Indeed, the supreme council of the Great Synagogue (or Great Assembly) of the Pharisees was modeled on Hellenistic religious and social associations. It is not the purpose here to settle any … JEWISH DIALOGUE WITH HELLENISTIC CULTURE Can you give just a general definition of what's meant by the term the Hellenistic world? Antiochus III, coin, late 3rd–early 2nd century. The ready acceptance of Greek by Egyptian Jews is evidenced by the surviving synagogue inscriptions from Ptolemaic Egypt, all of which are in Greek. Scholarly estimates of the Jewish population of this era range from 700,000 to 5,000,000 in Palestine and from 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 in the Diaspora, the prevailing opinion being that about one-tenth of the population of the Mediterranean world at the beginning of the Christian era was Jewish. By the beginning of the 2nd century, the influence of the Hellenistic Age in Judaea was quite strong; indeed, it has been argued that, if the Seleucids had not forcibly intervened in Jewish affairs, Judaean Judaism would have become even more syncretistic than Alexandrian Judaism. (noun) Dictionary ! ... - do not require jews to go to temple-Taxes. Hellenism and Judaism Contact between Greeks and Semites goes back to Minoan and Mycenaean times and is reflected in certain terms used by Homer and other early Greek authors. Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the historical spread of ancient Greek culture, religion, and, to a lesser extent, language over foreign peoples conquered by Greeks or brought into their sphere of influence, particularly during the Hellenistic period following the campaigns of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC. His son and especially his grandsons became ardent Hellenists. Because they did not take an active role in fostering the rebellion against Rome in 66–70 ce, their leader, Johanan ben Zakkai, obtained Roman permission to establish an academy at Yavneh (Jamnia), where in effect the Pharisees replaced the cult of the Temple with a regimen of study and prayer. After being conquered by Alexander the Great (332 bce), Palestine became part of the Hellenistic kingdom of Ptolemaic Egypt, the policy of which was to permit the Jews considerable cultural and religious freedom. As each person has pointed out already, the appearance of hellenization at the hands of Alexander the Great, placed the Jewish people into a new role. the Ptolemies in Egypt and Seleucids in Syria/Israel, Antigonus in Macedonia. English Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia. With tragic wit, the Jews named him Epimanes, or "the madman," when it became apparent that his policies were violently anti-Jewish. Alexander the Great and Hellenization by Larry R Thornton, ThD Professor, Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary Historians have differed in their presentations and evaluations of Alex ander the Great and his relation to Hellenism. THE HELLENIZATION OF THE JEWS 523 zation, and began that work of breaking down the barrier between Greeks and barbarians, which, in a spiritual sense, was … In the first place, as many as 2,500 to 3,000 words of Greek origin are found in the Talmudic corpus, and they supply important terms in the fields of law, government, science, religion, technology, and everyday life, especially in the popular sermons preached by the rabbis. The Hellenization of Christianity. During the Hellenistic period the priests were both the wealthiest class and the strongest political group among the Jews of Jerusalem. Hellenization. The chief doctrine of the Pharisees was that the Oral Law had been revealed to Moses at the same time as the Written Law. See Hellenism and Hellenization and Maccabean Revolt and Hasmonean Rule. Hellenization of members of the Jewish elite included names, clothes but other customs were adapted by the rabbis and elements that violated the halakha and midrash were prohibited. Jewish scribes writing in Hebrew were adopting Greek literary forms, and they were borrowing concepts that were not commonly known to Jews before Hellenization. What does hellenization mean? Hellenization Definition from Encyclopedia Dictionaries & Glossaries. Hellenization of members of the Jewish elite included names, clothes but other customs were adapted by the rabbis and elements that violated the halakha and midrash were prohibited. For them Judaism centred on the Temple; but, about 10 years before the Temple’s destruction in 70 ce, the Pharisees prevented the Sadducees from entering it, and in effect the Sadducees disappeared from Jewish life. Newly founded Greek cities, populated mostly by