Alexander the Great and Jaddus the High Priest According to Josephus

Perhaps the most famous section of the second half of Josephus's Jewish Antiquities is the story of Alexander the Great and the Jews (AJ 11.302–47). It consists of three strands: a story about Manasses, Sanballat, and Alexander; a story about Jaddus and Alexander; and historical data about Philip II, Darius III, and Alexander the Great. In the first strand Manasses, a brother of the high priest Jaddus, marries the daughter of Sanballat, satrap of Samaria, and as a result is ejected from Jerusalem and flees to his father-in-law. Sanballat promises to build a new temple for him and his Jewish followers and intends to ask Darius to authorize the project. When Alexander is victorious, Sanballat transfers his allegiance to the Macedonian conqueror and receives permission from him to build a temple in Samaria. In the second strand, Alexander demands the submission of the Jews but Jaddus, the high priest, remains loyal to Darius.Furious at this rebuff, Alexander marches on Jerusalem. Encouraged by a dream, the high priest and the Jews greet Alexander outside the city. The conqueror of the world bows down before Jaddus and declares that it was Jaddus who had appeared to him in a dream three years earlier and had encouraged him to launch his expedition against Persia. Amidst general rejoicing, Alexander enters the temple, sacrifices to the God of Israel, and bestows gifts upon the Jews.

Temple Destruction, Mourning and Curse in Elephantine, with a View to Lamentations

Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft ◽

10.1515/zaw-2020-0004 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 132 (1) ◽

pp. 84-107

Author(s):

Gard Granerød

Keyword(s):

The World ◽

The City ◽

AbstractThe article discusses the lament over the Temple of YHW in Elephantine from three angles: from the perspective of the internal rhetoric or composition of the letter, from the perspective of the world of the Judaeans who wrote the petition, and from the perspective of the world of the intended recipient of the letter. In addition, the article explores how the mention of collective mourning and curse in the petition letter from Elephantine may provide a text of comparison – and context – for the laments over the destruction of the city of Zion and her temple found in the Book of Lamentations.

Farewell to Freedom

Athens After Empire ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190633981.003.0002 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 9-28

Author(s):

Ian Worthington

Keyword(s):

Classical Period ◽

Alexander The Great ◽

Military Establishment ◽

Philip Ii ◽

The City

After a survey of Athens at the height of its power in the Classical period, the chapter focuses on the rise to power of Philip II of Macedonia, how he expanded his kingdom, his relations with Athens, and his eventual military establishment of hegemony over Greece. Conditions in the city, especially during the Lycurgan era, are covered. On Philip’s death, that hegemony continued under his son, Alexander the Great. When Alexander died, the Greeks, led by Athens, revolted against Macedonian rule in what is called the Lamian War. The Macedonian general Antipater re-established Macedonian control, and punished Athens, including installing a garrison in the city, curtailing democracy, and reducing the number of citizens. This was the start of the Hellenistic era, commonly seen as a slump in Athens’ fortunes.

The Temple of Zeus at Cyrene

Papers of the British School at Rome ◽

10.1017/s0068246200007054 ◽

1958 ◽

Vol 26 ◽

pp. 30-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

R. G. Goodchild ◽

J. M. Reynolds ◽

C. J. Herington

Keyword(s):

North African ◽

World War ◽

Detailed Report ◽

The North ◽

North Eastern ◽

The World ◽

The Subject ◽

The City ◽

Cyrene's largest religious building, the great Temple of Zeus on the north-eastern hill of the city, has been the subject of several explorations. Its cella was partially dug out by Smith and Porcher in 1861, and was completely cleared of soil by the late Giacomo Guidi in 1926, in the excavation which brought to light the famous head of Zeus, pieced together from over a hundred fragments. Then, in the years 1939–1942, fuller work was carried out by Dr. Gennaro Pesce, who published a detailed report with admirable promptness. Despite the interruptions caused by the North African campaigns of the World War, Pesce was able to clear the greater part of the Temple and its fallen peristasis. At the conclusion of his work only the opisthodomos remained unexcavated, although much fallen stone still encumbered the pronaos and the eastern portico.

