Palestine

The Ptolemies

After the death of Alexander in 323 bc, Palestine, with much of Syria and Phoenicia, fell to Ptolemy I (Soter), who established himself as satrap in Egypt that same year and adopted the title of king by 304. (After the death of Ptolemy, the Ptolemaic dynasty ruled Egypt for 300 years.)

The successors of Alexander, including Ptolemy and Seleucus I (Nicator), defeated Antigonus I (Monophthalmus), another of Alexander’s generals, who had almost succeeded in re-creating under his sole rule Alexander’s vast empire, at the Battle of Ipsus in Phrygia in 301 bc. This victory confirmed Ptolemy in his possession of his territory, although he had arrived too late for the battle, and Seleucus, whose participation in it had been decisive, at first disputed Ptolemy’s claim to Syria and Phoenicia and actually occupied northern Syria. This early dispute laid the foundations of a century of bitter antagonism between the houses of Ptolemy and Seleucus that led to war five times—the so-called Syrian Wars—and was finally stilled only when Palestine, in 200 bc, became part of the Seleucid kingdom. The northern boundary of the kingdom established by Ptolemy lay apparently slightly north of modern Tripoli, Lebanon, perhaps on the course of the Kabīr River (ancient Eleutherus), and there are no signs of any important change in this frontier throughout the next century.

Of Ptolemaic rule in the southern part of this territory, Palestine, little is known. The small amount of information there is—mainly from writers of a later period, especially the author of the First Book of Maccabees and the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus—suggests that, unlike the northern region, known as Syria and Phoenicia, the area was left in much its previous state, with considerable power and authority in the hands of the native chieftains.

More is known of taxation than of administration. A story preserved by Josephus (The Antiquities of the Jews, Book XII, section 154 ff.) indicates that tax farming, whereby the right to collect taxes was auctioned or was awarded to privileged persons, was employed for the collection of local taxes. It seems likely that there were additional extraordinary taxes levied by edict from Egypt.

Knowledge of the economic and commercial life of Palestine in the mid-3rd century bc is, on the other hand, fuller and more reliable. It is drawn from the dossier of letters received and written by one Zenon, the confidential business manager of the chief minister of Ptolemy II (Philadelphus; 285–246 bc). In 259 Zenon was sent to Palestine and Syria, where his master had commercial interests. His letters speak particularly of a trade in slaves, especially of young girls for prostitution, in whom there appears to have been a brisk commerce, with export to Egypt. Zenon’s records also testify to a considerable trade in cereals, oil, and wine. Inevitably, like all imports to Egypt, Palestinian exports worked under state monopoly, without which the internal monopolies of Egypt would have been undermined. Palestine, like Egypt and Syria, seems to have had no economic freedom under Ptolemaic rule; in all transactions the hand of the government’s agents is clearly visible.

Far less is known of the material culture of Palestine in the Ptolemaic period. The population seems, as in Syria, to have been divided between the Hellenized cities (poleis) of the coast, notably Ascalon (modern Ashqelon, Israel) and Joppa (modern Tel Aviv–Yafo), and the rural population living in villages (komai). The fact that several cities had Ptolemaic dynastic names (Philadelphia, Philoteria, Ptolemais) must not lead to the conclusion that the early Ptolemies wanted to urbanize and raise the standard of living of the people of Palestine. It seldom appears that they did more than rename a previously existing city (e.g., Scythopolis for Bet Sheʾan)—a practice not uncommon in the Hellenistic world. In fact, unlike the Seleucids, the Ptolemies do not appear to have been great city builders. Nor do they appear to have encouraged the outward forms of independence in local government. It seems likely from the story of the Phoenician tax farmers mentioned above that considerable authority lay in the hands of the wealthy; yet the fact that both Ascalon and Joppa issued Ptolemaic regal coinage, but apparently no autonomous bronze coinage, suggests a rigid control. The absence of epigraphic evidence from the cities of Ptolemaic Palestine, however, renders any judgment about the conditions of the cities hazardous. Archaeology, too, helps but little, inasmuch as the buildings of Roman Palestine superceded most of the Hellenistic remains. One exception must be noted: the tombs of the Hellenized Sidonian military settlers at Marisa in Edom (Idumaea)—the walls of which are decorated with frescoes of fine hunting scenes—indicate that Hellenic civilization had been embraced by the non-Greek population in that period.

The chronic state of hostility between Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid house, which in much of the 3rd century bc had been concerned with the coastal regions of western Asia Minor, received a new impetus with the accession to the Seleucid throne of the energetic Antiochus III (the Great; 223–187), who aimed to win southern Syria and Palestine from Egypt, now weakly governed, and thereby establish the frontier to which Seleucus I had unwillingly renounced his claim in 301 bc. After his decisive defeat by Ptolemy IV (Philopator) at Raphia in 217, however, Antiochus was for several years occupied with internal troubles, and it was therefore not until about 200 bc that he could think again of an attack on Egypt. There a child—Ptolemy V (Epiphanes)—had recently ascended the throne, and the government was in the hands of overly powerful ministers who were more concerned with enriching themselves than with preserving the integrity of the kingdom. At Panion, on the northern boundary of Galilee, the armies of Antiochus and Ptolemy met, and Ptolemy was defeated. Thus the Ptolemaic possessions north of the Sinai desert, including Palestine, passed into the hands of the house of Seleucus.