Beginning with the conquest of Palestine by the Macedonians and their Greek allies under King Alexander the Jews in the Palestinian area became subject to Greek-speaking rulers. During the late Persian period Palestine had been divided into an number of subject states at least two of which were predominately Jewish. The headquarters of one was in Samaria and the other was in Jerusalem. Sanballat, the governor at Samaria, and 8000 troops joined with Alexander's forces in the seige of Tyre in 333 BC, in the demolition of Gaza, and the invasion of Egypt in 332 BC. Alexander made Damascus the capital of the area and established a veteran colony at Gaza.
Josephus preserves (Antiquities 11.8.4-5) an account telling of Alexander's visit to Jerusalem after the conquest of Gaza. Scholarship has been hesitant to accept the account because it describes Alexander bowing down to the High Priest and being allowed personnally to sacrifice in the Temple. It also reports that Alexander agreed to exempt the Jews from tribute payments during sabbatical years. However, the account is scarcely out of character with other reports of Alexander's remarkably deft diplomacy in dealing with "liberated" nations and their religious scruples.
It is worth noting here that Sanballat's daughter had married Manesseh, the brother of Jaddua, the Jerusalem High Priest, in c. 336 BC. Because the Jerusalem fathers believed the Samaritans were not true Jews they gave Manesseh the choice of divorcing his wife or relinquishing his claim to his status as a priest. Sanballat successfully petitioned the Perisan government to recognize Manesseh as his heir and successor, and to appoint Manesseh as High Priest of a new temple to be built on Mt. Gerizim. (Antiquities 11.5.2,4) Sanballat seems to have received confirmation from Alexander for the building of the Temple on Mt. Gerizim. A popular rebellion at Samaria in 331 resulted in the city being sacked and destroyed by Alexander's forces. The city population was driven away and a remnant resettled at the base of Mt. Gerizim at Schechem. The people of Schechem proceeded to build the temple on Mt. Gerizim. Shortly after Alexander's death the ruined city of Samaria was reoccupied and rebuilt as a Macedonian veteran colony.
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After Alexander's death in 323 BC his generals fought over a division of the Empire. These generals continued to recruit fresh troops from the Hellenic and other Greek-speaking peoples around the Aegean Ses. To begin with Palestine was controlled by the general Perdiccas. The latter was assassinated during an attempt to dislodge the general Ptolemy from Egypt in 321. Ptolemy promptly annexed Palestine, Phoenicia and Damascus but held it scarcely ten years before the general Antigonus Monophthalmos and his son Demetrius Poliorcetes had gradually driven Ptolemy's forces back into Egypt by 311 BC. In this same period Antigonus had taken control of several Aegean Islands, cities in central Greece, northern Syria, southern Turkey and Iraq.
When Ptolemy surrendered Jerusalem in 312 he took a number of Jews with him back to Egypt including the current High Priest, Hezekiah (Jospehus' account Contra Apion 1.186 apparently quotes Hecetaeus of Abdera ). These Jews were settled at Alexandria (See section below on Alexandria). Ptolemy did not evacuate his other garrisons from Palestine until 311. Antigonus and Demetrius now organized all southern Syria into a number of provinces (Greek hyparchia) each governed by a General (strategos)together with an Administrator (oikonomos). They also settled seven veteran colonies of Macedonians in the region, three in Philistine territory and four in the trans-jordan, southeast of the Sea of Galilee, Hippos and Gadara among them.
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Cooperation among the generals surviving Alexander broke down progressively beginning almost immediately. One after another of the higher ranking colleagues of Alexander attempted to achieve stability by personal alliances among themselves. Such attempts were short-lived. These coalitions sought to reserve the Macedonian kingship for the royal family, the descendants of Philip II. Immediate hiers were Alexander's very young half-brother and an infant son born shortly after Alexander's death. In 310 these two potential hiers were eliminated and the general Cassander having married Alexander's half-sister, took the title King of Macedonia. Then in 307 both Antigonus Monophthalmos and Demetrius Poliorcetes proclaimed their royalty over a vast area including Palestine.
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By 305 BC some of the lowest ranking generals claimed independence and control of parts of Alexander's empire. Ptolemy Lagus had been named governor of Egypt by Alexander in 323 BC. He successfully defended his control over Egypt and declared himself King of Egypt in 305. The reign of the Ptolemies in Egypt finally ended in 30 BC when Egypt became a Province in the Roman Empire. The third century members of the Ptolemaic dynasty began with Ptolemy I, the son of Lagus, renamed Ptolemy Soter, "Savior", just before or just after he died, ruled as king in Alexandria from 305 to 283 BC. He was joined and succeeded by his son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, "sibling lover", (he married his sister) who ruled from 285 to 246 BC. Ptolemy III, Euergetes, " benefactor", ruled from 246 to 221, followed by Ptolemy IV, Philopater, "father lover" who ruled from 221 till 205 BC. Ptolemy IV's sister Arsinoe, who was also his widow, and his prime minister, Sosibius, struggled for control of the state for a couple of years. Ptolemy V, [Theos] Ephiphanes, "[god] manifest" ruled from 205 to 181 BC.
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Likewise, Seleucus, a relatively young commander of the Macedonian calvary had been assigned once as governor of the Babylonian Province in 323 by Alexander. Although he fled from Babylonia to Ptolemy in 316 because of his fear of Antigonus he had returned to deprive Antigonus of the city of Babylon in 312. He also now claimed royal status there as well as in Syria and vast areas to the East across Perisa and Afghanistan in 305. The Seleucid dynasty would eventually lose most of its territory save small scattered regions in Syria. The last two living members of the dynasty were retired on pensions when Pompey first organized the Roman Province of Syria in 63 BC. The third century Seleucids began with Seleucus I, who was remembered as Seleucus Nicator, "Victor", and ruled from 305 to 281 BC. His oldest son, Antiochus I, known as Antiochus Soter, "Savior", ruled from 281 to 261 BC. Antiochus married his father's widow, Stratonice I, and their son Antiochus II, officially called Antiochus Theos, "God", succeeded to the realm from 261 to 246 BC. Antiochus II married his niece Laodice I and their son, Seleucus II Kallinikos, "Beautiful Victor", ruled from 246 to 226 BC. Seleucus II married his niece Laodice II and their oldest son, Seleucus III Soter, "Savior", also know as Keraunos, "Thunderbolt", ruled from 226 to 223 BC and then a younger son, Antiochus III ruled from 223 to 187 BC. After his defeat by the Ptolemies at Raphia in the fourth Syrian war in 217 Antiochus III launched a campaign to reconquer most of area now identified with Turkey between 215 and 212. His campaign continued to the east and took him clear to India by 205. He these campaigns he restored very nearly the whole of Alexander's eastern conquests that had meantime fallen away from the Seleucids. This achievement earned him recognition as "The Great".
