The Great Mistake of Alexander: How One Sentence Broke an Entire Empire?

From the days of Alexander the Great onwards, the Hellenistic states were in a two-way cultural interaction with Greek culture: they learned from it, and it learned from them. But in the land of Judah, Greek culture did not initially take hold. The Jews were not interested in it, and the Greeks could not comprehend the religious concepts of the Jews, which were far from the pagan world they knew.

Alexander the Great, after conquering the world, fell ill at age 33 and was about to die. This was in the year 323 BCE. When asked by those around him, "Who would you like to replace you?", he replied: "The best." This answer, despite being clever, was a bitter mistake, as everyone believes they are the best. The four great generals of his army began a war over the throne. The war became a series of wars known as the "Wars of the Diadochi."

In 301 BCE, the great Battle of Ipsus took place, near the village of Ipsus, in modern-day Turkey. The battle's results determined that Alexander's empire was divided into several parts. The two main kingdoms formed were the Seleucid Kingdom, the largest, ruled by Seleucus, one of Alexander's commanders, who ruled over most of the empire, throughout the Middle East up to Babylon and the eastern countries to India, and the Ptolemaic Kingdom, which ruled Egypt and the region.

The Land of Israel was annexed to the Ptolemaic Egypt. For exactly one hundred years, the Land of Israel was part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. The conduct of the state of Judah at that time continued the conditions under which it operated under the Persian Empire, as promised by Alexander to Shimon the Righteous. In Judah, there was a Greek "oikonómos" who collected taxes, instead of the Persian satrap who used to collect taxes, but other matters of the land were managed by the Sanhedrin, who received a charter stating they governed according to the "laws of the Jewish forefathers." To this end, Judah was recognized as a separate "ethnos," a state different from the rest of the Syrian region. According to the laws of the empire, it was forbidden to worship idols within the Jewish state. The Jews had one commitment that Shimon the Righteous made to Alexander: not to interfere in foreign affairs.

Along the coasts of the Land of Israel were several cities that were mainly Gentile cities, people engaged in shipping and foreign trade, and thus there were also cities that held the status of "polis," and their inhabitants had Greek citizenship, such as the port city of Acre. However, this was not related at all to the state of Judah, which focused on Jerusalem, the lowlands, and the mountainous region. Life in Judah revolved around the Temple and the Great Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was then called in Greek "gerousia," or the Council of Elders. It was comprised of distinguished priests and the elders of the houses of the Judah families.

Foreign policy was, as mentioned, in the hands of the Ptolemaic Empire. It was responsible for the military situation against other states. In the land, there sat a Greek "strategos" who commanded the garrison. In Jerusalem, a vast fortress was built, known as the "Citadel," or "Acra." It was impenetrable, built from massive stones, and accessed through narrow slits and tunnels that were impervious to military assault. It was high, and it was possible to oversee any military organization in Jerusalem and the area from it. The territory of the state of Judah extended from the fortress of Beit Zur in the south, on the border of "Idumea," the Edomite settlement in the Judean Desert, up to Beit El and Beit Horon in the north. A fairly small area.

The king of the Ptolemaic Empire was Ptolemy, son of Lagus, who was appointed by Alexander himself as the governor of Egypt, in the city he founded, none other than Alexandria. Ptolemy was one of the commanders in the glorious Battle of Issus, where Alexander overcame the Persians, and one of his deputies and bodyguards. He established his kingdom, which included Egypt and the Land of Israel. He did not show special interest in the Land of Israel, as he was a general and a military man, with no inclination toward philosophy. In Egypt, he showed great interest, as the quantities of grain grown in the country served as a massive source of income for him. The Greeks called Egypt "the granary of the East," as it had been since the time of Pharaoh during the days of 'Joseph the Righteous.' His kingdom remained stable for about twenty years.

A certain change occurred during the time of his son, Ptolemy II, about which in the next chapter.

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