(January 10, 2013 at 5:00 am)Justtristo Wrote: Was not the Galilee quite lightly populated from time of the Assyrian conquest to the Hellenistic people. Also was it colonized a number of Jews from Judea and the diaspora after the Hasmoneans conquered it?
There is probably no way to get a good answer to that but I'd say it is highly unlikely. The east coast of the Med was populated with Hellenic and Phoenician cities and the Galilee would be the farm land to feed them. From memory there were seven Phoenician cities and and Joppa, now Jaffa in Israel as Hellenic or Mycenaean or whatever the designation. Being major centers of trade there was likely a huge local market for export wine and olive oil. The Galilee could have been under populated for the potential export market.