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When Antigonus Monophthalmos and his son Demetrius Poliorcetes took their forces to fight at Ipsus in 301, Ptolemy quickly occupied South Syria including Phoenicia. Josephus (Contra Apion 1.209-210) quotes the historian Agatharchides saying Ptolemy assaulted and captured Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Although old Antigonus did not survive the battle at Ipsus, Demetrius' control of the Phoenician navy preserved the family's coalition alive. When Demetrius fell back to Sidon and Tyre with his fleet, Ptolemy retreated from Phoenicia, fortified and garrisoned Samaria. In 296 Demetrius destroyed Samaria yet again. Jerusalem and southern Palestine remained in Ptolemaic control. Demetrius completely abandoned all South Syria to Ptolemy by 291 in order to seek his fortunes elsewhere. Indeed, earlier in 294 Demetrius Poliorcetes had conquered Macedonia and laid claim to its crown for himself and five generations of his Antigonid successors. Perseus (179-168), the last of his descendants was dethroned by Rome after a crushing defeat at Pydna. Rome then subdivided Macedonia into four republics each unilaterally allied with Rome. Finally, Macedonia and Illyricum, its western neighbor, together became Rome's first Province east of the Adriatic Sea in 148 BC.
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The general Lysimachus who had been governor of Thrace (Eastern Bulgaria today) when Alexander died also declared himself King in 305 BC. A showdown among the contending coalitions took place in 301 at Ipsus in Phrygia (in west central Turkey). Among the survivors, Lysimachus expanded his Kingdom across the Bosporus into what is today western Turkey while Seleucus took much of southern Turkey. Lysimachus' hiers all predeceased him when he died in battle with Seleucus in 281. Lysimachus had appointed Philetaerus, son of Attalus, as governor of Pergamum the capital of his territory in western Turkey. Philetaerus had declared for Seleucis just prior to Seleucus' victory. After Seleucus died in 281 Philetaerus declared his independence and ruled as king until 263. His nephew and other relatives made up the Attalid dynasty that ruled until 133 when the kingdom was donated to Rome and the Roman Province of Asia was finally organized in 129. This was the first Roman province east of the Aegean Sea.
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The Jewish population of Palestine lived under the Ptolemaic regime from 320 to 311 and then from 291 to 195 BC. Ptolemy I subsequently established settlements of Aegean veterans along the coastal plain at Apollonia, north of Joppa, and at Arethusa and at Anthedon, near Gaza. In the transjordan area southeast of the Sea of Galilee he also settled additional veterans at settlements in Pella, Dio, Hippos and Gadara. Veteran settlements (politeumata) were also formed in some existing cities such as Baalbec in the Lebanon Mountains, Damascus, Bet Yerah in Galilee and Rabbah Ammon (modern Amman, Jordan). Garrison colonies were established all across the area. For example Birta in the Transjordan region of Amnanitus and Scythopolis southwest of the Sea of Galilee at the old Hebrew site of Beth Shan were both garrisons. Scythopolis was garrisoned by Scythian troops from the Bosporus (north side of the Black Sea). They were worshippers of the Hellenistic deity Dionysus and an unnamed goddess indigenous to Palestine whom they called "Dionysus' Nurse".
Another important indication of increasing Hellenistic influence in Judea is the policy of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246) of renaming and reorganizing various urbanized locations. For example in the north Baalbec was renamed Heliopolis. In the transjordanian area Rabbat Ammon was renamed Philadelphia. Acco (Acer), across the bay north of modern Haifa, became the capital city of whole area and was renamed Ptolemais.
A number of Jewish families were heavily influenced by the Hellenic and Hellenistic people settled amongst them. Several Hellenized Jews rose in the ranks of Ptolemy's administration of south Syria, among them the family of the Tobiads beginning with Tobias the commander of the garrison colony at Birta (Heshbon). Joseph, Tobias' son and nephew of the High Priest Onias II, managed to become the chief spokesman for the Jews and hold the powerful position of Ptolemaic tax collector for the whole of Judea, Samaria and Phoenicia for nearly a quarter century (c. 242-218). He remained tax collector for Jerusalem and Judea thereafter until about 210 when he was cheated out of his job by one of the younger of his eight sons named Hyrcanus. Hyrcanus' brothers and Simon II, the High Priest, drove Hyrcanus out of Jerusalem. He then became commander at Birta (Heshbon) like his grandfather and remained loyal to Ptolemy IV while his brothers at Jerusalem began to favor the advances of Seleucid power from the north.
(Josephus, Antiquities 12.4-10, includes his report of this development at the time of High Priest Onias III rather than Onias II. This switch places the account following the peace treaty between Antiochus III and Ptolemy V in 195 BC. To do this he has all the south Syrian states paying taxes to both the Ptolemies and the Seleucids simultaneously. The payment to the Ptolemies is justified in his account by southern Syria being a dowry for Cleopatra, Antiochus III's daughter, wife of Ptolemy V.)
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The Seleucid-Ptolemaic frontier was recognized in 279 as a line drawn between Arad and Damascus. This frontier was often a battlefield during the remainder of the third century. In the first Syrian war (276-272) Ptolemy II pushed from Arad toward Hamath while Antiochus besieged Damascus successfully. In the second Syrian war (260-255) Antiochus pushed the line back past Arad as far south as Sidon, but Ptolemy regained Damascus. The third Syrian war (246-241) Ptolemy III pushed north along the coast taking Antioch (the Seleucid capital in north Syria), Seleucid territory in Cilicia and Seleucia-on-the-Tigris (an earlier Seleucid capital) in Babylonia. Seleucus II counterattacked and took Damascus and a fortress along the coast south of Antioch. Seleucus also regained Seleucia-on-the-Tigris and the Cilician territory. The treaty in 241 BC left Ptolemy in control of Damascus and the seacoast as far north as the mouth of the Orontes River including the major seaport suburb of Antioch called Seleucia-in-Pieria.
The Fourth Syrian war (221-217) saw Antiochus III attacking the new seventeen year old Ptolemy IV. Ptolemy's fortifications in the Biqa' valley stopped Antiochus' thrust southward so he recaptured Seleucia-in- Pieria. The young king became disillusioned with his commander (a Greek named Theodotus) and personally led an army up to the Lebanon Mountains to remove him. Theodotus switched sides and called for Antiochus III's help. Antiochus' forces took Tyre and Ptolemais and besieged Dor (south of modern Haifa). Ptolemy IV returned to Egypt and sent out another Greek named Nicolaus to oppose the Seleucid force under Theodotus. Antiochus brought heavy reinforcements and pinned Nicolaus down at Sidon while systematically reducing Ptolemaic strongholds as far south as Samaria. The full scale confrontation took place at Raphia, near Gaza, in 217. Both armies were built around of core of recruits ultimately from the Greek-speaking peoples of the Aegean. Antiochus had a veteran Greek cavalry corps and a corps of Indian Elephants while Ptolemy matched him with Greek cavalry and African elephants. Antiochus had in addition ten thousand Arabs, but for the first time ever Ptolemy had drafted and trained thirty thousand indigenous Coptic troops. Antiochus III lost ten thousand infantry and three hundred cavalry while Ptolemy's casualties are reported at only 1500 infantry and 700 cavalry. Antiochus chose to withdraw from Palestine and south Syria but kept control of only Seleucia-in-Pieria at the mouth of the Orontes River.
Between the fourth and fifth Syrian wars Antiochus III campaigned across the East reconquering almost all the area Alexander the Great had originally conquered. As a result Antiochus is also called "the Great".
