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Re: orion Solinus, Dio, Pliny, M. Agrippa
I have learned some from this exchange with Russell Gmirkin, but his ending
declarations are less rational than wishful. It is not evident that
Posidonius "relied exclusively on Hecataeus." To require that Posidonius of
Apamaea, Syria--one of the most learned writers of his century--knew
nothing other about Jews than what made its way into Strabo's Geography is
amazing.
We know, from Josephus, that Strabo (in History) wrote a good deal
about the Jews. Russell Gmirkin's presentation requires that none of that
came from Posidonius. RG further requires that Strabo, in writing
Geography, must necessarily have included all that he learned about Judaism
from Posidonius--but not all that he learned from other sources. Such is
special pleading.
Stephen Goranson
>Steven Goranson writes:
>> The statement "This passage [in Strabo] appears to represent the
>> sum total that Posidonius wrote on the Jews" is puzzling indeed. How does
>> Russell Gmirkin know, or assume he knows?
>
> The logic behind my statement is extremely straight forward. First, had
>Posidonius possessed additional information on the Jews, he obviously wouldn't
>have relied exclusively on Hecataeus, a literary source. Further, and more to
>the point, as SG has himself often observed, Strabo was a fan of his fellow-
>Stoic predecessor Posidonius, and frequently used him as a source. Strabo was
>very familiar with Posidonius's writings, and had Posidonius written further
>on the Jews, Strabo would have incorporated this additional material at Geo.
>16.2.35-39.
> On this note I will end this thread, as I have no new information to add
>of general interest to the list, and I don't want to indulge in idle polemics.
>
> Russell Gmirkin