Talk:Roman–Jewish Treaty

This article's claim that "the treaty is not mentioned in any non-Jewish source" is demonstrably false.

 * A Roman-Jewish treaty, if not one of full alliance then certainly one of friendship (amicitia), is in fact alluded to in a non-Jewish source: An epitome of the "Philippic History" (Book XXXVI) of Pompeius Trogus, a contemporary of Augustus. The epitome, preserved by Marcus Junianus Justinus, states the following:
 * "A Demetrio cum descivissent, amcitia Romanorum petita primi omnium ex Orientalibus libertatem acceperunt, facile tunc Romanis de alieno largientibus."
 * Translation: At the time of their revolt against Demetrius Soter, [the Jews] appealed to Rome for amicitia (a treaty of friendship). As a result, they were the first among the eastern peoples to win their freedom, because at the time the Romans were generously distributing what was not theirs to give."
 * See Dov Gera, "Judaea and Mediterranean Politics: 219 to 161 B.C.E", pgs. 310-311, where it is also proven that Josephus' quoting from the letter of a Roman magistrate Gaius Fannius to the archons of Cos offering safe passage to the Jewish ambassadors on their way to Rome, provides confirmation that the Jewish ambassadors were granted an audience by the Roman Senate from a non-Jewish source independent of the Books of the Maccabees.
 * JD