intended to increase the knowledge, interest, and anticipation of the reader, thereby hastening the realization of our hopes and prayers for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash.

Surmounting the Tide!
The death of Alexander precipitated a long period of wars between the Diadochi (his successors) and it was many years before the political situation more or less stabilized. Finally four kingdoms emerged. One of them, Thrace, soon disappeared. Another, a considerably reduced Macedonia, had very little direct affect on the Jews. One of the more important of Alexander's generals, Ptolemy, eventually founded a dynasty in Egypt with its capital in the new city of Alexandria. Another general, Seleucus, called "Nicator" - the victor - created an enormous unwieldy empire which included most of Alexander's conquests in Asia. Seleucus' dominion covered: Asia Minor, Phoenicia, Syria, Mesopotamia and Persia. The scholar, F. E. Peters aptly wrote (Harvest of Hellenism), "The successor states of Alexander's empire present a dreary historical chronicle of endless wars provoked by the burgeoning ambitions of enfeebled men and their armies." In wars lasting over a 20 year period, Jerusalem and Judea changed masters no less than seven times - in 320BCE, twice in 318, once in 315, once in 312 and again in 302BCE. The accompanying rapine, pillage, devastation and suffering caused to the civilian population and to the city by the various rampaging armies can only be imagined. Once during an Egyptian invasion, when the Jews would not defend Jerusalem on Shabbat, the invaders sacked the city and many Jerusalemites were exiled to Egypt. A contemporary historian noted with disdain that Jerusalem "by its folly had acquired a harsh master". Ptolemy was finally victorious and succeeded in occupying Eretz Yisrael. Judea and Jerusalem became part of the Ptolemaic kingdom for over a century (312-198BCE). There are very few sources of information about Eretz Yisrael under the Ptolmies.

Administratively it was part of the province of "Syria and Phoenicia". The period of Ptolemaic suzerainty was remarkable for one thing; the Jewish population of Judea enjoyed an unprecedented four generations of peace. Major technological advances that increased agricultural production and the introduction of coined money for use by the masses were probably the most important Ptolemaic economic innovations. The Ptolemaic kings integrated the economy of Judea with that of Egypt, and Eretz Yisrael shared in the general prosperity despite heavy taxation administered by corrupt Greek officials.

It is estimated that the population of Judea doubled and perhaps even tripled during these four generations, causing many Jews to move out of the narrow Jewish enclave around Jerusalem into other parts of Eretz Yisrael. But these Jews were not ordinary immigrants and it was well known that they had no intention of assimilating into the local population which occupied these areas. It was common knowledge that the Jews had once ruled all of Eretz Yisrael (at least theoretically) and that they considered the entire country as their divine patrimony, thereby raising irredentist fears among the non-Jewish population. In addition, following the practice of Alexander, the Ptolemies, established numerous Greek cities throughout their kingdom including Eretz Yisrael - particularly on the Mediterranean coast and in the area east of the Jordan River. Other older cities were also Hellenized and received the same privileges as the new Greek cities.

Some cities were given Greek names; Acco was renamed Ptolemais, Beit She'an became Scythopolis, and Rabbat-Ammon, became Philadelphia. Many Greek cities in this area - including Damascus - were included in the group of ten cities termed 'the Decopolis'. Nine out of ten cities of 'the Decopolis' were east of the Jordan, the tenth Beit She'an- now Scythopolis - was to the west. Extensive excavations in Beit She'an and Jerash - the 'City of a Thousand Pillars' attest to the magnificence of these cities. It has been estimated that no less than 31 Greek cities were founded in Lilliputian Eretz Yisrael. The Jewish community, hemmed in on all sides, became completely "enmeshed" in the political, economic and social reality of the local version of the greater oikoumene. The new Greek cities radiated Greek mores, culture, thought and philosophy; the Greeks were the world's best architects, artists and sculptors. They wrote magnificent plays, composed melodious music. They were philosophers, scientists, mathematicians and debaters. In many ways, the Greek civilization was one of the most brilliant in history. Planted in Eretz Yisrael by generations of Hellenistic rulers and strengthened by their Roman successors, these Greek cities were to become serious economic, political and demographic barriers to Jewish expansion. Demographically on the defensive, the Greek cities always actively supported the Seleucids and later the Romans in their constant battles with Am Yisrael over the future of Eretz Yisrael. And when they had the opportunity, they frequently massacred the Jews living in their midst.

F.E. Peters (Harvest of Hellenism pg. 226) notes, "What came out of the association was …an open-ended society in that the ruling class, the Hellenes permitted, if they did not encourage, additions to their ranks by the process of cultural assimilation. From the moment Alexander came to Asia, down to the Arab invasion, Hellenism provided the single operative criterion of caste in the east. …the (Greek) cultural liaisons were splendidly promiscuous, and the acculturated easterner, had no trouble in the oikoumene…" Many members of the "native" upper classes and literati in Judea and elsewhere in the oikoumene were fascinated by the glitter of this new cosmopolitan civilization and wondered how they might participate.

Many did and the resultant "brain drain" of the "best and the brightest" over generations and centuries caused many local cultures through- out the oikoumene to atrophy and die. We can see how the process began. II Mac. 4:12 describes how young Kohanim, "despising the Temple, and neglecting the sacrifices, hastened to be partakers of the unlawful allowance in the place of exercise …not setting by the honors of their fathers, but liking the glory of the Grecians best of all." Josephus notes how the aristocratic Tobiads and their "cultured" friends "retired to King Antiochus (IV) and informed him that they were desirous to leave the laws of their country (i.e. the Torah), and the Jewish way of living… and to follow… the Grecian way of living." High priests from all over the oikoumene hasted to "modernize" their temple rites and over the centuries, even the venerable Egyptian and Babylonian cults were largely Hellenized. The erudite Professor Fergus Millar (The Roman Near East pg.505) comments, that by Roman times, "We might be tempted to suppose that a 'Syrian' identity will best have been preserved in the context of 'native' temples and cults, perhaps attended by a traditional or hereditary priesthood. But no dynasties of 'Syrian' priests are traceable at all; and in the most remote of rural or mountain-top locations, the temples that we can find, are built in the Graeco-Roman style and marked with Greek inscriptions … The only priesthood known from the Near East under Roman rule which represented both an actual and a conscious inheritance from a distant, pre-Hellenist past, was the Jewish High Priesthood in Jerusalem…"

Catriel is in the process of writing a book: The Temple of Jerusalem, A Pilgrims Prospective; A Guided Tour through the Temple and the Divine Service

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