III. The Jewish Temple at Leontopolis. After the murder of his father Onias III near Antioch, whither he had fled from the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes, Onias IV sought refuge in Egypt. Here, as the legitimate head of the Jewish high-priesthood, he was favorably received by Ptolemy and granted territory in the Nile Delta to the north of Memphis in which to rear a temple to Jehovah. In the light of recent discoveries at Elephantine it is evident that this step was not without precedent (Section XCI:vii). Ptolemy's object was to please his Jewish subjects and to attract others to the land of the Nile. Josephus's statement in _The Jewish War_, VII, 10:4 favors the conclusion that the temple was built two hundred and forty-three years (not 343) before its final destruction in 73 A.D., that is, in 170 B.C. In any case it was probably built between 170 and 160 B.C., at the time when the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes made pilgrimages to the Jerusalem temple impossible, and threatened its continued existence. The plan of the Leontopolis temple indicates that it was not intended to be a rival to the Jerusalem sanctuary, but rather a common place of meeting for the Egyptian Jews and of defence in case of attack. It never seriously rivalled the Jerusalem sanctuary, although in later days it was viewed with jealousy by the Jews of Palestine. IV. Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. Far more significant than the building of the Leontopolis temple was the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. The tradition preserved by Josephus that the translation was made in seventy-two days by seventy-two scholars, sent from Jerusalem by Eleazar the high priest at the request of Ptolemy, is clearly unhistorical. The impossibility of completing so vast a task in this limited time is obvious. Moreover, the character of the translation indicates that it was the work not of Palestinian but of Alexandrian Jews familiar with the peculiar Greek of Egypt and the lands of the dispersion. It was also the work not of one but of many different groups of translators, as is shown by the variant synonyms employed in different books to translate the same Hebrew words and idioms. In the case of several books the work of two or more distinct translators is readily recognized. The quality of the translation also varies greatly in different books. It is probable that the one historical fact underlying the tradition is that the work of translation was begun in the days of Ptolemy Philadelphus, who may have encouraged his Jewish subjects in their undertaking. From the character of the translations and the nature of the situation it is probable that the first books to be translated were certain historical writings, as Samuel-Kings and the books of the Law. The remaining books were probably translated by the end of the succeeding century (between 250 and 150 B.C.), for the grandson of Ben Sira implies in his prologue that he was acquainted with the Law, the