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the area. Neither kingdom was willing to concede that the other was the sole ruler of this
territory.

In order to firmly secure Palestine to himself, Ptolemy of Egypt in 320 B.C.
attacked the Seleucid garrisons stationed in it and conquered the country. However, the
Seleucids took it back in 315 B.C. But again, the Battle of Gaza in 312 B.C. gave
Palestine back to Ptolemy. There were many more skirmishes between these two
kingdoms until the year 301 B.C. At that time, the Greek government of Egypt took final
control of Palestine and maintained that control for a little over one hundred years -- until
198 B.C.

Life Under Greek-Egyptian Control

This one hundred year period of Greek-Egyptian domination is very important as
a period in the religious history of the Jews. This is the period that great and significant
changes took place in the religious life of the Jews.

While in this period of Egyptian control, the effects of Hellenism upon the Jews
were extremely great. What had been started by Alexander the Great was brought to its
greatest degree of perfection among the Jews during this one-hundred-year period. The
customs and traditions that had been handed down by the Sopherim were completely
overshadowed by the Hellenistic culture of the Greeks as promulgated by the Egyptians.
In plain language, the Jews during this period of Egyptian control, by the sheer force of
environment and circumstance, surrendered themselves to Hellenistic ideas and ways of
life.

"During the comparatively quiet rule of the Ptolemies [the Egyptians], Greek
ideas, customs, and morality HAD BEEN MAKING PEACEFUL CONQUESTS IN
PALESTINE. Their own inherent attractiveness, and the fact that they were supported by
the authority of the dominant race, cast a glamour about them [the Jews] which made the
severe religion of Jehovah [to Hellenistic minds], the simple customs and the strict
morality of the Jews, seem barren and provincial. All the other peoples of Palestine
Hellenistic Greek was the language of commerce and polite society. Greek literature was
widely studied. Greek manners were the standard throughout southeastern Palestine"
(Kent, History of the Jewish People, pp. 320, 321).

Everyone in Palestine was affected by the new Hellenistic culture. The Ptolemies
of Egypt were anxious, following the example of Alexander the Great, to see that
manners of the Greeks were implanted throughout their Empire. All phases of life
connected with Hellenism were being practiced in Palestine during this period.

"It is safe to say that NO ONE, HIGH OR LOW, who was living in Judea in the
period which includes the whole of the third and the beginning of the second century
B.C., WHOLLY ESCAPED THE INFLUENCE OF HELLENISM ..." (Herford, Talmud
and Apocrypha, p. 77).