Tyre, and ruling the district east of the Jordan for seven years during the reign of Seuleucus IV. Ptolemy V Epiphanes (205-182) also died, leaving two young sons. When Antiochus Epiphanes became king of Syria (175-164 BC), Hyrcanus realized that he would be unable to vindicate himself for his murderous attacks upon the Arabs, he committed suicide, and his property was seized by Antiochus. Comparison of accounts The most serious difficulty, however, is the chronology. An old interpolator of Josephus advanced the opinion that the king mentioned in the story was Ptolemy III Euergetes (246-222 BC). However, this monarch was not the consort of a Cleopatra, nor was his immediate successor Seleucus IV. The only ruler to whom the narrative can properly refer is Ptolemy V Epiphanes (205-182), who in 193 BCE married Cleopatra, the daughter of Antiochus III. In that case, however, Joseph could not have farmed the Egyptian taxes, since Cœle-Syria was then under Syrian, and not under Egyptian, suzerainty, while the assertion that the two powers had divided the revenues of the country is merely an attempt on the part of Josephus to evade the difficulty. Nor was the period between Ptolemy V's marriage (193) and his death (182) sufficiently long to agree with the statement concerning the length of time during which Joseph farmed the taxes (twenty-two years), and still less could Hyrcanus have reached manhood in so short a space. Büchler, therefore, finds himself compelled to place Joseph's term of office between 219 and 199, although this stultifies the statement of Josephus regarding a division of the taxes. Critical views Büchler's researches probably established the historicity of the account of the Tobiads. 1 Maccabees makes no mention of these events. The quarrels were factional ones, the issue being whether the old and popular government of the Ptolemies should continue, or whether the Jews should deliver themselves over to the Syrian kings and their Hellenization. When Jason and Menelaus struggled for the dominant power in Jerusalem, which was, according to Büchler, political office (the προστασία [prostasia] mentioned in the account of the Tobiads), and no longer the high priesthood, the sons of Tobias (Τωβίου παῖδες) [Tobiou paides] took sides with Menelaus Wellhausen denied both the historicity and the value of the narrative, although he thinks that the portion dealing with the period of Seleucus IV and Antiochus IV may be trustworthy, and he regards the suicide