History of the Jews, Vol. 1 (of 6)

by Heinrich Graetz

There now appeared on the scene a royal personage who seemed destined to increase the hopeless disorders in Judæa, and to bring greater misery upon the House of Israel than it had ever known before. This man was Antiochus Epiphanes, whom history has justly branded. He belonged to a class of men who have a double nature. He was a mixture of malice and noble impulses; he was cunning and calculating, yet capricious, petty in great enterprises, and great in trivialities. His contemporaries even could not fathom his character, nor understand whether a naturally crippled intellect or simulation was the cause of the absurdities by which he made himself ridiculous in the eyes of the people. He seemed to covet the name of "Epimanes," or the Madman. His early training encouraged him to lead an irregular life. He resided for thirteen years at Rome, whither his father had sent him as hostage for the maintenance of peace and the payment of the costs of the war. Rome had just become the capital of the world. The Romans had conquered the Carthaginians, the Macedonians and the Syrians, and the Eternal City was passing from the austere morality of the Catos to the wantonness of the Claudii. Debauchery and unnatural lust—the immoral practices of the Greeks—speedily took root there. But what Antiochus learnt principally at Rome was contempt of men and their cherished customs; there also he acquired not only insolence, but a hardness of heart which knew no compassion, and the malice which sports with its victim before it strangles it.

Antiochus succeeded in obtaining permission to leave Rome, and to send his nephew Demetrius, son of the king Seleucus Philopator, as hostage in his place. He returned to Syria, probably with the intention of dethroning his brother, but his design had been anticipated by Heliodorus, one of the court magnates, who had murdered Seleucus (175), and taken possession of the kingdom. It may be questioned whether Antiochus was not implicated in this deed; he was at that time at Athens, on his way home. His father's enemy, Eumenes, king of Pergamus, with his brother Attalus, put the murderer Heliodorus to flight, and proclaimed Antiochus king of Syria and Asia. Thus Antiochus attained to power by craft and usurpation; for Demetrius, now a hostage at Rome, was the rightful sovereign. The Romans favoured the usurper, for they hoped, by increasing the dissensions among the royal families, to bring about the fall of those kingdoms which still resisted their power. Antiochus, however, was determined to foil this stratagem of the Romans. A Judæan seer thus graphically describes his accession to the throne:—

"And in his place shall stand up a contemptible person to whom they had not given the honour of the kingdom; but he shall come suddenly, and shall obtain the kingdom by flatteries.... And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully; for he shall come up and shall become strong, with a small number of people. Suddenly shall he come even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them prey, and spoil, and substance." (Daniel xi. 21–24.)

It was in the execution of his designs to deceive the Romans that he introduced in Antioch the Roman gladiatorial combats, in which prisoners of war or slaves were made to fight each other with arms until one succumbed or was killed. Antiochus had entirely banished from his soul the fear of any deity; "he neither reverenced the gods of his ancestors, nor any god whatever, for above all he magnified himself." The Judæans were now in the hands of this monster, who had a heart of stone, and scorned alike man and law, morality and religion. If peace had reigned in Judæa, the country might have escaped his notice, but the discord which the Hellenists had excited there directed his attention towards the Judæan people and their land. The Hellenist party themselves requested his interference in the internal affairs of Judæa, directing his notice to Hyrcanus, whom they hated, and who, residing in his castle near Hesbon, collected the taxes from the Arabian or Nabatæan inhabitants of the land in the name of the king of Egypt. Hyrcanus, dreading an ignominious death, committed suicide, and Antiochus seized all his property.

The Hellenists then carried out their long-cherished plan of divesting their other enemy, the high-priest Onias, of his dignity. The brother of the latter, called Jesus or Jason, promised Antiochus a large sum if he would transfer the high-priesthood to him; and the needy king did not scruple to grant the request. Onias, who journeyed to Antioch, to bring charges against his enemies, was denounced as a partisan of the Ptolemies, and the accuser thus became the accused. The Hellenists, or rather the high-priest, next petitioned Antiochus that those Judæans who were trained for the Greek combats should be registered as Antiochians or Macedonians, and as such be entitled to the privileges of full citizenship, and admitted to all public meetings and games of the Greeks. Games were serious occupations to the Greeks, not mere amusements, but rather the aim and end of life. The Grecian settlers in Palestine and Phœnicia maintained the national tie with their brethren at home by introducing the Olympian games, held every four years, in the land of the barbarians, and such of the latter as were allowed to take part in these games felt themselves greatly honoured by their admission to the Greek nobility.