Smyrna

10.1093/oso/9780195139174.003.0046 ◽

2003 ◽

Author(s):

Clyde E. Fant ◽

Mitchell G. Reddish

Keyword(s):

Asia Minor ◽

Alexander The Great ◽

The Third ◽

The People ◽

Ancient City ◽

Major Route ◽

New City ◽

The City ◽

The Temple ◽

Of Greece

Izmir, the modern name for the city that once was known as Smyrna, is the third largest city in Turkey, with a population of around 3 million. Situated on the Aegean coast, it is Turkey’s second busiest port. Not only is Izmir an interesting place itself to visit, but the city also serves as a good base from which to visit several important sites in the area, such as the ancient cities of Ephesus, Sardis, Miletus, Didyma, and Priene. The ancient city of Smyrna, which according to some reports was the birthplace of Homer, was commercially successful due to its harbor and its location (approximately 35 miles north of Ephesus) at the end of a major route through Asia Minor. The earliest settlement at this location was in the first half of the 3rd millennium B.C.E. on a hill known as Tepekule in the Bayraklï suburb of the city. In the 10th century B.C.E., the first Greek colonists from Aeolia settled at Tepekule. They remained there until the end of the 8th century, when Ionian Greeks took over. Excavations at the site have uncovered houses from the 9th to the 7th centuries B.C.E. In the 7th century a temple to Athena was built. This temple was destroyed around 600 B.C.E. by King Alyattes of Lydia when he captured the city. The people of Smyrna rebuilt and enlarged the temple, but it was destroyed again around 545 B.C.E., this time by the Persians. An insignificant settlement in the 5th and 4th centuries B.C.E., the site was finally abandoned. According to a story related by Pausanias (Description of Greece 7.5.1–3), the city was refounded by Alexander the Great, who was instructed in a dream to establish a new city on Mt. Pagus (now the site of the Kadifekale, or “Velvet Fortress”). The new city was actually not started until the beginning of the 3rd century by the Hellenistic ruler Lysimachus. During the subsequent centuries Smyrna, situated around the harbor, grew and prospered. By the 1st century B.C.E., Strabo was able to describe Smyrna as “the most beautiful of all” cities (Geography 14.646).

Patara

10.1093/oso/9780195139174.003.0040 ◽

2003 ◽

Author(s):

Clyde E. Fant ◽

Mitchell G. Reddish

Keyword(s):

Sand Dunes ◽

Sandy Beaches ◽

Hellenistic Period ◽

Alexander The Great ◽

Port City ◽

Archaeological Evidence ◽

The Past ◽

Ancient Times ◽

The City ◽

In ancient times Patara possessed one of the best harbors on the Lycian coast. Modern visitors will be forced to use their imaginations to visualize the port of Patara, since the harbor eventually fell victim to the effects of silting from the Xanthos River. Today a beach and sand dunes cover the mouth of the ancient harbor, while the inner part of the harbor is now a marsh. Patara served as the port city for Xanthos, the leading city of the region of Lycia, which was located about 6 miles up the Xanthos River. Patara is located on the southwestern shore of Turkey, due east from the island of Rhodes. It is situated about halfway between Fethiye and Kale, near the present-day village of Gelemiş, about 3.5 miles south of the modern road (highway 400) that runs along Turkey’s Mediterranean shore. Patara is approximately 6 miles east of the mouth of the Xanthos River. A stream from the Xanthos flowed into the sea at Patara and deposited the river’s silt there. Important in the past because of its harbor, the area around Patara is known today for its 11 miles of excellent, sandy beaches. Supposedly named after Patarus, a son of Apollo, the city was famous in antiquity for its Temple of Apollo (no archaeological evidence of the temple has yet been found) and the oracle of Apollo. According to ancient tradition, Apollo liked to spend the winter at Patara and thus the oracle of Apollo was operative only during the winter months. Pottery finds at Patara provide evidence for a settlement here as early as the 6th century B.C.E. In 334–333 B.C.E. Patara, along with several other Lycian cities, surrendered to Alexander the Great. During the subsequent Hellenistic period, the city came first under the control of the Ptolemies and then the Seleucids. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (r. 282–246 B.C.E.) expanded the city and renamed it Arsinoe in honor of his wife, but the new name never took hold. In 196 B.C.E., the Seleucid ruler Antiochus III of Syria captured several Lycian cities, including Patara.

