Hellenistic Judaism was a form ofJudaism inclassical antiquity that combined Jewish religious tradition with elements ofHellenistic culture and religion. Until theearly Muslim conquests of theeastern Mediterranean, the main centers of Hellenistic Judaism wereAlexandria inEgypt andAntioch inSyria (modern-dayTurkey), the two mainGreek urban settlements of theMiddle East and North Africa, both founded in the end of the 4th century BCE in the wake of the conquests ofAlexander the Great. Hellenistic Judaism also existed inJerusalem during the Second Temple Period, where there was a conflict betweenHellenizers and traditionalists.
The major literary product of the contact betweenSecond Temple Judaism and Hellenistic culture is theSeptuagint translation of theHebrew Bible fromBiblical Hebrew andBiblical Aramaic toKoine Greek, specifically,Jewish Koine Greek. Mentionable are also the philosophic and ethical treatises ofPhilo and the historiographical works of the other Hellenistic Jewish authors.[1][2]
The decline of Hellenistic Judaism began in the 2nd century, and the precise causes are not fully understood. Following the Roman suppression of theDiaspora Revolt (115–117 CE), Jewish populations in Egypt, including the large and influential community in Alexandria, as well as those inCyrenaica andCyprus, were eradicated. Jewish presence in these regions was not re-established until centuries later, without regaining their former influence. Over time, much of the Greek-speaking diaspora was incorporated into therabbinic framework by the rabbis. Additionally, it is possible that some members of Hellenistic Jewry were marginalized, absorbed, or gradually became part of the Koine-speaking core ofearly Christianity centered onAntioch and its traditions, such as theMelkite Greek Catholic Church and theGreek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch.
The conquests ofAlexander the Great in the late 4th century BCE spread Greek culture andcolonization—a process of cultural change calledHellenization—over non-Greek lands including theLevant. This gave rise to theHellenistic period, which sought to create acommon or universal culture in the Alexandrian empire based on that offifth-century Athens, along with a fusion ofNear Eastern cultures.[3] The period is characterized by a new wave of Greek colonization which established Greek cities and kingdoms in Asia and Africa,[4] the most famous beingAlexandria in Egypt. New cities established composed of colonists from different parts of the Greek world and not from a specificmetropolis ("mother city") as before.[4]
The spread of Hellenism caused a blending of the local indigenous culture and the culture of the conquerors.[5] Jewish life in both Judea and thediaspora was influenced by the culture and language of Hellenism. Local indigenous elites frequently played a significant role in embracing and promoting Hellenism, leading to its impact on all regional cultures, including the Jewish culture. In Judea, Hellenism gradually took hold, despite the relatively small number of foreign inhabitants.[6]
The Jews living in countries west of the Levant formed the Hellenistic diaspora. The Egyptian diaspora is the most well known of these.[7] Indeed, there was firm economic integration ofJudea with thePtolemaic Kingdom that ruled from Alexandria, while there were friendly relations between the royal court and the leaders of the Jewish community. This was a diaspora of choice, not of imposition. Information is less robust regarding diasporas in other territories. It suggests that the situation was by and large the same as it was in Egypt.[8]
The Greeks viewed Jewish culture favorably, while Hellenism gained adherents among the Jews. While Hellenism has sometimes been presented (under the influence of2 Maccabees, notably a work inKoine Greek) as a threat of assimilation diametrically opposed to Jewish tradition,
Adaptation to Hellenic culture did not require compromise of Jewish precepts or conscience. When a Greekgymnasium was introduced into Jerusalem, it was installed by aJewish High Priest. And other priests soon engaged in wrestling matches in thepalaestra. They plainly did not reckon such activities as undermining their priestly duties.
