What was the significance of the defeat of Persia by Greece for civilization in general and for the Jew in particular?
CHAPTER III.
JUDEA FIGHTS FOR ITS FAITH.
| B.C.E. | B.C.E. | ||
| Seleucidan Era begins | 312 | Judea under Greco-Syrian rule | 203 |
| Uprising under Mattathias | 168 | ||
| Antiochus III, the Great | 223 | Judas Maccabee | 167 |
| Antiochus IV Epiphanes | 175 | Book of Daniel written, about | 166 |
| Temple re-dedicated—Hanukkah | 165 | ||
| Antiochus V, Eupater | 164 |
High Priest's Office Sold.
Antiochus was succeeded by his son of the same name, an eccentric despot who claimed the title of Epiphanes, the "illustrious," though styled by his enemies Epimanes "the madman," and in rabbinic literature Harasha, the "wicked." The rule of this ill-balanced tyrant was to bring woe to Judea, for which their own internal troubles were in a measure responsible. Indeed, it was these discords that drew his attention to this particular province. The Hellenists, who had grown to quite a party, sought his interference in their behalf. Jason offered the king a bribe to make him High Priest and depose Onias, his own brother. What a blasphemy on the holy office to fight for its material powers! The pity was that material power should be vested in a spiritual office, so the system was wrong as well as the man.
Imitation of Greek life went on apace. Olympic games, gymnasia, were now introduced into Judea. These games named from Olympia in Macedonia, Greece, where they first took place, were also religious festivals and were accompanied by sacrifices to the Greek god Zeus. Yet they involved immoralities, so contradictory were some ancient conceptions of religion.
Menelaus, another unscrupulous character, offered to Antiochus a still higher bribe for the priesthood and thus obtained it, regardless of the fact that it had already been sold to Jason. Like master, like man.