Hellenistic Palestine
Hellenistic Palestine is a term used to discuss the history of the region of Palestine during its Hellenistic period from 333 BCE to 63 BCE, when Achaemenid Syria was conquered by Alexander the Great and subsumed into his growing Macedonian empire. It includes the history of Hellenistic Judea, which may have still been a province among others, as well as what some scholars refer to as the Land of Israel though the written material on the provincial organization for this period is scant.
Numismatic evidence shows that there were several important poleis that served as important centers under Achaemenid rule and retained minting rights under Hellenistic rule. These include the coastal centers of Ascalon, Gaza, and Ptolemais, as well as to a lesser degree, Demetrius-by-the-sea, and for very local use and distribution Jerusalem, and Samaria.
After his death in 323 BCE, Alexander's empire was divided among his generals, the Diadochi, marking the beginning of Macedonian rule over various territories, including Coele-Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine. This initial period saw numerous conflicts as former generals vied for control, leading to ongoing power struggles and territorial exchanges. Ptolemaic rule began with Ptolemy I Soter taking control of Egypt in 322 BCE and consolidating control over Palestine by 301 BCE due to its strategic significance.
Ptolemaic rule brought initial stability and economic prosperity to the region. Ptolemy I and his successor, Ptolemy II Philadelphus brought the Ptolemaic dynasty to its zenith by winning the first and second Syrian Wars, and initiating several large-scale building projects, expanding and fortifying existing and new urban settlements. Despite these successes, ongoing conflicts with the Seleucids, particularly over the strategic region of Coele-Syria and the Palestinian coastal cities led to more Syrian Wars. The peace and stability enjoyed by the local population under Ptolemaic rule were disrupted by these wars, and the region's control fluctuated due to the military campaigns and political maneuvers.
Seleucid rule began in 198 BCE under Antiochus III the Great, who, like the Ptolemies, allowed the Jews to retain their customs and religion. However, financial strains due to obligations to Rome led to unpopular measures, such as temple robberies, which ultimately resulted in Antiochus III's death in 187 BCE. His successors faced internal and external conflicts that sowed dissatisfaction among the local population. The Maccabean Revolt, led by Judas Maccabeus, highlighted the growing unrest and resistance against Seleucid authority, eventually leading to significant shifts in power dynamics within the region.
The Hasmonean dynasty emerged from the Maccabean Revolt, with Simon Thassi becoming high priest and ruler, establishing an independent Judea. His successors, notably John Hyrcanus, greatly expanded the territory controlled by the kingdom by military conquest in Seleucid held areas, while maintaining diplomatic relations with Rome and the Ptolemies. However, internal strife and external pressures from the Seleucids and later the Romans, led to the decline of the Hasmonean dynasty. The intervention of the Roman general Pompey in the 63 BCE Siege of Jerusalem, marked the end of independent Hasmonean rule. The region was annexed by the Roman Republic, marking the end of the Hellenistic period in Palestine, and the beginning of Roman rule of Palestine, which brought Roman Judea under its rule. The dynasty's official end came in 40 BCE when Herod the Great was crowned as a client king of Judea by the Romans, solidifying Roman control over the region.
Macedonian rule
The beginning of the Hellenistic Period is marked by the conquest of Alexander the Great who defeated Persian forces led by Darius III in the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE. He led his forces on to besiege and conquer Tyre at the beginning of 332 BCE, ending that year with the siege and conquest of Gaza, following unsuccessful months long resistance by these two fortified cities. Gaza was largely destroyed, its people killed or captured, and rebuilt and resettled by people in its immediate environs willing to live under Alexander's rule. Curtius reports that Alexander also destroyed the city of Samaria and expelled its inhabitants after Samaritans lynched Andromachus, the governor of Syria there, and re-established the city as a Macedonian military colony.When Alexander died in 323 without heirs his generals fought to divide the empire among themselves. Palestine and Phoenicia were especially coveted due to the geostrategic location, as well as the productive economic strength of their coastal cities and role of their ports in Mediterranean trade networks. Two of these generals, Ptolemy I Soter and Seleucus I Nicator, emerged as the founders of two eponymous dynastic empires, the Ptolemaic empire and the Seleucid empire, who would battle each other in the Syrian wars for control over Palestine for most of the Hellenistic period.
