(9) Division of the Country into Five Districts by Gabinius
Gabinius completes Pompey’s work in the settlement of the province of Syria.
c. 57 B.C.
After this Gabinius reinstated Hyrcanus in Jerusalem and committed to him the custody of the Temple. The civil administration he reconstituted under the form of an aristocracy. He divided the whole nation into five unions;[[92]] one of these he attached to Jerusalem, another to Gadara, the third had Amathus as its centre of government, the fourth was allotted to Jericho, the fifth to Sepphoris, a city of Galilee. The Jews welcomed their release from the rule of an individual and were from that time forward governed by an aristocracy.—B. J. I. 8. 5 (169 f.).