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Elephants Turned Back on Physco's Own Ranks

Wine ran down the elephants' trunks. Jewish families stood naked in the yard at Alexandria. A concubine had to beg the king to stop.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Onias Held the Trust
  2. The Beasts Turned
  3. Irene Begged Him Off
  4. Letters Toward Rome

Wine ran down the elephants' trunks. Ptolemy Physco had rounded up the Jews of Alexandria, wives and children with them, stripped them, bound them, and driven them into the yard. The plan was trampling as theater. Chains scraped. Children pressed into their mothers' sides. The beasts had been filled with wine so they would do the work without flinching.

Elephants Turned Back on Physco's Own Ranks Click for full size

Physco wanted a sentence the city could watch. He had come from Cyrene after his brother Philometor died, and he wanted Cleopatra and her sons out of the kingdom. Onias would not let him have it clean.

Onias Held the Trust

Ptolemy Philometor and Cleopatra had entrusted their whole kingdom to Jewish generals, Onias and Dositheus. When Alexandria tore itself in a civil war, those generals held the line and brought the city to terms. Enemies of the Jews laughed at their names. The city they saved was still standing.

Onias brought an army again when Physco tried to seize the realm, and a Roman ambassador named Thorruns was there to see it. Onias would not desert the trust the royal family had put on him in their distress. Loyalty looked like interference to anyone who wanted Jews away from crowns. To Onias it looked like an oath.

An older Ptolemy, Euergetes, had already walked into Jerusalem after taking Syria and offered sacrifices to God according to Jewish law, with gifts suited to a victory. Jewish generals beside Macedonian crowns were already a record. Physco was now trying to drown that record in a yard.

The Beasts Turned

The elephants were loosed on the bound. For a breath the yard waited for the first scream under a foot. Then the animals wheeled. They left the Jews who had been exposed to them. They fell on Physco's own friends and killed a great number of them.

The first beast that chose the king's ranks instead of a child's chest broke the script. Wine had been supposed to make them cruel in the correct direction. It made them drunk and inaccurate. Physco's theater ate his own men. The prisoners remained on the ground, still chained, listening to a massacre that had changed targets.

God gave that turn as a mark on Onias's side. The general had kept the oath. The king had made a joke of slaughter. The joke refused to finish.

Irene Begged Him Off

After the dust, Physco saw a terrible ghost that forbade him to hurt those men. His concubine, whom he loved, some call her Ithaca, others Irene, made supplication that he not go through with the rest of the wickedness. He complied. He pulled back from what he had done and from what he still meant to do.

The Alexandrian Jews kept the day. A scar became a mark on the calendar. Delivery, not trampling. The community that had been marched naked into a yard came back to houses that still smelled like fear, and they named the date so their children would know the elephants had turned.

Physco's friends called it a Jewish war. The war was Onias keeping a queen and her sons on a throne Physco wanted cheap. The elephants were Physco's answer. The elephants disagreed.

Letters Toward Rome

In Judea, Jonathan the High Priest would not wait for a yard like that. He fought open battles, and he also sent ink. Letters went to the Lacedemonians and to other places to renew friendship and secure help. Envoys walked to Rome itself, into the Senate's hearing, and said: Jonathan the high priest and the people of the Jews sent us to you, to renew the friendship and the league as in former time.

The Romans answered with letters to governors everywhere, ordering safe conduct for travelers toward the land of Judea. The seal of a republic became a shield on the road. Alliance was not a surrender of Torah. It was a people refusing to face every empire alone while memory of older pacts still had legal breath.

Far from both yards, another court had already named what a king is for. A counselor told a great king he was great not for glory and wealth alone but for clemency and philanthropy, gifts from God. The king asked the last of the company what the greatest achievement in ruling an empire might be. The answer came clean: that subjects dwell in peace, and that justice be administered speedily in disputes.

Peace and quick justice. Not drunken beasts as policy. Physco chose spectacle and terror, and the beasts refused the script. Onias chose the messy loyalty of defending a queen. Jonathan chose ships and sealed letters. In Alexandria they kept the day the animals turned. In Judea they kept copies of the letters. A people that survives by a miracle in a yard still has to write to Rome before the next king pours the wine.

JosephusAlexandriaMaccabeesAristeasCleopatra
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From the tradition

Sources

3 sources

The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Against Apion 5:1Against Apion

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Against Apion, trans. William Whiston · Public Domain

The Jewish people have faced that challenge for centuries, and in his work Against Apion, Josephus steps up to the plate to set the record straight against a particularly virulent detractor named… well, Apion.

Apion seems to have had a real talent for twisting facts and spreading misinformation. Josephus tackles these accusations head-on, and in this particular passage, he's dealing with Apion's claims about Jewish interactions with the Macedonian kings and, especially, Cleopatra.

Apion, in his ignorance, apparently downplayed the positive relationships that existed. Josephus reminds us that Ptolemy III Euergetes, after conquering Syria, didn't offer thanks to Egyptian gods. Instead, he came to Jerusalem and offered sacrifices to God according to Jewish law. That’s quite a statement of respect and recognition, wouldn’t you say?

