Hellenistic Greece - Ancient History - HISTORY.com Hellenistic Greece A+E Networks Introduction In 336 B.C., Alexander the Great became the leader of the Greek kingdom of Macedonia. By the time he died 13 years later, Alexander had built an empire that stretched from Greece all the way to India. That brief but thorough empire-building campaign changed the world: It spread Greek ideas and culture from the Eastern Mediterranean to Asia. Historians call this era the “Hellenistic period.” (The word “Hellenistic” comes from the word Hellazein, which means “to speak Greek or identify with the Greeks.”) It lasted from the death of Alexander in 323 B.C. until 31 B.C., when Roman troops conquered the last of the territories that the Macedonian king had once ruled. Google Macedonian Expansion At the end of the Classical period, around 360 B.C., the Greek city-states were weak and disorganized from two centuries of warfare.

(First the Athenians fought with the Persians; then the Spartans fought with the Athenians; then the Spartans and the Athenians fought with one another and with the Thebans and the Persians.) All this fighting made it easy for another, previously unexceptional city-state to rise to power: Macedonia, under the assertive rule of King Philip II. Did You Know? Alexander the Great was just 20 years old when he became the leader of Macedonia. Philip and the Macedonians began to expand their territory outward. They were helped along by a number of advances in military technology: long-range catapults, for example, along with pikes called sarissas that were about 16 feet long—long enough for soldiers to use not as projectiles but as spears. King Philip’s generals also pioneered the use of the massive and intimidating infantry formation known as the phalanx. King Philip’s ultimate goal was to conquer Persia and help himself to the empire’s land and riches. He was assassinated in 336 B.C. before he could enjoy the spoils of his victories, but his son Alexander jumped at the chance to take over his father’s imperial project.

The new Macedonian king led his troops across the Hellespont into Asia. (When he got there, he plunged an enormous sarissa into the ground and declared the land “spear won.”) From there, Alexander and his armies kept moving. They conquered huge chunks of western Asia and Egypt and pressed on into the Indus Valley. The Hellenistic Age Alexander’s empire was a fragile one, not destined to survive for long. After he died in 323 B.C., his generals (known as the Diadochoi) divided his conquered lands amongst themselves. Soon, those fragments of the Alexandrian empire had become three powerful dynasties: the Seleucids of Syria and Persia, the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Antigonids of Greece and Macedonia. Though these dynasties were not politically united–since Alexander’s death, they were no longer part of any Greek or Macedonian empire–they did share a great deal in common. It is these commonalities, the essential “Greek-ness” of the disparate parts of the Alexandrian world–that historians refer to when they talk about the Hellenistic Age. The Hellenistic states were ruled absolutely by kings.

(By contrast, the classical Greek city-states, or polei, had been governed democratically by their citizens.) These kings had a cosmopolitan view of the world, and were particularly interested in amassing as many of its riches as they could. As a result, they worked hard to cultivate commercial relationships throughout the Hellenistic world. They imported ivory, gold, ebony, pearls, cotton, spices and sugar (for medicine) from India; furs and iron from the Far East; wine from Syria and Chios; papyrus, linen and glass from Alexandria; olive oil from Athens; dates and prunes from Babylon and Damaskos; silver from Spain; copper from Cyprus; and tin from as far north as Cornwall and Brittany. They also put their wealth on display for all to see, building elaborate palaces and commissioning art, sculptures and extravagant jewelry. They made huge donations to museums and zoos and they sponsored libraries (the famous libraries at Alexandria and Pergamon, for instance) and universities. The university at Alexandria was home to the mathematicians Euclid, Apollonios and Archimedes, along with the inventors Ktesibios (the water clock) and Heron (the model steam engine).

Hellenistic Culture People, like goods, moved fluidly around the Hellenistic kingdoms. Almost everyone in the former Alexandrian empire spoke and read the same language: koine, or “the common tongue,” a kind of colloquial Greek. Koine was a unifying cultural force: No matter where a person came from, he could communicate with anyone in this cosmopolitan Hellenistic world. At the same time, many people felt alienated in this new political and cultural landscape. Once upon a time, citizens had been intimately involved with the workings of the democratic city-states; now, they lived in impersonal empires governed by professional bureaucrats. In Hellenistic art and literature, this alienation expressed itself in a rejection of the collective demos and an emphasis on the individual. For example, sculptures and paintings represented actual people rather than gods or idealized “types.” At the same time, many people joined “mystery religions,” like the cults of the goddesses Isis and Fortune, which promised their followers immortality and individual wealth. Hellenistic philosophers, too, turned their focus inward. Diogenes the Cynic lived his life as an expression of protest against commercialism and cosmopolitanism.

(Politicians, he said, were “the lackeys of the mob”; the theatre was “a peep show for fools.”) The philosopher Epicurus argued that the most important thing in life was the pursuit of the individual’s pleasure and happiness. And the Stoics argued that every individual man had within him a divine spark that could be cultivated by living a good and noble life. The End of the Hellenistic Age The Hellenistic world fell to the Romans in stages, but the era ended for good in 31 B.C. That year, in a battle at Actium, the Roman Octavian defeated Marc Antony’s Ptolemaic fleet. Despite its relatively short life span, however, the cultural and intellectual life of the Hellenistic period has been influencing readers, writers, artists and scientists ever since. Tags History of Greece: Hellenistic Photographs History of Greece: Hellenistic The Hellenistic Age marks the transformation of Greek society from the localized and introverted city-states to an open, cosmopolitan, and at times exuberant culture that permeated the entire eastern Mediterranean, and Southwest Asia.

