Paralia (Seleucid eparchy)
| Paralia | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eparchy of Coele-Syria province of the Seleucid Kingdom | |||||||||
| 197 BCE–99 BCE | |||||||||
| Historical era | Hellenistic era | ||||||||
• Seleucid annexation | 197 BCE | ||||||||
• Simon Thassi captured Jaffa | 143 BCE | ||||||||
| 125 BCE | |||||||||
• Conquests of Alexander Jannaeus | 103-99 BCE | ||||||||
• Hasmonean dynasty conquest | 99 BCE | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Israel Gaza Strip | ||||||||
The Paralia (Greek: Παραλία - beach), also known as Medinat HaYam (Hebrew: מדינת הים - country by the sea) was a coastal eparchy in Palestine during Hellenistic and Roman times, ruled by the Seleucid Empire between 197 and 99 BCE, as part of the Coele-Syria province. According to Josephus, the inhabitants of the region were primarily Greek city-dwellers. The name appears in the 6th-century Madaba Map, appended to the town of Ashdod-Yam, as Azotos Paralos (Greek: Αζωτος Παραλος), ca. 3 kilometers south of Modern Ashdod.
The region was originally set up by the Seleucids, along with the eparchies of Idumea and Galaaditis and neighbouring the eparchy of Samaria. Josephus wrote that the Paralia was outside Jewish jurisdiction throughout the Second Temple Period, except for a short period under the Hasmoneans and during the reign of Herod the Great and the Agrippas.