Edictum Caii Iulii Caesaris : Ant. Iud. XIV, 10, 3 ( English translation )

EDICT OF CAESAR ON PRIVILEGES FOR HYRCANUS

( 46-44 BC )

( Johnson, Coleman-Norton & Bourne, Ancient Roman Statutes, Austin, 1961, p. 91, n. 107 ).

This edict, ascribed to Julius Caesar as consul, is substantially the same as Caesar's letter to the Sidonians, but if Caesar was consul it must fall in one of the years 46-44 B.C. Some scholars think that Josephus has paraphrased a senatorial resolution.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION.

      That his children shall rule the nation of the Jews and shall enjoy the revenues of the places given to them and that the high priest himself, being also ethnarch, shall succor the Jews who are wronged.
      That envoys shall be sent to Hyrcanus, son of Alexander, the high priest of the Jews, for the purpose of discussing friendship and alliance.
      And that a bronze tablet, embodying these matters, shall be placed in the Capitol and at Sidon and at Tyre and at Ascalon and in the temples, engraved in Latin and Greek letters.
      Also that they shall report this edict to all the treasurers, city by city, and to the magistrates of these . . . and to the friends of Rome, that they shall furnish gifts of friendship to the envoys and that they shall transmit the edicts everywhere.