⁷¹⁷ Agatharchides’ ideology now becomes clear. Human reasoning ( λογισμοί) is what gives people the strength to solve conundra and resist folly: where people allow tradition or beliefs to cause themselves harm, they are “impotent” intellectually ( ἐξασθενήσωσιν; cf. the ideology of “strength” in 1.192, 201). It is assumed that women (Stratonice) and non-Greeks (Judeans) will be particularly liable to such weakness. Elsewhere Agatharchides recounted that the kings of Ethiopia used to submit to an ancient and irrational custom whereby priests told them when it was the Gods’ will for them to die, ὑπ’ αὐτῆς τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας τοὺς λογισμοὺς κατισχυόμενοι (“being overpowered in their reason by superstition itself,” apud Diodorus 3.6; cf. 3.11). The first king to break free from this “superstition” was Ergames, on the basis of his Greek education and ability to philosophize (3.6). Agatharchides thus understood “civilization” on a neat grid: Greekness, masculinity, strength, and rationality were linked in common antithesis to feminine and/or foreign foolishness (see Dihle 1961: 213-29). Within this cultural framework, the Judean ban on sabbath warfare, with its catastrophic results, could only appear a classic case of “irrationality.”