The accession in 203 of the fifth Ptolemy to reign was the signal for the Fifth Syrian war (203-195). It was not a complete success for Antiochus III who had intentions of annexing both south Syria and Egypt. His campaign in 201 resulted in the conquest of southern Syria coast down to Gaza. The people at Jerusalem rebelled against the Ptolemaic garrison and supported the Seleucids, but Jerusalem was retaken by a Ptolemaic army under Scopas (another Greek) who counterattacked. Although Scopas's army fought its way to Sidon in 200 they were forced to surrender in 199. The Ptolemaic garrisons at various cities in Palestine gathered their local supporters and fled to Egypt. The war ended in 195 with a treaty sealed by marriage between Ptolemy V and Antiochus III's daughter Cleopatra.
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Jewish scholarly tradition in Judea during the Persian period began with the career of a High Priest named Ezra (not the fifth century Governor of Jerusalem appointed by Artaxerxes I (465-424) and whose career is highlighted in the Book of Ezra). Rabinnic tradition says this Ezra was High Priest and an important scholar, sofer (literally, "scribe" but frequently translated "sage" or "scholar"). Moreover, he is associated with The Great Assembly, hakkenesseth hagedolah sometimes translated "The Great Synagogue". The tradition understands this as a scholarly institution, an assembly of scholars. Nothing of their activity is detailed in the tradition. The group seems to have gradually died out save for one, Simon the Just. Rabinnical tradition says Simon the Just was High Priest for 40 years and was among those priests who negotiated with Alexander the Great. What this probably reflects is that Simon was a member of the High Priestly family; hence, one of the "Ruling Priests" who served as an ordinary priest from about age 30, and who because of his scholarship became associated with The Great Synagogue during its last years. If he was serving as one of the ruling priests when Alexander visited Jerusalem (332 BC), Jaddua was High Priest at that time. We may assume that Hezekiah was Jaddua's brother and successor who, at 66 years of age in 312 BC, sought refuge in Egypt. Hezekiah would then have been followed by Onias I, son of Jaddua. This would make Simon I, son of Onias I High Priest around 300 BC. Josephus concludes that Simon I is "Simon the Just" (Antiquities 12.2.5).
The next outstanding scholar remembered in the tradition was a layman with a Hellenistic name, Antigonus of Sokho. His name shows the growing influence of Hellenistic culture in Judea just after Alexander's conquest. Antigonus flouished probably around 275 BC during the High Priesthood of Eleazar, son of Onias I, Simon the Just's brother and successor. The traditions also tell us that the disciples of Antigonus seem to have divided into parties labeled as "clusters", eshkoloth, possibly by mid-century. This word may well be a Hebrew transliteration of the Greek word "schools" scholai and if so another evidence of Hellenistic influence. The traditions offer no insignt into the nature of this division, but it may represent the beginning of Pharisees and Sadduccees which Josephus does not introduce into his account for another century.
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Just as the city of Alexandria in Egypt was the flagship of Hellenistic cities and served as the fountainhead of Hellenistic intellectual achievement in science and philosophy, it is significant that the Jewish community there provided the intellectual leadership for Hellenistic Jewry everywhere. Alexander the great had founded the city in 331 as a commercial port, and Ptolemy, Alexander's general who established himself as king of Egypt (305-283) made Alexandria his capital. The Jewish colony at Alexandria was most likely also the work of Ptolemy I, but it was Ptolemy II (285-246) who purchased the freedom of 120,000 Jewish and Samaritan slaves in Egypt. He allowed the community at Alexandria to organize as a politeuma, a semi-autonomous ethnic community within a Hellenistic city. Our source for much of this early development is the Letter of Aristeas that was quoted or paraphrased by several later sources including Josephus. This Greek language source is frequently treated as a legendary account composed at least a century after the events described.
King Ptolemy I had also laid claim to south Syria including Judea and surrounding lands as early as 320 BC. Although he lost it temporarily to Demetrius Poliorcetes between 312 and 302, thereafter he and his successors ruled it for a century. According to Hecataeus (Josephus, Contra Apion, I. 186-189) when Demetrius invaded from the north in 312 Ptolemy withdrew to Egypt escorting a large number of Jews including a high priest Hezekiah from Jerusalem with him. One would guess that these were the most Hellenized of the Jewish population at the time. Perhaps some of these Jews ended up in Alexandria.
According to Aristeas when Ptolemy I's armies reconquered south Syria in 302 BC approximately one hundred thousand Jews and Samaritans were taken back to Egypt. Ptolemy armed thirty thousand of the strongest young men from Judea and Samaria and stationed them in garrisons across the land of Egypt to police his Egyptian subjects and especially to guard Alexandria. The remainder were sold into slavery. Josephus also reported that Ptolemy I gave those Jews at Alexandria citizenship privileges equal to the Macedonians (Antiquities, 12.l.). Later Ptolemy II freed additional Jewish slaves. Evidently the politeuma which they organized during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus contained a number of local synagogues. A council drawn from the synagogues supervised the Jewish community in Alexandria. The president of that council was the chief Jewish representative in Alexandria.
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The Jewish community in Alexandria was soon touched by the intellectual climate fostered by Ptolemy II. Demetrius of Phalerum eventually acquired a reported 500,000 scrolls of Greek text to make Ptolemy II's library the largest collection in the world. It was housed at the Museum; a temple dedicated to the Muses, where the greatest scholars of the next four centuries would study. According to Aristeas, Demetrius wanted to include translations of the Hebrew Law but the Hebrew manuscripts that he had secured did not seem to be identical or were perhaps incomplete. Ptolemy sent gifts for the Temple and a letter to the High Priest Eleazar at Jerusalem. Eleazar complied with Ptolemy's request and sent six elders per tribe, a total of seventy-two men, with scrolls of the Law in their possession. The names of seventy-one men are reported by Aristeas (Letter of Aristeas, vvs. 47-51). Aristeas declares that all those picked were well educated in the Law and in Greek literature (vs. 121). It is interesting to note that list does include individuals with Hellenized names such as Theodotus (1), Theophilus (1), Dosithius (1) Theodosius (3), and Jason (2).
The translation of the Law was probably done orally. Aristeas reports only that each man had an assigned task and that they reached agreement among themselves on each task by comparison (Letter of Aristeas, vs. 302). The agreed upon Greek rendering was then recorded by Demetrius' scribes. It has been estimated that the Torah constituted about 50 scrolls. Aristeas says they worked from mid-morning to mid-afternoon and finished the translation in seventy-two days (vs. 307). Afterwards Demetrius read the whole thing to the assembled elders of the politeuma and the translators. Modern scholars have been unable to avoid some grave doubts about Aristeas' assertion that the seventy-two Jews from Judea knew Greek well enough to accomplish this task in any amount of time. Hence, many believe that Alexandrian Jews did it.
Based on Aristeas' report, the Greek text of the total Old Testament (including the Apochrypha) has in more recent times been called The Septuagint, and abbreviated as LXX. Septuaginta is the Latin for 'seventy' and LXX is the Roman numeral equivalent.
The translation of the rest of the Old Testament into Greek was eventually completed, although uncertainty prevails about how soon and where. Most scholars accept the testimony of the grandson of the Jewish author, Jesus the son of Sirach. In Alexandria shortly after 132 BC, the grandson prepared a Greek translation of his grandfather's book, Ecclesiasticus. In the Prologue he compared his success in translating his grandfathers' Hebrew text into Greek with that of the translations of the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings. However, this reference to the Prophets and the Writings does not necessarily imply that all the books comprising these parts of the Old Testament had been translated by that time. The quality and Greek style of the translations of the Prophets and Writings indicate that different individuals translated those books probably at widely different times and possibly in different places.
