[Sidenote: Jos. War, I, 4:2] Now there was a battle between him and Ptolemy, who was called Lathyrus, who had taken the city of Asochis. He indeed slew many of his enemies, but the victory rather inclined to Ptolemy. But when this Ptolemy was pursued by his mother, Cleopatra, and retired into Egypt, Alexander besieged and took Gadara and Amathus, which was the strongest of all the fortresses that were beyond the Jordan, and the most valued of all the possessions of Theodorus, the son of Zeno, were therein. Thereupon Theodorus marched suddenly against him and took what belonged to himself, and slew ten thousand of the Jews. Alexander, however, recovered from this blow and turned his force toward the maritime districts and took Gaza, Raphia, and Anthedon. [Sidenote: Jos. War, I, 4:3] But when he had enslaved all these cities, the Jews made an insurrection against him at a festival and it looked as though he would not have been able to escape the plot they had laid for him, had not his foreign auxiliaries come to his aid. And when he had slain more than six thousand of the rebels, he invaded Arabia, and when he had conquered the Gileadites and Moabites, he commanded them to pay him tribute and returned to Amathus and took the fortress and demolished it. [Sidenote: Jos. War, I, 4:4, 5] However, when he fought with Obedas, king of the Arabians, who had laid an ambush for him near Golan, he lost his entire army, which was crowded together in a deep valley and trampled to pieces by the multitude of camels. And fleeing to Jerusalem because of the greatness of the calamity that had overtaken him, he provoked the multitude, which had hated him before, to make an insurrection against him. He was, however, too strong for them in the various battles that were fought between them and he slew no fewer than fifty thousand of the Jews in the interval of six years. Yet he had no reason to rejoice in these victories, since he did but consume his own country, until he at length ceased fighting and desired to come to an agreement with them. But his changeability and the irregularity of his conduct made them hate him still more. And when he asked them why they so hated him and what he should do to appease them they said, "Die."