The Hellenization of much of the world brought about by the conquests of Alexander the Great saw peoples of many different cultures and religions come under the cultural umbrella of Greece. This included those who adhered to the Torah. They became known as the Hellenistic Jews, who at one time, may have changed the path of history.
The term “Hellenistic Judaism” is a long and widely used one, but, according to contemporary scholars, it isn’t an entirely accurate one. Traditionally, “Hellenistic Judaism” was a designation for Judaism in the Greek-speaking world, including those Jews who spoke Greek and adopted a Greek way of life. However, it has been argued that all of Judaism after the conquests of Alexander the Great was Hellenistic Judaism.
The Hellenistic period began with the conquests of the great Macedonian general, but there is much debate as to when it ended. It has been claimed that the Hellenistic era continued under the Romans and even included the Byzantine period, ending only with the Islamic conquest.
However, the period from Alexander to the Roman conquest under Pompey—around 335 to 65 BC, a period of nearly three centuries—is all that’s needed to understand the importance of Hellenistic Judaism. This timespan, from the point of view of the region of Judah, takes in Ptolemaic, Seleucid, and finally Hasmonean rule. The last was of great significance, as it was almost a century of rule by a native Jewish dynasty of priest-kings.
Second Temple Judaism
Hellenistic Judaism forms part of a wider historical period and cultural phenomenon known as “Second Temple Judaism.” This refers to Judaism from Cyrus’s conquest of Babylon to the fall of the Jerusalem temple in 70 AD, or the Persian, Greek, and early Roman periods.
Many of the significant developments of Judaism during this time began in the Persian period, but they often accelerated under Greek rule. Greek rule then brought its own influences and contributions to the Jewish people.
Hellenization and the ‘creation’ of Hellenistic Jews
The conquests of Alexander the Great in the late fourth century BC resulted in the proliferation of Greek culture over non-Greek lands, including the Levant. This was through a process of cultural transformation called Hellenization.
Such a massive multiplication of culture gave rise to the Hellenistic period, which aimed to create a common or universal culture in the Alexandrian empire based on that of fifth-century Athens, with a sprinkling of Near Eastern cultures. The era is characterized by a new wave of Greek colonization which established Greek cities and kingdoms in Asia and Africa, the most well-known being Alexandria in Egypt.
Under the Alexandrian empire, Jews living in countries west of the Levant made up the Hellenistic diaspora. The Egyptian diaspora is perhaps the best-known of these. There was solid economic integration of Judea with the Ptolemaic Kingdom that ruled from Alexandria and even benevolent relations between the royal court and leaders of the Jewish community.
Scholars believe this was a diaspora of choice, not of imposition. Jewish life in both Judea and the diaspora was influenced by the culture and language of Hellenism. The Greeks viewed Jewish culture favorably, while Hellenism gained adherents among the Jews.
Hellenism has, on occasion, been presented by historians as a threat of assimilation entirely opposed to Jewish tradition, but it does not appear that most Jews in the Hellenistic era thought of Greek rulers as any worse than Persian or Babylonian ones. Texts penned by Hellenized Jews such as Philo of Alexandria convey no specific belief that Jewish and Greek culture were incompatible. Another example, the Letter of Aristeas, holds up Jews and Judaism in a favorable light by the standards of Greek culture.
The one significant difference that even most Hellenized Jews appeared not to compromise on was the prohibition of polytheism. This distinction separated Hellenistic Jews from the wider Greek culture because they refused to honor shrines, temples, and gods that did not pertain to the God of Israel.
According to one historian, adaptation to Hellenic culture did not require a compromise of Jewish precepts or conscience. When a Greek gymnasium was introduced to Jerusalem, it was installed by a Jewish High Priest, and other priests soon engaged in wrestling matches in the palaestra.
Antiochus and the Tobiads, the Hellenistic Jews in Jerusalem
Following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, Judea became part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt until 200 BC, when King Antiochus III the Great of Syria defeated King Ptolemy V Epiphanes of Egypt at the Battle of Panium. Judea then became part of the Seleucid Empire of Syria.
King Antiochus III the Great—wanting to build trust with his new Jewish subjects—guaranteed their right to live according to their ancestral customs and to continue practicing their religion in the Temple of Jerusalem.
The Seleucids, like the Ptolemies before them, had a suzerainty over Judea, where they respected Jewish culture and protected Jewish institutions. The policy was dramatically reversed by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus III. This was seemingly after either a dispute over leadership of the Temple in Jerusalem and the office of the high priest or possibly a revolt whose nature is now unknown.
In 175 BC, Antiochus IV invaded Judea at the request of the sons of Tobias. The Tobiads, who led the Hellenizing Jewish faction in Jerusalem, were expelled to Syria around 170 BC, when the high priest Onias and his pro-Egyptian faction wrestled control from them. The exiled Tobiads lobbied Antiochus IV Epiphanes to recapture Jerusalem.
Roman-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus wrote in his major work The Jewish War: “The king being thereto disposed beforehand, complied with them, and came upon the Jews with a great army, and took their city by force, and slew a great multitude of those that favored Ptolemy, and sent out his soldiers to plunder them without mercy. He also spoiled the temple, and put a stop to the constant practice of offering a daily sacrifice of expiation for three years and six months.”
The Maccabean Revolt
When the Second Temple of Jerusalem was looted and services stopped, Judaism was outlawed. In 167 BC, Antiochus ordered an altar to Zeus to be built in the temple, banned brit milah (circumcision), and ordered pigs to be sacrificed at the altar.
Antiochus’s decisive actions brought about a large-scale revolt. Mattathias, a Jewish priest, and his five sons Jochanan, Simeon, Eleazar, Jonathan, and Judah, headed a rebellion against Antiochus.
This began with Mattathias firstly killing a Jew who wanted to comply with Antiochus’ order to sacrifice to Zeus, and then a Greek official who was to enforce the government’s rules. Judah became known as Yehuda HaMakabi (Judah the Hammer).
By 166 BC, Mattathias had died, and Judah took his place as leader. By 164 BC, the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy had been successful. The Temple was taken back and rededicated. The festival of Hannukah was instituted to celebrate this event. Judah ordered the temple to be cleansed, a new altar to be built in place of the polluted one, and new holy vessels to be made.
In the Talmud, it is written:
“For when the Greeks entered the Sanctuary, they defiled all the oils therein, and when the Hasmonean dynasty prevailed against and defeated them, they made search and found only one cruse of oil which lay with the seal of the kohen gadol (high priest), but which contained sufficient [oil] for one day’s lighting only; yet a miracle was wrought therein, and they lit [the lamp] therewith for eight days. The following year these [days] were appointed a Festival with [the recital of] Hallel and thanksgiving.”
Some contemporary historians note that the king was intervening in an internal civil war between the Maccabean Jews and the Hellenized Jews in Jerusalem. These factions fought violently over who would be the high priest, with traditionalists holding Hebrew/Aramaic names like Onias. They argued with Hellenizing high priests with Greek names like Jason and Menelaus.
In particular, Jason’s Hellenistic reforms would prove to be a decisive factor leading to eventual conflict within the ranks of Judaism. Other historians highlight socioeconomic reasons in addition to religious reasons behind the civil war.
What started as a civil war escalated when the Hellenistic kingdom of Syria sided with the Hellenizing Jews in their conflict with the traditionalists. What one has to ask themselves now is what would the world have been like if the Hellenizing Jews were not defeated by the Maccabeans?
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