Hellenistic Conquest of the Levant
Alexander’s conquest brought the Levant under Greek rule, influencing Jewish life for centuries. His death led to decades of regional war and power struggles among his successors, the Diadochi.
Alexander’s Conquest
In 334 BCE, the Macedonian king Alexander began his conquest of the known world, exacting a series of victories against the forces of the Persian Empire and making his way from Macedonia to India. Following his defeat of the Persian king Darius III at the battle of Issus in Asia Minor in 333 BCE, most of Syria fell under Greek control, except for Tyre and Gaza. These cities briefly held out but were besieged and overtaken within months. While the western portions of the defeated Persian Empire were not new to Greek cultural influence, Alexander’s conquests placed the Levant and Egypt under Greek imperial authority, and the weight of Greek language, customs, political organization, and economic control had an immense and enduring impact on these regions. As a result of Alexander’s campaigns, Jews living in both the former Persian-controlled province of Yehud—that is, Judea—and the surrounding areas of the Near East were now subject to Greek rule.
The Historical Record
During his conquest of the Levant, Alexander marched south toward Egypt, but his historians left us no accounts of the absorption of Yehud into the Greek imperial orbit. Writing only much later, Josephus, the first-century CE Jewish historian, described Alexander’s improbable entry into Jerusalem. In Josephus’ surely legendary account, the conqueror pays homage to the Jewish high priest, offers sacrifices in the Temple, and agrees to allow Jews to continue living according to their ancestral laws.
Alexander’s Death and After
When Alexander died in 323 BCE, following his incursions into India, his generals (the Diadochi, or “successors”) divided up his vast empire and subsequently engaged in a prolonged struggle for full control.
Beginning in 301 BCE, a district called Syria-kai-Phoinike (Syria and Phoenicia, corresponding to what is today Israel, Palestinian territories, part of Jordan, and most of Lebanon) fell under the rule of the Ptolemaic kings, based in Egypt; this lasted for a century, until the Seleucids gained control in 200 BCE. Our sources for this period are extremely scarce. The curated texts in the Posen Library present the Hellenistic conquest and its aftermath from both Greek and Jewish perspectives.
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Related Primary Sources
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Mosaic of Alexander the Great
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Map of Alexander's Conquests
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Hecataeus on Moses and the Origin of the Jewish People
Library of History 40.2–3
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Arrian on Alexander's Conquest of the Levant
Anabasis of Alexander 2.15–27 (selections)
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Rufus on Alexander’s Conquest of the Levant
History of Alexander 4.4.3–14
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Alexander and the Jews
Jewish Antiquities 11.297–339 (selections)
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Josephus on the Samaritans in Limbo
Jewish Antiquities 11.340–347
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Rufus Recounts Alexander’s Revenge
History of Alexander 4.8.9–11
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Alexander’s Death and His Successors
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Map of Alexander’s Successors, ca. 301 BCE
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Map of Disputes between the Ptolemies and Seleucids in the 3rd Century BCE
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