Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/135

Rh lates (l.c.), that by Divine revelation he became coadjutor bishop to Narcissus, bishop of Aelia, i. e. Jerusalem, A. D. 212. (See Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 6.8; Chronic. ad A. D. 228, and Alexander's [β] Epistle to the Antinoites ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 6.11.) During his episcopate of nearly forty years (for he continued bishop on the death of St. Narcissus), he collected a valuable library of Ecclesiastical Epistles, which existed in the time of Eusebius. (H. E. 6.20.) He received Origen when the troubles at Alexandria drove him thence, A. D. 216, and made him, though a layman, explain the Scriptures publicly, a proceeding which he justified in [γ] an epistle to Bishop Demetrius, of Alexandria, (ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 6.19,) who, however, sent some deacons to bring Origen home. As Origen was passing through Palestine, on some necessary business, St. Alexander ordained him priest, (S. Hier. l.c. §§ 54, 62,) which caused great disturbance in the church. [ORIGENES.] A fragment of a [δ] letter from St. Alexander to Origen on the subject exists, ap. Euseb. H. E. 6.14. St. Alexander died in the Decian persecution, A. D. 251, in prison (S. Dion. Alex. apud Euseb. H. E. 6.46) after great sufferings (Euseb. 6.39), and is commemorated in the Eastern church on 12th December, in the Western on 16th March. Mazabanes succeeded him. St. Clement of Alexandria dedicated to him his De Canone Ecclesiastico about the observance of Easter. (H. E. 6.13.) His fragments have been mentioned in chronological order, and are collected in Gallandi, Bibl. Pair. ii. p. 201, and in Routh's Reliquiae Sacrae, ii. p. 39.

ALEXANDER, JANNAEUS (Ἀλέξανδρος Ἰανναῖος), was the son of Johannes Hyrcanus, and brother of Aristobulus I., whom he succeeded, as King of the Jews, in B. C. 104, after putting to death one of his brothers, who laid claim to the crown. He took advantage of the unquiet state of Syria to attack the cities of Ptolemais (Acre), Dora, and Gaza, which, with several others, had made themselves independent. The people of Ptolemais applied for aid to Ptolemy Lathyrus, then king of Cyprus, who came with an army of thirty thousand men. Alexander was defeated on the banks of the Jordan, and Ptolemy ravaged the country in the most barbarous manner. In B. C. 102, Cleopatra came to the assistance of Alexander with a fleet and army, and Ptolemy was compelled to return to Cyprus. (B. C. 101.) Soon afterwards Alexander invaded Coele Syria, and renewed his attacks upon the independent cities. In B. C. 96 he took Gaza, destroyed the city, and massacred all the inhabitants. The result of these undertakings, and his having attached himself to the party of the Sadducees, drew upon him the hatred of the Pharisees, who were by far the more numerous party. He was attacked by the people in B. C. 94, while officiating as high-priest at the feast of Tabernacles; but the insurrection was put down, and six thousand of the insurgents slain. In the next year (B. C. 93) he made an expedition against Arabia, and made the Arabs of Gilead and the Moabites tributary. But in B. C. 92, in a campaign against Obedas, the emir of the Arabs of Gaulonitis, he fell into an ambush in the mountains of Gadara; his army was entirely destroyed, and he himself escaped with difficulty. The Pharisees seized the opportunity thus afforded, and broke out into open revolt. At first they were successful, and Alexander was compelled to fly to the mountains (B. C. 88); but two years afterwards he gained two decisive victories. After the second of these, he caused eight hundred of the chief men amongst the rebels to be crucified, and their wives and-children to be butchered before their eyes, while he and his concubines banqueted in sight of the victims. This act of atrocity procured for him the name of " the Thracian." It produced its effect, however, and the rebellion was shortly afterwards suppressed, after the war had lasted six years. During the next three years Alexander made some successful campaigns, recovered several cities and fortresses, and pushed his conquests beyond the Jordan. On his return to Jerusalem, in B. C. 81, his excessive drinking brought on a quartan ague, of which he died three years afterwards, while engaged in the siege of Ragaba in Gerasena, after a reign of twenty-seven years. He left his kingdom to his wife Alexandra. Coins of this king are extant, from which it appears that his proper name was Jonathan, and that Alexander was a name which he assumed according to the prevalent custom. (Josephus, J. AJ 13.12-15.)

ALEXANDER (Ἀλέξανδρος), surnamed ISIUS, the chief commander of the Aetolians, was a man of considerable ability and eloquence for an Aetolian. (Liv. 32.33; Plb. 17.3, &c.) In B. C. 198 he was present at a colloquy held at Nicaea on the Maliac gulf, and spoke against Philip III. of Macedonia, saying that the king ought to be compelled to quit Greece, and to restore to the Aetolians the towns which had formerly been subject to them. Philip, indignant at such a demand being made by an Aetolian, answered him in a speech from his ship. (Liv. 32.34.) Soon after this meeting, he was sent as ambassador of the Aetolians to Rome, where, together with other envoys, he was to treat with the senate about peace, but at the same time to bring accusations against Philip. (Plb. 17.10.) In B. C. 197, Alexander again took part in a meeting, at which T. Quinctius Flamininus with his allies and king Philip were present, and at which peace with Philip was discussed. Alexander dissuaded his friends from any peaceful arrangement with Philip. (Plb. 18.19, &c.; Appian, Maced. 7.1.) In B. C. 195, when a congress of all the Greek states that were allied with Rome was convoked by T. Quinctius Flamininus at Corinth, for the purpose of considering the war that was to be undertaken against Nabis, Alexander spoke against the Athenians, and also insinuated that the Romans were acting fraudulently towards Greece. (Liv. 34.23.) When in B. C. 189 M. Fulvius Nobilior, after his victory over Antiochus, was expected to march into Aetolia, the Aetolians sent envoys to Athens and Rhodes; and Alexander Isius, together with Phaneas and Lycopus, were sent to Rome to sue for peace. Alexander, now an old man, was at the head of the embassy; but he and his colleagues were made prisoners in Cephalenia by the Epeirots, for the purpose of extorting a heavy ransom. Alexander, however, although he was very wealthy, refused to pay it, and was accordingly kept in captivity for some days, after which he was liberated, at the command of the Romans, without any ransom. (Plb. xxii.9.)

ALEXANDER (Ἀλέξανδρος), surnamed LYCHNUS (Λύχνος), a Greek rhetorician and poet. He was a native of Ephesus, whence he is sometimes