While the Hellenistic world incorporated a number of different people, Greek thinking, mores, and way of life dominated the public affairs of the time. All aspects of culture took a Greek hue, with the Greek language being established as the official language of the Hellenistic world. The art and literature of the era were transformed accordingly. Instead of the previous preoccupation with the Ideal, Hellenistic art focused on the Real. Depictions of man in both art and literature revolved around exuberant, and often amusing themes that for the most part explored the daily life and the emotional world of humans, gods, and heroes alike. The autonomy of individual cities of the Classical era gave way to the will of the large kingdoms that were led by one ruler. As Alexander left no apparent heir, his generals controlled the empire. They fought common enemies and against each other as they attempted to establish their power, and eventually, three major kingdoms emerged through the strife that followed the death of Alexander in 323 BCE and persisted for the most part over the next three hundred years.

Egypt and parts of the Middle East came under the rule of Ptolemy, Seleucus controlled Syria and the remnants of the Persian Empire, while Macedonia, Thrace, and parts of northern Asia Minor came under the hegemony of Antigonus and his son Demetrius. Several smaller kingdoms were established at various times, in Hellenistic Greece. Notably, the Attalid kingdom was formed around Pergamum in eastern Asia Minor, and the independent kingdom of Bactria was created after Diodotos led a rebellion of Greeks there against Seleucid rule. Most of the classical Greek cities south of Thessaly and on the southern shores of the Black Sea remained independent. Several Greek cities became dominant in the Hellenistic era. City-states of the classical Greece like Athens, Corinth, Thebes, Miletus, and Syracuse continued to flourish, while others emerged as major centers throughout the kingdoms. Pergamum, Ephesus, Antioch, Damascus, and Trapezus are few of the cities whose reputations have survived to our day. None were more influential than Alexandria of Egypt however.

Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great himself in 331 BCE and very quickly became the center of commerce and culture of the Hellenistic world under the Ptolemies. Alexandria hosted the tomb of Alexander the Great, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the faros (lighthouse) of Alexandria, and the famed Library of Alexandria that aspired to host the entire knowledge of the known world. Many famous thinkers and artists of the Hellenistic era created works that remained influential for centuries. Schools of thought like the Stoics, the Skeptics, and the Epicurians continued the substantial philosophical tradition of Greece, while art, literature, and poetry reached new heights of innovation and development through the work of Kalimachus, Apollonious of Rhodes, Menander, and Theocritos. The sculptures and canons of Polykleitos remained influential and were copied throughout the Hellenistic and Roman Eras, and even centuries later during the Italian Renaissance. Great works of art were created during the Hellenistic Era. In Architecture, the classical styles were further refined and augmented with new ideas like the Corinthian order which was first used on the exterior of the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens.

Public buildings and monuments were constructed on larger scale in more ambitious configuration and complexity. The Mausoleum of Pergamum, merged architectural space and sculpture by the placement of heroic sculptures in the close proximity of a grand staircase. Hellenistic Greece became a time of substantial maturity of the sciences. In geometry, Euclid’s elements became the standard all the way up to the 20th c. CE., and the work of Archimedes on mathematics along with his practical inventions became influential and legendary. Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the earth within 1500 miles by simultaneously measuring the shadow of two vertical sticks placed one in Alexandria and one in Syene. The fact that the earth was a sphere was common knowledge in the Hellenistic world. The Hellenistic age was by no means free of conflict, even after the major kingdoms were established. Challenges to the Hellenistic kingdoms appeared from internal conflict and new external enemies. The size of the empire made securing it next to impossible, and life outside the orderly large cities was filled with danger from bandits and pirates. Internal strife and revolutions caused the borders of the kingdoms to be shifted several times as the rulers of the major and minor kingdoms engaged in continuous conflict.

At the same time serious threats to the Hellenistic world came from external threats. A Celtic people, the Gauls invaded Macedonia and reached southern Greece in 279 BCE attempting to plunder the treasure of Delphi , which was miraculously saved (Pausanias, 20). Eventually, Attalus defeated the Gauls after they crossed into Asia Minor. At the time of Hellenistic Era, Rome had risen to a formidable power and by 200 BCE occupied not only Italy, but also the entire coastal Adriatic Sea and Illyria. During the second Punic War (218 - 201 BCE) when Hannibal of Carthage managed to establish a successful campaign against the Romans in Italy, Philip V of Macedon allied with him and annexed Illyria, starting thus a series of wars with Rome that led to the eventual annexation of Greece by the Romans. In the end, large part of the Hellenistic kingdoms disintegrated by constant incursions by tribes of the fringes, many parts were simply given to Rome through the will of deceased rulers, and others won brief independence by revolution.

In 31 BCE Octavian (later Augustus) defeated the rulers of Egypt Anthony and Cleopatra in the naval battle of Actium, and completed the demise of the Hellenistic Era. The battle of Actium is considered the pivotal moment that defines the end of Ancient Greece. After the battle of Actium, the entire Hellenic world became subject to Rome. Greece in the next two thousand years was to undergo a series of conquests that made its people subjects of numerous powers and did not gain its self-determination until the 19th C. CE. Back to the History of Greece Further reading in the Bibliography Art of the Hellenistic Age and the Hellenistic Tradition | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art Art of the Hellenistic Age and the Hellenistic Tradition See works of art Works of Art (18) Essay Between 334 and 323 B.C., Alexander the Great and his armies conquered much of the known world, creating an empire that stretched from Greece and Asia Minor through Egypt and the Persian empire in the Near East to India.

This unprecedented contact with cultures far and wide disseminated Greek culture and its arts, and exposed Greek artistic styles to a host of new exotic influences. The death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. traditionally marks the beginning of the Hellenistic period. Alexander’s generals, known as the Diadochoi, that is, “successors,” divided the many lands of his empire into kingdoms of their own. New Hellenistic dynasties emerged—the Seleucids in the Near East, the Ptolemies in Egypt ( 2002.66 ), and the Antigonids in Macedonia. However, some Greek city-states asserted their independence through alliances. The most important of such alliances between several city-states were the Aitolian League in western central Greece and the Achaian League based in the Peloponnese. During the first half of the third century B.C., smaller kingdoms broke off from the vast Seleucid kingdom and established their independence. Northern and central Asia Minor was divided into the kingdoms of Bithynia, Galatia, Paphlagonia, Pontus, and Cappadocia.

