The Famous Cleopatra -Showed Up On Netflicks on Wednesday With Different Theme-Taking Liberties

 Nadene Goldfoot                                        

What I have found out about Cleopatra is quite different from the Netflix version which was one theory.  

    All this area was once called Macedonia/ 

Cleopatra's father was said to be a Macedonian. He was Ptolemy XII born in about 112 BCE and died by 51 BCE.   Ptolemy XII married his relative Cleopatra V, who was likely one of his sisters or cousins; they had at least one child together, Berenice IV, and Cleopatra V was likely also the mother of his second daughter, Cleopatra VII. The king's three youngest children – Arsinoe IV, Ptolemy XIII, and Ptolemy XIV – were born to an unknown mother. 

Ptolemy XII's uncle Ptolemy X had left Egypt to Rome in the event there were no surviving heirs, making Roman annexation of Egypt a possibility. In an effort to prevent this, Ptolemy XII established an alliance with Rome late into his first reign. Rome annexed Cyprus in 58 BCE, causing Ptolemy of Cyprus to commit suicide.

Bust of Ptolemy XII housed at the Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities at the Louvre in Paris;

                                     

Cleopatra was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. The Ptolemaic Kingdom was a Hellenistic kingdom based in Egypt. Centuries after her death, she still manages to keep people fascinated about her life to this day.  One such fascination is the reason behind her heavy makeup which according to studies was not peculiar to Cleopatra alone but women of her time.  The striking thing about hers was her eye makeup. Her eyeshadow was bright blue, which she accentuated with green paste on the lower eyelids. Deep dark kohl was used to make her eyelashes look longer and darken her eyebrows.

 Macedonia was a region of SE Europe which is now divided among the countries of Bulgaria, Greece and Yugoslavia.  Salonica is a Greek port city of historical importance to Jews.  It had been called Thessaloniki.  The Jewish community dates back to classical times and was visited by the apostle Paul in 50 CE.  He visited synagogues in Salonica and Beroea, probably for proselytizing purposes.  Writing about it in the New Testament tells readers that it was a city with Jews who had more than one synagogue there.  

                Jewish family of Salonika in 1917, the greatest haven for Jewish exiles along with Constantinople after 1492.  The mixture of speakers of Greek mixed with Spanish speakers, the in 16th century the Portuguese Marranos arrived.  There was a Greek conquest by 1912 and the city had 80,000 Jews.  Population interchanged between Greece and Turkey after WWI.  By 1940, 5,000 Jews had  immigrated to Palestine, France and USA.  19 convoys of Jews were taken to Poland by Nazis for extermination.  In 1992,  1,100 Jews were living in Salonica.  

The history of the Jews of Thessaloniki (Salonica) reaches back two thousand years.

The former "Romaniot" Jews of Macedonia spoke Greek, but after the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, Sephardi immigrants gradually absorbed the Romaniots by marriages;  the major community was at Salonica;  others, far smaller, were at Cavalla, Castoria, Drama, etc.  Most of the 60,000 Jews in the Greek area of Macedonia were exterminated during WWII.  

Through out the Middle Ages, the Jews remained in the town under various rulers.  In 1098 they were attacked by the Crusaders.  

"Ptolemy XII Auletes, (Greek: “Flute Player”) in full Ptolemy XII Theos Philopater Philadelphus Neos Dionysos Auletes, (born c. 112 BC—died 51 BC), Macedonian king of Egypt, whose quasi-legitimate royal status compelled him to depend heavily upon Rome for support for his throne. During his reign Egypt became virtually a client kingdom of the Roman Republic. He was the first Ptolemy to include Theos (God) in his formal title. (Auletes was not part of his formal title.)