— Erich S. Gruen[9]: 73–74
Later historians would sometimes depict Hellenism and Judaism uniquely incompatible, likely the result of the persecution ofAntiochus IV. However, it does not appear that most Jews in the Hellenistic era considered Greek rulers any worse or different from Persian or Babylonian ones. Writings of Hellenized Jews such asPhilo of Alexandria show no particular belief that Jewish and Greek culture are incompatible; as another example, theLetter of Aristeas holds up Jews and Judaism in a favorable light by the standards of Greek culture. The one major difference that even the most Hellenized Jews did not appear to compromise on was the prohibition onpolytheism; this still separated Hellenistic Jews from wider Greek culture in refusing to honor shrines, temples, gods etc. that did not pertain to theGod of Israel.[10]
Under thesuzerainty of thePtolemaic Kingdom and later theSeleucid Empire, Judea witnessed a period of peace and protection of its institutions.[11] For their aid against his Ptolemaic enemies,Antiochus III the Great promised his Jewish subjects a reduction in taxes and funds to repair the city of Jerusalem and theSecond Temple.[11]
Relations deteriorated under Antiochus's successorSeleucus IV Philopator, and then, for reasons not fully understood, his successor Antiochus IV Epiphanes drastically overturned the previous policy of respect and protection, banning key Jewish religious rites and traditions in Judea (although not among the diaspora) and sparking atraditionalist revolt against Greek rule.[11] Out of this revolt was formed an independent Jewish kingdom known as theHasmonean dynasty, which lasted from 141 BCE to 63 BCE and eventuallydisintegrated into civil war.
Overall, Jewish society was divided between conservative factions and pro-Hellenist factions.[12] Pro-Hellenist Jews were generally upper-class or minorities living inGentile-majority communities. They lived in towns that were far from Jerusalem and heavily connected with Greek trading networks.[13]
The most significant literary achievement of Hellenistic Judaism was the development of theSeptuagint. Other notable works include theBook of Wisdom,Sirach andpseudepigraphicapocalyptic literature such as theAssumption of Moses, theTestaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, theBook of Baruch and theGreek Apocalypse of Baruch. Some scholars considerPaul the Apostle to be a Hellenist Jew, even though he claimed to be a Pharisee (Acts 23:6).[14]
Hellenistic Jews also created rewritten versions and expansions of biblical stories. AsErich S. Gruen points out, these writings show "a strong sense of identity and national self-consciousness."[15]
Philo defended Judaism as amonotheistic philosophy that anticipated the tenets ofHellenistic philosophy. He also popularized metaphors such as "circumcision of the heart" to Greek audiences.[16]
Hellenization was evident in the religious Jewish establishment:
'Ḥoni' became 'Menelaus'; 'Joshua' became 'Jason' or 'Jesus' [Ἰησοῦς]. The Hellenic influence pervaded everything, and even in the very strongholds of Judaism it modified the organization of the state, the laws, and public affairs, art, science, and industry, affecting even the ordinary things of life and the common associations of the people [...] The inscription forbidding strangers to advance beyond a certain point in the Temple was in Greek; and was probably made necessary by the presence of numerous Jews from Greek-speaking countries at the time of the festivals (comp. the "murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews,"Acts vi. 1). The coffers in the Temple which contained the shekel contributions were marked with Greek letters (Sheḳ. iii. 2). It is therefore no wonder that there were synagogues of theLibertines,Cyrenians, Alexandrians,Cilicians, and Asiatics in the Holy City itself (Acts vi. 9).[17]
The turbulence created by Alexander the Great's death also popularizedJewish messianism.[13]
For two millennia, Jews lived in Greece and created theRomaniote Jewish community.[18] They spokeYevanic, a Greek dialect withHebrew,Arabic andAramaic influence.[19] According to oral tradition, they were descendants of Jewish refugees who fled Jerusalem in 70 CE, after thedestruction of the Second Temple.[20] However, their presence dates back to 300-250 BCE, according to existing inscriptions.[21] Greek philosophers such asClearchus of Soli were impressed by Jews and believed they were descendants of Indian philosophers.[22] Elsewhere, Jews in Alexandria created a "unique fusion of Greek and Jewish culture".[23]
In addition to theRomaniote community, Jewish populations also lived further north in theRoman andByzantine provinces of Illyricum, Moesia, and Thrace. These communities, sometimes referred to asIllyrian Jews, Jews ofSlavia Graeca, orPre-Ashkenazi Jews of the Balkans, consisted of Jews living in the imperial frontiers (limes) of the Balkans, often in garrison towns and trade cities along routes such as theVia Egnatia and Danube corridor. Imperial edicts from the Theodosian andJustinianic Codes reference Jewish populations in these regions, including rulings on synagogue property, trade, taxation, and religious rights—indicating an officially recognized and regulated presence in these frontier provinces.[24][25][26][27][28]