Each of these new kingdoms was ruled by a local dynasty lingering from the earlier Achaemenid Persian empire , but infused with new, Greek elements. The Attalid royal family of the great city-state of Pergamon reigned over much of western Asia Minor, and an influential dynasty of Greek and Macedonian descent ruled over a vast kingdom that stretched from Bactria to the Far East. In this greatly expanded Greek world, Hellenistic art and culture emerged and flourished. Hellenistic kingship remained the dominant political form in the Greek East for nearly three centuries following the death of Alexander the Great. Royal families lived in splendid palaces with elaborate banquet halls and sumptuously decorated rooms and gardens. Court festivals and symposia held in the royal palaces provided opportunities for lavish displays of wealth. Hellenistic kings became prominent patrons of the arts, commissioning public works of architecture and sculpture, as well as private luxury items that demonstrated their wealth and taste. Jewelry , for example, took on new elaborate forms and incorporated rare and unique stones. New precious and semiprecious stones were available through newly established trade routes.

Concurrently, increased commercial and cultural exchanges, and the greater mobility of goldsmiths and silversmiths, led to the establishment of a koine (common language) throughout the Hellenistic world. Hellenistic art is richly diverse in subject matter and in stylistic development. It was created during an age characterized by a strong sense of history. For the first time, there were museums and great libraries, such as those at Alexandria and Pergamon ( 1972.118.95 ). Hellenistic artists copied and adapted earlier styles, and also made great innovations. Representations of Greek gods took on new forms ( 1996.178 ; 11.55 ). The popular image of a nude Aphrodite, for example, reflects the increased secularization of traditional religion. Also prominent in Hellenistic art are representations of Dionysos, the god of wine and legendary conqueror of the East, as well as those of Hermes, the god of commerce. In strikingly tender depictions, Eros, the Greek personification of love, is portrayed as a young child ( 43.11.4 ).

One of the immediate results of the new international Hellenistic milieu was the widened range of subject matter that had little precedent in earlier Greek art. There are representations of unorthodox subjects, such as grotesques, and of more conventional inhabitants, such as children and elderly people ( 09.39 ). These images, as well as the portraits of ethnic people, especially those of Africans , describe a diverse Hellenistic populace. A growing number of art collectors commissioned original works of art and copies of earlier Greek statues ( 09.221.4 ). Likewise, increasingly affluent consumers were eager to enhance their private homes and gardens with luxury goods, such as fine bronze statuettes, intricately carved furniture decorated with bronze fittings, stone sculpture, and elaborate pottery with mold-made decoration. These lavish items were manufactured on a grand scale as never before. The most avid collectors of Greek art, however, were the Romans, who decorated their town houses and country villas with Greek sculptures according to their interests and taste.

The wall paintings from the villa at Boscoreale , some of which clearly echo lost Hellenistic Macedonian royal paintings, and exquisite bronzes ( 1972.118.95 ) in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection testify to the refined classical environment that the Roman aristocracy cultivated in their homes. By the first century B.C., Rome was a center of Hellenistic art production, and numerous Greek artists came there to work. The conventional end of the Hellenistic period is 31 B.C., the date of the battle of Actium. Octavian, who later became the emperor Augustus, defeated Marc Antony’s fleet and, consequently, ended Ptolemaic rule. The Ptolemies were the last Hellenistic dynasty to fall to Rome. Interest in Greek art and culture remained strong during the Roman Imperial period , and especially so during the reigns of the emperors Augustus (r. 27 B.C.–14 A.D.) and Hadrian (r. 117–138 A.D.). For centuries, Roman artists continued to make works of art in the Hellenistic tradition.

Colette Hemingway Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art April 2007 Citation Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “Art of the Hellenistic Age and the Hellenistic Tradition.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. (April 2007) Further Reading Burn, Lucilla. Hellenistic Art: From Alexander the Great to Augustus. London: British Museum Press, 2004. Pollitt, Jerome J. Art in the Hellenistic Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. Shipley, Graham. The Greek World after Alexander, 323–30 B.C. New York: Routledge, 2000. Smith, R. R. R. Hellenistic Sculpture: A Handbook. London: Thames & Hudson, 1991.

Additional Essays by Seán Hemingway What was Greek-like about Hellenistic civilization View the step-by-step solution to: What was Greek-like about Hellenistic civilization What was Greek-like about Hellenistic civilization Tiffanymal78 posted a question · Apr 11, 2014 at 9:23pm Get Answer Related Questions What would have happened if the Persians had defeated the Athenians and Spartans when they invaded Greece? What long term effects would be noticeable in the Recently Asked Questions Need an Other Subjects tutor? brightkesenwa 3 Other Subjects experts found online! Average reply time is 59 mins Get Homework Help Why Join Course Hero? Course Hero has all the homework and study help you need to succeed! We’ve got course-specific notes, study guides, and practice tests along with expert tutors and customizable flashcards—available anywhere, anytime. - - Study Documents Find the best study resources around, tagged to your specific courses. Share your own to gain free Course Hero access or to earn money with our Marketplace. - Question & Answers Get one-on-one homework help from our expert tutors—available online 24/7. Ask your own questions or browse existing Q&A threads. Satisfaction guaranteed!

- Flashcards Browse existing sets or create your own using our digital flashcard system. A simple yet effective studying tool to help you earn the grade that you want! Timeline of the Greek Empire 1. Mycenaean Period and Dark Ages of Greece (1600-800 B.C.) During the Mycenaean period, the Greeks learned various arts and skills, like gate-building and golden mask-making. This was the palatial period when people at least like -- if not the actual -- Trojan War heroes lived. The Mycenaean period was followed by the "Dark Age," which is called dark because of a lack of written records. It is also called the Early Iron Age. Linear B inscriptions stopped. Between the palatial urban civilizations of the Mycenaean period and the Dark Age, there may have been environmental disasters in Greece, as well as elsewhere in the Mediterraneans world. The end of the Mycenaean period/Dark Age is characterized by geometric design on pottery and the emergence of Greek alphabetic writing . continue reading below our video 10 Facts About the Titanic That You Don't Know Large late Geometric Attic amphora, c. 725 B.C.