Following the sudden, violent deaths of the last two fully legitimate members of the Ptolemaic family in Egypt, the people of Alexandria in 80 invited Ptolemy XII to assume the throne. Although he was known as a son of Ptolemy IX Soter II, his mother was a mistress of Soter, not a wife. In 103 he was sent by his grandmother, Cleopatra III, queen of Egypt, in the company of his brother and Ptolemy XI Alexander II, his predecessor, to Cos, an Aegean island near Asia Minor, for safekeeping. Captured in 88 by Mithradates VI Eupator, ruler of Pontus, a kingdom in Asia Minor that was then at war with Rome, young Ptolemy appeared in 80 in Syria, from where, according to Cicero, he arrived in Egypt, while his brother became king of Cyprus.

Shortly after his arrival in Egypt, Ptolemy married Cleopatra V Tryphaeana (“the Opulent”), his sister, and in 76 he was crowned in Alexandria according to Egyptian rites. At Rome, however, anti-Senate politicians in 65 raised the issue of Ptolemy’s legitimacy, producing a questionable will of Ptolemy XI Alexander II purporting to bequeath Egypt to the Roman people. Ptolemy, seeking Roman support, sent troops to assist the consul and general Pompey the Great in Palestine. Cicero, representing Pompey’s interests, persuaded the Senate to oppose Roman annexation. Facing serious opposition from the people of Alexandria and still unsure of his status at Rome, Ptolemy bribed Julius Caesar, one of the Roman consuls for the year 59, with 6,000 talents, in return for which Caesar passed a law acknowledging his kingship. Rome nevertheless divested Egypt of Cyprus the next year, and, when his brother in Egypt failed to support him, the island’s king committed suicide.

                                Queen Berenice was a Judean princess in late 1st century BCCE to 1st century CE.  She was the daughter of Herod's sister, Salome.  

The loss of Cyprus and Ptolemy’s submissive attitude to Rome outraged the people of Alexandria, who drove Ptolemy out of Egypt and accepted his queen, Tryphaeana, and his eldest daughter, Berenice IV, as rulers in 58. Residing at Pompey’s villa at Rome, he employed bribery to obtain the support of the Roman senators. He also arranged the assassination of delegations sent by his opponents from Alexandria, where, following his queen’s death, the people had made Berenice IV sole ruler. While the Senate delayed an answer, Ptolemy, continuing to dispense bribes, fell deeper into debt to Roman moneylenders. Late in 57 the Senate passed a resolution to support Ptolemy, but, when a prophecy forbade the granting of active aid, the Egyptian king departed for Ephesus, a city in Asia Minor.

In 55, after promising Pompey’s lieutenant Aulus Gabinius, proconsul of Syria, 10,000 talents, Ptolemy was returned to Egypt with a Roman army. Once restored, he executed his daughter, who had headed the opposition at Alexandria. Shortly before his death in 51 he proclaimed his eldest surviving daughter, the celebrated Cleopatra VII, and his eldest son coregents. His extensive bribery left Egypt in financial trouble".

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Brittanica Encyclopedia

https://face2faceafrica.com/article/cleopatras-heavy-eye-makeup-was-not-just-for-looks-it-also-protected-her-from-infections

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.

Alexander the Great: Impressed the Jews Greatly

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                   

 Victory came at a great price: the Persians, led by Darius,  were now in Greece for the first time, and up until then, Greece had been impenetrable.  The Persians also made a great mistake, because they were now in a place people came to resent them. The resulting hatred toward the Persians created a common enemy and thereby laid the groundwork for a great leader to step in and do what no one before him was able to do: unite the powerful and industrious Greek peoples.  Alexander the Great had not forgotten about him.  Alexander the Great did all these things at a very young age.                                                             

Alexander the Great, born in 356 BCE and died in 323 BCE, King of Macedonia, killed King Darius III of Persia, also a great friend of the Jews.  These great kings were fighting for whole world dominance.  Alexander needed to prove to Greece how important Macedonia was.  Macedonia is in the northwest corner of Greece. It is basically a Balkan country, and the Macedonians were part of the general Greek nation. However, they were looked down upon and despised by the Athenians and Spartans because they were boorish and uncultured. That both Darius of Persia and Alexander had paid homage to Jews was immaterial to him. It was a fight to the finish.  Alexander's personality had made a deep impression on the Jews.  Josephus described his visit to Jerusalem, the honor which he paid to the high priest, Jaddus, and the privileges accorded to the Jews of Palestine and the Diaspora.                                                                            

