga wa kale katika eneo la Mediterania.

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.