Antiquities of the Jews, fit the fifteenth

In a famous story, when Alexander the Great came to Jerusalem (which the non-Jewish histories do not mention him as doing), the Jews, led by Shim`on the Righteous, opened the city's gates to him as a liberator; and they got on famously until Alexander demanded the Jews put up a statue of him in the Temple. For a while things looked bad, until someone came up with a compromise whereby the Jews would name male children born that year Alexander; and, because Jews name their children after deceased relatives, the name and glory of Alexander would thus be transmitted down through the ages—and, indeed, Alexander is my father middle Hebrew name.

In Josephus, however (XI.8.325), ( Read more... )

Despite Jaddua's "agony and terror", everything turns out well in the end, as ( Read more... )

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Josephus notes