Nehardea - Mention By Josephus

Mention By Josephus

There are also other allusions in the Talmud (ib.) casting doubt upon the purity of blood of the Nehardean Jews. The fact that Hyrcanus II, the high priest, lived for a time in that city as a captive of the Parthians (Josephus, Ant. xv. 1, § 2) may explain the circumstance that as late as the third century certain of its inhabitants traced their descent back to the Hasmoneans. The importance of the city during the last century of the existence of the Second Temple appears from the following statement made by Josephus (ib. xviii. 9, § 1):

Reference to the extent of the territory of Nehardea is made in the Talmud also (Ket. 54a). In addition to the Euphrates, the "King's Canal" (Nehar Malka) formed one of the natural defenses of the city (Ḳid. 70b; Shabbat 108b); the ferry over the river (or perhaps over the canal) is likewise mentioned (Ḳid. 70b; Ḥul. 50b). "Nehardea and Nisibis," says Josephus further (ib.), "were the treasuries of the Eastern Jews, for the Temple taxes were kept there until the stated days for forwarding them to Jerusalem." Nehardea was the native city of the two brothers Anilai and Asinai, who in the first third of the 1st century C.E. founded a robber-state on the Euphrates, and caused much trouble to the Babylonian Jews. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Nehardea is first mentioned in connection with Rabbi Akiba's sojourn there (Yeb., end). From the post-Hadrianic tannaitic period there is the anecdote referring to the debt which Aḥai ben Josiah had to collect at Nehardea (Giṭtin 14b; Bacher, Ag. Tan. ii. 385).