10 - Judaism and Hellenism in Palestine and Alexandria: Two Models of a National and Cultural Encounter

Summary

What is Plato but Moses speaking in Attic Greek?

Numenius of Apamea

APOSTASY AS A TOTALLY NEGATIVE MODEL

THE period that began when Alexander the Great conquered Palestine ended when paganism gave way to Christianity. Notwithstanding the political and cultural changes that took place from 322 BC until the fourth century AD, Jewish literature did not differentiate between the Hellenistic and the Roman cultures in the East. As a matter of fact, although Rome represented the mighty power of the empire, Hellenism continued to represent major components of its culture. In Palestine—just as in Egypt—Hellenistic culture continued to flourish under Roman rule, and there the confrontation-cum-encounter with the Jews took place with Rome as the political authority—and with Hellenism as the culture.

This period saw many upheavals. The Hasmonean rebellion brought about the establishment of a Jewish state, which was a unique phenomenon in the Hellenistic East and a once-only occurrence in Jewish history between the end of the Kingdom of Judah and the establishment of the State of Israel. After the collapse of the state, Herod came to power under Roman protection, and Palestine later became a province of Rome. These violent political vicissitudes had a strong impact on the character of the encounter between Judaism and the different layers of Hellenistic culture, and in consequence on the nature of the Hellenization of regime, society, and culture.

I shall focus here on the way in which this period served as an inclusive historical paradigm, and on the way in which different parts of it were symbols’ of historical phenomena. As we know, the encounter with Hellenism, particularly in the Hasmonean era, had a powerful and influential impact, and its effects on future generations—and on Jewish historical consciousness—were profound. That is precisely why it functioned as a model of the nature of the encounter between Judaism and other cultures.

Hardly anyone disagrees that from C.200 BC one can find different types of Hellenistic influences on Jewish society in Judaea and Galilee, especially among the upper classes. Knowledge of the Greek language was not unusual. The author of the ‘Letter of Aristeas', for example, maintained that there was at least one group of scholars in Jerusalem able to translate the Torah, and it is known that at the close of the second century BC a Jerusalemite priest translated the Book of Esther into Greek.