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ancient judaism |
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Persian Period: o
538-332 BC
o
538BC- Cyrus the Great issues a decree ordering that the temple
in o
The foundation was laid that year, but construction did not start
until 520BC, during the reign of Darius. o
·
Second o
516BC-70AD o
o
458 BC- Ezra leads a group of Jews back to o
445 BC- Under Nehemiah, the city of ·
Alexander the Great o
In 334 BC, the Persian king Darius
III is conquered by Alexander the Great, starting the "Hellenistic
Period." o
In 332 BC, o
Alexander then continued into §
He was declared to be “Pharaoh” or
king. §
He declared himself to be the son of
the god Amon. §
He founded o
He then turned and marched as far as o
Alexander lived from 356-323 BC, dying in
323 of a sudden fever while in ·
The Hellenistic Period o
332-164 BC (or 332-63 BC) is considered
the Hellenistic Period in o
During this time, o
After Alexander's death, his son succeeded him for a short time, but
eventually his empire was divided among his generals, who constantly
fought each other for control of it. o
The empire finally resolved into three parts: §
Ptolemaic ( §
Antigonid ( §
Seleucid ( ·
The Ptolemaic Period o
305-198 BC o
In 305 BC, o
Ptolemy I took control of §
The Jews would not fight back, so he took control with no blood shed. o
For the most part, the Ptolemies were
benign rulers who left the Jews alone. o
During the Ptolemaic period, the Torah was translated into Greek. §
Torah is probably the first scriptural text of any religion to be
translated into another language. §
Trans. became known as the "Septuagint" (LXX). o
The Ptolemies fought in a series of wars
(the "Syrian Wars") with the Seleucids to maintain control of ·
The Seleucid Period o
198-63 BC o
In 198 BC, the Ptolemies
were forced to flee the region and o
Initially, the Seleucids and Jews had an amicable relationship.
o
Antiochus III: §
helped refurnish the temple. §
provided funds for animal sacrifices. §
gave the Jews permission to keep their ancestral (Mosaic)
laws. §
exempted senators, priests, scribes from
taxes. §
reduced taxes on the whole nation by one
third. o
But in 190 BC, the Seleucid army of Antiochus III was
defeated by the Romans at the
battle of Magnesia, which turned out to be disastrous. §
They were forced to pay an enormous tribute to ·
Reign of Antiochus Epiphanes
IV o
175-164 BC o
In desperate need of money to pay the Romans, Antiochus Epiphanes IV broke the centuries-long line of hereditary
high priests in o
Jason, brother of the high priest Onias
III, paid Antiochus to remove his brother from the position and give it to
him. §
Onias III was exiled to the city of Daphne, near §
Jason also received permission to introduce elements of Greek
culture in §
Jason was high priest for three years when he sent Menelaus
to Antiochus IV to make a payment. §
Instead, Menelaus outbid Jason for the high priesthood, and
Jason was forcibly removed from the office. o
Menelaus was high priest from 172-162 BC. §
He made his payments to the king by selling off valuables
from the temple. §
He was exposed by Onias III, whom
Menelaus had killed shortly thereafter. o
But Onias' son, Onias
IV, managed to flee to §
he was given permission to build a temple there at Leontopolis. §
The hereditary priesthood continued there while the o
In 170 BC, Antiochus IV invaded §
On his return, he passed through o
Two years later, for reasons unknown, Antiochus IV attacked §
he tore down the city walls §
built a walled citadel and permanently stationed
troops in the city. o
In 167 BC Antiochus IV initiated a campaign to force all peoples living in
his kingdom to give up their own customs and adopt Hellenistic religion
and culture. §
He commanded the Jews to: §
ignore or violate sabbaths and festivals §
eat and sacrifice unclean foods (esp. during the monthly celebration of the
king's birthday) §
build altars to pagan idols and worship them §
leave their sons uncircumcized
(1 Macc §
Most importantly: §
in 167 BC he invaded §
possibly an image of Zeus
placed on the altar of holocausts in the temple. §
he had copies of the Torah confiscated and burned. o
Up until this time, the Jews
were fairly quiet, not revolting against any of the powers that took
control of them. §
Many Jews even tried to conform to the culture of their rulers and
"sell out" to Hellenism by adopting Greek practices and even trying
to cover the mark of their
circumcision. §
Some Jews, however, tried to remain faithful to the law and covenant
and to resist Hellenism. They are known as the "Hasideans" or
"Hasidim." (faithful) §
After Antiochus profaned the temple, their resistance was seen as
inadequate. o
Various revolts erupted as a result, the
most important being that of Mattathias the Hasmonean. o
Although Mattathias
initiated the conflict, he died shortly thereafter and his son, Judas the "Maccabee"
(the "hammerer") led much of the fighting. §
Judas and his forces were able to expel
the Seleucids from §
In 164 BC, the Maccabees
reconquered and purified the temple, an event
remembered to this day with the eight day long feast of Hanukkah ("Dedication"). §
Two years later, all of Antiochus' decrees were finally overturned in all of §
To protect himself from the Seleucids, Judas formed an alliance with
the Romans. §
In 160 BC, Judas died in battle with the Seleucids and was succeeded
by his youngest brother, Jonathan. o
In 159 BC, the high priest (Alcimus)
died, and no successor was chosen. §
The high priesthood remained vacant for 7 years. §
This had never happened in the 350 year history of the second
temple. o
In 152 BC, the Seleucid empire was in the middle of a power
struggle between the king Demetrius I and
Alexander Balas, the supposed son of Antiochus Epiphanes
IV. §
Demetrius offered Jonathan the right to recruit troops in exchange
for his loyalty and support. §
Balas offered Jonathan the same, and the position of high priest. §
Jonathan accepted Balas' offer, and he held the position of high
priest for ten years. §
Josephus mentions the existence of Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and a "fourth philosophy"
during his reign. §
In 142 BC, he was tricked, captured, and executed by a man
named Trypho, who sought the Seleucid throne. o
In 142 BC, Jonathan's brother Simon became the high priest. §
He may have been the greatest and most successful leader
among the Maccabees. §
His negotiations with the Seleucids resulted in the establishment
of an independent Jewish nation and the removal of Seleucid troops from §
Simon was assassinated by his brother-in-law at a banquet to
which he had been invited. o
In 134 BC, Simon's son, John Hyrcanus,
became high priest. §
ruled from 134-104 BC. §
was able to expand the borders of Jewish territory to include: §
§
Idumea to the south, forcing Idumeans
to accept Jewish law. §
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