The Septuagint came to be utilized by the majority of the urban Jews of the Diaspora and, at a later time, it would become the choice text of the new Christian movement.
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Ptolemy I was one of the first to establish a cult and priesthood for the worship of Alexander the Great; for, the great general's body had been brought to Alexandria and placed in a monumental tomb. Ptolemy I also established a new god for his dynasty and all the Hellenistic peoples resident in Egypt. The new god, part Egyptian and part Greek, was called Serapis. The Egyptian aspect of Serapis was abased on the cult of Apis, the sacred bull of Egypt. When the current Apis died the bull was mummified and buried in great pomp and circumstance and one of its offspring reigned in its place as Apis. The Egyptians believed that Apis became the god Osiris when he died. Apis worship was centered in a temple near Memphis. The Serapis cult at Alexandria employed the Apis theology and an abandoned statue of the Aegean god, Pluto, the nearest Greek equivalent to Osiris. The statue was shipped from Pontus to stand in the new Serapion, as his temple was known. The native Egyptians were not particularly impressed, but for the Hellenistic pouplation of Alexandria Serapis became a god of healing and protection for seaman and merchants. The cult's association with Isis and its spread overseas by 200 to be found in Sicily and beyond the Bosporus is discussed in Appendix II.
The Ptolemies were also pioneers in the matter of Hellenistic deified monarchs, a subject discussed in Appendix II.
The Ptolemies beginning with Ptolemy IV (221-205 BC) sought to advance the worship of the Hellenistic cult of Dionysus in Alexandria and throughout Egypt. The emphasis was on a monthly celebration of public merriment where pork was the chief delicacy washed down with copious wine. For further discussion see Appendix II.
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After three years of battling back and forth with the Seleucid attackers in the fifth Syrian war the Ptolemies took many of their Jewish supporters and withdrew into Egypt in 199 leaving the Seleucid forces of king Antiochus the Great in control as far south as Gaza. The peace treaty with the Ptolemies was concluded in 195 and sealed with the marriage of Antiochus' daughter Cleopatra to Ptolemy V.
In this section we will discuss the highlights of the approximately six decades of Seleucid rule over the Jewish population of south Syria before the Hasmonaeans asserted the independence of Judea about 141 BC. Throughout this Seleucid period the Hellenistic population of south Syria continued to be transfused by settlements of veterans and active duty garrisons recruited by an large from the Aegean region. Pressure for the Hellenization of the Jewish population in the region increased and made some headway (Cf. 2 Macc. 4 & 5, and 1 Macc. 1).
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The current High Priest of Jerusalem, Simon II, son of Onias II, led a Jewish delegation in negotiating with Antiochus III after 199 BC and exercised strong leadership in thwarting the tide of Hellenization. As a result Antiochus give specific instructions, sometimes called a Jewish Edict, in a letter to his victorious commander and governor in the south. (Antiquities 12.3.3) The Jewish people were to be allowed to live in accordance with the laws of their fathers. Those enslaved during the war were to be freed. Tax relief was extended to the nation as a whole and specifically to the city of Jerusalem. Certain prominent classes of leaders, namely, elders, priests, Temple scribes and Temple singers, were perpetually exempt from taxation. A subsequent edict reported by Josephus (Antiquities 12.3.4) specifically prohibited non-Jews from entering the Temple courtyard and made it illegal to raise ritually impure animals in Judah or to import such animals dead (i.e. skins) or alive.).
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It is fascinating to note that Antiochus III's letter mentions a Jewish "council of elders" in an official capacity. This is the earliest direct reference to such an institution among the Jews. The word in Josephus' Greek text for "council of elders" is gerousia which is frequently translated "senate" (e.g. see the Whiston translation of Antiquities 12.3.3). This word enters the classical Greek vocabulary from the institutional practices of the Spartans where it named their famous council of 28 members all above age 60. We have another possible hint of the existence of some governing body at Jerusalem even earlier in the Ptolemaic period if such an institution could explain how Joseph, son of Tobiah, mysteriously became chief spokesman for the Jews in place of the High Priest, Onias II, c. 242 BC.
Those who see these indications as the appearance of the famous Sanhedrin need to be reminded that this Hebrew-izing literation, sanhedrin, first appearing in the Talmudic Hebrew texts of Babylon in the fifth and sixth centuries AD, was undoubtedly a crude rendering of the generic Greek word for "council" synedrion, literally "sit with, or "sit together". Indeed, we can only speculate about what the non-Hellenistic Hebrews may have called such an institution during this early period. There is a classical Hebrew word for congregation, assembly or council, but it is never employed in reference to elders. In any case, there are several later references preserved in Josephus (Antiquities 13.5.8) and the Maccabees (I Macc. 12:5-18; II Macc. 4:44, 11:27) where gerousia is employed.
The later scholarly traditions make reference to the existence of a council called in Hebrew bt dn hgdl, usually vocalized beth din ha-gadol and translated literally "The Great House of Judgement", or simply, "The Great Court". As in the case of the gerousia many have viewed this institution as the forerunner of the much later Sanhedrin. They remembered that the Great Court was headed by a pair, or literally, yoke, (zg vocalized zug) of leaders with suggestive titles. One was known in Hebrew as ab bt dn, usually vocalized av beth din and translated "Chief of the Court". The other leader of the Great Court was nsi, usually vocalized nasi and translated "prince", that is, "exalted one", "top-man" or "leader". Josephus says nothing whatsoever of this, leaving the field open for speculation. The tradition preserves the names of several yokes (zgt, [pl.] vocalized zugoth) of leaders down through the Hasmonaean period. Further the tradition understood a direct link between the last of the eshkoloth and the line of leadership pairs. This suggests to me that the Great Court may be a fusion of two groups or "schools" of elders.
Everything we learn about Jewish political life suggests the crucial role of elders in every organization at every level. If these hints all point the the same council, it's composition remains unclear. That it was made up of elders who were either priests or laymen and some of whom were scholars is generally agreed. In Hasmonaean times the body was presided over by the high priest/king.
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Having taken south Syria by 199 Antiochus III was drawn into a power vacuum in the Aegean area. Unfortunately for him, Rome was already involved. In 196 Antiochus marched across the Bosporus and Rome issued stern warnings. Nevertheless, Antiochus allied with a league of Greek cities in 192 in an effort to liberate Greece from Roman domination. Rome's response was predictable. Roman armies defeated Antiochus III at a place called Magnesia (in western Turkey) in 190-189. Antiochus was forced to pay 15,000 talents, the highest indemnity in all ancient history. He had to abandon all claims in the western region and confine himself to the area east the Taurus Mountains. Subsequently, in 187 Antiochus was killed during a skirmish in Susiana where he was attempting to sack a religious shrine in order to confiscate enough wealth to pay the annual installment on the 15,000 talents. Seleucus IV (187-175) tried to generate the necessary funds with increased taxation. A native Syrian aristocrat, Heliodorus, rose to become Seleucus IV's prime minister and murderer. This usurper wore the Seleucid crown only a few months before Antiochus IV (175-164) avenged his brother's death.
