Hellenistic Period 333–165 BCE of Palestine

In the early 330s BCE, Alexander the Great conquered the region, beginning an important period of Hellenistic influence in the land later (in the 2nd century CE) called Palestine by the Roman emperor Hadrian. After Alexander's death in 323 BCE, his empire was partitioned, and the armies of Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid Empire of Syria battled for control of various portions of the eastern Mediterranean, in the areas of southern Syria, Lebanon and Israel of today. The Seleucid and Ptolemaic dynasties called that region Coele-Syria and Phoenicia. Antiochus the Great of Syria gained victory over Scopas in a decisive battle at Banias in 201-202 BCE. Scopas and his army fled to Sidon where the Seleucid forces held them under siege until they surrendered in 199 BCE. By 198 BCE, all of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia lay under the rule of Antiochus

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