- 700 B.C., at the Louvre. Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons. 2. Archaic Age of Greece (800-500 B.C.) During the Archaic Age, the city-state political unit known as the polis developed; someone whom we call Homer wrote down the epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey , Greeks colonized Asia Minor to the east and Megale Hellas to the west, men and women (like Sappho ) experimented with musical poetry, and statues, influenced by Egyptian and Near Eastern (aka "orientalizing") contact, took on a realistic and characteristically Greek flavor. You may see the Archaic period dated to the first Olympics, traditionally, 776 B.C. The Archaic Age ended with the Persian Wars . Learn more through the Archaic Age Timeline . More » Parthenon from the West. Public Domain. Courtesy of Wikipedia 3. Classical Age of Greece (500 - 323 B.C.) The Classical Age was characterized by most of the cultural wonders that we associate with ancient Greece .

It corresponds with the period of the height of democracy, the flowering of Greek tragedy in the hands of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and the architectural marvels, like the Parthenon, at Athens. The Classical Age ends with the death of Alexander the Great. Learn more through the Classical Greece Timeline . More » The Macedonian Empire, The Diadochi 336-323 B.C. Insets: Leagues, Tyre Shepherd, William. Historical Atlas. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1911. PD Shepherd Atlas 4. Hellenistic Greece (323 - 146 B.C.) The Hellenistic Age in Greece followed the Classical Age and preceded the incorporation of the Greek empire within the Roman. During this time the language and culture of Greece spread throughout the world. It officially starts with the death of Alexander. Some of the major Greek contributors to science lived during this time, including Euclid and Archimedes. Moral philosophers started new schools. The Hellenistic Age ended when Greece became part of the Roman Empire.

HELLENISM - JewishEncyclopedia.com JewishEncyclopedia.com The unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia - Phrase search: Word used to express the assimilation, especially by the Jews, of Greek speech, manners, and culture, from the fourth century B.C. through the first centuries of the common era. Post-exilic Judaism was largely recruited from those returned exiles who regarded it as their chief task to preserve their religion uncontaminated, a task that required the strict separation of the congregation both from all foreign peoples (Ezra x. 11; Neh. ix. 2) and from the Jewish inhabitants of Palestine who did not strictly observe the Law (Ezra vi. 22; Neh. x. 29). This separation was especially difficult to maintain when the victorious campaign of Alexander the Great had linked the East to the West. The victory was not simply a political one. Its spiritual influence was much greater. The Greek language became a common language for nearer Asia, and with the language went Greek culture, Greek art, and Greek thought. The influence thus exerted did not entirely drive out the local languages or the local civilization.

The Hellenic spirit was itself profoundly modified by contact with the Orient; and out of the mingling of the two there arose a pseudo-Greek culture which was often different in spirit from the true culture of Hellas. Range of Hellenic Influence. Except in Egypt, Hellenic influence was nowhere stronger than on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. Greek cities arose there in continuation, or in place, of the older Semitic foundations, and gradually changed the aspect of the country. Such cities were Raphia, Gaza, Ascalon, Azotus, Jabneh, Jaffa, Cæsarea, Dor, and Ptolemais. It was especially in eastern Palestine that Hellenism took a firm hold, and the cities of the Decapolis (which seems also to have included Damascus) were the centers of Greek influence. This influence extended in later times over the whole of the district east of the Jordan and of the Sea of Gennesaret, especially inTrachonitis, Batanæa, and Auranitis. The cities in western Palestine were not excepted. Samaria and Panias were at an early time settled by Macedonian colonists.

The names of places were Hellenized: "Rabbath-Ammon" to "Philadelphia"; "Armoab" to "Ariopolis"; "Akko" to "Ptolemais." The same occurred with personal names: "Ḥoni" became "Menelaus"; "Joshua" became "Jason" or "Jesus." The Hellenic influence pervaded everything, and even in the very strongholds of Judaism it modified the organization of the state, the laws, and public affairs, art, science, and industry, affecting even the ordinary things of life and the common associations of the people. A glance at the classes of Greek words which found their way into the Hebrew and the Jewish-Aramaic of the period, as compiled by I. Löw (in S. Krauss, "Lehnwörter," pp. 623 et seq.), shows this with great clearness. The Hellenists were not confined to the aristocratic class, but were found in all strata of Jewish society (Wellhausen, "I. J. G." p. 194), though the aristocrats naturally profited more from the good-will of Hellenistic rulers than did other classes.

The Jews thus became sharers in a world-culture if not in a world-empire. It was a denationalizing influence from the strictly Jewish point of view; this was the principal reason for the dislike which many Jewish teachers felt for things Hellenic. In addition to this, Hellenism in its Eastern dress was not always the Hellenism of Greece proper. It was in some respects a bastard culture. It led its new votaries to the highest flights of philosophy; but through the allegorical explanations which, coming from Stoicism, were applied to the Bible, especially in Alexandria, a real danger menaced the development of Jewish life and thought, the danger of Antinomianism (see Jew. Encyc. i. 630). By the introduction of Grecian art a door was opened to debauchery and riotous living; and though Judaism was hardly menaced by the introduction of direct idolatry, the connection of this culture with sublimated Greek polytheism became a real danger to the Jewish religion.

