ovde - vera znanje mir

according to him, God is this one thing alone that encompasses us all and
encompasses land and sea — the thing which we call heaven, or universe, or the
nature of all that exists. What man, then, if he has sense, could be bold enough to
fabricate an image of God resembling any creature amongst us? Nay, people should
leave off all image-carving, and, setting apart a sacred precinct and a worthy
sanctuary, should worship God without an image; and people who have good dreams
should sleep in the sanctuary, not only themselves on their own behalf, but also others
for the rest of the people; and those who live self-restrained and righteous lives
should always expect some blessing or gift or sign from God, but no other should
expect them.
36 Now Moses, saying things of this kind, persuaded not a few thoughtful men and led
them away to this place where the settlement of Jerusalem now is; and he easily took
possession of the place, since it was not a place that would be looked on with envy,
nor yet one for which anyone would make a serious fight; for it is rocky, and,
although it itself is well supplied with water, its surrounding territory is barren and
waterless, and the part of the territory within a radius of sixty stadia is also rocky
beneath the surface. At the same time Moses, instead of using arms, put forward as
defense his sacrifices and his Divine Being, being resolved to seek a seat of worship
for Him and promising to deliver to the people a kind of worship and a kind of ritual
which would not oppress those who adopted them either with expenses or with divine
obsessions or with other absurd troubles. Now Moses enjoyed fair repute with these
people, and organized no ordinary kind of government, since the peoples all round,
one and all, came over to him, because of his dealings with them and of the prospects
he held out to them.
— [67]
Moses in Tacitus
The Roman historian Tacitus (ca. 100 AD) mentions several possible origins of the Jews that were
taught by those of his time.
“ As I am about to relate the last days of a famous city, it seems appropriate to throw
some light on its origin. Some say that the Jews were fugitives from the island of
Crete, who settled on the nearest coast of Africa about the time when Saturn was
driven from his throne by the power of Jupiter. Evidence of this is sought in the name.
There is a famous mountain in Crete called Ida; the neighbouring tribe, the Idaei,
came to be called Judaei by a barbarous lengthening of the national name. Others
assert that in the reign of Isis the overflowing population of Egypt, led by
Hierosolymus and Judas, discharged itself into the neighbouring countries. Many,
again, say that they were a race of Ethiopian origin, who in the time of king Cepheus
were driven by fear and hatred of their neighbours to seek a new dwelling-place.
Others describe them as an Assyrian horde who, not having sufficient territory, took
possession of part of Egypt, and founded cities of their own in what is called the
Hebrew country, lying on the borders of Syria. Others, again, assign a very
distinguished origin to the Jews, alleging that they were the Solymi, a nation
celebrated in the poems of Homer, who called the city which they founded
Hierosolyma after their own name.
Most writers, however, agree in stating that once a disease, which horribly disfigured
the body, broke out over Egypt; that king Bocchoris, seeking a remedy, consulted the
oracle of Hammon, and was bidden to cleanse his realm, and to convey into some
”