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might destroy them; and when they prayed, the elephants, leaping upon their own soldiers and populace, slaughtered a great multitude of them in an encompassing madness; and thus having been saved, they were released with thanksgiving to their own homes.

1.291 Ptolemy Epiphanes, the son of Philopator, reigned for 24 years. Ptolemy Philometor, the son of Epiphanes, for 35 years. Under him, Antiochus punished the Maccabees who were unwilling to eat unclean food. Under him, Judas Hyrcanus and Aristobulus served as priests. And so, until this Hyrcanus, the kingdom of Israel existed. And Herod the foreigner receives his kingdom from the Romans, who also is near to the advent of Christ. And the populace sided with Hyrcanus, but the priests with Aristobulus. And there was a certain man named Onias, pious and just, and from the priests, who once ended a drought by praying; they forced him to pray for victory. And he prayed saying, "O God, Lord, Master, help neither the people against your priests, nor the priests against the people." And immediately the cruel and impious men stoned him. And immediately, as divine justice came upon them, Pompey, a general of the Romans, came against them and sacked the city. And entering into the holy of holies, out of reverence he touched none of the sacred vessels, although there was much treasure, but he even ordered the temple to be purified and the sacrifices to be performed. And Aristobulus sent Pompey a gift, a golden vine of two hundred talents. Ptolemy the second Euergetes, for 29 years. Ptolemy, called Physcon on account of the size of his body, for 17 years and 6 months. Ptolemy Alexas, for 10 years. Ptolemy the second Soter, the 1.292 son of the second Euergetes, for 29 years. Cleopatra, for 8 years. Ptolemy the new Dionysus reigned for 30 years. Cleopatra, the daughter of the new Dionysus, succeeds her father when he died, and Ptolemy her brother reigns with her; having killed him after a dispute with him, she alone held the rule, and reigns for 22 years. that in the number of the years, only 4 years of her reign should be counted. Having become the first king of Asia, Antigonus founded Antigonia on the Orontes river. Seleucus, the father of Antiochus, having built upon it, named it Antioch; and this is Antioch the Great. This Seleucus also founded Laodicea and Seleucia, Apamea, Edessa, Beroea, Pella, and he subdued Babylon. And in the new cities he settled Jews with Greeks. That the renowned physician called Erasistratus diagnosed Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, as being gravely ill on account of his love for his father's wife, the daughter of Demetrius; wherefore Seleucus, greatly grieved by the passion, yields his wife to his son Antiochus. This Antiochus, called Soter, had from the daughter of Demetrius, the wife of his father Seleucus, Stratonice, a male son who was called Theos, who also reigned after him over Syria and Asia for 15 years. In the #225281st year of the world, Nicomedes, king of the Bithynians, founded Nicomedia in his own name, which was formerly called 1.293 Astacus. Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, having sacked Jerusalem and profaned the temple, set up in it an abomination of Olympian Zeus according to the prophecy of Daniel, that is, the abomination of desolation. That for 170 years the Jews paid tribute to the Romans from the time of Seleucus. Julius Caesar, in the fourth year of the reign of Cleopatra, having been proclaimed consul by the Romans, went up into the east with a great force, and having routed many of those there and made them tributary, he appointed his own administrators for the regions. He therefore appointed Antipater the Ascalonite as administrator of Palestine. And Antipater was the son of a certain Herod, who was numbered among the temple-wardens and the temple-slaves of Apollo there. And once when Antipater was a boy, Idumaean robbers seized and held him, a ransom for him

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ἀπολέσῃ· εὐξα μένων δὲ ἐκείνων οἱ ἐλέφαντες εἰς τοὺς ἰδίους στρατιώτας καὶ δή μους ἐμπηδήσαντες πολὺν αὐτῶν ὄχλον ἐν τῇ περιεχούσῃ μανίᾳ κατέσφαξαν· καὶ οὕτω σωθέντες μετ' εὐχαριστίας ἀπελύθησαν εἰς τὰ ἴδια.

