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JEWISH HISTORY : QUMRAN SECT. There are three central periods that need to be
analysed in order to evaluate the influence of Hellenisation ...
... of a crucial period in the history of Judaism ... of the Pharisees; the most powerful
Jewish sect--Rabbinic Judaism ... Qumran literature shows a Judaism in the midst of ...
... The history of the settlement ends after the war ... and during the uprising under Bar
Cochba, Jewish partisans once ... named the Essenes lived in Qumran from the ...
... The Essenes were a separatist Jewish sect who formed an ... by scholars as living proof
of Christian history and faith ... Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran are absolute ...
... be drawn between practices outlined in the Qumran documents and ... and the early Christians
and the Jewish world in ... enabled us to look into the history of ancient ...
Submitted by FSMART on June 26, 2006
Category: Religion
Words: 1889 | Pages: 8
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There are three central periods that need to be analysed in order to evaluate the influence of Hellenisation on Jewish history, up until the period of the Roman invasion: the Ptolemaic period, the Seleucid period and the Maccabean revolts, and the Hasmonean state. Each of these historical events shaped Jewish society and had a profound influence over the religious beliefs of many Jews. But it was the conquests of Alexander the great that were the main catalyst that brought about the process of Hellenisation, a process that was embraced by many Jews and rejected by others. All in all, it was a process that contributed greatly to Jewish history up until the Romans took matters into their own hands.
The Ptolemic period begins with Alexander the Great, who before his death in (323 BCE) had established a vast empire reaching from Macedonia to Persia. He then captured Egypt and Palestine southward. As W Albright states, these conquests were the catalyst, which led to the phenomenon known as Hellenisation .
Alexander wanted to export and impose Hellenistic culture on the rest of his empire. In (98 1 Macc. 1 20-4) we discover that once Alexander died his empire was divided among his generals. Judea, the ancestral land of the Israelites, fell under the rule of the Egyptian based Ptolemaic ruler, Ptolemy, under whose rule the Hellenisation of Judea commenced. Jews who were living in Egypt were allowed to return to Palestine (Josephus Antiquities Chapter 2) and the Pentateuch was translated into Greek. (1 Macc. 1 5-15) Greek became the language used by officials, Greek money began circulating, Greek art was exported and inter ethnic marriage was encouraged, if not imposed. The taxation system was based on that of the Greeks.
Some members of the upper class were in favour of the process of Hellenisation since it benefited them in terms of power and money. Josephus explains this in the Antiquities of the Jews Book 12 Chapter IV,...
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