LEONTOPOLI. — The locality called L. by Flavius Josephus corresponds to modern Tell el-Yehudiyyeh, about 30 km from Cairo and 20 km from ancient Heliopolis (v.), in a north-easterly direction. Excavations by Naville and Flinders Petrie document the existence there of a Jewish colony prior to Christianity; and there also existed a Jewish temple.
Flavius Josephus recounts its origins in a rather different manner in Bell. Iud. (I, 1, 1; VII, 10, 2-3) and in Antig. Iud. (XIII, 3, 1-3); according to the latter work, the temple was founded by Onias, son of Onias III, high priest killed at Daphne (II Mach. 4, 33), by concession of Ptolemy VI Philometor and Cleopatra, on the ruins of a temple of the goddess Bast. On the other hand, the Jewish colony at L. also had a military character, attested both by the excavations and by the fact that initially it opposed with arms Antiochus who was bringing aid to Caesar. It was of Palestinian character, unlike the numerous Hellenistic-type Jewish colonies. Evidently in Jerusalem the worship of the temple at L. was considered unlawful; the sacrifices were invalid, its priests could not officiate in the Temple of Jerusalem, but, strangely, vows expressly made for it retained their validity (Mendahoth, XIII, 10). In reality it must have been of little importance; the vast majority of Hellenized Jews in Egypt adhered to the Jerusalem Temple, and the temple at L. existed in a kind of tolerance. L. governor of Alexandria, was ordered by Vespasian to destroy it, but he merely closed it; Paul, his successor, destroyed it completely in AD 73 (Flav. Giuseppe, Bell. Iud., VII, 10, 4).