1.291 Πτολεμαῖος ὁ ἐπιφανής, ὁ τοῦ φιλοπάτορος υἱός, ἐβασί λευσεν ἔτη κδʹ. Πτολεμαῖος ὁ φιλομήτωρ, ὁ τοῦ ἐπιφανοῦς υἱός, ἔτη λεʹ. ἐπὶ τούτου Ἀντίοχος τοὺς Μακκαβαίους μὴ βουλομέ νους μιαροφαγεῖν ἐκόλαζεν. ἐπὶ τούτου ἱεράτευσεν Ἰούδας Ὑρκανὸς καὶ Ἀριστόβουλος. καὶ ἕως αὐτοῦ τοίνυν τοῦ Ὑρκανοῦ ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἦν. καὶ λαμβάνει τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ Ἡρώδης ὁ ἀλλόφυλος ὑπὸ τῶν Ῥωμαίων, ὃς καὶ πλησιάζει τῇ Χριστοῦ παρουσίᾳ. καὶ Ὑρκανῷ μὲν συνεμάχει τὸ δημοτικόν, Ἀριστοβούλῳ δὲ οἱ ἱερεῖς. ἦν δέ τις Ὀνίας ὀνόματι εὐσεβὴς καὶ δίκαιος, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἱερέων, ὃς καὶ ἀνομβρίαν ἔλυσέ ποτε εὐξάμενος· τοῦ τον ἠνάγκασεν εὔξασθαι περὶ νίκης. ὁ δὲ ηὔξατο λέγων "θεὲ κύριε δεσπότης, μήτε τῷ δήμῳ κατὰ τῶν ἱερέων σου μήτε τοῖς ἱερεῦσι κατὰ τοῦ δήμου βοηθήσῃς." τοῦτον δὲ εὐθέως οἱ ὠμοὶ καὶ ἀσεβεῖς ἐλίθασαν. καὶ παρευθὺς τῆς θείας δίκης τούτους μετελθούσης ἦλθε κατ' αὐτῶν Πομπήϊος Ῥωμαίων στρατηγὸς καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐπόρθησε. καὶ εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὰ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων δι' εὐσεβείας οὐδενὸς τῶν ἱερῶν σκευῶν ἥψατο, καίπερ πολλῶν χρη μάτων ὄντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀνακαθᾶραι τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ τὰς θυσίας ἐπι τελεῖν προσέταξεν. ἔπεμψε δὲ Ἀριστόβουλος δῶρον Πομπηΐῳ ἄμπελον χρυσῆν διακοσίων ταλάντων. Πτολεμαῖος ὁ δεύτερος εὐεργέτης ἔτη κθʹ. Πτολεμαῖος ὁ φύσκων δι' ὄγκον τοῦ σώματος ἐπικληθεὶς ἔτη ιζʹ μῆνας ϛʹ. Πτολεμαῖος Ἀλεξᾶς ἔτη ιʹ. Πτολεμαῖος ὁ δεύτερος σωτήρ, ὁ 1.292 υἱὸς τοῦ δευτέρου εὐεργέτου, ἔτη κθʹ. Κλεοπάτρα ἔτη ηʹ. Πτο λεμαῖος ὁ νέος ∆ιόνυσος ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη λʹ. Κλεοπάτρα ἡ τοῦ νέου ∆ιονύσου θυγάτηρ τελευτήσαντα διαδέχεται πατέρα, καὶ συμβασιλεύει αὐτῇ Πτολεμαῖος ὁ ἀδελφός· τοῦτον διενεχθέντα πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀνελοῦσα μόνη κατέσχε τὴν ἀρχήν, καὶ βασιλεύει ἔτη κβʹ. ὅτι ἐν τῷ ἀριθμῷ τῶν χρόνων δʹ μόνα ἔτη τῆς βασι λείας αὐτῆς δεῖ ἀριθμεῖν. Τῆς Ἀσίας πρῶτος βασιλεὺς Ἀντίγονος γενόμενος Ἀντιγονίαν ἔκτισε τὴν πρὸς τῷ Ὀρόντῃ ποταμῷ. ταύτην Σέλευκος ἐπι κτίσας ὁ Ἀντιόχου πατὴρ Ἀντιόχειαν ὠνόμασεν· ἡ δέ ἐστιν ἡ μεγάλη Ἀντιόχεια. οὗτος ὁ Σέλευκος καὶ Λαοδίκειαν ἔκτισε καὶ Σελεύκειαν, Ἀπάμειαν, Ἔδεσαν, Βέρροιαν, Πέλλαν καὶ Βαβυλῶνα παρεστήσατο. καὶ ἐν ταῖς νέαις πόλεσι Ἰουδαίους συνῴκι σεν Ἕλλησι. Ὅτι ὁ διαφανὴς λεγόμενος Ἐρασίστρατος ἰατρὸς διέγνω Ἀντίοχον τὸν Σελεύκου παῖδα δεινῶς νοσοῦντα διὰ τὸν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς γαμετὴν ἔρωτα, θυγατέρα ∆ημητρίου· ὅθεν Σέλευκος τῷ πάθει περιαλγήσας παραχωρεῖ τῷ παιδὶ Ἀντιόχῳ τῆς γαμετῆς. οὗτος Ἀντίοχος ὁ λεγόμενος σωτὴρ ἔσχεν ἐκ τῆς θυγατρὸς ∆ημη τρίου, γαμετῆς δὲ Σελεύκου τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ Στρατονίκης ἄρ σενα υἱὸν τὸν ἐπικληθέντα θεόν, ὃς καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν μετ' αὐτὸν Συρίας καὶ Ἀσίας ἔτη ιεʹ. Ἐν τῷ #22εσπαʹ ἔτει τοῦ κόσμου Νικομήδης βασιλεὺς Βιθυ νῶν ἐπ' ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ τὴν Νικομήδειαν ἔκτισε, πρῴην καλουμέ 1.293 νην Ἀστακόν. Ἀντίοχος ὁ ἐπιφανὴς βασιλεὺς Συρίας τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ πορθήσας καὶ τὸν ναὸν βεβηλώσας ∆ιὸς Ὀλυμπίου βδέλυ γμα ἐν αὐτῷ ἀνεστήλωσε κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ∆ανιὴλ προφητείαν, ἤγουν τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως. Ὅτι ροʹ ἔτη ἐτελεσφόρουν Ῥωμαίοις Ἰουδαῖοι ἀπὸ Σελεύκου. Ἰούλιος Καῖσαρ κατὰ τὸ τέταρτον ἔτος τῆς βασιλείας Κλεο πάτρας ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἀναρρηθεὶς ὕπατος, εἰς τὴν ἀνατολὴν σὺν πολλῇ ἀνελθὼν δυνάμει καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν αὐτόθι τροπωσάμενος καὶ ὑποφόρους καταστήσας, ἰδίους τῶν τόπων καθίστησιν ἐπιμε λητάς. Ἀντίπατρον μὲν οὖν τὸν Ἀσκαλωνίτην Παλαιστίνης κατέστησε διοικητήν. υἱὸς δὲ ἦν Ἀντίπατρος Ἡρώδου τινός, τῶν ἐν νεωκόροις ἀριθμουμένων καὶ τῶν αὐτόθι τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἱεροδούλων. παῖδα δὲ ὄντα ποτὲ τὸν Ἀντίπατρον λῃσταὶ ἀναρ πάσαντες Ἰδουμαῖοι κατεῖχον, λύτρα ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