| CONTEMPORANEOUS EVENTS. | |
|---|---|
| 441-323 b.c. | |
| b.c. | |
| Peloponnesian War began | 431 |
| Retreat of the 10,000 Greeks | 401 |
| Death of Socrates | 400 |
| Battle of Leuctra | 371 |
CHAPTER VI.
JUDEA UNDER THE YOKE OF EGYPT.
Jerusalem Taken—The Soothsayer and the Archer—Profanity of Ptolemy Philopater—Persecution of the Jews—Judea Wrested from Egypt.
In the first division of Alexander’s empire, Syria devolved to Laomedon, and Egypt to [Ptolemy Soter]. Between them a war arose, and its result was that all the provinces of Laomedon submitted to Ptolemy. The Jews alone, faithful to the oath which they had taken to the defeated ruler, refused to bend to the conqueror. Ptolemy marched against Jerusalem, which, being now strongly fortified, might have held out against him, but that the Jews, from a scrupulous regard to the sanctity of the Sabbath, would not at this period defend themselves on that holy day, 320 b.c. Ptolemy did not treat the Jews with great severity; for, though he sent a large number of them into Egypt, it was rather as colonists than bondsmen.
PTOLEMY SOTER.