In this lecture, our story starts in 336 B.C., when Philip ll of Macedon
was assassinated and his son Alexander became king of Macedonia
and ruler of Greece. Two years later, Alexander launched an invasion
of the Persian Empire; over the course of the next few years, Alexander
fought and won three major battles against the Persian King Darius lll.
Alexander eventually became ruler of all of Persia, and he continued to
push eastward across the Indus River Valley into India. In this lecture,
we discuss the conquest of Alexander the Great and Alexander’s impact
on the Jews and Jewish tradition. We conclude by exploring possible
parallels between the traditions surrounding Alexander the Great in
Jewish eschatological thought and the mythology of Jesus.
Jewish Traditions about Alexander the Great
1. During the course of Alexander the Great’s march through the
Persian Empire, he traveled to Egypt in 332 B.C. While there, he
took two significant actions that would contribute to his legacy:
He founded a new city on the coast, Alexandria, named after
himself, and he visited an oracular shrine dedicated to the god
Zeus Ammon in the Siwa Oasis. Of particular consequence is
that when Alexander approached the shrine, he was greeted by
the local priests as if he were a god.
2. The Judeans were now under Alexander’s rule. However, Greek
historians do not mention Jerusalem or the Jews in connection
with Alexander’s conquest, which is not surprising because Judea
was the home of an obscure people and an insignificant tribe. In
fact, no contemporary Jewish sources refer to Alexander either.
3. In order to reach Egypt from the north, Alexander would have
traveled along the coast. lt is unlikely that he would have taken
the mountainous roads into the interior of the country, which
would have led to Judea and Jerusalem.
4.When Alexander took the coastal road to Egypt, he had to
make arrangements to administer the country. lt is significant
that he maintained the religious and political privileges that the
Jews had enjoyed under the Persians. Basically, he left the
governing system intact and replaced the Persian officials and
administrators with his own officials.
5. ln the centuries after the death of Alexander, when he became
“the Great,” the Jews sought to associate themselves with
Alexander and his greatness. Jewish sources told of a supposed
visit by Alexander to Judea and Jerusalem, and other traditions
began to develop and circulate, as well.
a. Perhaps the best known of these stories is Daniel’s vision,which is told in Daniel 8:1-27. ln this passage, Danielis shown a vision that involves a ram and a he-goat. Thepassage explicitly identifies the ram, which has two horns,with the king of Media and Persia-hence, the two horns.The he-goat, coming from the west, is Alexander the Great,who conquers the ram; in other words, Alexander conquersthe Persian Empire.6. Another celebrated legend involving the Jews and Alexander is
b. Daniel’s vision relates to the coming end of days, embeddingAlexander in Jewish eschatological thought.
preserved by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.
a. According to Josephus, in visiting Jerusalem, Alexander wasgreeted by the Jewish high priest, Jaddua, who presentedthe king with the Jewish community’s capitulation; then,Alexander offered a sacrifice in the Jerusalem Temple.Alexander and the Samaritans
b. ln this story, not only did Alexander make a detour in orderto meet with the Jews and go to Jerusalem, but when hesaw the high priest and the name of God, he was so awedthat he bowed down. Alexander, according to this legend,recognized the greatness of the God of Israel.
1. What happened with the Samaritans under Alexander provides
an interesting contrast with the legend of Alexander among the
Jews. While the Jews submitted peacefully to Alexander, the
Samaritans did not. At first, the Samaritan governor, Sanballat
lll, supported Alexander and was even given permission by him
to build the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim. However, after
Sanballat lll died, the Samaritans, for reasons that are not clear,
rebelled against Alexander and burned his governor alive.
2. In punishment, Alexander destroyed the city of Samaria and
banished the Samaritans from the city. The Samaritans went to
live at the foot of Mount Gerizim, their sacred mountain. From
that point on, the district of Samaria had two religious and
political centers: the Samaritan, or Yahwist, population that was
concentrated in the area of Mount Gerizim, and Samaria itself,
which became a Greek city.
Alexander’s Empire after His Death
1.Alexander died in 323 B.C., and his death plunged his empire
into a civil war that lasted for the next 20 years. Eventually,
his empire was divided among various generals, the two most
important being Seleucus and Ptolemy.
2. Seleucus received most of Asia Minor, Syria, and Mesopotamia.
This was known as the Seleucid kingdom. Ptolemy received
Egypt, which became known as the Ptolemaic kingdom.