local people, were the cultural melting‑pots of the East. However, in finding a modus vivendi with Hellenism, at least in form and in terminology, the Pharisees did not differ greatly from the Sadducees. In a probable allusion to proselytism, in 139 bce the Jews of Rome were charged by the praetor with attempting to contaminate Roman morals with their religion. Traditionally, “Hellenistic Judaism” was a designation for Judaism in the Greek-speaking world, including those Jews who spoke Greek and adopted (to some extent) a Greek way of life. The Turks still invade and conquer Anatolia, but they become staunchly Orthodox, and a period of semi-Hellenization occurs where an independent Hellenic-Turkic Anatolian realm comes into being. The adoption of Greek ways and speech as happened in the case of Jews living in the Diaspora. ‘Alexander had paved the way, and so had the Hellenization of most Early Judaism.’ ‘A few examples will have to suffice to explain how the Hellenization of the known world affected Early Judaism.’ Sacraments. In 107 BC the Samaritans are attacked again. The Hasidim joined the Hasmoneans in the struggle against the Hellenizers, though on religious rather than political grounds. ︎ 215 ︎ r/AlternateHistory ︎ 25 comments ︎ u/Mjhwl05 ︎ Aug 08 ︎ report. Finally, Hellenization is used with reference to Judea, Persia, etc. Thus the peoples of the defeated Persian Empire could offer no more resistance to the Hellenic cultural onslaught than they had to the Macedonian army. Contact between Greeks and Semites goes back to Minoan and Mycenaean times and is reflected in certain terms used by Homer and other early Greek authors. In any event, the Maccabees soon reached a modus vivendi with Hellenism: thus, Jonathan (died 143/142 bce), according to the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (c. 38–c. 100 ce), negotiated a treaty of friendship with Sparta; Aristobulus I (died 103 bce) actually called himself Philhellene (a lover of Hellenism); and Alexander Jannaeus (died 76 bce) hired Greek mercenaries and inscribed his coins in Greek as well as in Hebrew. The Jewish, and later Christian, insistence on keeping their religion pure amused and sometimes angered the Greeks. On the whole, the chief supporters of the Hellenizers were members of the wealthy urban population, while the Maccabees were supported by the peasants and the urban masses. The Sadducees and their subsidiary group, the Boethusians (Boethosaeans), who were identified with the great landowners and priestly families, were more deeply influenced by Hellenization. At the other extreme was a stubborn adherence to the rules imposed by Ezra. The time was ripe for a new cultural movement. Indeed, it was not the Greeks themselves, but the Macedonians, whose civilization was derivative from that of the true Hellenes, who were mainly responsible for spreading Greek culture to the Near East. In the summer of 332 B.C.E., Palestine was conquered by Alexander the Great. Meaning of hellenization. Again, there was a superficial Hellenization in the frequent adoption of Greek names, even by the rabbis; and there is evidence (Talmud, Soṭa [a tractate in the Mishna]) of a school at the beginning of the 2nd century ce that had 500 students of “Greek wisdom.” At the end of the 2nd century, long after the rabbis prohibited the people from teaching their sons Greek (117), Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi (135–220), the editor of the Mishna, the authoritative compilation of the Oral Law, could still remark, “Why talk Syriac in Palestine? Many of the anecdotes told about the rabbis have Socratic and Cynic parallels. Home › Essays › Ancient Civilization › The Seeds of Christianity: The Hellenization of Judaism. Hellenization Definitions. Hellenization or Hellenisation is the historical spread of ancient Greek culture, religion and, to a lesser extent, language, over foreign peoples conquered by Greeks or brought into their sphere of influence, particularly during the Hellenistic period following the campaigns of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC. The Greek city, known as the polis, was the vehicle for the assimilation and Hellenization of the indigenous peoples of the Near East. Scholars have revised the conception of a “normative” Pharisaic Judaism dominant in Palestine and a deviant Judaism dominant in the Diaspora. More specifically, the Jewish people viewed their culture from the perspective of the Old Testament covenant, and rightly heeded the advice of the prophets who warned that pagan influence risked national destruction (Scott, 118-119). 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