By introducing gymnasia into Jerusalem, Jason and the Hellenists hoped to obtain the right of Greek citizenship for the Judæans, and thus to diminish the hatred and contempt from which they suffered. As soon as Antiochus had conceded the privilege for which the Hellenists had petitioned, Jason took great interest in superintending the exercises which were to be practised before the Judæans could take part in the Olympian games. The high-priest selected (174) a site for the games in the Birah or Acra (Acropolis), north-west of the Temple. It comprised a gymnasium for youths and an ephebeion for boys. Greek masters were most probably hired to teach the Judæan men and youths their games, which consisted in racing, jumping, wrestling, in throwing discs, and boxing. It soon became evident, however, that these games, which owed their origin to quite a different mode of life, were incompatible with Judaism. According to Greek custom, the men who took part in these contests were naked. The Judæan youths who consented to compete were therefore compelled to overcome their feeling of shame and appear naked in sight of the Temple. Besides, in uncovering their bodies they could immediately be recognised as Judæans. But were they to take part in the Olympian games, and expose themselves to the mockery of the Greek scoffers? Even this difficulty they evaded by undergoing a painful operation, so as to disguise the fact that they were Judæans. Youths soon crowded to the gymnasium, and the young priests neglected their duties at the Temple to take part in the exercises of the palæstra and the stadium. The pious saw with terror this adoption of foreign customs, but they held their peace. Meanwhile even Jason's confederates were dissatisfied with his leaning to Greek manners, when it led to the denial of the fundamental truths of Judaism. When (June, 172) the Olympian games were celebrated at Tyre, at which sacrifices were offered up to the Greek god Hercules, the alleged founder of these combats, Jason sent as ambassadors men who were practiced in these games, and entitled to take part in them. According to custom, they were entrusted with a money contribution to be devoted to sacrifices to Hercules. But the ambassadors, although Greek at heart, felt conscience-stricken at the manner in which this sum was to be employed; it seemed to stamp them as idolaters, and to prove their belief in the divinity of a marble statue. They therefore accepted the commission on condition that the disposal of the money they took with them was to be left to their own discretion. The belief in Israel's God was too deeply rooted even in the hearts of those men who were partial to the Greek customs, and attached to the Hellenistic party to admit of this desecration. Jason's ambassadors gave the money as a contribution to the fleet which Antiochus was fitting out at Tyre.

Meanwhile the dissensions in Jerusalem increased so greatly that pernicious consequences could not fail to follow. The Hellenists were devising intrigues to overthrow Jason, and to have the office of high-priest placed under their own control. They were impelled to this either by feelings of ambition, or by the fear that the brother of Onias was too partial to Judaism, and not sufficiently energetic, to overthrow the patriarchal customs. One of their number, Onias Menelaus, an unscrupulous man, and a brother of that Simon who had denounced Onias, and revealed the existence of the treasures in the Temple, was to be made high-priest. Jason sent the annual contributions to the king through Menelaus, who promised to increase them by 300 talents, if he were made high-priest. He boasted of his great credit, which would enable him to further the king's cause more energetically than Jason. Antiochus did not scruple to transfer the dignity of the high-priest to the highest bidder (172–171). He immediately sent Sostrates, one of his officers, with a troop of Cyprian soldiers, to Jerusalem, to subdue any opposition that might be made, and to watch over the punctual delivery of the promised sums. Sostrates placed the soldiers in the fortified Acra to keep down the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and proclaimed the dismissal of Jason according to the king's order. The latter was either banished or he escaped from Jerusalem, whence he crossed over the Jordan into the land of the Ammonites. This district was governed by a Nabatæan prince, named Aretas, by whom he was cordially received. This change only increased the disorders in Jerusalem; the greater part of the people were indignant that Menelaus, who was a Benjamite, and not of the family of the high-priests, and who besides was known to be opposed to the patriarchal customs, had been invested with that holy dignity. Even the admirers of Greek customs and the lovers of innovations condemned the selection of Menelaus.

