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Josephus’s references to non-Jewish nations in the Near East add up to a long list, which includes the peoples that were neighbors of the Israelites (e.g. Ammanites, Amoraites, Gabalites, Midianites, and Moabites; see the Appendix to this chapter). He mentions the Parthians (see Chapters ssss1 and 27) more than 130 times, especially in War 1 and Antiquities 14. Josephus confirms that the Parthians were the most powerful enemy of the Romans, who sometimes even dared to take action within the Roman sphere of influence. He describes how the Parthians interfered in the power struggle between the Hasmoneans and Herod the Great after they managed to capture Syria in 40 BCE (Cassius Dio 48.24; Buchheim 1960: 11, 74–79; Schürer I 1973–87: 278–279). The Parthians supported the Hasmonean Antigonus, who opposed Herod’s appointment by the Senate. They managed to get hold of Jerusalem and delivered the city to Antigonus. They took Herod’s brother Phasael and Hyrcanus II prisoner and transferred the latter to Babylon (BJ 1.269, 273; AJ 14.330–369).