{"product_id":"alexander-the-great-in-jerusalem-ory-amitay-9780198929529","title":"Alexander the Great in Jerusalem: Myth and History","description":"\u003cem\u003eAlexander the Great in Jerusalem: Myth and History\u003c\/em\u003e discusses four different stories told in antiquity about the meeting between Alexander the Great and the Judeans of Jerusalem. In history, this meeting passed without noticeable events. Into the historical void stepped various Judean storytellers, who wrote not what was, but what could (or even should) have been. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe tradition as a whole deals with an issue that resurfaced time and again in ancient Judean history: conquest and regime installment by new foreign rulers. It does so by using Alexander as a cipher for a current Hellenistic and Roman foreign rule. The earliest version can be traced to the context of the Seleukid monarch Antiochos III \"the Great\", and postulates a Judean text from that time that has been hitherto unknown, and which survived in a Byzantine recension (epsilon) of the Alexander Romance. The second and third chapters turn to rabbinic sources, and deal with the Judean approaches and attitudes towards Roman occupation and rule, first at the advent of Pompey and then at the institution of provincia Judaea at the expense of the Herodian dynasty. The final story is the most famous, previously considered the latest, rather than the earliest;that of Josephus. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cem\u003eAlexander the Great in Jerusalem\u003c\/em\u003e demonstrates how the historical tradition consistently maintained the moral and sacral superiority of the Jerusalem temple and of Judaism, making Alexander either embrace monotheism or prostrate himself before the Judean high priest. This not only bolstered Judean self-confidence under conditions of military and political inferiority, but also brought the changing foreign rulers into the fold of Judean sacred history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Ory Amitay\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0198929528\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780198929529\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/17\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 220\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.04lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.56d","brand":"Ory Amitay","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46825941762303,"sku":"9780198929529","price":110.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_89558167-b9b5-4b80-9d3d-ecbd4ae896c0.jpg?v=1746074091","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/alexander-the-great-in-jerusalem-ory-amitay-9780198929529","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}