Alexander’s Death and His Successors

When Alexander, king of Macedon, had put an end to the dominion of the Persians and had settled affairs in Judaea in the manner described above, he died [in Babylon]. His empire fell among many: Antigonus obtained Asia; Seleucus Babylon. And of the other nations that were there: Lysimachus governed the Hellespont; Cassander possessed Macedonia; and Ptolemy the son of Lagus seized upon Egypt. And while these princes ambitiously strove one against another, every one for his own principality, it came to pass that there were continual and prolonged wars. The cities suffered and lost a great many of their inhabitants in these times of distress, so that all Syria, by means of Ptolemy the son of Lagus, underwent the reverse of his name Soter [Savior]; he also seized upon Jerusalem by means of deceit and treachery. As he came into the city on the Sabbath, as if he would offer sacrifices, and without any trouble, he gained the city. The Jews did not oppose him, for they did not suspect him to be their enemy. He gained it because they did not suspect him and because on that day they were at rest and in quietness. When he had gained it, he ruled over it in a cruel manner. Indeed, Agatharchides of Cnidus, who wrote the acts of Alexander’s successors, reproaches us for superstition as if, on account of it, we had lost our liberty, when he thus says: “There is a nation called the nation of the Jews, who inhabit a city strong and great, named Jerusalem. These men took no care but let it come into the hands of Ptolemy, as they were not willing to take arms, and thereby they submitted to be under a hard master, by reason of their unseasonable superstition.” This is what Agatharchides relates of our nation. But when Ptolemy had taken a great many captives, both from the mountainous parts of Judaea, from the places about Jerusalem and Samaria, and the places near Mount Gerizim, he led them all into Egypt and settled them there. And since he knew that the people of Jerusalem were most faithful in the observation of oaths and covenants, from the answer they gave Alexander when he sent an embassy to them after he had beaten Darius in battle, he assigned many of them to garrisons. At Alexandria, he gave them equal privileges of citizens with the Macedonians and required them to take their oaths, that they would keep their fidelity to the descendants of those who committed these places to their care. Indeed, there were not a few other Jews who, of their own accord, went into Egypt as invited by the goodness of the soil and by the liberality of Ptolemy. However, their descendants quarreled with the Samaritans on account of their resolution to preserve the customs of their forefathers. Thus, they disputed with one another; those of Jerusalem said that their Temple was holy and resolved to send their sacrifices there, but the Samaritans were resolved that the sacrifices should be sent to Mount Gerizim.

Translated byWilliam Whiston, adapted byCarol Bakhos, in consultation withRalph Marcus.