Josephus comments on these events (in one of his many inserted editorial remarks), stating that it was a great disaster (πάθος) for Jerusalem to lose its freedom (ἐλευθερία) and to be robbed of some ten thousand talents (Ant. 14.77–78) in this way. In light of Josephus’s words, Applebaum may be right in claiming that the acts of Pompey “must have created a considerable rural proletariat.”30 Nevertheless, it seems to be an exaggeration to claim that Pompey in reality began the process that eventually