3. Judea was located right between the Seleucids to the north and
the Ptolemies to the south. During most of the 3rd century B.C.,
it was under the rule of the Ptolemies. During most of the 2nd
century B.C., it was under the rule of the Seleucids.
Hellenization
1. One of the challenges that Alexander’s successors faced was to
legitimize themselves as the heirs of Alexander in the eyes of the
local populations. The problem here was that none ofAlexander’s
successors was actually related to Alexander. ln antiquity, the
law of succession was usually dynastic and proceeded through
family ties.
2. One way that these generals established their legitimacy as
Alexander’s successors was to imitate what Alexander had
done. Specifically, they founded Greek cities, which they named
after themselves. Each of these cities was a polis with Greek-
style institutions, such as theaters for the performance of Greek
plays, temples dedicated to Greek gods, council houses for
Greek-style meetings, and gymnasia so that the youth could be
educated in the Greek manner.
3. The populations who lived in these cities grew loyal to the king
because they benefited from the sophisticated Greek cultural
and political institutions. The spreading of Greek culture in this
way is called Hellenization, and it was an effective tool used
throughout the realms ruled by Alexander’s successors.
Parallels between Alexander and Jesus
1. A number of possible parallels exist in the later traditions and
legacies surrounding both Alexander the Great and Jesus Christ.
These parallels have been explored by the scholar Ory Amitay
in From Alexander to Jesus. ln his book, Amitay examines the
ways in which Alexander might have ser\/ed as a model for the
mythical Jesus. importantly, Amitay focuses on the mythical
Jesus rather than the historical Jesus-that is, the traditions that
surrounded Jesus after his death.
2. ln the Greek and Roman world, it was common for royal families
to trace their ancestry back to a hero or a god. ln this case,
Alexander’s family traced its ancestry back to the Greek hero
Heracles or Hercules. Amitay argues that Alexander lived his
entire life in emulation, competition, and self-identification with
Heracles. This established a basis for Alexander’s transformation
from human to divine, which was not a characteristic of the
Greek world before then. This was a new feature introduced
into Greek culture-the idea that the ruler becomes a god and is
worshipped as one.
3. ln addition, Amitay points out that Alexander’s legacy adopted
a number of motifs from the mythology of Heracles. Not only do
we see a divine ancestry going back to Heracles, but there are
also other aspects of the mythology of Heracles that became
features of traditions surrounding Alexander: the divine son,
double paternity, a world mission on behalf of humanity, and
divinization. Interestingly, these motifs are also a part of the
myths associated with Jesus.
Prelude to the Messiah
1. Alexander was already a key figure in Jewish eschatological
thought, that is, Jewish thinking and expectations about what
would happen at the end of days. ln Jewish eschatological
thought, Alexander is situated at the beginning of a new era that
is perceived as the last stage of history before the end of days-
the eschaton. ln other words, Alexander was understood as a
necessary step on the road to the advent of the messiah.
2. We have already seen that Alexander played a key role in the
most influential piece of apocalyptic literature produced by
Second Temple-period Judaism: the Book of Daniel. According
to this book, Daniel stands in the royal court of three successive
kingdoms: Babylon, Media, and Persia.
3. Daniel looks into the future and sees the progress of human
history in a series of distinct visions presented as a succession
of kingdoms. The fourth and last kingdom is Macedonia; this
kingdom-significantly-is to be followed by God’s kingdom.
The perception of Alexander as the instigator of the last stage in
history before the messianic kingdom would become a staple in
Jewish traditions about the end of days.
4. One of the central questions posed by Amitay is how a
monotheistic religion led to mythology about the son of God.
Amitay proposes that Alexander is the key figure here. Amitay
argues that Alexander’s historical role as the paragon of
divinization helped prepare the way for the acceptance by
Jews of the principle of the divine son. Alexander was a flesh-
and-blood person who broke the barrier between humanity and
the divine. Another well-known parallel between Alexander and
Jesus is that both died at the age of 33.
5. Amitay notes that Alexander was a bridge between the worlds
of monotheism and polytheism. He concludes, “Alexander
and Jesus were close neighbors in the boiling matrix of God’s
heroes and demons which characterized the religious life of
later antiquity.”
Suggested Reading
Schiffman, Texts and Traditions, chapter 4, “The Hellenistic Age,”
pp 121-125,130-134.
Questions to Consider
1 How did Alexander the Great’s conquest affect the Jews in the short
term and in the long term?
2 ln what ways might Alexander have served as a model for the
mythical Jesus?
