A VAST KINGDOM IS DIVIDED

CONCERNING the kingdom of Alexander the Great, the Bible foretold a breakup and a division "but not to his posterity." (Daniel 11:3, 4) Accordingly, within 14 years after Alexander's sudden death in 323 B.C.E., his legitimate son Alexander IV and his illegitimate son Heracles were assassinated.

By the year 301 B.C.E., four of Alexander's generals established themselves in power over the vast empire their commander had built.  General Cassander took control of Macedonia and Greece. General Lysimachus received Asia Minor and Thrace. To Seleucus IO Nicator went to Mesopotamia and Syria.  And Ptolmey Lagus, or Ptolemy I, ruled Egypt and Palestine.  From Alexander's one great kingdom thus arose four Hellenistic, or Grecian, kingdoms. 

Of the four Hellenistic kingdoms, Cassander's rule proved to be  of the shortest duration.  A few years after Cassander came to power, his male lineage died out, and in 285 B.C.E., Lysimachus took possession  of the European  part of the Greek Empire. Four years later, Lysimachus fell in battle before Seleucus I Nicator, giving him control of the major portion of the Asiatic territories.  Seleucus  became the first of the line of Seleucid kings in Syria. He founded Antioch in Syria and made that his new capital. Seleucus was assassinated 
in 281 B.C.E., but the dynasty that he established continued in power until 64 B.C. E., when Roman General Pompey made Syria a province of Rome. 

OF the four divisions of Alexander's empire, the Ptolemaic kingdom lasted the longest. Ptolemy I assumed the title of king in 305 B.C.E. and became the first of the Macedonian kings, or Pharaohs, of Egypt. Making Alexandria the capital, he immediately began an urban-development program.  One of his greatest building projects was the famous Alexandrian Library.  To oversee this grand project,m Ptolemy brought from Greece a noted Athenian scholar, Demetrius Phalereus. Reportedly, by the first century C.E., the library housed one million scrolls. The Ptolemaic dynasty continued to rule in Egypt until it fell to Rome in 30 B.C.E. Rome then replaced Greece as the dominant world power. 

Next time: WHO CAN STAND AGAINST THE PRINCE OF PRINCES? CHAPTER TEN

From the book: PAY ATTENTION TO DANIEL'S PROPHECY! 1999