The Greek period begins with the operations of Alexander the Great in Asia, 333 B.C., and extends to the time of the Maccabees, 168 B.C.  After Alexander’s death, his empire fell into the two great divisions of Egypt and Syria.  The Egyptian rulers were called Ptolemies, and those of Syria were called the Selucidae.  For one hundred and twenty-five years Palestine was held by Egypt, during which time Ptolemy Philadelphus had the Septuagint version of the Old Testament made at Alexandria.  Syria next secured control of Palestine.  The walls of Jerusalem were destroyed, and the altar of Jehovah was polluted with swine’s flesh.  We now hear of an aged priest named Mattathias, who at Modin, a few miles from Jerusalem, had the courage to kill a Jew who was about to sacrifice on a heathen altar.  He escaped to the mountains, where he was joined by a number of others of the same mind.  His death soon came, but he left five stalwart sons like himself.  Judas, called Maccabeus, became the leader, and from him the whole family was named the Maccabees.  He began war against the Syrians and apostate Jews.  The Syrians, numbering fifty thousand, took up a position at Emmaus, while the Maccabees encamped at Mizpah.  Although greatly outnumbered, they were victorious, as they were in another engagement with sixty thousand Syrians at Hebron.  Judas entered Jerusalem, and repaired and cleansed the temple.  Thus the Maccabean period was ushered in.  After some further fighting, Judas was slain, and Simon, the only surviving brother, succeeded him, and Jerusalem was practically independent.  His son, John Hyrcanus, was the next ruler.  The Pharisees and Sadducees now come prominently into Jewish affairs.  The Essenes also existed at this time, and dressed in white.  After some time (between 65-62 B.C.), Pompey, the Roman general, entered the open gates of the city, but did not capture the citadel for three weeks, finally taking advantage of the day of Pentecost, when the Jews would not fight.  The Roman period began with the slaughter of twelve thousand citizens.  Priests were slain at the altar, and the temple was profaned.  Judaea became a Roman province, and was compelled to pay tribute.

Herod the Great became governor of Galilee, and later the Roman senate made him king of Judaea.  He besieged Jerusalem, and took it in 37 B.C.  “A singular compound of good and bad—­mostly bad—­was this King Herod.”  He hired men to drown a supposed rival, as if in sport, at Jericho on the occasion of a feast, and in the beginning of his reign he slaughtered more than half of the members of the Sanhedrin.  The aged high priest Hyrcanus was put to death, as was also Mariamne, the wife of this monster, who was ruling when the Messiah was born at Bethlehem.  Herod was a great builder, and it was he who reconstructed the temple on magnificent lines.  He also built Caesarea, and rebuilt Samaria.  After his death, the country was divided and ruled by his three sons.  Achelaus