Lecture 11: Feb 9

Today we talked about Hellenistic Jerusalem. There are a few sources we can look at. The Apocrypha, which were the books that didnt make it into the bible. And the Josephus.We are then introduced to Alexander the Great. he Conquered the land which people thought was impossible. It was modern. He took alot of land. This included Palistine. It was from 336-332 BC. He Defeated Persias King Darius in 333BCE. He died in 323. The story is that he was so sad and that he had nothing to live for anymore. After he died his land was slit into two divisions. Ptolemies, which went to the egyptians, and Seleucids, which was the syrians. There were many different Ptolemies coins. Pttolemies control over palistine lasted form 300 to 201 BCE. During the Seleucids period, whichs started in 198BCE by defeating Ptolemy V,they tried to enforce Hellenism. They wanted to impose their way of doing things on Jerusalem to enforce their rein. They wanted to turn Jerusalem into a Polis, or city, the center of greek life.The polis is the highest and most natural civil instituion. Acrording to aristotle, the essential characteristics are food,skills and crafts, military supplies, commerce, religion and a system of justice.so we get some political uncertainty in jerusalem which attracts Social/Economic Experimentation.
WIth the Hellenixation in process, every aspect of jewish life was effected. things like architectrue, art, coinage, education, entertainment, house wares, language, literature, philosophy, recreation, religion and rhetoric. Some evidence htat shows this is in the kidron valley tombs. The tombs now had greek pillars and didnt look like it was from jerusalem, it looked like greece.We also saw them in Jewish Burial inscriptions. Everyting was written in Jewish symbols but written in Greek.He showed us pictures of a Sepphoris Mosaic. Some Jewish homes had greek art in it.The mosaic tells a story with in it and it is all related to Greek history and traditions.We can see it in greek arcitecture. For example we see it in Bet She'an.When it came to the Bible, greek became the most spoken language and so the Hebrew bible was translated into greek. It was called Septuagint. It took about 150 years to translate. It also became the most widely used jewish bible.
We then talked about Antiochus III "the great" he took control of Palestine fromt he Ptolemies.
Next was Antochus IV. He thoroughly hellenized palestine and Jerusalem. He luted the temple of Treasure. In 167, he outlawed Jewish Religous practices. He went into the alter and sacrificed a pig. This was very disgraceful. And then converted the temple into a temple of Zeus. Everything has turned greek.
The Jews reaction varried. There were some people that welcomed it and others who resisted it. Some people cooperated, others didnt. Some abandoned circumcision, they literally tired to reverse the act of circumcision so that they looked more greek. The jews then started fighting each other and they began to revolt.
We then started a new section called Hasmonean Jerusalem.The Jews began to revolt. it was mostly the Conservatives that did this. It was called Maccabean Revolt.The revolt was actually very successful. They regained control of Jerusalem and Temple from the Seleucids. They redid everyting and to commemorate the victory they established Hanukkah.We then looked at some Hasmonean Coins, they were created after the revolt. The Hasmonean Dynasty is what came to be after it. They were very jewish coins. There was no trace of greek in them.One main detail was that there were no humans in them, just symbols and pictures.It was called the Hasmonean dynasty because the leaders were said to be form Hasmon. They said these were temporary because they wernt of the right line. They restored the Golden age, or what they thougth it was. They had Jewish self-rule for about a hundred year.But this became a problem. THe Hasmonean rulers became increasingly Hellenized, secular, corrupt. They held onto the title and it ruined them. They considered them selves Kings (which was not right) as well as High priests. This was extremely unecceptable.
Professor showed us a wall. It was the Se corner of hte temple mount. And as you look at it you can tell the difference between the Herodian and the Hasmonean times. At the bottom, there were big stones, on the bottom and then smaller ones at the top.They also had to make pools for water. They called them "solomon's pools" but it was created by Hasmonean. They did this to show that they were still tied to their past and to show that they are as powerful as the person they thought was attoritative in the past.
We ended class with the last Hasmonean rulers. Queen Salmone Alexandra, Hyrcanus II, and Aristobulus II were he last. The romans came in and took over. It was the Roman conquest, lead by Pompey in 63 BCE.