And in this manner he
took leave of the Shechenlites; but ordered that the troops of Sanballat
should follow him into Egypt, because there he designed to give them
lands, which he did a little after in Thebais, when he ordered them to
guard that country.

7. Now when Alexander was dead, the government was parted among his
successors, but the temple upon Mount Gerizzim remained. And if any one
were accused by those of Jerusalem of having eaten things common [24] or
of having broken the sabbath, or of any other crime of the like nature,
he fled away to the Shechemites, and said that he was accused unjustly.
About this time it was that Jaddua the high priest died, and Onias his
son took the high priesthood. This was the state of the affairs of the
people of Jerusalem at this time.

BOOK XII. Containing The Interval Of A Hundred And Seventy Years.

From The Death Of Alexander The Great To The Death Of Judas Maccabeus.

CHAPTER 1. How Ptolemy The Son Of Lagus Took Jerusalem And Judea By
Deceit And Treachery, And Carried Many Thence, And Planted Them In
Egypt.

1. Now when Alexander, king of Macedon, had put an end to the dominion
of the Persians, and had settled the affairs in Judea after the
forementioned manner, he ended his life. And as his government fell
among many, Antigonus obtained Asia, Seleucus Babylon; and of the
other nations which were there, Lysimachus governed the Hellespont, and
Cassander possessed Macedonia; as did Ptolemy the son of Lagus seize
upon Egypt. And while these princes ambitiously strove one against
another, every one for his own principality, it came to pass that there
were continual wars, and those lasting wars too; and the cities were
sufferers, and lost a great many of their inhabitants in these times of
distress, insomuch that all Syria, by the means of Ptolemy the son of
Lagus, underwent the reverse of that denomination of Savior, which he
then had. He also seized upon Jerusalem, and for that end made use of
deceit and treachery; for as he came into the city on a sabbath day,
as if he would offer sacrifices [1] he, without any trouble, gained the
city, while the Jews did not oppose him, for they did not suspect him
to be their enemy; and he gained it thus, because they were free
from suspicion of him, and because on that day they were at rest and
quietness; and when he had gained it, he ruled over it in a cruel
manner. Nay, Agatharchides of Cnidus, who wrote the acts of Alexan