What about Ptolemy Philometer and his wife Cleopatra? They entrusted their entire kingdom to Jewish generals, Onias and Dositheus. Apion mocks these men, but Josephus argues he should be thanking them! These Jewish generals actually saved Alexandria from ruin during a civil war.

Apion even criticizes Onias for bringing an army to Alexandria when Thorruns, the Roman ambassador, was present. But Josephus defends Onias's actions, explaining that Ptolemy Physco was trying to unjustly seize the kingdom from Cleopatra and her sons. Onias was simply honoring the trust the royal family had placed in him.

Now, here’s where it gets really interesting. Josephus recounts a miraculous event, seemingly validated by historical accounts. Ptolemy Physco, in a fit of rage, rounded up the Jews of Alexandria, intending to have them trampled by drunken elephants. But, according to Josephus, God intervened! The elephants turned on Physco’s own people instead. Physco then had a vision and was begged by his concubine to stop the slaughter. The Alexandrian Jews commemorated this deliverance with a special day of celebration. Apion, however, still tried to spin it as Jewish aggression!

Josephus doesn't hold back when discussing Cleopatra, the last queen of Alexandria. He points out the hypocrisy of Apion blaming the Jews for her ingratitude when Cleopatra was known for her "injustice and wicked practices." She murdered family members, desecrated tombs, and betrayed benefactors. Josephus emphasizes how she even betrayed Antony, leading to his downfall. And, in a chilling detail, Josephus claims that when Caesar conquered Alexandria, Cleopatra considered killing the Jews to try and salvage her situation. What a horrifying thought!

Josephus then raises a rhetorical question: can the Jewish people not boast of anything simply because Cleopatra supposedly didn't distribute wheat to them during a famine? He appeals to the record – to Caesar, the Senate, and the letters of Augustus Caesar – to demonstrate Jewish loyalty and service to Rome. He challenges Apion to examine the evidence from Alexander and the Ptolemies, the decrees of the Senate, and the words of the Roman emperors themselves.

He concludes by highlighting that the Jews were entrusted with the custody of the river, a responsibility the kings deemed them worthy of.

Josephus’s defense is passionate and detailed, and it reveals the depth of anti-Jewish sentiment prevalent at the time. It also reminds us that history is often a battleground where truth and falsehood clash. It's up to us to examine the evidence, question the narratives, and strive to understand the complexities of the past. And perhaps, most importantly, to recognize the echoes of these ancient battles in the challenges we face today.

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Letter of Aristeas 1:291Letter of Aristeas

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Letter of Aristeas, Clarendon Press (1913) · CC-BY

But, as I have said, a good nature which has been properly trained is capable of ruling, and you are a great king, not so much because you excel in the glory of your rule and your wealth but rather because you have surpassed all men in clemency and philanthropy, thanks to God who has endowed you with these qualities.'

The king spent some time in praising this man and then asked the last of all, What is the greatest achievement in ruling an empire? And he replied, 'That the subjects should continually dwell in a state of peace, and that justice should be speedily administered in cases of dispute.

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The Book of Maccabees I 12:6The Book of Maccabees I

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Sefaria Community Translation · CC-BY

Our story unfolds in 1 Maccabees 12, a fascinating glimpse into the political maneuvering of Jonathan the High Priest. Remember him? He was one of the key figures in the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire.

So, what's happening here? Well, Jonathan, ever the savvy leader, isn’t just focused on battles. He understands the importance of allies. And he's reaching out. The verse reads, "He sent letters also to the Lacedemonians, and to other places, for the same purpose." (1 Maccabees 12). What was that purpose? To solidify friendships and secure assistance.

The Lacedemonians are the Spartans - known for their fierce warriors and disciplined society. Why them? Well, some scholars believe there might have been a sense of shared heritage, a distant kinship perhaps, or simply a strategic alignment of interests.

That's not all. The narrative then shifts to a delegation sent to Rome itself! These Jewish envoys, making their way to the heart of the Roman Republic, to the Senate, no less! Their message was simple, yet powerful: "Jonathan the high priest, and the people of the Jews, sent us unto you, to the end ye should renew the friendship, which ye had with them, and league, as in former time." (1 Maccabees 12). They were appealing to a history of positive relations, seeking to rekindle an old flame of alliance.

And the Romans? They responded favorably. “Upon this the Romans gave them letters unto the governors of every place that they should bring them into the land of Judea peaceably.” (1 Maccabees 12). They provided safe passage, a guarantee of protection for those traveling to Judea. That was no small thing. It meant the Roman seal of approval.

Finally, we get a hint of the contents of Jonathan's letter to the Lacedemonians. The text ends with, "And this is the copy of the letters which Jonathan wrote to the Lacedemonians" (1 Maccabees 12). Unfortunately, the letter itself is not included in this particular section. But it sets the stage for the next part of the story, where the details of that communication, and the basis for that alliance, are revealed.

What does it all mean? This passage emphasizes the importance of diplomacy and alliance-building, even in times of conflict. As relevant today as it was millennia ago.

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