Page 279 of 319
271 clysms, and he related them to the zodiacal Ages, his contemporary one having begun 1,920 years before the Se- leucid Era (312 B.c.£.); that would have placed the beginning of the Age of the Ram in 2232 B.c.e—an Age destined to come soon to an end even if the full mathematical length is granted to it (2232-2160= 122 B.c.E.). The available records suggest that the Seleucid kings, cou- pling those calculations with the Missing Return, were seized with the need to urgently expect and prepare for one. A frenzy of rebuilding the ruined temples of Sumer and Akkad began, with emphasis on the E.AANNA—the “House of Anu’—in Uruk. The Landing Place in Lebanon, called by them Heliopolis—City of the Sun god—was rededicated by erecting a temple honoring Zeus. The reason for the war to capture Judea, one must conclude, was the urgency of also preparing the space-related site in Jerusalem for the Return. It was, we suggest, the Greek-Seleucid way of preparing for the reappearance of the gods. Unlike the Ptolemies, the Seleucid rulers were determined to impose the Hellenic culture and religion in their domains. The change was most significant in Jerusalem, where sud- denly foreign troops were stationed and the authority of the Temple priests was curtailed. Hellenistic culture and customs were forcefully introduced; even names had to be changed, starting with the high priest, who was obliged to change his name from Joshua to Jason. Civil laws restricted Jewish citi- zenship in Jerusalem; taxes were raised to finance the teach- ing of athletics and wrestling instead of the Torah; and in the countryside, shrines to Greek deities were being erected by the authorities and soldiers were sent to enforce worship in them. In 169 B.c.£. the then Seleucid king, Antiochus IV (who adopted the epithet Epiphanes) came to Jerusalem. It was not a courtesy visit. Violating the Temple’s sanctity, he entered the Holy of Holies. On his orders, the Temple’s treasured golden ritual objects were confiscated, a Greek governor was put in charge of the city, and a fortress for a permanent garri- son of foreign soldiers was built next to the Temple. Back in his Syrian capital, Antiochus issued a proclamation requiring Jerusalem: A Chalice, Vanished