Alexander the Great
Simon the Just and Alexander the Great
According to the story told by Josephus Flavius, Alexander the Great reached Jerusalem in 332 B.C. The Talmud Yoma 69a places his arrival at Jerusalem in 329 BC during the time when Simon the Just (Simeon the Righteous, Shimon HaTzadik) was residing as High Priest of the Great Assembly.
Alexander the Great was very tall man by the standards of most nations at the time. He also wore a plumed helmet and was said to be "the two horned one".[1]
As he approached Simon the Just and other priests he was riding his famous a white horse that was also an extremely tall animal. His lofty position was an expression of his dominance and power. Yet, when he saw the face of Simon the Just approaching with the other priests he dismounted and bowed, with some reporting that he took a knee, and others claiming he "prostrated" himself.
Historians of that era have reported that, when Alexander was questioned by his his loyal advisors, he related that before going into battle his dreams were of an angel leading him to victory. He claimed that the face of that angel was the face of Simon the Just, the Jewish High Priest.
- ↑ The two horns were a claim of authority and power that reached back to the Egyptian god Ammon and confirmed by the oracle of Zeus-Ammon at Siwa, Egypt, a Syriac Legend, and the Koran with the Islamic epithet Dhu al-Qarnayn the "two-horned",(Zulqarnain "man with two horns").
- The Persian king Cyrus who rescued the Jews from their exile in Babylon allowing them a freedom of religion and a return Israel was also identified by two horns. The king with two horns is mentioned by Daniel Chapter 8 concerning a vision of a two-horned ram destroyed by a one-horned goat and "little horn". This is reportedly symbolic for the Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Moses was also depicted with "horned". And then there are the Horns of the altar (Exodus 27:2, Exodus 29:12-14). What are these horns all about? Horns may symbolize power or domination (Ezekiel 34:21), and destruction (Zechariah 1:18–21), or rescue from oppression (1 Kings 22:11; 2 Chronicles 18:10). The seven horns of the Lamb of God also represent divine power (Revelation 5:6).