During the course of Alexander the Great’s march through the Persian Empire, he traveled to Egypt in 332 B.C. While there, he took two significant actions that would contribute to his legacy: He founded a new city on the coast, Alexandria, named after himself, and he visited an oracular shrine dedicated to the god Zeus Ammon in the Siwa Oasis.                                     

The Judeans were now under Alexander’s rule. However, Greek historians do not mention Jerusalem or the Jews in connection with Alexander’s conquest, which is not surprising because Judea was the home of an obscure people and an insignifi- cant tribe. In fact, no contemporary Jewish sources refer to Alexander either.

 In order to reach Egypt from the north, Alexander would have traveled along the coast. It is unlikely that he would have taken the mountainous roads into the interior of the country, which would have led to Judea and Jerusalem.  The Judeans submitted peacefully to Alexander as he marched through Palestine on his way to Egypt.  When Alexander took the coastal road to Egypt, he had to make arrangements to administer the country. It is significant that he maintained the religious and political privileges that the Jews had enjoyed under the Persians. Basically, he left the governing system intact and replaced the Persian officials and administrators with his own officials.

                                                          

Antipatris is mentioned in the Christian New Testament, but as Aphek in the Tanakh.  Aphek's king was one of thirty-one rulers defeated by Joshua and the Israelites during their battles to take the Promised Land. Later, it became the staging place for the Philistines, in the days of Samuel the prophet (11th century BCE) , to plan an attack against Israel.  It is beyond doubt, however, that Alexander never visited Jerusalem, although the Talmud's traditions of a meeting between him and the Jews at Antipatris may well be historical. 

                                                           

 The traditions may have grown up on the background of his suppression of a Samaritan revolt which gave the Jews of Jerusalem the occasion to stress their own loyalty.  What happened with the Samaritans under Alexander provides an interesting contrast with the legend of Alexander among the Jews. While the Jews submitted peacefully to Alexander, the Samaritans did not. At first, the Samaritan governor, Sanballat III, supported Alexander and was even given permission by him to build the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim. However, after Sanballat III died, the Samaritans, for reasons that are not clear, rebelled against Alexander and burned his governor alive. In punishment, Alexander destroyed the city of Samaria and banished the Samaritans from the city. The Samaritans went to live at the foot of Mount Gerizim, their sacred mountain. From that point on, the district of Samaria had two religious and political centers: the Samaritan, or Yahwist, population that was concentrated in the area of Mount Gerizim, and Samaria itself, which became a Greek city.

                                                          

Alexander figures prominently in talmudic, midrashic, and medieval Jewish legend.  Perhaps the best known of these stories is Daniel’s vision, which is told in Daniel 8:1–27. In this passage, Daniel is shown a vision that involves a ram and a he-goat. The passage explicitly identifies the ram, which has two horns, with the king of Media and Persia—hence, the two horns. The he-goat, coming from the west, is Alexander the Great, who conquers the ram; in other words, Alexander conquers the Persian Empire.  Daniel’s vision relates to the coming end of days, embedding Alexander in Jewish eschatological thought.

                                                            

Another celebrated legend involving the Jews and Alexander is preserved by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.  According to Josephus, in visiting Jerusalem, Alexander was greeted by the Jewish high priest, Jaddua, who presented the king with the Jewish community’s capitulation; then, Alexander offered a sacrifice in the Jerusalem Temple.  In this story, not only did Alexander make a detour in order to meet with the Jews and go to Jerusalem, but when he saw the high priest and the name of God, he was so awed that he bowed down. Alexander, according to this legend, recognized the greatness of the God of Israel.