Both the followers of Jason and those who did not wish to break entirely with Judaism disapproved of his dismissal. But the malcontents were compelled to be silent, because they feared the presence of the Syrian officer and the Cyprian troops which he commanded; but great excitement prevailed in the minds of the people, and threatened to break forth at the earliest opportunity. Menelaus brought matters to a climax. He had promised the king more than he could give in payment for the dignity he had received. Antiochus was indignant, and summoned him to come and justify himself. Compelled to go to Antioch, he left the capital in charge of his brother Lysimachus, who was as unconscientious as himself, and took holy gifts out of the Temple, intending to sell them in order to make up the required sum. Not finding the king at home, he bribed his lieutenant Andronicus with part of the costly vessels. The worthy high-priest, Onias III., who still resided at Antioch, heard of this crime; he also learnt that Menelaus had sold utensils from the Temple in Tyre and other Phœnician towns. Indignant at such behaviour, he accused Menelaus of robbing the Temple, a crime which was considered heinous even amongst the Greeks. This accusation hastened the death of the deposed high-priest. For Menelaus conspired with Andronicus to remove Onias before the king was informed of the theft committed in the Temple, and of the use made of the plunder. Andronicus, being himself implicated, was anxious to make Onias harmless. He enticed him from the temple of Apollo at Daphne, near Antioch, where he had taken refuge, and slew him (171). This was one more crime added to those of which Menelaus had already been guilty. The murder of the high-priest produced a great sensation, even among the Greeks in Syria, and Antiochus, on his return, was compelled to punish the murderer Andronicus.

Meanwhile Menelaus, although his accuser had been silenced, was forced to try to conciliate the king. In order to do this, he ordered his brother Lysimachus to steal some more of the treasures of the Temple. These thefts, however, did not remain unnoticed; as soon as they were discovered and the perpetrator found out, there arose a feeling of great bitterness against him, which culminated in violence. When the shameful conduct of the two brothers became known to the people outside of Jerusalem, they hurried into the city, and joining the inhabitants of the capital, they threatened the violator of the Temple with death. Lysimachus armed his followers, and placed at their head a man named Avran, an old comrade and fellow-sinner. The unarmed people were not frightened by the soldiers, but attacked them with stones and sticks, blinded them with heaps of ashes, killed a great many, and put others to flight. Lysimachus himself was slain in the vicinity of the treasury of the Temple. Menelaus naturally brought an accusation against the rebels of Jerusalem before the king, and the latter organised a judicial court in Tyre to try the cause. Three members of the council, whom the people had selected for the purpose, proved in so convincing a manner the guilt of Lysimachus and his brother in the matter of the desecration of the Temple that the verdict would have turned against him. But the inventive genius of Menelaus managed to secure the interest of a creature of like mould, who succeeded in turning the balance in favour of the culprit. Antiochus, from his seat of justice, exonerated the criminal Menelaus, whilst he condemned to death the three deputies from Jerusalem, who had so clearly proved his guilt. The Tyrian witnesses of this breach of justice evinced their displeasure by taking a sympathetic part in the funeral of the three noble men, but Menelaus and injustice triumphed. He retained his coveted power, and he formed plans to revenge himself upon the people that hated him so fiercely. He calumniated his enemies, that is to say, the whole nation, before the king. On the one hand, he maintained that his enemies were partisans of the Egyptian court, and that they persecuted him only because he opposed their party intrigues; on the other, Menelaus maligned Judaism; he said that the Law of Moses was replete with hatred of humanity, for it forbade the Jews to take part in the repasts of other nations, or to show any kindness to strangers. As Antiochus was then concentrating all his thoughts on the conquest of Egypt, he believed Menelaus's calumnies, and regarded the Judæans with distrust. If he undertook the hazardous expedition against Egypt, it would be dangerous to leave an enemy in his rear who might become formidable.

At last he carried out his long-cherished plan of attacking Egypt. A pretext for war is easily found, and Antiochus soon discovered one. His sister Cleopatra, married to Ptolemy V., had died, and left two infant sons, Philometor and Physcon, the former of whom was the nominal king, but his two guardians, Eulæus and Lenæus, ruled the country. Antiochus pretended that he was only anticipating the war which would shortly be directed against himself, and assembled his troops to make a descent upon Egypt. He delayed his attack, however, for some time, out of fear of the Romans. But when the latter became involved in a new war with Perseus, king of Macedonia, he ventured at last to cross the Egyptian frontier (170). He defeated the Egyptian army near Pelusium, and penetrated deeper into the country.