Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/403

355 — 355

TIIK

MICHAEL SOLOMON

ALEXANDER, i''irst

AiiLiliraii


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.May.

ill

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ill

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isli

llir uraiiil ciiicliv ol' I'nsi'ii,

at IJcllicis, E^'vpt. Nii t-mlii-r

2;J,

is-t-j. Jlis Iraiiiinj,' was striflly nrlliddiix, ami at the age of sixteen lie lieeanie a teacher of the Talmud ami of the CJertiiaii language. In 1820 he removed to England and lived as a private tutor in various eountry towns, niarryiiig. in isil, a Mi.ss Levy, of I'lyiiKiuth. His study of the Xew Testaiiiciit and the I'lophets, and tlie suggestions of several Christian eli'tgyiiieli wJKini he met, resulted in

his conversion to ('hrislianil v

and

his liaptism,

Sa.lSi.'i.at SI. .Viidrew'sChu'reli, Plyiiioutli, in

.Iiiiic

which

town he had been officiating as lia/.an to the llelirew congregation. His wife followed his example .six numths later, and was baptized in Exeter. Soon afterward. Alexander removed to Dulilin. where he hecame a teacher of Hebrew, was ordained by the archbishop of the diocese, and appointed lo a small <lmrge ill that city. .luiie 1(1. IS'JT. He then became interested in the work of the London Society for the Promotion of Christ ianity anioiig the Jews, and subsei[uently ])roceeded to Danzig, establishing headipiarlers there, whence he mulerlook to evangelize the Jews of West Prussia and Po.seii. In May. 1830, he returned to England, where for nearly twelve years he acted as home missionary of the society. Ill 1832 Alexandi'r was appointed ]irofessor of llelirew and rabbinical literature in King's College, London, which position he retained till November. His inaugural address was upon the value 1841. of rabbinical literature. He was associated with Dr. Alexander .IcCaul in the translation into Hebrew of the revised edition of the New Testament, and also took a prominent ])art in the translation of the Anglican liturgy into the same language. In 1811 Profes.sor AlexandiT was ordained at Lambeth Palace as bishop of llie United Church of England and lieland at Jerusalem, that he might ameliorate the condition of the Christians in the Holy Land. Into his charge was given the superiiilen(len<<' of the English clergy and congregations in Syria. Clialdea, Egypt, and .byssinia. He was the first to heappointed to this position, one which hail been established by an arrangement between the German. Lutheran, anil .iigliean churches, and which caused no little embarrassment to the High-ehiireh party of the English Church, who would not recognize Lutheran orders. His iippoiiitmeiit indeed provoked much opposition from entirely opposite (luarters. but especially from the Catholic communion: and it was the lirst inciting cause of Xewman's seces-

Home. The bishop's progress to Jerusjilem was conducted w illi much pomp and ceremony, and he overcame the ditllcultics of his position with iiiucli discretion ami prudence. After nearly four years' stay at Jerusjdem. during which he mad(' partial tours of his extensive diocese. Alexander found it exi)e(r(iii/M/. Iliil, tit-Ki-h. tirr KrauiirUfichfn Jutlt'nintjwtttn^ lileiii.

.Mirhiut

Btwhn/

Siiliiiiiiiii

» v.; Dole

44—III; AlrxaiuUr.ikr Krulc Keaiiurliwlie tl.

in JcniiMi/r mi, 1WI7,

O. L.

ALEXANDER OF MILETUS histor on account of oil

gcogmphy,

tin-

niiniliei

Alexander Jannaeus Alexander of Miletus

JEWISH E^CVC'LUPED1A

(called Polyof his writings

history, grummiir, natural science,

rhetoric,

and 40

and philosophy). Flourished between 105 !!< was the author of a book entitled

n.c.

nt/i'i 'loiAifuK c'l'iHin the Jews"). This work, of which only a few fragments have been preserved, quoted in the works of Eusebius and Clement of Alexandria, consisted evidently of excerpts from various Jewish, Samaritan, and heathen authors,

touching tlie earlier history of the ,Tews, strung togethcT w itii a jiretense of chronological order. Although these excerpts reveal their author as nothing but a compiler without taste or judgment, and bereft of all literary ability, they possess, even in their meagerness, a certain value. In his compilation heathen and Jew are cited indiseriniinately side by side; and to Alexander, therefore, the world is indebted for information on the oldest Jewish, Hellenic, and Samaritan elaboration of Biblical history in prose or poetry. The epit' poet Philo, the tragic writer Ezekiel, the historian Eupolemus, the chronicler Demetrius (the so-called Artapanus), the historian .Vristeas, and the Samaritan Theodotus, as well as an unnamed fi'llow countryman of the latter often confused with Eupolemus, the rhetorician Molon (an anti-Jewish writer) all of these authors are known to posterity only tlirough extracts from their works which Alexander embodied verbatim in his. Of some interest for the ancient history of the Jews is his account of Assyria-Babylonia, f reiiuently drawn upon by Jewish and Christian authors; in it extracts are given, especially from Berosus, and also from the "Chronicles of Apollodoros" and the "Third Book of the Sibyllines," Joseplius made use of the work (see Freudenthal, "Alexander Polyhistor," p. 2.")),

—

and likewise Eusebius in his " Chronicles," Probably only Alexanders account of the Flooil is taken from Berosus, who is contirmed by the newest Assyrian discoveries, while his account of the Confusion of Tongues is probably of Jew ish-IIilleiiic origin. Another work of his seems to have contained considerable information concerning the Jews. What Eusebius <iuotes("Pr!eparatio Evangeliea." ix. 20. 3)

would seem

to have been taken from this work, which no longer extant, except indirectly through Joseplius. It may be noted that Alexander twice mentions the Bible, which, however, he knew only su]ierticially, asap|iears from hiscuriousstatemenl that the Law of the Jews was given to them by a woman named .Moso, and that Judea reeeiveil its name from Jiidah and Iduniea, children of Semiramis. In his above ineiitioned work, specilically devoted to the is

Jews(ll(/)i 'loi'Aifur), he furnishes several useful notes touching .Jewish history; and its metluKl, or rather want of method, arises entirely from Alexander's lack of literary jinlgineiit in coniiiiling liaphazard

from both heathen ami Jewish .sources. The text of llie fragments preserved

is

in

very

unsatisfactory shapi', owing to insullicieiit collation How much of his originals of the manuscript.s. Alexander himself omitted isdilliciilt to stiy. in view of the corru|)t stale of the text of Eusebius, whi'ie most of his fmgmentsare to be found. Abydeiius evidently till' Christian editor of Alexander's works had a ilitTennt text before him from tliat which

—

Eusebius pos,ses.scd. Text of the fragments flf/ii 'Imi'njue is lo Iw found in Eusebius, " Pneparalio Evangeliea," ix. 17; Cleinens .Mexandriiius. "Stromalii," Mllller, '

Kragmenta

Historii'oruiii

i.

21, 130,

Oneconini,"

and iii.

211-230; prose extracts, from a new collalion of the manuscripts, in Freudenthal, "Alexander Polvhislor," pp. 211l-'23fi. Frnuilontlml, Alfjramlrr PiilM/iinfor. IlrpslRU, llrllciiifltvlir Stiiilirn. I.nnil ».:Vn«T.ritiin Sehrltli In /'hi('>l<>i;ii/i. xllil. .UIK>31. I(>.

Ilini.iniinAriir iif;r>l

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