These frontier Jews followed an eastern migratory route into Europe, distinct from the laterwestern Mediterranean orRhineland pathways. Archaeological remains from sites such asStobi,Nicopolis ad Istrum,Ulpia Oescus, andNovae—including synagogue mosaics, epitaphs, menorah carvings, and dedicatory inscriptions—attest to their presence from the Hellenistic throughearly Byzantine periods.[29][30][31][32]
By the earlymedieval period, many of these Balkan Jews migrated northward into theCarpathian Basin, where they became part of the Jewish communities underMagyar and later Hungarian rule. Over time, they were gradually absorbed into the emergingAshkenazi population, bringing with them Greek-speaking traditions and liturgical customs distinct from Babylonian rabbinic norms.[33][34][35][36]
In the early second century CE, Hellenistic Jewish communities across the Roman East suffered a catastrophe during theDiaspora Revolt (115–117 CE). This wave of violent uprisings—driven by messianic fervor and hopes for theingathering of exiles and thereconstruction of the Temple—erupted simultaneously among Jewish communities in Egypt, Cyrenaica, and Cyprus. Some scholars suggest the revolts may have been intended to initiate a return to Judea.[37][38][39] The Roman response under EmperorTrajan was exceptionally harsh, and has been described by modern historians asethnic cleansing orgenocide.[40][41] The once-thriving Jewish populations in Egypt, Cyrenaica, and Cyprus were nearly annihilated, and evidence of Jewish presence in these regions vanishes for centuries.[40][42][43]
In Egypt, the Jewish population faced near-extermination, with the once-influential community in Alexandria eradicated and the city's renowned large synagogue destroyed.[37][40][42] Jewish presence in Egypt virtually disappeared after the revolt, and it was not until the 3rd century that small Jewish communities began to re-establish themselves, although they never regained their former prominence.[44] The Jewish communities in Cyrenaica and Cyprus were similarly wiped out, and there is no evidence of Jewish presence in these regions until the 4th century.[40][42]
Meanwhile,early Christianity was developing into a distinct religious tradition. Initially a Jewish sect focused on converting Hellenized Jews, the Jesus movement, especially through the efforts ofPaul the Apostle, soon shifted its attention toward Gentileproselytes andGod-fearers, and Greek-speaking circlessympathetic to Judaism.[citation needed] The rabbis were somewhat successful in countering Christian efforts to convert Jews in the first centuries.[45] At the same time, theabrogation of Old Covenant laws—particularly theremoval of circumcision as a condition for entry—made Christianity more accessible than Judaism, which retained stricter standards for conversion.[citation needed] By the early second century, Christianity had become predominantly Gentile in both composition and theology, and its communities were clearly distinct from Jewish ones, both in Judaea/Palaestina and throughout the Greek-speaking diaspora.[46] Small groups ofChristian Jews continued to exist for several centuries, but were regarded by both mainstream Jews and Christians as heretical or sectarian offshoots.[46]
During late antiquity,Rabbinic Judaism emerged as the central framework for Jewish life. In the wake of theTemple's destruction in 70 CE, the rabbinic movement reconstituted Judaism with a greater focus onTorah study and good deeds, independent of Temple worship.[47] Initially rooted inJudaea (laterSyria Palaestina), it became dominant by the third century and gradually extended its influence to the Jewish communities in Babylonia, largely through the migration of scholars.[47] The rabbis ultimately incorporated much of the Greek-speaking diaspora into the rabbinic framework, though the exact means by which they did so are not well-documented.[47]
Both early Christianity andearly Rabbinical Judaism were far less doctrinal and less theologically homogeneous than they are today, and both were significantly influenced byHellenistic religion and borrowed allegories and concepts from classicalHellenistic philosophy and the works of Greek-speaking Jewish authors of the end of theSecond Temple period before the two schools of thought eventually affirmed their respective norms and doctrines, notably by diverging increasingly on key issues such as the status of purity laws, the validity of Christian messianic beliefs, and the use of Koiné Greek and Latin asliturgical languages replacingBiblical Hebrew.[48]
The wordsynagogue comes fromJewish Koine Greek, a language spoken by Hellenized Jews across southeastern Europe (Macedonia, Thrace, northern Greece), North Africa, and the Middle East after the 3rd century BCE. Many synagogues were built by theHellenistai or adherents of Hellenistic Judaism in theGreek Isles,Cilicia, Northwestern and EasternSyria, andNorthern Israel as early as the first century BCE—notably inDelos,Antioch, Alexandretta,Galilee andDura-Europos. Because of themosaics andfrescos representing heroic figures and Biblical characters (viewed as potentially conductive of "image worship" by later generations of Jewish scholars andrabbis), many of these early synagogues were at first mistaken forGreek temples orAntiochian Greek Orthodox churches.