This well-grounded fear inspired the rise of the Hasidæans and explains the change of sentiment on the part of the Rabbis toward the use of the Greek language ( see Greek Language and the Jews ). For this reason the Hellenists are called υἱοὶ παράνομοι ("wicked men"; I Macc. i. 11), or ἄνδρες ἄνομοι καὶ άσεβεῖς ("wicked and ungodly men"; ib. vii. 5). By some they are supposed to be referred to in Ps. i. ("sinners," "scoffers") and cxix. ("men of pride"); in Dan. xii. 10 ("the wicked"; comp. xi. 14, 32). How early traces of Hellenism are to be found in Jewish literature can not be ascertained. It has been supposed by some that such traces are to be seen in Prov.

viii., where Wisdom is described its the artist or master workman who, fashioned by God before the world, was ever by Him in His creative work (Montefiore, "Hibbert Lectures," 1892, p. 380); by others, that some of the universalist passages in Isaiah were inspired in this period; and the Book of Ecclesiastes has been suspected of containing Stoic and Epicurean doctrines, and even references to the teachings of Heraclitus. But these theories are open to much doubt; the influence of Greek philosophy and thought came in later. It is seen in some of the Apocrypha and in the writings of the Hellenistic Jews in Egypt (Cheyne, "Origin and Religious Contents of the Psalter," pp. 423 et seq.). The Greek words in Daniel prove nothing, as that book is generally conceded to be of Maccabean origin. Reaction Against Hellenic Influence. The work commenced by Alexander the Great was furthered by the first Ptolemies and Seleucids, who treated their Jewish subjects with much benevolence, though even at this time the high priest Onias III. fought bravely against the introduction of Hellenism.

But the high-priestly family was divided owing to the intrigues of the Tobiads, especially of Joseph; and the high priests, instead of defending their patrimony, degraded it. Of such a kind were Menelaus and Jason, the latter of whom is said to have sent contributions to Hercules' games at Tyre, and to have built an arena in Jerusalem, which the priests were wont to frequent in place of the Temple (II Macc. iv. 13, 19). The introduction of the Greek games was peculiarly offensive to the religious party, not only because of the levity connected therewith, but also because Jewish participants were under the necessity of concealing the signs of their origin. This Hellenization might have gone much further had not Antiochus Epiphanes attempted to substitute pagan worship for Jewish. By so doing he brought on the Maccabean revolt, which bade fair to sweep the new influence off the field. It had, however, entered too deeply into the flesh to be entirely eradicated, though the newly aroused spirit proved an efficient control. There were still high priests who headed the Hellenist party.

Such a one was Alcimus, who went to Jerusalem with Bacchides, at the head of the Syrian army sent by King Demetrius. Greek legends on Jewish coins became the rule after the days of Herod; specimens exist which date back even to the time of Alexandra Salome. The Hasmoneans Aristobulus and John Hyrcanus leaned also to the Hellenists. But it was especially with the advent of the Idumean Herod and his dynasty that Hellenism once more threatened to overwhelm Jewish culture. Herod's theater, his amphitheater, his hippodrome, and his palace, though such buildings existed also in Jericho, Tiberias, and Tarichæa, were thoroughly Greek buildings in the very midst of Jerusalem; his Temple also showed this influence in its architecture. The inscription forbidding strangers to advance beyond a certain point in the Temple was in Greek; and was probably made necessary by the presence of numerous Jews from Greek-speaking countries at the time of the festivals (comp. the "murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews," Acts vi. 1). The coffers in the Temple which contained the shekel contributions were marked with Greek letters (Sheḳ. iii. 2).

It is therefore no wonder that there were synagogues of the Libertines, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, Cilicians, and Asiatics in the Holy City itself (Acts vi. 9). At Alexandria. It was, however, in Alexandria that Jewish Hellenism reached its greatest development. Here, freed from the national bonds which held it firmlyto tradition in Palestine, Hellenistic Judaism became more Hellenistic than Jewish ( see Alexandria ). It is not true to say with Güdemann ("Monatsschrift," xlvii. 248) that Hellenism had no appreciable influence upon the development of Judaism; its influence was appreciable for many centuries; but it was driven out of the Jewish camp by the national sentiment aroused in the Maccabean and Bar Kokba revolts, and in forming the bridge between Judaism and Christianity it lost whatever permanent influence it might have possessed. Since that time, even in Egypt, the classical home of Hellenism, rabbinical Jewish communities have flourished that have borne no perceptible trace of the movement which made Alexandria great. Greek Versions of the Bible.

The Hellenistic Jewish literature is the best evidence of the influence exercised by Greek thought upon the "people of the book." The first urgent need of the Hellenistic Jews in Alexandria was a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. The strange legends which are connected with the origin of this translation, and which go back to the Letter of Aristeas, are discussed under Aristeas and Bible ; it is sufficient to say that the whole translation was probably completed by the middle of the second century B.C. It was highly esteemed by the Hellenistic Jews; Philo ("De Vita Moysis," ii., § 67) calls the translators not merely ἑρμηνεῖς, but ίεροφάνται καὶ προφῆται, who partook of the spirit of Moses. Even the prejudiced Palestinian teachers accepted it and praised the beauty of the Greek language (Soṭah vii. 3; Meg. i. 9). They permitted girls to study it, and declared it to be the only language into which the Torah might be translated (Yer. i. 1).

The Jews called themselves Palestinians in religion, but Hellenes in language (Philo, "De Congressu Quærendæ Erud." § 8), and the terms ἡμεῐς ("we") and Ἑβραῖοι ("the Hebrews") were contrasted (idem, "De Confusione Linguarum," § 26). The real Hellenes, however, could not understand the Greek of this Bible, for it was intermixed with many Hebrew expressions, and entirely new meanings were at times given to Greek phrases. On the other hand, Judaism could not appreciate for any length of time the treasure it had acquired in the Greek Bible, and the preservation of the Septuagint is due to the Christian Church, which was first founded among Greek-speaking peoples. The mother church did not altogether give up the Greek translation of the Bible; it merely attempted to prevent the Christians from forging a weapon from it. After the second century it sought to replace the Septuagint with more correct translations.

