Talk:Tigisis in Numidia

Latest comment: 5 years ago by 82.83.186.64

I do not agree with the following statement:

The account in Procopius's History of the Vandal War of an ancient Punic inscription near the town, which read "We fled here from the face of Joshua the Robber, son of Nun",[3] is almost certainly hokum, though it is uncertain whether the passage represents Procopius's own invention, his overly credulous reliance on a local guide, or a garbling of earlier Jewish traditions elsewhere.[4]

Procopius does not rely on a local guide or a Jewish tradition. His source of information is probably the Roman commander Althias who was there when he was keeping guard in Tigsis (Procopius, Book IV, §13). The spring with the two columns with the phoenician inscription played an important role in the following battle with the Moors. He would have no motivation to lie about the inscription. Why should an ordinary Roman commander like Althias want to prove the historicity of the Jewish conquest of Canaan? And if there was no such inscription, it would be grossly negligent of Procopius to claim so, knowing that Althias and his soldiers were eyewitnesses and could accuse Procopius of lying.

I would suggest to delete the second part of the above sentence. It would look like this:

In Procopius History of the Vandal War is an account of an ancient Punic Punic inscription near the town, which read "We fled here from the face of Joshua the Robber, son of Nun",[3]. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.83.186.64 (talk) 08:02, 25 September 2019 (UTC)Reply