Perhaps the chink in Kroenig's argument is his search for germanophobia.

The protracted dynastic struggles completely exhausted the military and financial power of the remnants of the Seleucid Empire and left Syria powerless against the dangers that threatened it from outside and the ferment that weakened it internally.

Mesue and some other Arabians began to reject and reprehend it; upon whose authority, for many following lusters, it was much debased and quite out of request […].

to strike a match