Aquila , a Jewish proselyte, endeavored to put an end to all quarrels with the Christians by slavishly following the original Hebrew in his new translation; Theodotion, following the Septuagint, sought to revise it by means of a thorough collation with the original. As it became evident that the controversy could not be ended in this way, the Jews ceased to dispute with the Christians concerning the true religion, and forbade the study of Greek. They declared that the day on which the Bible had been translated into Greek was as fateful as that on which the golden calf had been worshiped (Soferim i.); that at the time when this translation was made darkness had come upon Egypt for three days (Ta'an. 50b); and they appointed the 8th of Ṭebet as a fast-day in atonement for that offense. Not only was the study of the Greek Bible forbidden, but also the study of the Greek language and literature in general. After the war with Titus no Jew was allowed to permit his son to learn Greek (Soṭah ix. 14); the Palestinian teachers unhesitatingly sacrificed general culture in order to save their religion.

Hellenistic literature, however, was for the time being too great an intellectual factor to be entirely set aside in the Diaspora. No strong line of demarcation was drawn between the sacred books originally written in Hebrew and those written in Greek; because the former also were available only in Greek translations. Greek versions of various sacred books were accepted, such as the Greek Book of Ezra; as were also the Greek additions to Ezra and to the books of Esther and Daniel, the Prayer of Manasses, the pseudepigraphic Book of Baruch, and the Epistle of Jeremiah. The Jews outside of Palestine were so different from the peoples among whom they lived that they were bound to attract attention. The Jewish customs were strange to outsiders, and their religious observances provoked the derision of the Greeks, who gave expression to their views in satiric allusions to Jewish history, or even in malicious fabrications. It was especially in Egypt that the Jews found many enemies in Greek-writing literati. Foremost among these was the Egyptian priest Manetho, at the time of Ptolemy II., Philadelphus (285-247 B.C.

), who wrote a history of Egypt in Greek in which he repeats the fables current concerning the Jews. Josephus ("Contra Ap." ii., §§ 14, 36) and Eusebius ("Hist. Eccl." ix. 19) mention as an opponent of the Jews a certain Apollonius Molo. Fragments from the work of a certain Lysimachus dealing with the Exodus are mentioned by Josephus (ib. i, §§ 34-35), likewise a fragment by Cheremon (ib. i, §§ 32-33), an Egyptian priest as well as a Stoic philosopher, who also dealt, in his "Egyptian History," with the same subject. The most interesting, many-sided, and untrustworthy of all the opponents of the Jews in Alexandria was Apion , whose attacks were repelled by Josephus in the tract cited above. Hellenistic Jewish Historians. There were many Hellenistic Jews who went beyond the confines of their own literature and imitated the works of Greek writers in the domain of history and poetry.

The most important historical productions of this kind are the fragments of Jewish and Samaritan historical works preserved by Alexander Polyhistor and by the Church Fathers Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius (see especially Freudenthal, "Hellenistische Studien," Nos. i, ii., Breslau, 1875). These histories were intended not only for Jews, but also for educated pagans who knew Greek. Following the example of Alexandrian chronologists, Demetrius, a Jew living in Egypt under Ptolemy II., wrote a work on the Jewish kings (Περὶ τῶν ἐν τγ Ἰουδαία Βασιλέων, Clemens Alexandrinus, i. 21, 141). Although the fragments of this history that have beenpreserved deal chiefly with Jacob, Moses, etc., and contain no allusions to the Jewish kings, there are no grounds for doubting the correctness of the title. Demetrius cared less for facts than for the chronology of the several events which he treated, even as regards the life of Jacob. (For an excellent restoration of this text see Freudenthal, l.c. pp.

219-223, comp. pp. 35-82; Schürer, "Gesch." pp. 349-351; Hilgenfeld, in "Zeit. für Wissenschaftliche Theologie," 1897, xviii. 475.) The Judean Eupolemus is more concerned with narrating events in his book "On the Kings in Judea," fragments from which, intermingled with work by another hand, have also been preserved by Alexander Polyhistor. Though Eupolemus bases his narrative on the Biblical accounts, he draws upon other traditions, and also upon his imagination. The Egyptian Jew Artapanus adopts the method of fabricating history that was popular at Alexandria. He transforms "Moses" into "Musæus," teacher of Orpheus, conqueror of the Ethiopians, and inventor of the hieroglyphics, of philosophy, and of many other things. All that is great and splendid in Egypt is ascribed to Moses, who appears as the greatest benefactor of that country.

By this means the author sought to counteract the enmity which the Egyptians and the Greeks in Egypt showed toward the Hebrews; for this reason Moses is described as having founded the Egyptian religion, introduced circumcision among the Egyptians, divided the country into nomes, etc. Historians. The work "On the Jews," attributed to Aristeas, also aims to glorify Judaism in the eyes of the pagans; the story of Job is here told with many elaborations (e.g., Job was formerly called "Jobab"; Gen. xxxvi. 33). This interpretation may be explained as due to the similarity in Greek between the two names. Fragments from two Samaritan historians have likewise been preserved by the Hellenists. Josephus ("Ant." i. 15) refers to a Samaritan (quoted also by Eusebius, "Præparatio Evangelica," ix. 20) who, under the name Κλεόδημος ὁ προφήτης ὅ καὶ Μάλχος, tells the story of three sons of Abraham and Keturah who joined Hercules in a campaign against Libya.

Passages from another anonymous Samaritan chronicle were combined by Alexander Polyhistor with extracts from the work of Eupolemus, mentioned above. Freudenthal (l.c. pp. 82-103, 207 et seq., 223-225), by separating these passages, which are preserved in Eusebius (l.c. ix. 17-18), has brought order out of confusion. Jason of Cyrene (the author of II Maccabees), the author of III Maccabees, and Philo of Alexandria must be included among the Hellenistic writers who treated of later Jewish history. Jason of Cyrene, who, according to Niese, lived in the second century B.C. , wrote a work in five books, from which the author of II Maccabees (taking his own statement in ii. 23-28) made extracts amounting in quantity to about one-fifth of the original. The historical portion proper of II Maccabees (ii. 19-xv. 39) narrates the history of the Jews from the end of Seleucus IV., Philopator's reign (175 B.C.

