14 A History of Judaism
mortal danger. From this they were rescued only by the heroic interven-
tion of the king’s beautiful Jewish wife Esther.^15
The demise of the Persian empire as a result of the military conquests
of Alexander of Macedon had great implication for the Jews, who ini-
tially remained loyal to the Persian king Darius. When Alexander
himself paid a visit to Jerusalem, however, he did not plunder the city as
his followers expected but prostrated himself before the High Priest and
offered up sacrifices in the Temple. The great conqueror, according to
Josephus, recognized the power of the Jewish God. The Samaritans
decided to profess themselves Jews in order to obtain favour also for
their city of Shechem, but in vain: when Alexander pressed them as to
their identity, ‘they said they were Hebrews but were called the Sidon-
ians of Shechem’, and when he asked again if they were Jews, they said
they were not, as a result of which they were denied the privileges they
requested. From now on, according to Josephus, the Samaritans and
their temple became a refuge for Jews from Jerusalem accused of violat-
ing religious laws.^16
The rest of Josephus’ history of his people to his own day covered
periods and topics which will in many respects have been more familiar
to his contemporary gentile readers. (A fuller account for readers of this
book can be found in Chapter 5.) Josephus’ readers will have known
how Alexander’s generals divided the Near East between them in a pro-
tracted struggle over his imperial legacy after his early death, with
Seleucus ruling over Babylon and surrounding regions and Ptolemy
gaining control of Egypt. Josephus asserted that Jerusalem fell to
Ptolemy through a ruse, for the king entered the city on the Sabbath as
if coming to make a sacrifice, so that there was no opposition. Ptolemy
ruled harshly, and took many from the Judaean hill country as captives
to Egypt, but under his rule and that of his descendants Jerusalem in
due course prospered. Many Jews settled in Egypt of their own accord,
attracted by the excellence of the country, not least the new city of Alex-
andria, which became the Ptolemaic capital. Josephus claims that the
respect in which the Ptolemies held the Jews was revealed by the deci-
sion of Ptolemy Philadelphus to commission a translation of the Jewish
law into Greek. If the Jews suffered under Ptolemaic rule, it was only
because of the devastation of their land, along with those of surround-
ing regions, during the campaigns of the Seleucids to win their territory
from the Ptolemies. These campaigns ended with the victory of Anti-
ochus the Great and the annexation of Judaea to the Seleucid state.^17
Antiochus began his rule over Jerusalem by proclaiming the right of