Hengel's Evidence Of Hellenism In Judea

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Contrastingly, there also exists strong evidence to refute Hengel’s claim that Hellenism was rampant in Judea under Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Fergus Millar claims that one of Hengel’s main oversights is that, “he does not consider Hellenistic influences on Jew as part of the much wider, and in many respects obscure and mysterious, process of fusion of cultures in the whole south Syrian region.” While this oversight does not indicate that Hengel’s analysis is incorrect, it does call into question the significance that he attaches to the Hellenistic shifts in Judaism. Additionally, Millar criticizes that Hengel is overstating by claiming that proof of Greek influence of Jewish literature and philosophy indicates that Judaism as a whole became …show more content…

For example, when Hengel discusses the amount of Greek language spoken by the Jews, he takes the translation by 72 elders to indicate that all of the upper-class Jews could be presumed to have a knowledge of Greek. However, Josephus himself reports that, “our nation does not encourage those that learn the languages of many nations … because they look upon this sort of accomplishment as common.” Louis Feldman alleges that Hengel’s cited evidence of Jews writing inscriptions in Greek does not prove any more than a basic familiarity with Greek among the Jews, and thus his inference is a strong reach. This serves as one of the many examples of Hengel taking evidence of Hellenistic influence in Judea and making bold assumptions to fit into a larger narrative of the effects of drastic Hellenistic changes in …show more content…

Arnaldo Momigliano’s book review does not offer any evidence to support this interconnection between the Hellenists in Judea and Antiochus IV’s persecutions but does identity the interconnection to be Hengel’s thesis and describe the research and evidence that Hengel provides as being, “done with thoroughness, good judgment, and a sense of responsibility.” Louis Feldman offers no support of this theory of interconnection in his article. Fergus Millar, however, offers multiple pieces of evidence in support of this theory. For example, he cites how 2 Maccabees 6: 1-2 tell us that some of the Jews in Judea had requested for the temple built to Zeus on Mount Gerizim. This action of Antiochus IV, along with the also mentioned profaning of the Temple in Jerusalem, were considered heinous crimes by the Jews who did not support them because they promoted idolatry through the practice of ruler worship and worshiping another God, which are both sins in the Jewish bible. However, by insinuating that there were Jews that supported these actions of Antiochus IV, Millar does entertain the notion that the root of this anti-Semitic behavior is the Hellenistic Jews themselves. Additionally, Millar cites how

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