) down to the victory of Judas Maccabeus over Nicanor (March, 160 B.C. ); it covers, therefore, about the same period as I Maccabees, and the question of its trust worthiness has been sharply debated. Despite its rhetorical character, portions of it may still be used as authentic historical sources. It must have been written before 70 C.E. (though Niese's date, 125-124 B.C. , seems quite improbable), since it presupposes that, at the time of its composition, the Temple was still standing. The rhetorical style of the Greek in which it is written precludes the probability of its being a translation from some other language. The two letters from Palestinian Jews which, inviting the Greeks to the celebration of Hanukkah, serve as an introduction to the book (i. 1-10a, i. 10b-ii. 18), have no connection otherwise with its contents, and were apparently added later (comp. Abrahams in "J. Q. R." xiii. 508 et seq.). III Maccabees, a history merely in form, is a fictitious story.

It recounts an alleged attempt of Ptolemy IV., Philopator to enter the Temple, and narrates that on being unsuccessful, he ordered a persecution of the Jews of Alexandria, although they were in no way responsible for the miscarriage of his plans. The persecution, however, came to naught, as two angels benumbed the power of the king and his army, while the latter was trodden under foot by its own elephants. The king thereupon relented in regard to the Jews, and permitted them to kill their faithless compatriots who had made it appear that his failure to enter the Temple at Jerusalem was chargeable to the Jews of Alexandria. The philosopher Philo also belongs in a certain sense to the Hellenistic historians. He undertook the task of showing how God had constituted the world materially and spiritually through the Creation and the Law ("De Opificio Mundi"; comp. "De Abrahamo," i.; "De Præmiis et Pœnis," i.; "De Vita Moysis," ii., § 8), and through the history of the Patriarchs.

He describes in five books, two of which, "In Flaccum" and "De Legatione," have been preserved, the persecution of the Jews under Caligula. By way of introduction he also treats of the persecutions by Sejanus in the reign of Tiberius. Thallus wrote a chronicle of the world from the Creation down to about the time of Tiberius. He may be identical with the Samaritan Thallus mentioned by Josephus ("Ant." xviii. 6, § 4). Josephus, the foremost Jewish historian, must also be named here. His Ἰουδαïκὴ Ἀρχαιολογια is a narrative of Jewish history from its beginning down to his own time. His object in writing this work in Greek was to win the respect of the educated Romans for the conquered Jewish people. His other large work, "De Bello Judaico," is an inflated and not always sincere account of his own experiences ( See Josephus, Flavius ). His contemporary Justus of Tiberias dealt with the same subjects, but less successfully, and his works have therefore not been preserved. Poetry.

In the field of poetry only the epic and the drama were cultivated, traces of which, but no fully developed products, are found in ancient Hebrew literature. The poem of a certain Philo, on Jerusalem (Περὶ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα), must be classed as an epic; but only three fragments of it (given by Eusebius, "Præparatio Evangelica," ix. 20, 24, 37) have beenpreserved. These treat of Abraham, Joseph, and the fountains and conduits of Jerusalem, in hexameters that betray the author's complete ignorance of the laws of scansion. This Philo is probably identical with the Φίλων ὁ Πρεσβύτερος mentioned by Josephus ("Contra Ap." i., § 23). Josephus takes him to be a pagan, but a pagan could hardly have written such slipshod hexameters. (On Philo's poem see Franz Delitzsch, "Gesch. der Jüd. Poesie," 1836, pp.

24, 209.) A similar poem on Shechem, by the Samaritan Theodotus, of which a long fragment has been preserved by Eusebius (l.c. ix. 22), recounts the history of the city according to the Bible, with various amplifications from other traditions and from Greek mythology. There was also a dramatist named Ezekielus among the Hellenists, mentioned by Clement of Alexandria ("Stromata," i. 23, 155) and Eusebius (l.c. ix. 29, § 14). Under the title Ἐξαγωγή, extracts from a single work of his, dealing with the Exodus, have been preserved by the Church Fathers mentioned above. His power of imagination was very poor; and he appears to have depended chiefly upon the Bible for his material. The verse-form, however, is fairly good. The Sibyllines. Considering the chasm between the Jews and the pagans, it is remarkable with what zeal and cleverness the Hellenistic Jews sought under pagan masks to make propaganda for Judaism.

They wrote works in the name of pagan authorities, and these stole their way into the circle of pagan readers. As forgeries of this kind were common in the Hellenistic period, no blame attached to any famous man for having committed them, and the Jews could not be expected to be superior to their time. The Sibylline Books are distinguished from all other works of this kind by their loftiness of purpose. It was their avowed object to reform paganism; while other contemporaneous works were merely intended to glorify the Jewish name; the former endeavored to act as Jewish missionaries, while the latter sought merely to make an impression. Collections of the Sibylline Oracles were kept in different places; they were an easy medium for religious propaganda, and Hellenistic Judaism, subsequently also Christianity, made clever use of them. The ancient Sibyl was made to address the pagans in Greek hexameters, threatening dire punishment for pagan idolatry and pagan vices, and promising forgiveness for repentance and conversion. The collection of the Sibyllines was made from the most diverse sources. The earliest sentences, aside from a few pagan oracles, are chiefly Jewish in form, while most of the later ones are of Christian origin.

The greater part of the fifth book of the Sibylline Oracles is probably of Jewish origin, with Christian interpolations that can not be in all cases distinguished. The dates which are assigned to some of the oracles vary between the first century C.E. and the time of Hadrian. It is difficult to distinguish the Jewish passages in books i.-ii., xi.-xiv. The Church Fathers quote an apocalyptic work belonging in this category, which they ascribe to the Median Hystaspes. Jewish and Christian apologists often quote verses by Greek poets that are marked by a pure religious insight. While some of these lines are genuine, and are merely cleverly interpreted, others are unmistakable forgeries. Most of them occur in the writings of Clement of Alexandria and in the pseudo-Justinian work "De Monarchia." Both authors drew from the same source, the work of Hecatæus on Abraham, as Böckh has shown. Schürer places these forgeries as early as the third century B.C. Hecatæus of Abdera and Aristeas.

