Jews and Greeks I

Alexander and the Coming of Greece

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
Israelite Pottery and glassware from
the Persian Period
Yehud Coin 4
th
Century BCE
Local Imitation of a 5
th
C
Athenian coin
Hellenism
Hellenization
polis- city
ekklesia- assembly
Boule- city council
Tyre
Melkart = Herakles
Jaddus
Yehezkiah the
Governor
Yochanon the priest
Hecataeus of Abdera
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
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
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 injure
human 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
son of Hippodamos, a Jew
son of Hippodamos, a Jew
son of Straton, a Macedonian
son of Straton, a Macedonian
son 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 Macedonian
Neilos son of Apollonios , a Macedonian
Ph[] son of Dorion, a Macedonian
Theodoros son of Theodoros
Roster of a military unit in Ptolemaic
Egypt c. 3
rd
Century BCE (CPJ I.30)
clereuch
epigone
Hellene
Theories about the origin of the
Synagogue
First Temple Period- a reaction to the
Deuteronomic Reforms
Babylonian Exile- 5
th
C BCE
Jewish Diaspora- distance from the Temple
Palestinian hostility to the Priesthood and the
Temple
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.
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 written
below be written up. King
Ptolemy Euergetes (proclaimed)
the synagogue inviolate.
The queen and king gave the
order.
More Synagogue Inscriptions from Egypt
On behalf of King Ptolemy, son of Ptolemy,
and Queen Berenice, his sister and wife, and
their 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 son
of Epikydes, chief of police, and the Jews in
Athribis (dedicated) the prayer house to the
Most High God (CIJ II.1443).
Theodotus Inscription
Theodotus, (son) of Vettenus, priest and
archisynaggos, son of an archisynaggos, grandson
of an archisynaggos, built the synagogue for the
reading of the law and the teaching of the
commandments, and the guest-chamber and the
rooms and the water installations for lodging for
those needing them from abroad, which his fathers,
the elders and Simonides founded
Fragmentary Greco-Jewish
Texts
First collected in the 1
st
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 4
th
century CE Church historian
Eusebius.
Genres of Greco-Jewish Hellenistic
Writing
Aristobulus- Philosophy
Demetrius- Chronography
Eupolemus- History
Artapanus- Historical Romance
Theodotus- Epic Poetry
Ezekiel- Tragic Drama