CHAPTER V
THE GREEK AGE
THE GREEKS
The influence of Greece, which afterwards became so important a feature of Hebrew history, began to be felt in Palestine after the rough he-goat of Macedon had smitten the ram with two horns—the Medes and Persians—“in the fury of his power,” and when the four “notable” horns had sprung up after Alexander died. Hitherto we have seen Israel under the power of Semitic Assyrians and Babylonians, and of Egyptians. The first Aryan race with which the Hebrews came in contact was that of the Persians, but Persian civilisation also was founded on that of Babylon, and for long ages the Greeks in the West had been the pupils of Hittites and Semitic Lydians, in Asia Minor, before they developed an art and culture of their own superior to that of Asia. It is true that the enthusiasm of classical scholars has led them to over-estimate the antiquity and importance of Hellenic influence,[174] but the first appearance of Greeks near the shores of Syria is in the time of Sargon (about 710 B. C.), when the names of Greek and of Phœnician kings in Cyprus are noticed. It is of course possible that Cypriote pottery reached Palestine in this age, and it is known that wild Aryans attacked North Syria in the fourteenth century B. C., and even invaded Egypt about 1265 B. C. These fair-haired and blue-eyed peoples are represented on an Egyptian picture about 1200 B. C., but they were defeated on each occasion by the Pharaohs, and were driven back to Asia Minor. Thus they never formed an element of population in Palestine, nor is Greek influence discernible in the monumental remains before about 300 B. C. at earliest.
Alexander won the empire of Western Asia in three great battles, at Issos, at Arbela, and on the Indus; battles which are well worth study, on account of the tactical skill of his arrangements, which—at Issos especially—nullified the numerical superiority of the Persians. After he had entrapped them in the valley east of Tarsus, and after the fall of Tyre and the capture of Damascus, his march on Egypt met with resistance only at Gaza. The statesmanship of Aristotle’s pupil and the generous tolerance of his character rendered him acceptable to Semitic races which had long groaned under the tyranny of the later degenerate Persian monarchs. It is doubtful, perhaps, whether his visit to Jerusalem can be regarded as historical,[175] though there is nothing very inconsistent with Alexander’s method in the accounts; but it is clear that the Hebrews submitted to him without any struggle, and that he favoured the Jews in Egypt, who had a quarter in his new city Alexandria.
TYRUS
Alexander died at Babylon in 324 or 323 B. C., and Laomedon became ruler of Syria and Phœnicia; but Palestine became part of the dominions of Ptolemy I. of Egypt, who took Jerusalem on the sabbath day—the year, however, not being stated.[176] Seleucus, another of these generals, conquered Babylon in 312 B. C., and the “era of the Seleucidæ” dates from October 1 of that year. After the battle of Ipsos in 301 B. C., when the number of independent rulers in West Asia and Greece and Egypt was reduced to four, Seleucus built Antioch as the new trading capital of Syria. Ptolemy II.[177] was a very cultivated ruler, who caused the Law of Moses to be translated into Greek at Alexandria, and sent splendid gifts to the Temple at Jerusalem. The city remained under the Egyptians during the wars between Seleucidæ and Ptolemies, till after the great victory of Antiochus III. (at Baniâs in 198 B. C.) over Scopas, the general of Ptolemy V.[178] Antiochus marched into Gilead, and occupied Samaria. He brought elephants with him even to Jerusalem, where he besieged the citadel and expelled the Egyptian garrison, being apparently received with favour by the Jews. He presented costly gifts to the Temple, including salt (for the sacrifices), which was probably a royal monopoly, and caused the cloisters to be rebuilt, permitting the inhabitants to live according to their own law. He afterwards made a league with Ptolemy V., and Palestine was surrendered as the dower of Cleopatra—daughter of this Ptolemy—whom Antiochus married.[179] During this period the influence of Greek art begins to be notable in extant buildings in Palestine, and not much later a gymnasium was built even at Jerusalem, introducing ideas which were very repugnant to the Jews, but natural to the Greeks.