Anilaeus and Asinaeus
Anilaeus and Asinaeus · Historical & Religious Figures
Jewish brothers who ruled an autonomous Jewish territory inside the Parthian Empire for fifteen years
Ier siècle, Nehardea, Babylonie parthe (Irak) — vers 35, Babylonie
Nehardea, Babylonie
Anilaeus and Asinaeus is recognized among Jewish contributors to Historical & Religious Figures — Jewish brothers who ruled an autonomous Jewish territory inside the Parthian Empire for fifteen years
Origins and early life
Anilaeus and Asinaeus were two Jewish brothers of Nehardea, in Parthian Babylonia, sons of a widow, whose story is told by Josephus in the eighteenth book of the Jewish Antiquities — essentially the only source, as this fiche says plainly; the Encyclopaedia Iranica and the Encyclopaedia Judaica treat the account as detailed and credible, though uncorroborated.
Work and career
Around the year 20, the two apprentices fled a brutal weaving master, gathered a band of armed young men in the marshes of the Euphrates, and built from it an autonomous Jewish domain: for some fifteen years they governed a territory of their own within the Parthian Empire, defeated the forces sent against them, and won the recognition of King Artabanus II, who preferred their loyalty to their defeat. It was one of the only instances of independent Jewish political and military power in the Persian sphere between the fall of the Hasmoneans and the modern State of Israel.
Their fall came from within: Anilaeus married the widow of a Parthian general he had killed, tolerated her idols, and lost the discipline that had held the band; Asinaeus was poisoned, and Anilaeus perished around 35 after the Babylonians turned on the Jews of the region. Their brief kingdom remains one of the strangest chapters of the Babylonian diaspora.
Verify and go deeper with these external references.
Source: https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/asinaeus-and-anilaeus-figure-in-josephus-jewish-antiquities-18
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Jewish brothers who ruled an autonomous Jewish territory inside the Parthian Empire for fifteen years
Source: https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/asinaeus-and-anilaeus-figure-in-josephus-jewish-antiquities-18
