The Old Testament ends with the Jews returning to Palestine after being exiled in Mesopotamia by the Babylonians and then being released after the Persians overthrew the Babylonians. Cyrus, the first Persian king, founded what is known as the Achaemenid dynasty in 590 BC. It was during his son-in-law’s reign, Darius I, that the Roman Republic was founded (509 BC.) The Achaemenids ruled for 228 years until Alexander the Great, from Macedonia in northern Greece, displaced Darius III in 330 BC.
We are all somewhat familiar with the battles of Marathon & Thermopylae between the Persians and the Greeks in 490/480 BC, when Darius and later his son, Xerxes, sent huge armies and fleets to conquer the Greek city states. Their endeavors ultimately failed when the Persians were decisively defeated by the Athenians in the naval battle of Salamis. While in Greece, the Persians burned Athens before heading home.
One of Alexander’s justifications for invading Persia was payback for their invading Greece 150 years before. Within a decade (334-324 BC), Alexander’s army conquered about 2 million square miles of territory extending from Albania to western India. (By contrast, Napoleon conquered 500,000 sqm.) And then Alexander died at age 32 leaving his huge empire with no heir for his key generals to fight over, divide up, and rule. Palestine initially went to Ptolemy I, who also took Egypt and Syria. Another general, Seleucus, acquired the lion’s share of the Macedonian empire, and obtained Syria from Ptolemy. In about 200 BC the Seleucids took Palestine from the Ptolemies. Both empires promoted Greek culture within their domains.
Meanwhile, Rome was in a deathmatch with Carthage. In the 2nd Punic War, which ended in 201 BC, Rome lost some 300,000 men to Hannibal which was about 1/6 of Rome’s total adult male population. The 3rd and final Punic War ended in 164 BC
Maccabean Revolt/The Hasmonean Dynasty (141-37 BC). Antigonus IV came to power in 187 BC. He was a terrible king who wanted all his subjects to worship Zeus and therefore decided to ban the practice of the Jewish religion and require the Jews to sacrifice to pigs. This led to the Maccabean revolt in 167 BC. A priest named Mattathias, a devout follower of the Mosaic Law, was the initial leader of the rebellion. He was killed within a year and three of his sons took turns being the leaders. Judas defeated the Seleucid army, captured Jerusalem, and cleansed the temple where a statue to Zeus had been set up. When he was killed, his brother Jonathan stepped up. And when he was killed, Simon was next. Simon is credited with founding the Hasmonean dynasty by making himself king of the Jews. He, like his brother Jonathan, had himself appointed as the high priest. Because they were not descendants of Aaron (the brother of Moses and the first high priest of Israel), this move upset the Pharisees and caused a rift among the Jews. Simon’s son, John, who succeeded him, was known as John Hyrcanus I. He ruled for over 30 years to the end of the 2nd century BC. He was able to extend the boundaries of his Judean kingdom to include Samaria and Edom. Hyrcanus I forced the Edomites to accept Judaism, and that later gave Herod I, the son of an Arab mother and an Edomite father, the ability to claim to be a Jew.
Rome takes Palestine. Hyrcanus I established a positive relationship with Rome. Hyrcanus II enlisted the Roman General Pompey to help him displace his brother on the throne. Pompey, who ended the Seleucid dynasty, also besieged and conquered Jerusalem in 63 BC. He appointed Hyrcanus II as high priest. Over the next two decades, Pompey would go from being partners with Julius Caesar to fighting and losing a civil war against him. Caesar ended the Roman Republic in 46 BC becoming Dictator for Life and was assassinated two years later. His nephew, Octavian, also known as Caesar Augustus, conquered Egypt, which was ruled by Cleopatra. the last of the Ptolemian dynasty. Augustus was Emperor of the Roman Empire, which included Palestine, when Jesus was born.
Herod I was made King of Jews by the Roman Senate in 37 BC and thereby ended the Hasmonean dynasty. (This, of course, upset most of the Jews.) Herod I built some of the most impressive structures in the Roman world including the third and greatest of all the Jewish temples in Jerusalem. He also built the fortress at Masada. Herod’s temple figured prominently in Jesus’ life. The Jewish-Roman War (66-70 AD) ended at Masada. (Note: Herod I was such a fascinating person that I may write a short bio on him as part of this series.)
I have included maps showing the Macedonian and Roman empires during this period. As you will note, Rome extended its boundaries to the west to include essentially the entire Mediterranean and up the eastern Atlantic seaboard from Spain to the English Channel. Looking to the east, the Romans absorbed much of the western half of the Macedonian empire. They developed a fabulous road system, excellent ports and sea lanes, and maintained strict law and order throughout their empire. This set the stage for the early Christian evangelists to spread their faith throughout Europe, North Africa, and western Asia.
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