"Anti"ochus
Nikolai, Alex
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great was the ruler at the time but after he died he had no successors. After some time there were civil war break outs and Alexander's empire was divided into three part. One was in Greece, one in Egypt, and the other in the old Persian Empire. At this time the people all shared a religion call Hellenistic. It wasn't really a religion it was just something that Alexander the Great made up so that after he is gone they can follow what he believed all the people should believe.
Antiochus IV
Palestine was the place that was caught in the middle of the main problems that Egypt and Persia faced. Who will get Palestine.
A new ruler of the Seleucids (people of Persia) named Antiochus IV has some ideas on what to change and keep to make things "better."
details about Antiochus IV
He called himself Epiphanes which means "God Manifest", but many Jews instead called him Epimanes, which is Greek for "Out of his Mind" He wanted the Jews to follow the Hellenistic cultures.
A lot of people carried out those cultures but a handful of them call the remnants of Israel believed something else. Antiochus tortured those who went against the law. This was not the main problem but rather land was being fought over by the Ptolemes (people of Egypt) and Seleucids.
What we think
Since all this fighting is about power over land, I believe that the main reason why Antiochus resumed following the Hellenistic beliefs was because I think that he thought it gave him power. Since Alexander was a great conqueror, Antiochus probably thinks that he could be great as well if he follows the exact steps that Alexander took to conquer vast amounts of land
facts about the Hellenistic culture
- More rich and powerful people followed these beliefs and cultures more that the poor
- consist of pagan gods worshiped
- main god that they gave sacrifices and worship to was Hercules
-Most people in the Alexandrian empire spoke Koine, or "the common tongue," a kind of colloquial Greek.
-Great libraries rose during the Hellenistic Period, including those at Alexandria and Pergamon