A work, "On the Jews," or "On Abraham," under the name of "Hecatæus of Abdera," is quoted by Aristeas, Josephus, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen. The book from which they quoted may have contained genuine extracts from this Hecatæus, traces of whose work are found in Diodorus Siculus. It appears from the extant fragments of the spurious work that the life of Abraham served as the point of departure for a glorifying description of Judaism. To this class also belongs the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates on the Greek translation of the Jewish law. The letter probably originated about 200 B.C. (Schürer, "Gesch." i. pp. 466-473). It is difficult to form any opinions on the Ποίημα Νουθετικόν, assigned to the ancient gnomic poet Phokylides of Miletus (6th cent. B.C. ).

It includes, in 230 hexameters, maxims of various kinds, which, as far as their contents are concerned, closely follow the Old Testament, especially the Pentateuch; it contains even many verbal reminiscences of the Biblical commandments. Bernays assumed that the author was a Jew, but Harnack believes that he was a Christian. In general, the poem lacks both Jewish and Christian characteristics. If its author was a Jew he nevertheless avoided everything that might offend a pagan reader. It should be assigned rather to the first century C.E. (published with notes by Bergk, "Poetæ Lyrici Græci," 3d ed., iii. 450-475). A collection of maxims, ascribed to a certain "wise Menander," was published by Land (1862), from a Syriac manuscript in the British Museum; this must be classed with the Jewish Wisdom literature. Smaller, and probably of Jewish origin, are the so-called "Heraclitic Letters" (ed.

Bernays, 1869), and a "Diogenes Letter" (in Bernays, "Lucian und die Kyniker," 1879, pp. 96-98; Schürer, l.c. pp. 478-483). On a freedman, Cæcilius of Calacte, probably of Jewish origin, who lived as rhetor in Rome, see Jew. Encyc. Greek Philosophy in Jewish Garb. Greek ethics cast in the mold of the Jewish Wisdom literature is presented in the Wisdom of Solomon. Solomon appears as the, speaker, addressing a hortatory discourse to his royal colleagues who rule over the heathen peoples. He shows them the folly of impiety, and especially of idolatry, and exhorts them to follow true wisdom and to serve God. Although the author may have addressed himself principally to Jewish readers, yet the descriptions of the dangers of impiety and the folly of idolatry presuppose also a pagan audience, or one that included at least Jews who had adopted pagan practises. In his conception of Wisdom he follows Prov. viii. and ix. andEcclus.

(Sirach) xxiv.; but Wisdom becomes in his hands an independent being, existing apart from the Deity, and, in a way, acting as the mediator between the divine activity and the world. The terms in which he describes this mediation show the influence of Greek philosophy, especially of Stoicism, recalling the doctrine of divine reason immanent in the world. The book follows the Platonic psychology, according to which the soul has an independent existence, living only for a time in the earthly house of the body, that crumbles again into dust. The author was probably an Alexandrian Hellenist who took up the thought that was subsequently further developed by Philo ( see Wisdom, Book of ). Aristobulus. Although the author of the Wisdom of Solomon touches upon Greek philosophy, he yet remains within the limits of the Palestinian Wisdom literature. But Aristobulus was a full-fledged Alexandrian, thoroughly acquainted with Greek philosophy and accepting it. He was a contemporary of Ptolemy VI., Philometor, living about 17O—15O B.C.

He wrote a voluminous work on the Mosaic laws, which was not a commentary but a free paraphrase of the text of the Pentateuch, together with a philosophic explanation of its laws. He directly addresses Ptolemy Philometor and an exclusively pagan audience. He undertakes to show that the Peripatetic philosophy was influenced by the Pentateuch and the Hebrew Prophets (Clement of Alexandria, "Stromata," v. 14, 97); he essays to prove that all the Greek philosophers and many Greek poets, as well as Aristotle, borrowed from the Pentateuch, and that the entire Greek culture is derived from the Old Testament. He especially endeavors to remove from the Old Testament conception of God the reproach of anthropomorphism by explaining the anthropomorphic allusions as symbols for spiritual relations. There is no reason for doubting the genuineness of this work of Aristobulus, as both older and more recent authorities have done, since it belongs both in thought and in expression to Hellenistic literature.

The interspersed Greek verse, which is obviously spurious, but which Aristobulus certainly regarded as genuine, was inserted in agreement with a practise general in Hellenistic literature, so that its presence is no argument against the genuineness of the work (see Jew. Encyc. The Fourth Book of Maccabees. The so-called Fourth Book of Maccabees contains a philosophical discourse which, on account of its edifying character, may also be called a sermon, although it was probably not delivered in a synagogue, its theme being a philosophical proposition. It derives its name from the fact that it refers to the execution of a mother and her seven sons, as related in II Macc. vii., and endeavors to prove by the principles of argumentation followed by Greek rhetoricians that pious reason is able to conquer all emotions. In his religious convictions the author is entirely a Jew. Although he uses the Greek terminology in unfolding his doctrine of God, his views are wholly Biblical. The Church Fathers ascribe this work to Josephus, but the statement can not be accepted, as that author in his "Antiquities" does not draw upon II Maccabees as does the work in question.

The book is assigned to the first century C.E. (J. Freudenthal, "Ueber die Flavius Josephus Beigelegte Schrift über die Herrschaft der Vernunft," Breslau, 1869). Bibliography: Schürer, Gesch. ii. 21 et seq.; Wellhausen, I. J. G. pp. 182 et seq.; M. Friedländer, Zur Entstchung des Christenthums, pp. 143 et seq., Vienna, 1894; Joël, Blicke in die Religionsgesch. i., Breslau, 1880; idem, Das Judenthum in der Vorchristlichen, Welt, 1897; Siegfried, in Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Theologie, 1875, xviii. 465, et seq.; Willrich, Juden und Griechen vor der Makkabäischen Erhebung, 1895. C.

Question: A Hellenist is an expert on subjects pertaining to what?
Answer: Greece