Alexander the great. on his way to conquer the whole east, did not deem it necessary to storm Jerusalem. The inhabitants submitted, and lie even deigned to have sacrifices offered on his behalf to the national trod of his new subjects, a great number of whom, and of Samaritans, lie carried away to Egypt (where Jews were supposed to have immi grated as early as the time of the last kings of Judah, and later under Artaxerxes °elms), and peopled a third of his newly-founded city Alexandria with the Jewish captives. After him, Ptolemy the son of Lagos, surnamed Soter, one of Alexander's generals, who bad become king of Egypt, invaded Syria, took Jerusalem (301 me.), and carried off 100,000 of its inhabitants, whom be forced to settle chiefly in Alexandria and Cyrene. The Egyptian (Alexandrian) "dispersion" (Golah)—destined to be of vastest importance in the development of Judaism and Christianity—gradually spread over the whole country, from the Libyan desert in time n., tc, the boundaries of Ethiopia in the s., over the Cyrenaica and part of Libya, and along the borders of the African coasts to time Mediterranean. They enjoyed equal rights with their fellow-subjects, both Egyptian and Greek, and were admitted to the highest dignities and offices: so that many further immigrants followed of their own free-will. The free development which was allowed them enabled them to reach, under Greek auspices, the highest eminence in science and art. In Greek strategy and Greek statesmanship, Greek learning and Greek refinement, they were ready and brilliant disciples; even their artisans and workmen were sent for by distant countries. From the number of Judeo-Greek fragments, historical, didactic, epic, etc. (by Demetrios, Malchos, Eupolemos, Artapan, Aristaeos, Jason, Ezechielos. Philo, Theodot, etc.), which have survived, we may easily conclude what. an literature must have sprung up here within a few centuries in the midst of the Judeo Egyptian community. To this is owing, likewise, the Greek translation of the Bible, known as time Septuagint (q.v.). which, in its turn, while it estranged time people more and more from the language of their fathers, the Hebrew, gave rise to a vast pseudo epigraphical and apocryphal literature (Orphica, Sibyllines, PSeudophoclea; poems, by Lim's, Homer, Hesiod; additions to Esther, Ezra, the Maccabees, Book of Wisdom. Baruch, Jeremiah, Susannah, etc.). not to mention the peculiar Greco-Jewish philoso phy, which sprang from a mixture of Hellenism and Orientalism, of which we have spoken at some length in the article GNosTrcs.
For a hundred years Judea herself remained under Egyptian rule. During the reigns of the first three Ptolemies, Soter, Philadelphus, and Eucrgetes, it prospered, but after the accession of Ptolemy Philopater, a change for the worse came over the fortunes of the Jews. Their fate became harder still under his son, Antiochus Epiphaues, or Epi manes (the madman). With every means a cruel and foolhardy policy could devise, this king outraged time religious feelings of time nation, and endeavored to tear out every root of the sacred creed. At different periods he sent his generals to Jerusalem to pillage and burn, and to force the Jews into the Greek religion. The temple at Jerusalem war finally dedicated to Jupiter Olympias; idol altars were built in every village, and the people forced to offer swine daily. Some yielded, many fled, the greater part preferred martyrdom in some shape or other.
At this juncture the heroic family of Matathia, a priest of the house of the Asmo neans, rose, together with a few. patriots, the immense power of the Syrians. The national 'cause quickly gathered strength, and after the death of Matathia (166), Judas Maccaboeus (q.v.) led the national hosts to victory against the Syrians. After his death (161 B.c.), his brothers Jonathan and Simon eompIeted the work of deliverance, and reinstituted the Sanhedrin] (145 B.c,). During their rule, alliances were twice formed with the Romans, and the country once more began to prosper, Under Simon more especially, Syrian rule became a mere shadow; his was an almost absolute power. So much so, that in the year 170 of the Selcucidian era (142 B.c.), a new Jewish era was commenced, and public documents bore date, " In the first year of Simon, high-priest and chief of the Jews." Simon's son, John Hyrcanus, after a brief period of vassalage to the Syrians, extended his authority over Samaria, Galilee, and Iduinea—his grand triumph, in the eyes of his countrymen, being the destruction of the Samaritan temple on Mt. Gerizim (129 B.c.); but in reality his most surprising success was the subjugation of the Idtuneans, and their conversion to the Jewish religion. His son, Aristobulus, added Iturea—a district at the base of the Anti-Libanus—to his dominions, but died, after a short reign, of remorse for the murder of his mother, Salome Alexandra, to whom the secular dominion had been bequeathed by Hyrcanus, but whom Aristolpulus had cast into prison, and caused there to die of hunger. The son who succeeded him was Alexander Januwus. Constantly fighting, and generally beaten, this king yet, strange to say, contrived to enlarge his territories; restless and enterprising as he was cruel and sanguinary, he gave his opponents no rest, and his opponents were all his neighbors in turn, excepting Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. Attached to the Sadducees (o 7.), like his father, and probably something of a pagan, he was disliked by the mass of his countrymen, and a civil war of six years' duration ensued. After a brief period of peace, he died (78 B.c.), recommending, however, his wife, Alexandra, to throw her self into the arms of the very party who had thwarted him all his life, the Pharisees (q v.), as the best way of retaining her authority. This she did; and governed, on the whole, prudently for nine years. The Pharisaic party, however, abused the power which fell into their hands, and a reaction took place. Aristobulus, youngest son of the queen, and a prince of great spirit, placed himself at the head of the movement, marched to Jerusalem, took possession of the city, and ejected his elder brother, Hyrcanus II., from the sovereignty. Afterwards, however, the latter, at the instigation df Antipater, the Idumean, and father of Herod the great, fled to Aretas, king of northern Arabia, who was induced, by the promise of a cession of the territory which had been acquired by Alexander Janmeus, to take up arms on his behalf. This led to the interference of the Romans, who were then fighting both in Syria and Armenia. After several vicissi tudes, Jerusalem was captured (63 by Pompey, who had decided in favor of Hyr canus, and Judaea made dependent on the Roman province of Syria, and Hyrcanus appointed ethnareh and high-priest. Aristobul, however, with his two sons, Alexander and Antigonus, and two daughters, were carried captive to Rome.