                                                      

Alexander died at the age of 32, accomplishing so much in his dream to unite all the peoples of the world.  A note, he seemed to hate his mother.  (I gather this on the Netflix take on it in Alexander). The death of Alexander the Great and subsequent related events have been the subjects of debates. According to a Babylonian astronomical diary, Alexander died between the evening of June 10 and the evening of June 11, 323 BC, at the age of thirty-two. This happened in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon . 

Alexander was already a key figure in Jewish eschatological thought, that is, Jewish thinking and expectations about what would happen at the end of days. In Jewish eschatological thought, Alexander is situated at the beginning of a new era that is perceived as the last stage of history before the end of days— the eschaton. In other words, Alexander was understood as a necessary step on the road to the advent of the messiah.                         

Jews did not use surnames until countries they lived in required them.  The surname of Alexander has been used by Jews in England, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Palestine, Australia and the USA.  it's also used by Jews as a 1st name as well.  

Resource:

https://www.netflixmovies.com/alexander-the-great-1956

The New Standard Jewish encyclopedia

Finding Our Fathers-a guidebook to Jewish Genealogy by Dan Rottenberg

https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/alexander-greats-impact-jews/

https://www.jewishhistory.org/alexander-the-great/

When The Greeks Owned Syria and Attacked Judah: Chanukah History

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

Alexander the Great (July 20/21, 356 BCE to June 10/11, 323 BCE was the King of Macedonia  ( Bulgaria, Greece and Yugoslavia), home of the city of Salonica, an important Greek port  from 336-323 BCE.  His personality had made a great impression on the Jews.  Josephus describes his visit to Jerusalem.  He had paid  honor to the high priest Jaddua.  The Talmud tells us that when Alexander and his conquering legions advanced up to Jerusalem, they were met by a delegation of elders, led by the High Priest Shimon HaTzaddik.  When Alexander saw Shimon coming to him, he dismounted and prostrated himself before the Jewish sage.  Alexander said  to his men that each time he went into battle, he would see a vision of this High Priest leading the Greek troops to victory.  Alexander was a kind and generous ruler.  He canceled the Jewish taxes during Sabbatical years, and even offered animals to be sacrificed on his behalf in the Temple.  Alexander never visited Jerusalem, though the Talmud tells of this meeting between him and the Jews at Antipatris.  He had suppressed the Samaritan revolt which gave the Jews of Jerusalem the occasion to stress their loyalty.  We find Alexander in Talmudic, Midrashic and medieval Jewish stories.   Scholars doubt Josephus' information that he granted civic rights to Jewish settlers in the Ionian cities of Asia Minor.  Unfortunately, Alexander's heirs failed to sustain his benevolence.  He was so beloved by the Jews that you will find many named their sons Alexander.  He died at the young age of 33.
                                                    

Then there was a Greek king, Antiochus III,  who ruled Syria in the Hellenistic period of 223-187 BCE.  He took 2,,000 Jewish families from Babylon to Lydia and Phrygia. The Babylonians had attacked Judah in 597 and 586 BCE so Jews had been taken away to Babylonia and lived there for over 300 years.  This king was from the House of Seleucus who ruled Syria and was one of  13 Greek kings.  The Seleucids were a Hellenistic royal dynasty founded by Seleucus Nicator.  He was one of Alexander the Great's generals.

