Book 16
2.10
The power Trypho, surnamed Diodotus, acquired is a proof of the influence of this place; for when he aimed at the empire of Syria, he made Apameia the centre of his operations. He was born at Casiana, a strong fortress in the Apameian district, and educated in Apameia; he was a favourite of the king and the persons about the court. When he attempted to effect a revolution in the state, he obtained his supplies from Apameia and from the neighbouring cities, Larisa,Shizar, on the Orontes. Casiana, Megara, Apollonia, and others like them, all of which were reckoned to belong to the district of Apameia. He was proclaimed king of this country, and maintained his sovereignty for a long time. Caecilius Bassus, at the head of two legions, caused Apameia to revolt, and was besieged by two large Roman armies, but his resistance was so vigorous and long that he only surrendered voluntarily and on his own conditions.Caecilius Bassus was besieged twice in Apameia, first by C. Antistius, afterwards by Marcus Crispus and Lucius Statius Marcius. Cassius succeeded in dispersing the troops of this rebel without much difficulty, according to Dion Cassius, xlvii. 27. For the country supplied his army with provisions, and a great many of the chiefs of the neighbouring tribes were his allies, who possessed strongholds, among which was Lysias, situated above the lake, near Apameia, Arethusa,Arethusa, now Restan, was founded by Seleucus Nicator. According to Appian, Pompey subdued Sampsiceramus, who was king of Arethusa. On this account Cicero, in his letters to Atticus (ii. 14, 16, 17, 23), calls Pompey in derision Sampsiceramus. Antony put Iamblicus, son of Sampsiceramus, to death; but Augustus restored the small state of Arethusa to another Iamblicus, son of the former. belonging to Sampsiceramus and Iamblichus his son, chiefs of the tribe of the Emeseni.The people of Emesa, now Hems. At no great distance were Heliopolis and Chalcis,Balbek and Kalkos. which were subject to Ptolemy, son of Mennaeus,This Ptolemy, son of Mennaeus, was master chiefly of Chalcis, at the foot of Libanus, from whence he made incursions on the territory of Damascus. Pompey was inclined to suppress his robberies, but Ptolemy softened his anger by a present of 1000 talents, which the Roman general applied to the payment of his troops. He remained in possession of his dominion until his death, and was succeeded by his son Lysanias, whom Cleopatra put to death, on the pretext that he had induced the Parthians to come into the country. Josephus, Bell. Jud. who possessed the MassyasOne of the branches of Antilibanus. and the mountainous country of the Ituraeans. Among the auxiliaries of Bassus was Alchaedamnus,This Alchaedamnus is constantly called Alchcaudonius by Dion Cassius, whom he calls the Arabian dynast. Falconer therefore inferred that here we ought to read αράβων instead of παμβαίων, but Letronne does not adopt this reading, and supposes the Rhambaei may have teen a tribe of the Arabians. king of the Rhambaei, a tribe of the Nomades on this side of the Euphrates. He was a friend of the Romans, but, considering himself as having been unjustly treated by their governors, he retired to Mesopotamia, and then became a tributary of Bassus. Poseidonius the Stoic was a native of this place, a man of the most extensive learning among the philosophers of our times.
