| 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,[1] 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.[2] 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,[3] 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.[4]
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