Alexander the Great changed the face of Judea along with the rest of the then-known world. He reigned as emperor from 356 to 323. BCE In 336 BCE he became king of Macedonia and of the Greek city-states conquered by his father, Philip II. Within a decade he defeated the Persians and fell heir to their empire.

The Heavy Hand of Antiochus IV and the Rise of the Maccabees

Combining Political and Religious Power

The Temple and the Priests Under Hasmonean Rule

Pharisees

The Essenes

The Samaritans

The best-known incident in the Bible regarding the Samaritans is of course the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25–37: A priest and a Levite both pass by a man who has been robbed and beaten. The Samaritan, however, stops and takes care of him. Then, as now, Samaritans were not at the top of the social pecking order, and that is precisely the point of the story.

The Content and History of the Book of Enoch