"
in full cnjoynipiit of the laws of their forefathers, lie. fiirtluriuoiv c.M'mpteii them from the payment of li-ibute in the seventh year of release. To the Jews of Rabyloiiia and Media al.so he granted like privileges; ami to the Jews who were willing to enlist in Ids army he promised the right to live in
accordance with "their ancestral laws. Afterward the Samaritans, having learned of the favors granted the Jews liv Alexander, asked for similar privileges; hut Ale.aiider declined to accede to their re(iuest. The hi.storical character of this account is, however,
Pauly AVis-sowa, l)v manv scholars (see Although, ac"Uealencvclopiidie," i. col, 1422), cording to Josephvis ("Contra Ap." ii. 4. (juoting Heeatiens), Alexander permitted the Jews to hold the {-ountry of Samaria free fmm tribute as a reward for their lidelitv to him, it was he who llellenized its capital (Sclifirer, "(leseh." ii. 108). The Sil)ylline Books (iii. 'SKi) speak of Alexander who claimed to be the son of Zeus Anion as "of the progeny of K. the Kronides, though spurious," doubled
which many are found in Midra.sh Eknh Babbati, and which aim "at exhibiting the ingenuity of the Jews Alexander is made to play merely the in repartee. part of a stage-king.
The same Gebiah appears in a narrative of quite a different type. Alexander is here represented as the great coni|ueror to whom the nations apiieal for arbitration of their ditreieuces: " The Arabs accuse the Jews of Illegally withholiling the lierllthe Canaanltes complain of age of their ancestor Ishiuael having lieen wronglv deprived of their territory ; and the EgvptlaiLS claim Inaeiiinltv tor the vessels that Ihe Israelites bad
—
—
the
843
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Alexander the Qi-eat Alexander II., of Judea
In. Jewish Legend: All the accounts which Tahnud and .Midra.sli give concerning Alexander
Mukdon (the Macedonian) are of a legendary characSome of tliem pretend to be historical, as the ter. following Haraita
Vomu,
in
(!!•((
(idenlical
with Me-
gillat Ta'anit, iii.):
"When
till'
frc.iii
Alexan-
in ,Iitiis;i1imii. ilie lilt'li piii-si Simon der the .liisl, im-nyeil in his pontilliNil Kiirmciii.-i iind fdlowi'ii liy a ilisIlnL'uislM'il.li'ws. Hciit out In nici-t the cniniiuTcir. nunilHTof and joined him at . li|«ilris. on the northiTii froniiir. .t sijrht of Simon, .Mcxandi-r f.-ll prostrate at his U-i-. ami explained to his a.stonisheil eompaiiiiiiis that the imajre of the .lewisli hii.'h
Temple
was always with him in hattle. Ilclitini; for him and leadsi n took Ihe opportunity to Justify thi' liiB him to vii-l..rv. altitude of his eonntrvmen, deelarinff thai, far from lieing rehels, they (.ITeml pi-.ivers in the Temple for llje welfare of the king arid his dominions. So Impn'ssed was .Mexaiider that he delivered npall the SaiiLanlans in his train into the hands of the Jews, who tied them to the tails of horses and drasrped them to the mountain of (ierizim ; then the lews plowed the mountain [demolished the SamaritJUi temple]." priest
,
It is evident that this account wrongly assigns to the times of Alexander an event which occurred two centuiies later, in the reign of Samaritan John llyrcanus I. It musi therefore Intrigue, have been written at a late period, when the memory of historical inci-
dents had become confused. The legend iiresents a striking resemblance to Ihe narrative of Josephns The point of the fable ("Ant."xi. IS. i? 1 (/ .vf/. is the honor conferred by Ah'xander ujioii the high priest and the cause thereof; and, furthermore, the contrast between his good-will to the Jews and his Both the iiaiTative in hostility to the Samaritans, the Talmud and that of Josejihus are derived from an "Apology of the Jews which aimed at discrediting Ihe members of the Samaritan sect. It is even possible that this apology, as Buchler thinks ("Rev, Et, Juives," Ixxxvi, 11, had its origin in Alexandria, where the attitude of Alexander was of decisive importance in the eyes of tlie Greek public; ).
'"
"In fJen.K.
(Ixl..
endl the Samaritans are accused of playing a
role equally despicable with that linpuled to them in the alxive When Alexander advamed toward .lenisalem, they lesrend. Informed him that the .Tews would forhid his entrance to the Holy of Holies, A ,Iew, (iehpah bi-n Koseni |idc-ntlc'al with (iehiu hen Pesisa. a le^'endary character], asked the king, on the hill of the Temple, to remoe his shoes and to put on the slippers ornamented w ith |irei-ious stones that he had liroucht for him, lest Alexander tie should slip on the pavement of the Temple. oonii>lied with the request, and thus avoitleii a violation of the rahhinlc law. When they arrived at the Holy of Holie.s. (ielil'ah are not permuted t(i priK-eed farther' said to the king. *
We
(neither we nor vou). Wlien I have left the Temple,' replied the king. ' I will simlghten yotn- Inunp' (liehi'ah signilles hum|)back). 'If you do.' answered (iehl'ah, you are a great physician, and deserving of high remuneration.' "
'
This anecdote
is
Willi
Aramaic
Insirlptlon,
taken from them on leaving their country. f;ebl'ah meets all against the Kgyptlana he these charges with great success proves that it is they that are Indebted to the Jews, whom they had exploited without paving them for their work, and Alexander was fully satislled with the rt'futatlon " (Sanh, Slid. Gen,
Siiinurllans liadnhtnliii'il |icriiil>si..n
to destriiv tlie
Coin
one of those uaive inventions of
11, I.e.).
These pretended discussions, similar to those reported to have taken place between the Samaritans and the Jews before Ptolemy Philometor (Josephus, "Ant," ,ii. 1. § 10; xiii, 4, ^ 4), are the echo of the accusations' against the Jews by jiagau readers of the Bible at Alexandria. The.se imputations were taken up later by the Gnostics, who were the ini|)ils of the Alexandrians, and especially by the Marcioniles. Tertullian replied to Marcion, who had brought the same reiiroach against the Bible fur the "larceny" committed by the Jews, by reiietiling the words of Gebi'ah; he even mentions the discussions between the Jews and the Egyptians ("nam etaiunt ilaactum per legatos utrinquc"; .Egyptiorum quideni repetcntium vasa; Judeorum vcro re])osceutium operas suas, et tandem vasis istis renunliaveruut sibi jigyptii"; "Adversus Marcioneni." ii. 2(1). Another group of legends is of a more popular character; they have nothing specifically Jewish, anil are connected with the general le.cendary tales They may be given as follows of Alexander. The Ten Questions of Alexander to the Sages of the South (Taniid, 31// d xeq.): This account is written in lerlaiu iiarls in a classical Aramaic, proving that it was borrowefl from some written record it is quite analogous to the conversations which, according to Plutarch ("Life of Alexander"), Alexander was reported to have had with ten gymnosophists who had rebelled against him; there the account continues with ten questions, some of which This epiare idenliciil with those of Ihe Talmud, sode seems, therefore, to be the fragment of a nonJewish narrative, pai-allel with that of the Greek
historian.
Alexander's Journey to the Regions of Darkness (Tamiil. 'Aid): Alexander makes a journey into the region of darkness riding on young Libyan asses. There he stops at a fountain, which reanimates a dead fish that he has dipped into it. The .same story is found in Pseudo-Callisthenes, II. chaps, xxxix.(version II). The legend as reproduced in the is Ihe popular altered form of a later period. The Amazons (Tainid. il'id. Pesik. ix. 74, 74a et
xli.
Talmud
