The Jewish State of Nehardea 18AD - 33AD

Proposer: Jim Webster

Synopsis: This list tries to cover the forces deployed by the effectively independent Jewish state based on the city of Nehardea.

Proposal:

General. Irr Ax(S) or Irr LH(F) or Irr Cv(O) 1 (1)

Sub generals . Irr Ax(S) or Irr LH(F) 0-2

Horsemen Irr LH(F) 0-12 ( 2)

Men, rash and inexperienced in war. Irr Ax(I) 60-120

Up-grade the Irr Ax(I) to Irr Ax (O) as Men of the Army 15-60 (3)

Up-grade the Irr Ax(I) to Irr Ax (S) as veterans or with armour 5-15 ( 3)

Enthusiastic plunderers Irr Hd(O) 0-30

Bowmen Irr Bw(I) 6-20 ( 4)

Up-grade Bowmen to skirmishers Irr Ps(O) 0-10

Miscellaneous skirmishers Irr Ps(I) 0-10 (5)

Notes

1) The option of the general being Cv(O) is that he and his bodyguard have

too much equipment to move as light horse, but are unlikely to be equipped

well enough to be cataphracts.

2) LH(F). Zamaris, a Babylonian Jew, let a strong force of Horse archers.

To quote (Jewish Antiquities 17:24) Herod was looking for military settlers

"Accordingly, when he understood that there was a man that was a Jew come

out of Babylon, with five hundred horsemen, all of whom could shoot their

arrows as they rode on horseback, and, with a hundred of his relations, had

passed over Euphrates, and now abode at Antioch by Daphne of Syria, where

Saturninus, who was then President, had given them a place for habitation,

called Valatha. He sent for this man with the multitude that followed him."

It is obvious that a lot of Babylonian Jews had integrated into the Parthian

elite, and as because Anilai and Asinai were effectively officers of the

Parthian state they almost certainly had access to such men.

3) Men of the army. Why Ax(O)? Their inability to face mounted troops in

the open seems to militate against them being 'heavy infantry' and the Jews

do tend to get put in the Auxilia category by list writers, if only because

accounts of their fighting concentrate more on the speed and dash of their

attacks, and their inability to face mounted troops in the open.

Because they were technically part of the Parthian army and had the formal

apparatus of the state behind them, their equipment should have been

adequate, which is why I postulate a core armoured and raised to Ax(S).

4) Bowmen? Well if they had none it would probably be the first force raised

either from Jews or from that area that didn't include them. Here I am

arguing strongly form analogy, a weak position to adopt at the best of

times.

5) This allows for a miscellany of shepherds, dispersed enthusiastic looters

and similar rabble.

History of the Jewish State of Nehardea, taken from the Article in Slingshot

Nehardea was one of the principle cities occupied by Jews in Babylonia. It

is situated at or near the junction of the Euphrates with the Nahr Malk, a

canal connecting the Euphrates and Tigris south of Ctesiphon. It was the

seat of the exilarch and it traced its origin back to King Jehoiachin.

Because of its' natural strength, it's walls defended by a bend in the

river, it, along with Nisibis, was used by the Jews as a treasury. In these

two cities they collected together the Temple tax, and from there large

escorts conveyed it. To quote Josephus

"and many ten thousands of men undertook the carriage of these donations out

of fear of the ravages of the Parthians to whom the Babylonians were then

subject". (Jewish Antiquities 18;312)

It is probable that these large escorts were men attending the Passover or

other celebrations in Jerusalem; even in the Roman period the rabbinical

writings mention men hiring a sword for such journeys. It is perhaps better

to regard these caravans as composed of armed and determined pilgrims rather

than formed troops.

At some point, around 16-18AD two Babylonian Jews, Anilai and Asinai,

brothers and apprentice weavers were whipped for turning up late for work.

Again to quote Josephus 18.315,

"But they took this just punishment as an affront and carried off all the

weapons that were kept in the house, which were not a few, and went into a

certain place where was a partition of the rivers, and was a place naturally

very fit for the feeding of cattle, and for preserving such fruits as were

usually laid up against winter. The poorest sort of the young men also

resorted to them, who the armed with the weapons they had gotten and became

their captains; and nothing hindered them from being their leaders into

mischief. For as soon as they had become invincible and had built themselves

a citadel they sent to such as fed cattle, and ordered them to pay them so

much tribute out of them as might be sufficient for their maintenance,

proposing also that they should be their friends, if they would submit to

them, and that they would defend them from all their other enemies on every

side, but that they would kill the cattle of those that refused to obey

them. "

With a few good lads to back them up and a successful protection racket

providing a steady income, the brothers grew strong, success breeding

success. The initial stockpile of weapons may be equipment normally

hired/loaned or issued to pilgrims escorting money to Jerusalem.

Eventually the authorities decided action needed to be taken and the

Governor of Babylon raised of force of 'Parthians and Babylonians'. He

camped nearby intending to attack on the Sabbath (which indicates that the

brothers' forces were predominantly Jewish.). His approach was detected and

a scout came back to report that a strong body of horsemen was approaching.

Asinai convinced his men to fight on the Sabbath, mounted an unexpected

attack and put the enemy to flight.

At this point Parthian Imperial politics took a hand. Artabanus II c. 10-38

AD made contact with the Jews. He was faced with putting down a rebellion

and allied himself with them. He granted them governorship of the area they

already effectively controlled, and used them as a foil against his other

governors in the area. They fortified the area and ruled it from

approximately 18-33AD.

The end came when Anilai married the widow of a Parthian general they had

defeated in battle (whether this was a private war or they were acting as

allies of the legitimate King and putting down rebels we don't know, the

latter seems probable from Josephus's wording). He overlooked her religious

proclivities, which caused muttering amongst his stricter Jewish followers,

and when his brother, Asinai, made pointed comments on the subject his new

sister-in-law poisoned him.

Anilai took command and 'busied giddy minds with foreign quarrels'. This

involved plundering the territory of Artabanus IInds son-in-law, Mithridates

who appears to have been governor of Parthyene. Mithridates hearing what was

happening "got together the greatest body of horsemen he was able, and those

out of that number which were of an age fit for war, and came to fight

Anilai. And when he was arrived at a certain village of his own, he lay

still there, as intending to fight him on the day following because it was

the Sabbath." (Jewish Antiquities 18;354)

Anilai heard of his location from an informant and marched his men through

the night, attacking Mithridates when he was asleep and routing his forces,

capturing Mithridates and bringing him back naked on the back of a donkey as

an insult.

Anilai then didn't kill Mithridates, fearing that Artabanus would take

retaliatory action against the Jews in Babylonia, and released him. To

grossly insult someone and then release them is not the wisest of moves, and

Mithridates, apparently goaded by his wife, raised another army and marched

on Anilai again. Anilai, warned of his coming, gathered his forces and

accompanied by volunteers who had joined for the plunder, marched out to

meet him.

Unfortunately for Anilai he was caught by Mithridates on a dry and sandy

place, and without water and in the mid day heat his men were routed.

Josephus claims that 'many ten thousand fell'. He rallied his forces in some

woods and stood at bay, but from this point on it was down hill for Anilai.

He made his numbers up with new recruits, but to quote Josephus "Yet these

were not men like to those who fell, because they were rash and unexercised

in war." (Jewish Antiquities 18;367)

Anilai embarked on a round of raiding Babylonian villages, perhaps to keep

his men paid and together. The Babylonians asked the inhabitants of Nehardea

to rein in their famous son, something the citizens were willing to do but

couldn't as they had no control over him. Not long after that Anilai and his

men were caught, drunk or asleep by Babylonian forces and killed.