Early rabbis of Babylonian Jewish descent, such asHillel the Elder, whose parents were Aramaic-speaking Jewish migrants from Babylonia (hence the nickname "Ha-Bavli"), had to learn the Greek language and Greek philosophy to be conversant with sophisticated rabbinical language—many of the theological innovations introduced by Hillel had Greek names, most famously the Talmudic notion ofProzbul, from Koine Greek προσβολή, "to deliver":
Unlike literary Hebrew, popular Aramaic or Hebrew constantly adopted new Greek loanwords, as is shown by the language of the Mishnaic and Talmudic literature. While it reflects the situation at a later period, its origins go back well before the Christian era. The collection of the loanwords in the Mishna to be found in Schürer shows the areas in which Hellenistic influence first became visible- military matters, state administration and legislature, trade and commerce, clothing and household utensils, and not least in building. The so-called copper scroll with its utopian list of treasures also contains a series of Greek loanwords. When towards the end of the first century BCE, Hillel in practice repealed the regulation of the remission of debts in the sabbath year (Deut. 15.1-11) by the possibility of a special reservation on the part of the creditor, this reservation was given a Greek name introduced into Palestinian legal language- perōzebbōl = προσβολή, a sign that even at that time legal language was shot through with Greek.
— Martin Hengel,Judaism and Hellenism (1974)
The unique combination ofethnocultural traits inhered from the fusion of aGreek-Macedonian cultural base, Hellenistic Judaism andRoman civilization gave birth to the distinctly Antiochian "Middle Eastern-Roman" Christian traditions of Cilicia (Southeastern Turkey) and Syria/Lebanon:
"The mixture of Roman, Greek, and Jewish elements admirably adapted Antioch for the great part it played in the early history of Christianity. The city was the cradle of the church".[49]
Following the destruction of the Jewish community in Egypt during the Diaspora Revolt, the Septuagint and other Jewish writings from the region were adopted and preserved by early Christians.[50] Some presently usedGrecian "AncientSynagogal"priestlyrites andhymns have survived partially to the present, notably in the distinctchurch services of the followers of theMelkite Greek Catholic Church and its sister church theGreek Orthodox Church of Antioch in theHatay Province of southernTurkey,Syria,Lebanon, NorthernIsrael, and in the Greek-Levantine Christian diasporas ofBrazil,Mexico, theUnited States andCanada. Many of the surviving liturgical traditions of these communities rooted in Hellenistic Judaism and, more generally,Second Temple Judaism, were expunged progressively in the late medieval and modern eras by bothPhanariot European-Greek (Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople) andVatican (Roman Catholic) Gentile theologians who sought to “bring back” Levantine Greek Orthodox and Greek-Catholic communities into the European Christian fold: some ancient Judeo-Greek traditions were thus deliberately abolished or reduced in the process.[citation needed] Members of these communities still call themselves "Rûm" (literally "Roman"; usually referred to as "Byzantine" in English) andreferring to Greeks inTurkish,Persian andLevantine Arabic. In that context, the termRûm is preferred overYāvāni orIonani (literally "Ionian"), also referring to Greeks inAncient Hebrew,Sanskrit andClassical Arabic.[citation needed]
In parallel to these Levantine developments, decentralized Jewish communities also emerged in the Roman provinces ofIllyricum,Moesia, andThrace—sometimes referred to as "Illyrian Jews" or "Jews ofSlavia Graeca." These groups settled in frontier zones of theBalkans and adhered to Greek-speaking,Jerusalem Talmud traditions of Judaism, distinct from the rabbinic movements ofJudea andBabylonia.[51][52][53] Archaeological remains—including synagogue inscriptions and funerary sites—indicate their presence from the 1st through the 6th centuries CE, particularly in cities such asStobi, Nicopolis ad Istrum, and along theVia Egnatia.[54][55][56] Over time, these Balkan Jewish communities either migrated northward into the Carpathian Basin or were absorbed into the larger Romaniote and Ashkenazi populations.[57][58] Their liturgical practices and communal structure may have influenced later Jewish developments in Southeastern Europe.[59]
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