Gorgias (Syrian general)

Gorgias (/ˈɡɔːrdʒiəs/) was a Syrian-Seleucid General of the 2nd century BC, in the service of Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Macc 3:38; 2 Macc 8:9).

After Judas Maccabeus's forces defeated the Seleucid army at the Battle of Beth Horon, they were determined to send a stronger force against him. According to 1 Maccabees iii. 38, which Josephus follows ("The Antiquities of the Jews" xii. 7, § 3), it was the governor Lysias, who had been left as regent during the absence of Antiochus in Persia, who commissioned the generals Nicanor and Gorgias, sending them with a large army to Judea; but according to 2 Maccabees viii. 8, it was Ptolemy, governor of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, who sent them. Nicanor seems to have been the commander-in-chief, although 2 Maccabees viii. 9 describes Gorgias as "a general and a man of experience in military service".

The Syrians were so sure of victory that they took with them a number of merchants, to whom they intended to sell the Jewish prisoners as slaves. The Syrians camped at Emmaus; and Gorgias was sent thence with 5,000 infantry and 1,000 Cavalry to attack Judas by night (1 Macc 4:1-24), his guides being treacherous Jews. Judas had been informed of the expedition, and attacked the main Syrian army at Emmaus, completely routing it. Gorgias, not finding the enemy in camp, concluded they had retired into the mountains, and went in pursuit of them. Judas sagaciously kept his men from touching the booty, preparing them for the impending battle with Gorgias. When the latter returned to the main camp, he found it in flames, and the Jews ready for battle. The Syrians, seized with panic, fled into the Philistine territory, and only then did the Jews seize the rich spoils (166 BC). The victory was all the more striking as the force of Judas was considerably smaller in number and had "not armor nor swords to their minds" (1 Macc 4:6).

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