Legendary visits by Alexander the Great
Upvote:5
Jerusalem being the capital of a province of his empire, that he passed by at least twice going to and returning from Egypt, it seems most unlikely that Alexander didn't visit Jerusalem. He apparently went out of his way to visit the Siwa Oasis (where his god-hood was confirmed) after founding Alexandria.
Chapter Eight of Volume XI of Josephus describes the entry of Alexander into Jerusalem in somewhat fantastic terms, but there doesn't seem an obvious reason why this would be manufactured.
.... And when the Book of Daniel was showed him [Alexander] wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended. And as he was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the present; but the next day he called them to him, and bid them ask what favors they pleased of him; whereupon the high priest desired that they might enjoy the laws of their forefathers, and might pay no tribute on the seventh year. He granted all they desired. ....
Felix Goldberg below raises good points about the veracity of Josephus' story above.
However:
- Compared to visiting the Siwa Oasis - 10-14 days travel due south into the Libyan desert, don't get lost in that featureless waste or you die - a quick jaunt from Gaza to Jerusalem is nothing.
- Alexander was vain - he seems to go anywhere, and do anything, to have his divine destiny to overthrow the Persians reaffirmed. As evidence, note point (1) above.
Certainly the story by Josephus is fanciful, and undoubtedly exaggerated in its details; but I still see no reason to doubt it's core, given Alexander's demonstrated vanity for this sort of attention. Just a whisper in his ear that the Jews had a holy book in a great temple foretelling a Greek defeating the Persians, and I think he would have postponed even a battle to visit in person.
More post
- 📝 How much would votes sell for in early America?
- 📝 Please help with identifying this uniform, taken in Turkey 1940s
- 📝 Why didn't Iran declare war on the United States for shooting down flight-655?
- 📝 Where did Otto von Bismarck say "lying awake all night, hating"?
- 📝 Why were Chinese divisions undersized?
- 📝 Did any English duke ever grant away an earldom he held?
- 📝 Was Italian production after August 1944 significant in the German war effort?
- 📝 Which were the most important ghettos during Holocaust?
- 📝 Could the Soviet Union have supported Czechoslovakia primarily by air in 1938?
- 📝 Why did early attempts to transport milk to London by rail meet with 'much criticism'?
- 📝 Why is president Nixon considered worst president in the history of US?
- 📝 Libya: Did Gaddafi forbid locks in private homes and order people to swap jobs?
- 📝 Why didn't USSR "bust a move" to veto the Korean War?
- 📝 When did English become a major subject in Japanese schools?
- 📝 Why is there a gap of information in Russia for human migration?
- 📝 Earliest Born Photographed Person
- 📝 Have there been known instances in history when a queen consort slept with someone other than her husband, and no one got hurt? How was that possible?
- 📝 Was Pericles the only famous loss from the plague in Athens?
- 📝 Are there any primary sources on the letter Hulagu wrote to Qutuz?
- 📝 How much salt did people in agricultural societies eat?
- 📝 The destruction of the Mycenaean palaces and the Sea-peoples
- 📝 Who was the richest person in the world at the start and end of WW2?
- 📝 Why was the Soviet Marine Infantry disbanded in 1947?
- 📝 Has anyone ever got more than a 21 Gun Salute?
- 📝 Who was Professor Henri Andre and what did he publish?
- 📝 Did Roman statutory law in the 1st century allow for crucifixion of non slaves?
- 📝 Why require every ploughman to make his own plough?
- 📝 Where were the British Forces located during Napoleon's Egypt Campaign?
- 📝 Historically, was the War of 1812 ever called by another name?
- 📝 When was natural gas first used for cooking food?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Legendary visits by Alexander the Great
- 📝 Was Alexander the Great Greek or Macedonian?
- 📝 Were Alexander the Great and Hephaestion lovers?
- 📝 Who governed while Alexander the Great was away conquering Asia?
- 📝 Did Alexander the Great destroy a city to demonstrate his ability to reign?
- 📝 How was Alexander the Great able to rule so much territory?
- 📝 Was Alexander the Great ever an emperor?
- 📝 What was the personal philosophy of Alexander the Great in his youth?
- 📝 Alexander the Great and Religion
- 📝 Why does Alexander the Great call Greeks free men while Persians slaves?
- 📝 Was Alexander the Great undefeated in every battle?
- 📝 Why did Alexander the Great spare Porus's life?
- 📝 What is the story behind the Education of Alexander the Great by Aristotle - Jose Armet Portanell
- 📝 How did Alexander the Great die?
- 📝 Why did Alexander the Great succeed in overthrowing the Persian Empire?
- 📝 Did Alexander the Great win or lose against Porus (before the eventual 'fleeing')?
- 📝 Why didn't Great Britain give the colonies voting rights?
- 📝 How many people in the US starved to death during the Great Depression?
- 📝 Why does the Great Wall of China follow such a bendy route?
- 📝 During the Great Depression, did the US Army do a study involving paying people to dig a hole and fill it back up?
- 📝 Why did Peter the Great name Saint Petersburg, Russia with a foreign styled name?
- 📝 On what basis do some historians accuse the British government of genocide during the great Irish famine?
- 📝 Did Catherine the Great really call for the abolition of serfdom?
- 📝 Was it possible for a young Japanese woman to end up enslaved in Great Britain in the mid-1600s?
- 📝 Who was the most successful German spy against Great Britain in WWII, from the contemporary German perspective?
- 📝 What did Tacitus write about Nero and the Great Fire of Rome 64AD?
- 📝 How did Alexander III of Macedon get the title "the Great"?
- 📝 What effect did the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir have on Great Britain's international relations during WW2?
- 📝 Why did Stalin push for the Great Purge against the Red Army in 1936?
- 📝 How do Friedman and Bernanke's explanations about the causes of the Great Depression compare?