Note 23 — Chapter II · Hellenistic Influence upon the Jews of Palestine

It may be well to recall here the following facts; at the death of Alexander in B.C. 323 his empire was divided thus among his generals: Antigonus obtained the provinces of Greater Phrygia, Lycia, and Pamphylia; Seleucus, Babylonia; Ptolemy, Egypt; Lysimachus, the Hellespont; and Cassander, Macedonia (cp. Josephus, Antiq., XII. i. 1). Incessant wars, however, went on among these rulers. But in B.C. 302 an alliance against Antigonus was made, or rather renewed, by the four other kings; and in the following year, as a result of the battle of Ipsus, the kingdom of Antigonus (he, in common with the other rulers, had assumed the title of king) came to a final end. The victorious allies divided his kingdom among themselves thus: Seleucus got Syria proper; Lysimachus, a large portion of Asia Minor; Cassander, Macedonia and Greece; while to the Egyptian kingdom of Ptolemy was added Cœle-Syria (not, however, without a protest from Seleucus), which remained in the possession of the Ptolemys for a century; it was finally conquered by Antiochus III (the Great), through his victory at Panias (B.C. 198), and it thus reverted to the Syrian kingdom.