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Jews and Greeks I

Alexander and the Coming of Greece

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The Hellenistic World

Important Dates:

332 BCEAlexander the

Great Conquers the

Persian Empire

323- Alexander dies.

Judea under Ptolemaic

control

200- Judea under

Seleucid control

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Israelite Pottery and glassware from

the Persian Period

Yehud Coin 4th Century BCE

Local Imitation of a 5th C

Athenian coin

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Hellenism

Hellenization

polis- cityekklesia- assembly

Boule- city council

Tyre

Melkart = Herakles

Jaddus

Yehezkiah the

Governor

Yochanon the priest

Hecataeus of Abdera

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The Hellenistic World

Important Dates:

332 BCEAlexander the

Great Conquers the

Persian Empire

323- Alexander dies.

Judea under Ptolemaic

control

200- Judea under

Seleucid control

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Jewish Life in Egypt

Home to a sizable Jewish population

Philo mentions 1,000,000 Jews in Egypt (clearly

fantastic)

2 of 5 residential quarters in Alexandria were

considered the Jewish

Predominantly if not exclusively Greek speaking Responsible for the Greek translation of the Torah

known as the

Septuagint

Birthplace of the ancient synagogue- Proseuche

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For the sake of illustration I will run over one or two points and explain them to you. For

you must not fall into the degrading idea that it was out of regard to mice and weasels and

other such things that Moses drew up his laws with such exceeding care. All these

ordinances were made for the sake of righteousness to aid the quest for virtue

and the perfecting of character. For all the birds that we use are tame and distinguished

by their cleanliness, feeding on various kinds of grain and pulse, such as for instance

pigeons, turtle-doves, locusts, partridges, geese also, and all other birds of this class. But

the birds which are forbidden you will find to be wild and carnivorous, tyrannizing over

the others by the strength which they possess, and cruelly obtaining food by preying on the

tame birds enumerated above and not only so, but they seize lambs and kids, and injurehuman beings too, whether dead or alive, and so by naming them unclean, he gave a sign

by means of them that those, for whom the legislation was ordained, must practice

righteousness in their hearts and not tyrannize over any one in reliance upon their

own strength nor rob them of anything, but steer their course of life in accordance

with justice, just as the tame birds, already mentioned, consume the different kinds of

pulse that grow upon the earth and do not tyrannize to the destruction of their own kindred.Our legislator taught us therefore that it is by such methods as these that indications are

given to the wise, that they must be just and effect nothing by violence, and refrain

from tyrannizing over others in reliance upon their own strength.

-Letter of Aristeas 143-9

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son of Hippodamos, a Jew

son of Hippodamos, a Jew

son of Straton, a Macedonian

son of Straton, a Macedonianson of Ptolemaios, a Macedonian

son of Ptolemaios, a Macedonian

son of Sabbathios, a Jew

Dorion son of Dorion, a Macedonian

Sarapion son of Demetrios, a Macedonian

Dositheos son of Artemidoros, a Jew

Theodoros son of Theodoros, a MacedonianNeilos son of Apollonios , a Macedonian

Ph[] son of Dorion, a Macedonian

Theodoros son of Theodoros

Roster of a military unit in Ptolemaic

Egypt c. 3rdCentury BCE (CPJ I.30)

clereuch

epigone

Hellene

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Theories about the origin of the

Synagogue

First Temple Period- a reaction to the

Deuteronomic Reforms

Babylonian Exile- 5th C BCE

Jewish Diaspora- distance from the Temple

Palestinian hostility to the Priesthood and theTemple

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CIJ 2.1440 From Schedia in Lower Egypt. Date: 246-221

BCE

On behalf of king

Ptolemy and

queen Berenice

his sister

and wife and

their children,

the Jews (dedicate)the synagogue.

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CIJ 2.1449. Exact origin uncertain. Date: 47-31 BCE

On the orders of the queen and

king, in place of the previous

plaque about the dedication of

the synagogue let what is writtenbelow be written up. King

Ptolemy Euergetes (proclaimed)

the synagogue inviolate.

The queen and king gave the

order.

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More Synagogue Inscriptions from Egypt

On behalf of King Ptolemy, son of Ptolemy,and Queen Berenice, his sister and wife, andtheir children, the Jews in Krokodilopolis

(dedicated) the prayer house. (CIJ III.1532A) On behalf of King Ptolemy and Queen

Cleopatra, his sister and wife, Ptolemaios sonof Epikydes, chief of police, and the Jews inAthribis (dedicated) the prayer house to theMost High God (CIJ II.1443).

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Fragmentary Greco-Jewish

Texts

First collected in the 1st C BCE by a

Greek scholar named Alexander

Polyhistor for his work entitled On the

Jews

Fragments of Alexanders works are

preserved in later authors, most notably

by the 4th century CE Church historian

Eusebius.

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Genres of Greco-Jewish Hellenistic

Writing

Aristobulus- Philosophy

Demetrius- Chronography Eupolemus- History

Artapanus- Historical Romance

Theodotus- Epic Poetry Ezekiel- Tragic Drama