Ptolemais Herod and the Diodochi

Notes on Ptolemais Herod and the Diodochi division of Alexanders conquered lands.

Ptolemais was Akko, and before that it was Tel el Fulkhar. It becomes Ptolemais when renamed by Ptolemy II. Herod to the Hebrew is Hordos and the Greeks know him as Heroides. To the Romans he is Herod I or Herod the Great, yet to others he is The Great Evil Genius of the Judean nation. Herod's father was Antipater who was Jewish but perhaps only Jewish by vassal methods. The Judean ways had been forced on the Idumaen by Hyrcanus and Antipater was an Idumaen. The Idumaen were settled in Edom and were called Idumea people by the Greeks and Romans. Edom is just south of Juda and the Dead Sea.

Antipater is named procurator by Julius Caesar in 47 BC and in 37 BC Herod is crowned King of the Jews. This came on the heels of the beheading of Antigonus. Herod has the devils touch of influencing the super elite and their influence in political arenas goes a long way in raising him to the throne. But when he marries Mariamne in 38 BC is chances of staying favoured among the Jews become greatly appreciated. Mariamne was of a family of Hasmoneans.

_______Interesting side note - Google Hasmonea and you come up with an Estonian or Eesti reference to a revival Jewish movement that predates WW II. New Hasmonea, Estonian Jewry, and the Tartu Zionist Student Organization, definitely warrant research. Eesti is on the Baltic Sea and very close to where the original Goths are said to have emerged from.

The original Hasmonean were very popular amongst the Jewish people. These were people who ruled the Hasmonean Kingdom of Israel between 140 and 37 BC. The Hasmonean Dynasty starts with Mattathias ben Johanan. Two generations later Johanan Hyrcanus rules from 134 to 104 BC. Mariamne is of the seventh generation of Hasmoneans. Antigonus is of the sixth generation and was known for his rebellious battles against Rome. Herod captures Antigonus in Jerusalem and delivered him to Antioch where Mark Antony sentenced him to death by beheading. Antigonus was an advocate of Jewish independence from Roman influence and was the first King executed by the rule of the Roman courts.

Supposedly in 150 BC, Jonathan, an Hasmonite King conquers the city of Ptolemais which is now west of the original Tel el Fukhar mound and ruled by the Syria while they were Kingdom of the Seleucids. Seleucus I Nicotar was one of Alexander the Great's general and received much of the Assyrian and Babylonian lands when the Great Greek's empire was divided after his death. Seleucus names two capitals for his kingdom. One is in Antioch in Syria. The other is Seleucia in Mesopotamia.  see the Diadochi.

to be continued.........