Philometer's confidence was further shown in appointing Onias Arab-arch, i.e., commander of the Arabian province Heliopolis, and also custodian of the Nile ports.
In the following pages we shall see Egypt gradually losing power and independence through the growth of Rome; but we will notice also that through all these changes the status of the Jews remains almost undisturbed—that unfriendly attacks are confined almost wholly to literary slanders. But then, grave persecutions often began with the pen throughout all Israel's history.
Notes and References.
The Septuagint:
So many Hebrew terms and constructions were used in this Greek translation that it became a modification of the language, a sort of Jewish-Greek.
Schürer, Jewish Life in the Times of Christ, 2d Division iii, (Scribner). This is a very valuable work on this era, but should be accepted with reservation.
Temple of Onias:
A "mound of the Jews" recently unearthed near Leontopolis, doubtless marks the ruins of the Temple of Onias.
Read articles "Alexandria" and "Diaspora," Jewish Encyclopedia, Vols. i and iv respectively.