is possible that the book was actually describing a contemporary Roman persecution, but moved the setting earlier in time. The book's opening, a retelling of the Battle of Raphia, is generally agreed to be loosely accurate, if not to the quality of Polybius's version. It may have been based on a lost history of Ptolemy Megalopolitanus, Philopater's governor of Cyprus. A possible interpretation that gives credit to the historicity of 3 Maccabees might go something like this: Ptolemy Philopater was more open-minded than many Greeks in that he attempted to integrate non-Greeks into his army and administration, notably native Egyptians. Doing so required creation of a syncretic religion to unify everyone, Greek and non-Greek alike. As a devotee of Dionysus, perhaps he attempted to ensure the loyalty of recruited non-Greeks by initiating them into the Dionysian Mysteries in exchange for citizenship (3:21). Some Jews obeyed but most refused the offer (2:31-33, 3:22-23). The king was angry and threatened Jews who were already citizens with loss of their status if they did not join, a potential catastrophe that would be remembered for centuries. The Jews tried bribery (2:32). While nothing like the attempted mass execution at the hippodrome thwarted by angels occurred, some Jews in the provinces were possibly executed (3:12-30), before eventually the initiative stopped. Still, this is speculative. Another theory about the historical basis of the book was advanced by Adolf Büchler in 1899. He held that the book describes the persecution of the Jews in the Fayum region of Egypt. The Jews in Coele-Syria abruptly changed allegiance from the Ptolemies to the Seleucids in 200 BC as a consequence of Seleucid victory in the Fifth Syrian War. Büchler argues that this put Egyptian Jews under suspicion now that the Temple in Jerusalem was led by a High Priest who answered to the rival Seleucids, triggering a persecution in Egypt. Theology Despite clearly being familiar with 2 Maccabees, the author does not appear to agree with some of its tenets. While describing suffering and evil, the book makes no reference to a future resurrection of the innocent nor future retribution for villains. While two angels appear in response to a prayer, the author specifically writes that the angels were invisible to the Jews, perhaps suggesting a reluctance to ascribe power or authority to angels rather than God, or a reconciling of conflicting stories. The author may have been theologically