174
                      ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE AND ITS END                         
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   Towards the end of the fourth century B.C.,the Macedonian, Alexander the  
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Great, destroyed the Persian empire and conquered lands as far as the borders
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of India. In the process he took over control of Judah. He also conquered    
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Egypt. This meant that all the Jews in the Middle East were under one domi-  
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nion, although there were differences in beliefs between Jews in Judah,in    
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Egypt and those who had chosen to remain in Babylon at the time of the "Re-  
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turn".                                                                       
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   The Jews in Judah welcomed the new regime. Alexander continued the Persian
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policy of toleration. He encouraged trade, provided fresh outlets for Jewish 
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arts and craftsmanship, and stimulated healthy arguments between Jewish and  
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Greek philosophers and lawyers on legal matters, principles of government and
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religious matters.                                                           
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   When Alexander died his vast empire was split up among his generals. Egypt
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went to Ptolemy and Syria to Seleucus. Soon the two areas were at logger-    
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heads. Judah along with other states in Palestine lay in between the two     
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areas, and the wrangling forced them to take sides. When the Seleucids expel-
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led the Ptolemies from Judah (in about 198 B.C.),the high priests welcomed   
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the change, for it established that the government of the Jews was bound up  
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with the faith and the priesthood.                                           
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