Antiochus  conquered Judah in about 200 BCE and granted privileges to the Temple.  Then he captured Jerusalem in 198 BCE.  He treated the Jews quite well, with understanding.
                                                                     

 However, along came Antiochus IV Epiphanes who reigned from 175-163 BCE who was turned back by Rome on his 2nd expedition against Egypt in 168 BCE.  Now relations between the Jews and the Seleucids had deteriorated because the Seleucid kingdom was compelled to resort to all possible financial extortion's to meet its depressed monetary situation.  Antiochus's religious and cultural policy led to the Hashmonean revolt .  The result was that the Jews freed themselves from the Seleucids.
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Now we come to the time of the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem, almost 22 centuries ago, that history took place which causes the Jews to celebrate Chanukah.  They had returned to the land of Israel from the Babylonian Exile and had rebuilt the Holy Temple.  However, they remained subject to the Persian Empire first, then later, the conquering armies of Alexander the Great.  When he died, his kingdom was divided among his generals.  They had a power struggle which engulfed all the nations of the Middle East.  Israel found itself under the Seleucid Dynasty-Greek kings who reigned from Syria.

At the time of King Antiochus IV, the fate of the Jewish people seemed grim indeed.  The vastly outnumbered Maccabees were up against the world's most sophisticated military machine.  They faced opposition from within, as well.  Many Jews were meek, complacent, too willing to forsake their heritage and assimilate into the Hellenistic culture.  It was a time that was the darkest hour before the dawn.  With G-d's help and against all odds, the Maccabees were able to reclaim the Holy land and rededicate the Holy Temple.
                                                                       

Though their rule was rather benign to begin with, Antiochus IV waged a bloody war on the Jews which would threaten not just their physical lives, but their very spiritual existence.  By having been dominated by the Greeks, many Jews had begun to embrace the Greek culture and its hedonistic, pagan way of life.  They became Jewish Hellenists who were willing pawns in Antiochus' scheme to obliterate every trace of the Jewish religion.  The Holy Temple was desecrated and robbed of all its treasures.  Innocent people were massacred in mass.  Survivors were heavily taxed.  An Idol of Zeus was on the holy altar and the Greek Syrians forced the Jews to bow before it under penalty of death.  They could not observe the Sabbath and circumcision.

At the time of Antiochus IV lived the Jewish Hasmoneans.  This was the name of a priestly family and dynasty founded by Mattathias from the town on Modiin.  Mattathias had 5 sons; Judah the Maccabee,(the hammerer)  Jonathan, Simon, John, and Eleazar.   Jews were forced to offer sacrifices to the Greek idols.   "A Hellenistic Jew approached the altar to offer a sacrifice. Mattityahu grabbed his sword and killed him, and his sons and friends fell upon the Syrian officers and men".  They directed the popular revolt against the hellenizing  policy adopted in Judah by the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes.  The Hasmneans fought a number of successful battles against the Syrians and in 164 BCE, Judah  Maccabee re-captured Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple. This was followed by many raids to rescue the Jewish population of Ammon, Idumea, Gilead and Galilee.  They were defeated in 163 at Bet Zechariah where Eleazar was killed.  The Hasmoneans were able, owing to dynastic distractions in Syria, to get terms securing Jewish religious freedom, but Judah and his party aspired for political freedom, too.  They continued the fight and Judah died at Elassa in 160 BCE.  John was murdered afterwards and Jonathan became the leader.  By playing off of Syrian pretenders against each other, Jonathan was able to get the high priesthood in 152 BCE and governorship of Judah in 150 BCE.  Simon succeeded in gaining exemption from tribute in 147 BCE.  He was confirmed by the people as hereditary high priest, ethnarch and general in 142 BCE.  Then he was murdered in 135 BCE.  His son, John Hyrcanus  succeed him and was defeated horribly by Antiochus VII Sidetes.

This brought about a rising which Antiochus had to suppress with great cruelty.  Thousands of Jews were killed and many sold into slavery.  Antiochus then brought non-Jewish settlers into Jerusalem and fortified Acra as a stronghold of the Hellenizers to dominate the city.
                                                                   

He began a terrible religious persecution of the Jews.  He forbid circumcision and observing the Sabbath. Then he desecrated the Temple altar and set up pagan altars in the provincial towns.  He compelled the Jews to take part in pagan ceremonies.  His excesses caused the Hasmonean uprising.