The High Priest Onias III dug in his heals and attempted to slow the rapid Hellenization encouraged by Seleucus IV and the descendants of Tobias in Jerusalem. The leader of the Hellenizing group in Jerusalem was a priest named Simon, the son of Bilga. There may have been more than a ideological agreement between the Tobiads and Simon. Simon was chief financial officer of the temple (II Macc. 3:4ff) as well as chief administrator of the Jerusalem market. Onias III's opposition was to Simon holding both offices at once. Simon "leaked" to Seleucus IV information about the temple wealth and Onias III's alleged questionable sympathies with the Ptolemies. Seleucus sent Heliodorus to confiscate the treasury. Although there is a story (2 Macc 3:4-40) how Heliodorus fled the temple empty handed after seeing a vision, there are other indications that the High Priest turned over the funds to the Seleucid agent. Among those funds was a sizeable deposit belonging to Hyrcanus, the Tobiad ruler of Heshbon (Birta) and former agent of the Ptolemies who although loyal to Antiochus III had become openly disenchanted with the policies of Seleucus IV. The High Priest went to Antioch seeking to clear himself of suspicions in 175, but the coup of Heliodorus frustrated his attempts.
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In the absence of the High Priest from Jerusalem his enemies, the pro-Hellenistic faction led by the priest, Simon son of Bilga, gained an important ally in Onias III's brother, Jeshua, who served as High Priest from 175-171, and was supported by the very powerful Simon. Jeshua is usually known by his Hellenistic name, Jason, which he seems to have preferred. Once Jason sent a 300 drachma gift to the city of Tyre ostensibly to pay the Tyrians to build ships for Antiochus IV. Instead the Tyrians dedicated the money to their local deity. When word reached Jerusalem there was doubtless dissatisfaction among the elders and scribes who had supported his brother, Onias III. Onias was still in Antioch.
Also during Jason's reign a new institution called "Antiochea" was created in Jerusalem (2 Macc. 4:9). Scholars are divided whether or not Antiochea is a politeuma, that is a self-governing association patterened on the Greek polis, whose "citizens" were the Hellenized Jews of Jerusalem. On the other hand Josephus said it was merely a gymnasium (Antiquities 12.5.1). Either way its main function was to act as a social club concerned primarily with promoting Hellenistic lifestyle and customs among its members. In any case Antiochus IV visited Jerusalem as Jason's guest probably to celebrate the creation of Antiochea (2 Macc. 4:21-22). An exercise field was prepared where Jewish athletes engaged in Hellenistic athletic contests. Participants wore only the "Hermes cap" which looked very much like a modern brimmed hat with imitation bird wings flexed in flight sprouting from above the hatband on each side. Hermes was the patron deity of Greek athleticism. There are reports that cosmetics or surgical remedies were employed to mollify the unsightly scars of circumcision. Pious, that is, conservative, Jews in Jerusalem and surrounding Judea held Jason responsible for these offenses.
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The Hellenistic faction meanwhile was also dissatisfied with Jason because he was not Hellenistic enough to suit them. In late 172 a priest named Menehem, but known by his Hellenistic name, Menelaus, very probably a relative of Simon son of Bilga (Josephus seems to believe he was Jason's younger brother--Antiquities 12.5.1.) was selected to carry the annual tribute to Antiochus IV at Antioch. Menelaus bribed Antiochus IV by offering to increase the annual tribute by 300 talents if Antiochus would make him High Priest in place of Jason. Menelaus possessed no known qualifications for the office. Menelaus returned to Jerusalem with his prise. Escorted by a few Seleucid soldiers, he persuaded the Hellenistic faction to support him and drove Jason out of Jerusalem. Jason may have fled to Hyrcanus the Tobiad governor of Heshbon and this may have been the occasion when Hyrcanus laid the foundations for a Temple at Heshbon, the ruins of which have been excavated.
As soon as word of the increased tax got around, Menelaus rapidly lost his popularity with the wealthier members of the Hellenistic faction. He confiscated funds on deposit in the Temple to make the increased payment. He designated his brother Lysimachus commanding 3000 armed guards to be in charge while he took the tribute to Antioch in 171. Rebellious riots broke out and Lysimachus was killed. Antiochus came down to Tyre to hold inquiry. Three elders from a gerousia came to tyre to testify against Menelaus. Whether that council is of the politeuma established by Jason or the council representing the population of Judea is not evident. Menelaus bribed the court of inquiry and Antiochus IV resulting in the execution of the elders from the gerousia and the exiled High Priest Onias III. Menelaus now had the full support of Antiochus IV.
Surely any Jews interested in the integrity of the High Priest would have opposed Menelaus. No evidence of such opposition has survived from this period. However, later in the Dead Sea scrolls that are numerous references to a group called the Zadokites. They may trace their existence back to this time. They championed the high priesthood established by David in the person of Zadok (2 Samuel 20:25). Ezekiel had instructed that Zadokite priests serve in the rebuilt Temple (40:46; 43:19; 44:15; 48:11). If Menelaus was not a descendant of Zadok this would certainly have been a rallying point for his enemies.
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Egyptian forces invaded south Syria late in 170 BC. Antiochus IV marched against them and defeated them at Pelusium. Both regents, Eulaeus and Lenaeus died in the battle. Antiochus IV's settlement with Egypt remains unclear. Either he recognized Ptolemy VI as king of all Egypt or he crowned Ptolemy VI King in Alexandria and claimed the rest of Egypt for the Seleucids. In either case, Ptolemy VII rose against his brother Ptolemy VI in civil war. By early 168 BC the two brothers had decided on joint rule so they launched a counterattack against Antiochus IV.
While the Seleucid king was in Egypt--early in 169 BC.--Jason, the exiled high preist made a bold attempt at regaining his former post. He may have represented a pro-Ptolemaic movement aroused by the false rumor that Antiochus IV had been killed in Egypt. Using about 1000 men Jason forced Menelaus to take refuge in a fortification and drove his supporters from the city. There was popular support for Jason at first, but shortly they turned against him and drove him out. Menelaus, meanwhile, had escaped and fled to Egypt to Antiochus IV. Jason fled via Arabia and Egypt to Sparta. Antiochus IV ordered many massacred in Jerusalem out of vengeance for the rebellious actions that were possibly in support of Ptolemaic interests.
It was during or immediately after the Egyptian involvement that Antiochus IV adopted the new title, theos epiphanes, "immanent god", a title that had been employed by Ptolemy V, Antiochus IV's brother-in-law who had died in 181 BC. Antiochus IV's sister, Cleopatra I, had ruled Egypt as regent until her death in 176 BC.
Antiochus IV had returned from Egypt in late 169 BC, reinstated Menelaus as High Priest, and plundered the Temple taking the golden altar of incense, the table of shewbread, the seven-branched candelestick, all utensils, all decorations--totalling about 1800 talents of wealth (I Macc. 1:16-24; II Macc. 5:15-20). Military governors with troops were now installed at Jerusalem and Mt. Gerizim.
As a result of the counterattack of the Ptolemy brothers in 168, Antiochus IV returned to Egypt. He was waylayed by a deputation of Roman Senators who threated Roman action if the Seleucid King did not promptly leave Egypt and reputiate any claims to the Egyptian throne.
Antiochus IV was obviously furious and frustrated, but could not bring himself to tangle with Rome. Suffering the humiliation and intimidation of Rome and being unable to annex Egypt he was determined to sever the ties between southern Syria and Egypt at all costs.