Thessalonica

10.1093/oso/9780195139174.003.0024 ◽

2003 ◽

Author(s):

Clyde E. Fant ◽

Mitchell G. Reddish

Keyword(s):

First Century ◽

Alexander The Great ◽

Northern Greece ◽

Philip Ii ◽

The Road ◽

Ancient City ◽

The Family ◽

New City ◽

The City ◽

Point Of Departure

In 315 B.C.E. Cassander, king of Macedonia, once a general in the army of Alexander the Great, founded a new city in his kingdom. He named it for his wife, Thessalonike, daughter of Philip II of Macedon and the half sister of Alexander. In the centuries that followed, Thessalonica became the premier city of northern Greece, enduring and flourishing under Hellenistic, Roman, and Greek control. Many famous figures in world history played important roles throughout its lengthy and colorful existence, including Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, Cicero, Pompey, and Sulëyman I the Magnificent, among others. But no resident or visitor to Thessalonica had a greater influence on the city than an obscure Christian missionary who visited there in the first century, Paul of Tarsus. The first New Testament writing is believed to be Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. Modern Thessaloniki (biblical Thessalonica), second only to Athens among the cities of Greece, is easily reached by automobile or by frequent flights from Athens. Although its ancient ruins and monuments are overshadowed by those of Athens, this city is well worth visiting for its fine archaeological museum and as a point of departure for the spectacular Royal Tombs at Vergina, home to the amazing riches of the family of Alexander the Great. Increasingly, more of ancient Thessalonica is being unearthed by archaeologists and made available to public view. According to Strabo, Thessalonica was established at the site of ancient Therme and formed from the incorporation of twenty-five smaller villages. The ancient city was laid out according to the Hippodamian plan, that is, in rectangular blocks. Its development was encouraged by its fine port and, during the Roman period, by being made the capital of Macedonia. When the Romans connected the Via Egnatia, the historic road linking east and west, to Thessalonica, the city prospered even more. The Roman orator Cicero was exiled in Thessalonica (58–57 B.C.E.) and wrote to his friend Atticus on July 21, 57 B.C.E., that he had delayed leaving the city “owing to the constant traffic along the road” (the Via Egnatia; M. Tullius Cicero, Letters 69).

Apollonia

10.1093/oso/9780195139174.003.0009 ◽

2003 ◽

Author(s):

Clyde E. Fant ◽

Mitchell G. Reddish

Keyword(s):

Alexander The Great ◽

Philip Ii ◽

Solid Gold ◽

Ancient Trade ◽

Greek History ◽

Stone Slab ◽

East And West ◽

Trade Route ◽

The City ◽

Of Greece

Apollonia of Macedonia, a city scarcely known even in Greek history, is on the verge of new prominence as a recent discovery brings its past to light. In the summer of 2000 a farmer digging in his fields near Nea (“new”) Apollonia, 30 miles east of Thessalonica, made an amazing discovery. In the bottom of a trench he found a wreath of thirty solid-gold ivy leaves, decorated with two bunches of grapes, that weighed more than a pound. Only three other wreaths of this type and quality have ever been discovered in all of Greece. Archaeologists from Thessaloniki dated the find at approximately 350 B.C.E., or more than 2,350 years old. (This remarkable wreath is currently on display in the Archaeological Museum in Thessaloniki.) The following day their probings uncovered a statue believed to be an image of the goddess known as the Nike of Samothraki, or the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Subsequently, massive fortifying walls and five towers from the 5th century B.C.E. were uncovered. Likewise, two pottery kilns and sixteen cist (stone slab) graves have been unearthed. Archaeologists now believe that this finding marks the location of ancient Apollonia of Macedonia. More surprising, they estimate its population at 10,000, roughly the same as that of Athens during the same period. The city is believed to have existed from approximately 400 B.C.E. to the 8th century C.E. and to have reached its zenith under Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. The first inhabitants of Apollonia were refugees from the nearby Chalkidiki peninsula who fled that location when it was threatened by Athenian warships during the Peloponnesian War. Prior to the recent discoveries, Apollonia was known only as a station on the ancient trade route between the east and west. King Xerxes of Persia passed through the area in 480 B.C.E. (Herodotus 7.112–115), as did Alexander the Great in his epic journey to the east some 150 years later (Arrian, Anabasis 1.11.4).

Antioch on the Orontes

10.1093/oso/9780195139174.003.0026 ◽

2003 ◽

Author(s):

Clyde E. Fant ◽

Mitchell G. Reddish

Keyword(s):

