Massacres of the Jews of Hellenistic cities

The announcement of the Judean revolt triggered, in the Hellenized cities of Syria, the coastal region, and the Decapolis, a wave of massacres that were nearly simultaneous. The Jewish communities there had sometimes lived for generations, intermingled with the Greek and Syrian population; they were held to be in solidarity with the insurgents.

Josephus recounts the case of Scythopolis as the most bitter: the Jews of the city had fought alongside their fellow citizens against the bands coming from Judea, before being gathered outside the walls on the pretext of protecting them, then massacred. In Damascus, the population locked its own people in the gymnasium before putting them to death; in Ascalon, in Ptolemais, in Tyre, in Hippos, and in Gadara, the same thing occurred within a few days' interval.

These killings transformed a Judean insurrection into a general war between the two populations of the province.