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The strongest tie between Egypt and southern Syria was the Jewish populations of Jerusalem and Alexandria. Antiochus IV couldn't eliminate the Jews from Alexandria, but he could attempt to immunize the Jews of Jerusalem against the Alexandrian attraction. Some want to date Jason's uprising during Antiochus' second Egyptian absence instead of the first.
Scholars have, in any case, wondered exactly what motivated Antiochus IV to order his second in command, Apollonius, to discipline the Jews at Jerusalem (I Macc. 1:29-34). Perhaps he was venting his frustration, but more than likely, he was laying the groundwork for further action. The initial attack on Jerusalem was on the Sabbath sometime in late 168 or early 167 BC. Those who resisted the destruction of the Jerusalem walls and the razing of their private homes were handled brutally; the men were executed and the women and children sold into slavery. Many survivors fled the city to live in the surrounding villages. The demolition cleared the ridge south of the Temple. A fortress known as the Akra (akra, Greek word for hill, height; compare acropolis, citadel.) was erected there with the materials from the ruined walls. A gentile garrison was stationed there.
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The record in I Maccabees 1:41-61 describes what happened next. However, there is no convincing evidence that Antiochus issued a decree outlawing all indigenous customs throughout the Seleucid Empire as stated by vss. 41 and 42: "Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people, and that each should give up his customs". But he did "send letters to the cities of Judah" forbidding certain customs and imposing others (vs. 44). There is no record that the Seleucid rulers in their zeal to Hellinize their kingdom ever restricted the religious freedom of their subjects previous to this, and neither is there evidence at this occasion of any restriction on local and ethnic religious practices except in Jewish Palestine. His action with regard to the Jews is not consistent with his actions with regard to other ethnic groups. Consequently, we have to conclude that his stated goal, "that all should be one people" related more to southern Syria than to his whole kingdom. There is evidence that the Hellenistic cities surrounding Judea did not receive any such restrictive mandate regarding the Jews resident among them (II Macc. 6:8-9). The Samaritan tradition reports that similar restrictions were imposed on the settlement at Mt. Gerizim; however, they requested to be exempt from the restrictive laws and to have their temple dedicated to Zeus Hellenios. Both requests were granted.
A very limited amount of numismatic evidence has been interpreted to support the hypothesis that Antiochus IV may have launched a massive syncretistic scheme where the king's image would be employed to represent each and every ethnic god in the Kingdom.
Menelaus and his party seem to have readily concurred (Cf. I Macc. 1:43) with the first part of Antiochus' edict, cited above, but considerable resistance against them developed. The uprising against Menelaus was probably interpreted as potentially treasonous, so the second phase of Antiochus' policy was mandated (I Macc. 1:44-50):
...to follow customs strange to the land, to forbid burnt offerings in the sanctuary, to profane the sabbath and feasts, to defile the sanctuary and the priests, to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals, to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane, so that they would forget the law and change all the ordinances. And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die.
This restrictive decree which quashed all Jewish religious behavior was probably issued in October, 167 BC. An "Athenian senator" (II Macc. 6:1) was given charge of enforcing the new policies. Monthly searches were to be made for those in possession of the Torah and to examine for instances of babies being circumcised or of adults keeping the Sabbath. tells us that a pagan altar was erected in the Temple on top of the great altar of sacrifice on Chislev 15, 145 AS (=December 6, 167)(I Macc. 1:54). A monthly sacrifice, probably of pork, was made on that altar beginning on Chislev 25, 145 AS (=December 16, 167 BC)(I Macc. 1:59).
There may have been a statue of a god erected in the Temple compound or within the Temple itself, but it is never specifically mentioned. They did plant green shrubbery around the Temple within the courtyard. It is unclear just which god was being worshipped. It is known that each month on Antiochus birthday, every community was required to celebrate the feast of Dionysus / Antiochus Neos Dionysius by feasting on roast pork and marching around with an ivy crown on their head to symbolize dedication to Bacchus / Dionysus. Scholars have hypothesized that the sacrifices in the Temple were to Zeus Olympios, the head of the Hellenic pantheon, for Antiochus IV's coinage reveals a major change in the Seleucid family's religious sympathies. Historically Seleucid rulers had patronized the Apollo cult while Antiochus IV seems to have favored the classical Greek cult of Zeus Olympias. Furthermore, Zeus Olympios may have been syncretistically identified with his Syrian counterpart Ba'al Shamem, "lord of the heavens", or, possibly, with Antiochus IV theos epiphanes.
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Ptolemy V and his descendants ruled the family's kingdoms from 203 on into the first century BC. Ptolemy V theos epiphanes, "evident.. " or "manifest god", lost south Syria to Antiochus III in 195 and sealed the agreement by marrying Cleopatra I, daughter of Antiochus III. When Ptolemy V died in 181/180 BC the oldest of his two sons, Ptolemy VI philometor, "mother lover", was between 2 and 3 years of age. Cleopatra I ruled as regent until her death in 176 after which an Egyptian eunuch attached to the royal harem named Eulaeus together with Lenaeus, a Syrian freedman who had served as a royal accountant, held the regency. The two regents openly attempted to employ more Hellenized natives shutting out many descendants of early Aegean immigrants. This created a group of disgruntled families in Alexandria who conspired with the young king (at age 13) to oust the regents and rule on his own. Eulaus and Lenaeus took the country into war by invading Seleucid Palestine in 170. Antiochus IV expelled the invaders and since Eulaus and Lenaeus were killed Antiochus recognized the government of Ptolemy VI. The disgruntled Alexandrians then demanded a role for the king's brother Ptolemy VIII theos euergetes II. Ptolemy VIII is usually known by the nickname the Alexandrians gave him, Physkon, "Potbellied".
For two years there was a civil war before the brothers were reconciled. Then, like their precedessors, they invaded Seleucid Palestine in 168 BC. Antiochus IV marched into Egypt and claimed the Egyptian throne for himself at Memphis. Marching thence to Alexandria to remove the Ptolemies he encountered a small Roman Senatorial delegation led by G. Popilius Laenas. Laenas arrogantly demanded that Antiochus abandon all claims to the government of Rome's "friend" and promptly leave the country to avoid Roman intervention. Frustrated and bluffed Antiochus IV withdrew without hesitation.
The Ptolemy boys (VI and VIII) traveled to Rome in 164 BC to consult with their "friend". The Roman Senate affirmed Ptolemy VI's rights to the throne, but suggested that he divide the realm giving Cyprus and Cyrenaica to Ptolemy VIII. Instead Ptolemy VI kept Cyprus for his own son, Ptolemy Eupator (155-150), and sent Physkon to Cyrenaica. In 154 BC Physkon officially announced his will to give Cyrenaica to Rome after his death. As it turned out, however, he reunited Cyrenaica to Egypt ruling as the successor to Ptolemy VI.
Ptolemy VI had married his sister, Cleopatra II, about 170 BC and they had four children. His chosen successors, his older son, Ptolemy VII [sic] neos philopator, "new father lover", and his widow succeeded him on the throne in 145 BC. Ptolemy VIII (Physkon) appeared on the scene, married Cleopatra II and plotted successfully to remove Ptolemy VII. The young Ptolemy died in a riot at the wedding feast celebrating his mother's marriage to his uncle in 144 BC. Although Cleopatra II became pregnant Physkon seduced and married her daughter--his niece--, Cleopatra III theos euergetis, . They had five children. When Physkon died in 116 BC his son by a concubine then ruled Cyrenaica as a separate kingdom between 116 and 96.