Ptolemaic rule
The Ptolemaic dynasty begins with Ptolemy I Soter taking control of Egypt in 322 BCE, though he was not officially crowned until 305 BCE. Seleucus I Nicator emerged the head of the satrap of Babylon, consolidating control by 312 BCE after rival attempts to wrest it from him by Antigonus I Monophthalmus and his son, Demetrius I of Macedon. During this initial period marked by the Wars of the Diadochi control over Palestine went back and forth between the Ptolemies and Seleucids, with Ptolemy consolidating his grip over it and southern and central Phoenicia as far north as Aradus by 301 BCE.Not much is known about the happenings of those in Judea from the time of Alexander's death until the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BCE due to frequent battles centered largely on the strategic coastal plains, but the local population is generally assumed to have been content with Ptolemy's rule, which brought them peace and economic stability, allowing them to keep their religious practices, so long as they paid their taxes and did not rebel. By contrast, cities on the Palestinian coast vital to trade, particularly Gaza and Jaffa, suffered serious continuing instability and destruction in the wake of ongoing battles.
It is known that Idumea emerged as an administrative unit early on in the Hellenistic period. It is referred to as an eparchia by Diodorus in his recounting of Antigonus' campaign in the region following the defeat of his forces at "Old Gaza" by the then allied forces of Ptolemy and Seleucus in 312 BCE.
After Ptolemy I came Ptolemy II Philadelphus who brought the Ptolemaic dynasty to the peak of its power. He was victorious in both the first and second Syrian Wars, but after trying to end the conflict with the Seleucids by arranging a marriage between his daughter Berenice II and the Seleucid king Antiochus II, he died. The marriage did not work and Berenice, Antiochus, and their child were executed by order of Antiochus' former wife. This was one of the reasons for the third Syrian War.
Ptolemy undertook many large construction works in Palestine, tripling the size of the Old City of Acre and building new walls and fortifications, the bases of which still encircle the city today He renamed it Ptolemais. Acre was the administrative capital of Palestine in this period, minting its own coins in 261 BCE. Further work was done to the walls of Dor and Gaza, as they were damaged in the wars of the Diadochi. Ptolemy II also founded three new cities inland at strategic locations, some on already existing sites, given the region's long history of habitation. One was named Philoteria, after his sister Philotera II and located at the southern end of the Sea of Galilee between two streams, making it an island-like settlement surrounded by natural moats. Also constructed, fortified and renamed by Ptolemy II were Scythopolis to the south of Philoteria and Philadelphia which sat on the King's Highway.
File:4551 - Istanbul - Museo archeol. - Zeus - sec. II d.C. - da Gaza - Foto G. Dall'Orto 28-5-2006.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Statue of Dagon/Marnas from Gaza portrayed in the style of Zeus unearthed in Gaza in Tell es-Sanam
One of the rare sources for contemporary accounts of Syria-Palestine at this time are the Zenon Papyri, which contains detailed records of imports from the region into Egypt, part of records kept on taxes imposed and collected by the Ptolemaic administration on trade and commercial activity, as well as accounts of the visit of a Ptolemaic official named Zenon to the region between 258 and 259 BCE. Among the places mentioned in the letters were the cities of Gaza, Afek, Acre, Kadesh, and Tyre. Among the goods shipped through the ports of Gaza and Ptolemais/Acre, where new customs houses had been established, were wine, honey, wool, sponges, and nuts.
The Zenon Papyri also shed some light on Ptolemaic relations with the Nabataeans, whose kingdom to the south, east and northeast, was on the rise at this time due to their control of the major trade routes crossing the region, as well as their own trade in incense and bitumen from the Dead Sea. Nabataean traders would bring these much prized goods to the port of Gaza where the Ptolemaic customs house would export them on to Pelusium.
Ptolemaic rule continued the practice of the former Persian empire of designating good farming land, "the King's Land", while also imposing a new taxation regime called "tax farming". Bigger farmers collected the high taxes of the smaller farmers. These farmers made a lot of money off of this, but it also put a rift between the aristocracy and everyone else. During the end of the Third Syrian War, the high priest Onias II would not pay the tax to the Ptolemy III Euergetes. It is thought that this shows a turning point in the Jew's support of the Ptolemies.
The Fourth and Fifth Syrian Wars marked the end of the Ptolemaic control of Palestine. The Battle of Raphia between the forces of Ptolemy IV of Egypt and Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid Empire was one of the largest battles in the ancient and Hellenistic worlds involving the use of war elephants. Both of these wars impacted Palestine more than the previous three. The combination of the ineffective Ptolemaic rulers and the might of the large Seleucid army ended the century-long rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty over Palestine.