Biblical history · Intertestamental Period
Alexander the Great Conquers Judea (332 BC)
332 BC
Alexander the Great's lightning campaign down the Mediterranean coast brought Judea under Greek rule, ending two centuries of Persian control and opening the door to the Hellenistic world of the New Testament era.
The event
After breaking Persian power at Issus and besieging Tyre and Gaza, Alexander the Great turned toward Egypt, and Judea lay directly in his path. Josephus preserves a memorable, if debated, tradition that the high priest met Alexander outside Jerusalem and showed him the book of Daniel, where a mighty Greek king was said to overthrow the Medo-Persian empire (Daniel 8:5-8, 21-22); moved by the sight, Alexander is said to have spared the city and honored its God. Whatever we make of that particular story's details, the underlying fact is solid: Judea passed peacefully from Persian to Greek hands in 332 BC.
For readers of Scripture, this is a striking moment. The book of Daniel, written centuries earlier during the Babylonian exile, had already described in advance the rise of a swift, fierce Greek kingdom that would shatter Persia's power (Daniel 8:5-8; 11:3) — language that lines up remarkably well with what Alexander actually did. Evangelicals read this as genuine predictive prophecy fulfilled in real history, a confirming thread in the larger tapestry of God's sovereign hand over the nations.
The conquest itself changed everything for Judea's future. Greek language, coinage, city planning, and culture began seeping into Jewish life for the first time, setting in motion currents — both enriching and threatening — that would shape Jewish identity for the next three centuries, right up through the birth of the Messiah into a Greek-speaking world.
Dating
The date of Alexander's Levantine campaign (332 BC) is fixed by well-preserved Greco-Macedonian chronology and is not seriously disputed by any school of scholarship. Josephus's account of Alexander's personal visit to Jerusalem is regarded by many historians as pious legend layered onto a real, uncontested event — Judea's peaceful transition to Greek rule.
Scripture references
- Daniel 8:5-8
- Daniel 8:21-22
- Daniel 11:3
Other witnesses
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 11.8
- Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander 2-3
More timeline entries
- Alexander's Empire Divided Among His Generals (323 BC)
- Ptolemaic Rule over Judea Begins (301 BC)
- The Septuagint: Scripture Translated into Greek (c. 250 BC)
- Seleucid Rule Begins at the Battle of Panium (198 BC)
- Antiochus IV Epiphanes Desecrates the Temple (167 BC)
- The Maccabean Revolt Begins at Modein (167 BC)
- Judas Maccabeus Leads the Revolt (166-164 BC)
- The Temple Is Cleansed and Rededicated: First Hanukkah (164 BC)
Capstone Bible is a free interactive study app — a map of every place in this library, a zoomable timeline of biblical and church history, the Bible text with every name in it linked to its article, reading plans and personal notes.
Open Capstone Bible