Physkon's reputation as a tyrant must be mentioned. He had granted amnesty to all his enemies in 145 only to have them arrested and executed as soon as he was crowned. Then he launched a lengthy and bloody purge of Alexandria, executing or driving into exile any pureblooded Greeks and eventually all scholars of any race. In 131-132 the Alexandrians rioted again torching the royal palace. Physkon and Cleopatra III fled to Cyprus. Since the alienated Cleopatra II was compromised by the riots Physkon ordered their son arrested, executed, dismembered, and gift-wrapped for Cleopatra II's birthday. Physkon returned to Alexandria by 130 BC having bribed the priesthoods and further decimated Alexandria by exterminating Cleopatra's Jewish bodyguard and the remaining scholars. Ironically, Physkon and Cleopatra were reconciled by 125 BC. One noteworthy fallout of Physkon's tyranny was the spin-off of many scholars to different locations around the Mediterranean. It would be a century before the Museum could regain his former reputation.
Ptolemy IX philometor soter II, "mother lover, savior", better known by his Alexandrian nickname, Lathyros ruled jointly with his mother, Cleopatra III, beginning in 116 BC. His brother Ptolemy X Alexander I ruled Cyprus from 116. In 107 Cleopatra III deposed Ptolemy IX and installed Ptolemy X as co-ruler with her in Egypt.
The Ptolemaic story is continued in a later section.
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The Hasmonaean family led the rebellion against the Seleucid policy. The priest Mattathias, grandson of Asamonaios (Hasmonias) who, together with his five sons were residents of Modein, a village about 17 miles northwest of Jerusalem, was the leader. An inspector came to the village and ordered them to sacrifice. When one of the villagers started to comply Mattathias attacked and killed him. He then slew the inspector and tore down the altar.
Mattathias and his sons (Judas, Jonathan, Simon, John, Eleazar) fled to the hills and joined other refugees. The Seleucids had made a sweep through the hills on a Sabbath day, destroying several camps of refugees who would not defend themselves on the Sabbath, slaughtering over 1000 men, women and children. Mattathias determined that they should organize and be prepared to fight any day including the Sabbath. His force raided several Jewish communities that were comploying with the government, smashing altars, circumcising children, killing apostate Jews, and sometimes burning villages.
Our sources for the first time mention a group called the Hasidaeans (khsdm, vocalized khasidim pl. "pious ones"). Perhaps these were the conservative Jews who resisted the moves toward Hellenization that the Tobiad faction early had represented. Their origins likely trace back to the days of Onias III. If we are not missing something here, these Hasidaeans are probably in the lineage of both the Pharisees and the Essenes. They supported Mattathias.
The Rabbinical Traditions preserve the names of the first zug, (**) pair of elder scholar/scribes that headed the beth din ha-gadol, the Great Court in this period. One was Josiah son of Joezer of Zereda and the other was Josiah son of Johanan. The tradition hints that Josiah son of Joezer was one of the sixty executed by the High Priest Alcimus c. 162 BC. Josiah son of Johanan seems to have servived longer, perhaps to c. 150 BC. This suggests that he was not identified with the khasidim.
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Judas the oldest son of Mattathias came to be known as "The Hammer" or in that sense, "The Driver" (Hebrew vocalized as hamaqqebeth). The root Hebrew stem is nqb, vocalized as naqab, "to pierce, bore, or pass through". And the hammer is what you use to drive the wedge or bit through something. This name was latter applied to the whole Hasmonaean family, the Maccabees (Greek Makkabaioi), as they organized, encouraged, and led the attack on the Seleucids. Judas succeeded to the leadership when his father Mattathias died in 166. He was successful in killing the Seleucid commander of the Jerusalem garrison, Apollonius, and massacring his troops. Next Judas defeated the troops of Seron, the Seleucid general in Palestine.
Antiochus IV had left Antioch in 166 in a campaign against the Parthians in Armenia, Babylonia and Elam where he was when he died in 164 BC. He had appointed Lysias, his secretary, as regent in charge of Antiochus V when he left Antioch. Lysias was also charged to watch over the situation in Judea. On hearing of the defeat of Apollonius and Seron Lysias sent three more generals with their armies to converge on Judea. Slave merchants were sent along to purchase the prisoners they planned to take. In the summer of 165 Judas waited at Mizpah while Gorgias stationed his army directly in front of Mizpah. Ptolemy and Nicanor camped their troops together in the rear near Emmaus. Judas slipped out of Mizpah, circled and attacked the camp of Ptolemy and Nicanor victoriously. Gorgias quickly escorted the remnant away to the west. Lysias now personally brought a larger army down the coast circling around to come up the ridge from Hebron north to Jerusalem. Judas' army met Lysias at Beth Zur and was victorious yet again.
While Lysias returned to Antioch to get more troops, Judas now occupied the outer city of Jerusalem bottling up a small Seleucid detachment in the Akra fortification. It was then possible to cleanse the Temple. The greenery was uprooted, the sacred furniture and garments were replaced and a new altar was built to replace the polluted one. The Temple was rededicated by an eight-day feast culminating on Chislev 25, 141 ASel (= December 14, 164 BC). Judas also built a fortification wall around the Temple hill--the hill of Zion, and garrisoned Beth Zur.
Judas and his brothers, Simon and Joseph, now made a number or raids into areas outside of Judea for the purpose of punishing the gentiles and releasing the Jews living in those areas so they could move to Judea. Simon campaigned in Galilee; Judas, in the Trans-Jordan and against Hebron and Ashdod. Joseph attacked Jamnia, but Gorgias who was stationed there drove him back. Judas then beseiged the Akra fortification in Jerusalem. After some of the Hellenistic faction helped the garrison escape Judas was successful.
Lysias came south again with a very large army, again circling up through Hebron. This time Beth Zur did not stand. Judas met him at Beth Zachariah, but was defeated and fell back to the fortifications inside Jerusalem. Lysias prepared to strom the city.
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As Antiochus IV was on his deathbed he named his current escort Philip as the regent for his son, Antiochus V. In doing this he passed over Lysias, who had the government in hand and the heir, Antiochus V, in his custody. Lysias broke off his seige of Jerusalem and rushed back to Antioch where the two armies met in 164. Lysias' troops prevailed, and with the help of the governor of the eastern provinces, Timarchus of Miletus, he was recognized as regent and prime minister. Antiochus IV had secured a promise from Rome that young Antiochus V Eupator would indeed succeed to the throne. Gnaius Octavius headed the Senatorial commission that showed up in Antioch to oversee his reign. Lysias proceeded to make peace with the Jews granting them freedom of worship and the right to maintain their religious practices. The Jews were forced to dismantle the fortification wall around the Temple, but Lysias agreed to depose and execute the High Priest Menelaus who had been complicit with Antiochus IV's policies. No immediate successor to the Manelaus' position is reported. We do hear that repriseals were also taken against the radical Hellenistic faction, Menelaus' supporters, at Jerusalem. Some were executed and other were driven into exile.