Nicanor was  general who commanded the Syrian forces of Antiochus IV along with Gorgias against the Hasmoneans in 166-165 BCE.  He was defeated at Emmaus.  Nicanor was again sent against Judah the Maccabee in 161 BCE  and was defeated and killed at Adasa, on Adar 13 (Jewish calendar).  This was thereafter commemorated as Nicanor Day.

His son, Antiochus V, who reigned from 164-162 BCE continued the war against the Jews until 163 BCE when he granted them religious and some political autonomy in return for their acceptance of his rule.

Antiochus VII Sidetes  occupied Jerusalem, plundered the Temple treasure and tried to Hellenize Judea by force because he wanted to convert it into a a frontier-province that he could depend on. Antiochus VII Sidetes reigned from 138-128 BCE and came down hard on the Jews by reasserting the Seleucid claims on Judea.  Antiochus VII Sidetes  had invaded the country in the time of Simon the Hasmonean in 138 BCE and again with greater success in 134 BCE.  He started off by repulsing them in 138 BCE and again invaded Judea and seized Jerusalem in 135-4 BCE.

 John Hyrcanus, son and successor of Simon the Hasmonean, ruled from 135 to 104 BCE and was forced to surrender and destroyed the walls of Jerusalem.  He ceded his conquests outside of Judea and had to pay tribute.  Antiochus died in 129 which gave John a chance to reassert his independence. John was confirmed as high priest but had to accept harsh peace-terms which made the Hasmonean state again tributary to Syria.  He had to participate in the Parthian campaign of Antiochus Sidetes.  After the defeat of Syria and the death of Antiochus, he freed himself from Syrian suzerainty and regained territory he had been obliged to cede.  He attacked the Samaritans and captured Shechem and Mt. Gerizim and destroyed their temple.  Then John overran the territory of the Idumeans and forced them to embrace Judaism.  Most likely he conquered Galilee with his son Aristobulus who completed the conquest.

 Just before John Hyrcanus's death, his sons defeated the Samaritans and got control of Bet Shean and part of the Valley of Jezreel.     Antiochus  VII had occupied Jerusalem, plundered the Temple treasure and tried to Hellenize Judea by force because he wanted to convert it into a a frontier-province that he could depend on.  When Antiochus died in 129 BCE, the Jews revolted, and the Seleucid rule in Judah ended in 128.  

Antiochus IX Cyzicenus reigned on and off from 125 to 95 BCE and was severely defeated in 107 when he tried to help out Samaria which was under siege by a Jewish army.

Had the Jews not overcome Antiochus IV when they did, Judaism would have been wiped out.  If that had fallen, Christianity would not have risen when it did and neither would have Islam.  We'd all still be celebrating Greek and Roman gods.  The Menorah that we use in celebration commemorates the eternal light that hung in the Temple which was lit with virgin olive oil.  A great Rabbi once remarked that "you cannot chase away darkness with a stick.  You have to turn on the light."  The way to eliminate darkness-to rid the world of ignorance, negativity, hatred and greed-is to kindle the lights of knowledge, generosity, hope and love.

The Chanukah menorah is lit only after nightfall because his signifies that our purpose is to illuminate the darkness of this world, until the time when, as the Prophet says, "the world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d."  The world is waning itself off of organized religion at this time, I note.  It may be difficult for us to  perceive G-dliness in our everyday lives, but Chanukah reminds us, even in our darkest moments, that the light of knowledge can shine brightly, that redemption is at hand, if we will kindle just one more lamp.

The soul cannot be extinguished.  Miraculously, despite the best efforts of the oppressors, one cruse of pure olive oil remained in the Temple when Judas Maccabee entered, and one cruse was enough to rededicate the Temple and renew the holy task of spreading light throughout the world.

Resource:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiochus_IV_Epiphanes
The New Standard AJewish Encyclopedia
Your Chanukah Guide- Chabad 1996
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seleucid_Empire
http://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanukah/article_cdo/aid/221817/jewish/Pure-Oil.htm