|The Story of the Greeks|
|by Helene A. Guerber|
| Elementary history of Greece, made up principally of stories about persons, giving at the same time a clear idea of the most important events in the ancient world and calculated to enforce the lessons of perseverance, courage, patriotism, and virtue that are taught by the noble lives described. Beginning with the legends of Jason, Theseus, and events surrounding the Trojan War, the narrative moves on to present the contrasting city-states of Sparta and Athens, the war against Persia, their conflicts with each other, the feats of Alexander the Great, and annexation by Rome. Ages 10-14 |
ALEXANDER AT JERUSALEM
DARIUS, as we have seen, had fled after the disastrous
battle of Issus. His terror was so great that he never
stopped in his flight until he had reached the other
side of the river Tigris, where he still believed
 Instead of going after Darius at once, Alexander first
went southward along the coast; for he thought it
would be wiser to take all the cities near the sea
before he went farther inland, so as to make sure that
he had no enemies behind his back.
Marching down through Syria and Phœnicia, Alexander took the cities of Damascus and Sidon, and came at last to Tyre, a prosperous commercial city
built on an island at a short distance from the shore.
The Tyrians would not open their gates and surrender,
so Alexander prepared to besiege the city. As he had no
fleet, he began to build a great causeway out to the
This was a very difficult piece of work, because the
water was deep; and while his men were building it,
they were greatly annoyed by showers of arrows, stones,
and spears from the walls of the city and from the
decks of the Tyrian vessels.
A storm, also, broke the causeway to pieces once, when
it was nearly finished, and the army had to begin the
work anew. The obstinate resistance of Tyre made
Alexander so angry, that he celebrated his final
victory by crucifying a large number of the richest
After offering up a sacrifice to Hercules on the
flaming ruins of Tyre, Alexander went on toward
Jerusalem. His plan was to punish the Jews, because
they had helped his enemies, and had supplied the
Tyrians with food.
The news of his coming filled the hearts of the Jews
with terror, for they expected to be treated with the
same frightful cruelty as the Tyrians. In their fear
they knew not whether to surrender or fight.
 Finally Jaddua, the high priest, had a vision, in
which an angel of the Lord appeared to him, and told
him what to do. In obedience to this divine command, he
made the Levites put on their festal garments, and
then, dressed in his priestly robes, he led them down
the hill to meet the advancing conqueror.
When Alexander saw the beautiful procession, headed by
such a dignified old man, he quickly got down from his
horse, knelt before Jaddua, and worshiped the name
written on his holy vestments.
His officers, astonished at this unusual humility,
finally asked him why he did such honor to a foreign
priest. Then Alexander told them of a vision he had had
before leaving Macedon. In it he had beheld Jaddua, who
bade him come over to Asia without fear, as it was
written that the Persians would be delivered into his
Walking beside the aged Jaddua, Alexander entered the
holy city of Jerusalem and the courts of the temple.
Here he offered up a sacrifice to the Lord, and saw the
Books of Daniel and Zechariah, in which his coming
and conquests were all foretold.
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