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The Ptolemaic Era

Leader	Ruled
Ptolemy I Soter	320–283 bc
Ptolemy II Philadelphus	283–246 bc
Ptolemy III Eurgetes	246–221 bc
Ptolemy IV Philopater	221–204 bc
Ptolemy V Epiphanes	204–181 bc

(Dates are from Bo Reicke, New Testament, 46.)

Under the Ptolemies, who ruled Palestine from 320–198 bc, the Jews began to lose their fluency in the Hebrew language. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 bc) commissioned 72 Jewish scholars to translate the Pentateuch into Greek, a translation that became known as the Septuagint. The “Letter of Aristeas” records details of this translation project (Charles, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha), though parts of the account are likely mythological. The Septuagint later lost favor with Jews because the early Christians, including many New Testament writers, used it extensively (Rahlfs, Septuaginta, 1.23).

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