Note 186 — Chapter XI · JUDAEA AND THE JEWS. (continued 2)

That the emperor took this land for himself (ἰδίαν αὐτῷ τὴν χώραν φυλάττων) is stated by Josephus, Bell. Jud. vii. 6, 6; not in accord with this is his command πᾶσαν γῆν ἀποδόσθαι τῶν Ἰουδαίων (l. c.), in which doubtless there lurks an error or a copyist’s mistake. It is in keeping with the expropriation that land was by way of grace assigned elsewhere to individual Jewish landowners (Josephus, vit. 16). We may add that the territory was probably employed as an endowment for the legion stationed there (Eph. epigr. ii. n. 696; Tacitus, Ann. xiii. 54).