[180] Onias, the high-priest, was the son of Simon the Just, and held office under Ptolemy III. (247–22 B. C.), whom he angered in the matter of taxes. A Levite named Joseph successfully settled the dispute—which was no doubt due to religious scruples. After his death, apparently in 187 B. C., Hyrcanus, a son of this Levite, retired to Gilead—driven out by his elder brothers—and there established himself at Tyrus, making war on the Arabs. His fortress with rocky caves and stables, and his palace of huge masonry, still exist at the place called ’Araḳ el Emîr, or “the Prince’s Cavern”; and the ruins are of great importance as showing that Greek ideas and Greek architectural style dominated the work even of Hebrew priests before 175 B. C. For in that year Hyrcanus, fearing punishment by the new tyrant, Antiochus IV., committed suicide at his palace,[181] which remained apparently unfinished, and is thus the earliest absolutely dated monument of Jewish art under Greek influence.[182]
Josephus mentions the lions that adorned this palace, in defiance of the law, which Hyrcanus broke as Solomon had done, and as even the rabbis of our second century did later, by the representation of living beasts. But the ruins furnish yet more remarkable evidence of Greek influence. The cliff has a gallery excavated more than half-way up its height, and various chambers run in from it, while below are the rock stables with their mangers, and the guard-house with its Aramaic text carved beside the door, proving that we are not dealing with a Greek site. These were planned by Lieut. Mantell, R.E., in 1881, when he also photographed the inscription, which I studied at the same time. It is in Aramaic characters, similar to those of other texts, and to those of the Jewish coins about half a century later. The comparison with these shows very clearly that the earlier copyists mistranslated the text, which reads ’Aûryah, from a root meaning “to be watchful.” It is thus either a direction to the “watch-house,” or an exhortation to the guard to be alert. The palace itself, on the flat ground above the stream, is surrounded on three sides by a broad court having boundary walls 10 feet high. The building itself measures 70 yards north and south, by 50 yards east and west, with a pillared entrance on the north. The unfinished capitals of huge pillars lie amid the ruins inside. On the east wall the top course at each angle is carved with lions, two facing north and two facing south respectively towards the corners. These also were unfinished. The total height of the building is 21 feet, and the lowest course is 8 feet high. The corner-stone is over 17 feet in length, and this fine masonry thus rivals that of Herod at Jerusalem and of the Romans at Ba’albek.
DRAFTED STONES
The reason for thus detailing the characteristics of this building is that it furnishes us with a dated example of Hebrew architecture in the Greek age, in a style which continued in fashion till the last days of ancient Jerusalem. We here find the gigantic ashlar finished with a sunk draft round each block, in imitation of the Greek masonry which characterises the Acropolis at Athens. Earlier explorers, who had a very imperfect acquaintance with Palestine architecture, have spoken of this finish as a “Phœnician bevel,” which is doubly incorrect, since there is no bevel, but a sunken border or draft, while there is no evidence that in Palestine—or in Phœnicia either—such masonry was in use before the Greek age. It never occurs in the older ruins as yet excavated in Judæa, though some writers have attributed to Hebrews and Phœnicians the masonry of later ages, including that of Herod and of the Romans, which they have failed to distinguish from inferior Byzantine imitations found in the walls of churches and monasteries, and even from the drafted masonry of the Franks in the twelfth century, which is distinguishable by the rude projecting bosses, the peculiar tooling of the smooth drafts, and the mason’s marks on stones used in interiors. That Solomon or Hiram ever used drafted masonry there is no evidence at all to prove.
Not only is this masonry Greek in style, but other details are equally classic, such as those of the Corinthian capitals at the north gate, the frieze with triglyphs, and the details of ornament with conventional honeysuckles and ovulæ of a cornice. We have just that combination of Greek and Asiatic ideals which we find in the Herodian architecture, and in the rock tombs of the Herodian age at Jerusalem, as will be noticed later. The palace of Hyrcanus is evidence of the rapid Hellenising of the Jews, which might have gone on without a check had not the intolerance of Antiochus IV. roused the patriotism of the Hasmonæans, and the puritanism of the Ḥasidim, or “pious,” whom they led in the great struggle for civil and religious liberty.