Biblical Studies ◽

Julius Caesar ◽

Alexander The Great ◽

The Third ◽

Roman World ◽

Greco Roman ◽

The World ◽

Ancient Times ◽

Roman Province ◽

The City

At one time Antioch on the Orontes was one of the three largest and most important cities of the Greco-Roman world, along with Rome and Alexandria (Egypt). Although Antioch faded from prominence centuries ago, the present city, with its population of approximately 150,000, is still a rewarding place to visit. The museum of the city, the Hatay Archaeological Museum, contains one of the best collections of ancient mosaics of any museum in the world. In ancient times Antioch on the Orontes was a part of Syria and thus is sometimes referred to, especially in biblical studies, as Antioch of Syria. (Fifteen other cities in the ancient world were named Antioch as well.) Today the city, now known as Antakya, is just north of the Syrian border, in the Hatay province of southern Turkey. The Orontes River (today called the Asi) connected the city to the Mediterranean Sea. Seleucus I Nicator, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, founded the city. At first Antigonus, another general, controlled Syria, but he was defeated in 301 by Seleucus and other leaders. Seleucus then gained control of Syria and established his own cities, including Antioch and its port city of Seleucia Pieria. Seleucus named the city, which soon became the capital of the Seleucid kingdom, after his father, Antiochus. Subsequent Seleucid rulers, including Antiochus I Soter (r. 281–261 B.C.E.), Seleucus II Callinicus (r. 246–225 B.C.E.), and Antiochus IV Epiphanes (r. 175– 164 B.C.E.), enlarged and enhanced the city. Tigranes of Armenia captured the city in 83 B.C.E., but in 66 B.C.E. he was defeated by the Roman general Pompey, who made Antioch the capital of the Roman province of Syria. Both Julius Caesar and Augustus visited the city, and both erected various buildings there. (The wedding of Mark Antony to Cleopatra likely took place in Antioch. Ancient sources indicate it occurred in Syria but do not specify the city. As the capital, Antioch was the likely location.) During the Roman period, Antioch was a large, cosmopolitan city, the third largest city in the Roman world after Rome and Alexandria.

Amphipolis

10.1093/oso/9780195139174.003.0008 ◽

2003 ◽

Author(s):

Clyde E. Fant ◽

Mitchell G. Reddish

Keyword(s):

Natural Resources ◽

Precious Metals ◽

Aegean Sea ◽

Alexander The Great ◽

Philip Ii ◽

Trade Routes ◽

Ancient City ◽

Strategic Location ◽

The City ◽

Geographical Feature

The modern, small village of Amphipolis belies the importance of the ancient city whose name it bears. Located strategically along the Strymon River and on the Via Egnatia, Amphipolis was one of the most important cities of Macedonia in antiquity. The site of ancient Amphipolis is located between Thessaloniki and Kavala, about 65 miles east of Thessaloniki. From highway E90 there are signs that point the way to Amphipolis. The ancient city sits on a bend on the east bank of the Strymon River, surrounded by the river on three sides. This geographical feature gave rise to the name of the city, since Amphipolis means “around the city.” The site was originally settled by Thracians, who called their settlement Ennea Hodoi, meaning “Nine Ways” or “Nine Roads,” indicating the importance of the location as a crossroads for travel and trade routes. After several failed attempts the Athenians captured the area and founded the city of Amphipolis on the site of Ennea Hodoi in 437 B.C.E. under the leadership of Hagnon. In 424 B.C.E. the city came under Spartan control. Amphipolis was an important city both because of its strategic location on the Strymon River only 3 miles from the Aegean Sea and because of its rich natural resources of agriculture (wine, oil, and wood) and precious metals (especially gold from the mines on Mt. Pangaion). In spite of repeated attempts by the Athenians to recapture the city, Amphipolis remained a free city until its capture by Philip II of Macedon in 358–357 B.C.E. During the time of Macedonian rule, Amphipolis became one of the leading cities in the region. It was one of six cities chosen by Alexander the Great where large, costly temples were built. The city also played a significant role in Alexander’s military conquests. For example, the city and the surrounding area served as the staging ground for the beginning of Alexander’s conquest of Asia. After Alexander’s death his wife Roxane and their young son, Alexander IV, were exiled to Amphipolis. After the Roman victory at Pydna in 168 B.C.E., which effectively ended Macedonian rule, Amphipolis, along with the rest of Macedonia, became a Roman possession.

TEMPLE AND SYNAGOGUE IN JOHN

New Testament Studies ◽

10.1017/s0028688598000514 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 45 (1) ◽

pp. 51-69 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

JUDITH LIEU

Keyword(s):

High Priest ◽

The World ◽

The Relationship ◽

Jesus’ answer to the High Priest in 18.20 offers a key to the pattern of his ministry. Each of the pairs ‘openly: secretly’; ‘the world: the Jews’ and ‘synagogue and Temple’ function significantly in the Gospel, but the last named are most important. In each of the Gospels, ‘synagogue’, ‘house’, and ‘Temple’ play narrative roles in the exploration of the relationship between Jesus with his community and the community of the Scriptures and contemporary Judaism. John's use of these narrative spatial-markers is very different and does not trace the separation of John's community from the synagogue, as often supposed. Instead, the Temple is the place for divine manifestation and where Jesus must be both revealed and rejected.