However, Antiochus V's half-brother Demetrius, the son of Seleucus IV, had been a hostage in Rome. In 162 he conspired to overthrow the regime, successfully eliminating Antiochus V, Lysias, Timarchus, and Gnaius Octavius. Since the Romans could not prove that he had actually instigated the coup he was allowed to succeed and reign as Demetrius I Soter (162-150). Demetrius was unable to prevent the crumbling of his kingdom. The Province of Commagene around Samosata had declared its independence just before his coup. The Province of Persia was lost about 159 BC and the province of Media fell likewise into Parthian hands about 155 BC.
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Alcimus represented a moderate Hellenistic position. He led a deputation to Demetrius I complaining about the severity of Judas' rule. Demetrius decided to name Alcimus both High Priest and ruler of Judea. He sent the general Bacchides to install him in office. The Hasidaeans seem to have been split by Demetrius' action. Some of them accepted Alcimus, but others remained loyal to Judas. Alcimus rounded up sixty Hasidaean elders and executed them. Doubtless these were among those loyal to Judas, but it only strengthened Judas' support among the people. Bacchides left his troops to garrison Jerusalem, but after he had gone back to Antioch it was not long before Alcimus likewise fled to Demetrius. The king send Nicanor with a Seleucid army to restore peace. Nicanor first make peace with Judas, but Alcimus saw to it that Demetrius I rejected the settlement and ordered Nicanor to arrest Judas. Nicanor's first attempt ended in defeat at Capharsalama in late 162 or early 161. Next he threatened to burn the Temple if the Jews did not deliver Judas in chains. Judas attacked and killed Nicanor in March 161.
Judas now acted as head of state and applied to the Romans for recognition and help against the Seleucid reprisal that was certain to come. Eupolemus son of Johanan (a brother of Josiah the leader among the scribes/scholars) and Jason son of Eleazar traveled to Rome and secured a friendship treaty.
Demetrius dispatched Bacchides in April, 161, with a new army. Bacchides was determined to do a thorough job. He was not only victorious over the Judean army, killing Judas, but he fortified and garrisoned Jericho, Emmaus, Beth Horon, Bethel, Pharathon, Thamnatha, and Tephon. He strengthened the fortifications at Beth Zur, Gazara and Jerusalem. He extracted hostages from many prominent Judean families and installed Alcimus once again as ruler and High Priest.
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Jonathan son of Mattathias, next younger brother to Judas, now led the Maccabees into hiding. His brother John was taking a caravan of family property to safety when it was ambushed and robbed. Jonathan and Simon, yet another brother, took action against the robbers.
Alcimus shocked the people by having the walls of the inner court of the Temple torn down in May, 160. When he died some weeks later after a stroke that left him speechless and unable to stand, there was general agreement that his death was a judgment of God for his evil deed. Bacchides seems to have been called away to the east, probably in early 159 leaving the several garrison commanders in charge. Bacchides returned in 157 and attempted without success to eliminate Jonathan. Anticipating further problems in the east Bacchides then made peace with Jonathan as a private citizen before departing once more. Jonathan continued to live in his village home at Michmash, but he took no public actions for a time.
There was no high priest of record in Jerusalem between 159 and 152. Meanwhile the Parthians successfully wrested Persia from Demetrius I and 159 BC. They followed that by taking Media in 155 BC.
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An international conspiracy involving Egypt, Cappadocia, and Pergumam was able to get Roman support in forwarding a pretender to the Seleucid throne. About 152 BC Alexander Balas, an alleged son of Antiochus IV, declared his claim to the Seleucid throne and launched a campaign to overthrow Demetrius I.
Demetrius and Balas both bid for Jewish support, much to the benefit of the Jews. Balas offered to name Jonathan as governor of Judea and a general. Demetrius I authorized Jonathan to immediately take over the state and rule. Jonathan took up his offer, freed the hostages and fortified Jerusalem and the Temple hill. He sent all the Seleucid garrisons back to Demetrius except those at Jerusalem (at the Akra) and the troops at Beth Zur. Balas' counter-offer to Jonathan was accepted as Jonathan took the vestments of the High Priest's office probably in late 152 BC. Demetrius now offered to surrender the Akra, remit all tribute, add three Samaritan provinces to Judea, make substantial gifts to the Temple, and subsidize the building of the walls of Jerusalem. Jonathan refused the offer because he believed Balas was the stronger. Demetrius I died late in 151 or early 150 BC leaving Alexander Balas to succeed him. Balas married Cleopatra Thea, daughter of Ptolemy VI very shortly thereafter. The wedding was at Ptolemais (=Acre), a city on the Phoenician coast just north of Mt. Carmel. Jonathan was a guest, clothed in purple and seated beside the groom.
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Demetrius II was a surviving son of Demetrius I. He brought an army of Cretan mercernaries and attacked Balas in 147 BC setting up an alternative government. Ptolemy VI brought an army from Egypt up to Ptolemais (=Acre) to help his son-in-law Balas. However, he suddenly made a treaty with Demetrius II and having Balas' wife under his protection he gave her to Demetrius II. Ptolemy attacked Alexander Balas near Antioch and lost his own life. Alexander Balas fled into the desert but was rounded up and executed by Demetrius' mercernaries.
These troops now insisted that Demetrius II must share the throne with his step son, Antiochus VI, Epiphanes Dionysus.
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Jonathan remained loyal to Alexander Balas while the Seleucid Governor of the region, Apollonius, declared for Demetrius II. Jonathan acting as an ally of Ptolemy VI in 147 drove Apollonius' garrison out of Joppa and successfully attacked Ashdod, destroying the Temple of Dagan there. When Ptolemy VI declared for Demetrius II, Jonathan began to act independently and besiege the Akra at Jerusalem. When Demetrius II called Jonathan to Ptolemais to answer Jonathan took presents and demanded the cancellation of tribute and the three Samaritan provinces that Demetrius I had previously offered him. Demetrius II gave him Ephraim, Lydda and Ramathaim and abolished the tribute, but apparently would not surrender his possession of garrisons at Jerusalem, Beth Zur and Gazara.
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Diodotus Tryphon of Apamea raised the banner of rebellion against Demetrius II in 144 BC. This obscure Seleucid official was acting in the name of another young man who, it was claimed, was the real Antiochus VI. A local uprising in Antioch tied Demetrius II's hands, so he bargained with Jonathan to secure his assistance. He promised Jonathan he would surrender the garrisons in Judea in return for his help. Jonathan took troops to Antioch and crushed the uprising, but Demetrius did not keep his promise.
Diodotus Tryphon was more successful when he attacked Antioch himself. He offered to make Jonathan's brother, Simon, the Seleucid military commander of all Syria south of Tyre provided he would take that area away from Demetrius II. Jonathan and Simon then liberated Gaza, Ascalon, Joppa, Galilee and Damascus. Beth Zur was captured and regarrisoned by the Jews. They could not take the Akra, but they built a permanent siege wall around it. Jonathan, meanwhile, made diplomatic overtures to Sparta, Rome and other foreign powers, acting as an independent monarch.
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The contents of this page, ht3463b03.html, is copyrighted 2003-2009 by Harlie Kay Gallatin and is accessible as an Appendix 3 from Part One of the Christian History Handbook. The Table of Contents for this page is on ht3463aa03.html.