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Ptolemy MacRon

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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General of King Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria; sent by the prefect Lysins with two other generals, Nicanor and Gorgias, to fight against the Jews under the Maccabees. In I Macc. 3:38, II Macc. 4:45, and in Josephus, "Ant." 12:7, § 3, he is called the son of Dorymenes. In the second passage cited it is related that Menelaus sent him many presents to secure his intercession with the king. That fact alone would show that Ptolemy was a man of higher rank, and in II Macc. 8:8-11 he is called governor of Cœle-Syria and Phenicia, who as such sent Nicanor and Gorgias against the Jews.

Ptolemy is given the cognomen "Macron" in II Macc. 10:12, which supplies a short sketch of his life. He faithlessly abandoned Cyprus, which had been entrusted to him by the Egyptian king Ptolemy Philometor, and went over to Antiochus Epiphanes, for which he was rewarded with the governorship of Cœle-Syria and Phenicia. Since he tried, however, to treat the Jews kindly, he was denounced before the king, whereupon he ended his life by poison. The passage in Polybius (27:12) and the biography which Suidas gives of Ptolemy refer to his conduct in Cyprus.