Hellenism

1. An idiom or custom peculiar to the Greeks.
2. The civilization and culture of ancient Greece.
3. Admiration for and adoption of Greek ideas, style, or culture.

The Jews in Erets Israel and, to a greater extent, those in the far-flung Diaspora could not remain immune to these tremendous changes. Yet, while the Jews and Judaism absorbed much of what Hellenism had to offer (from synagogue structure to literary forms and philosophical speculation), they were conspicuous for their virtually ceaseless struggle against this very Hellenism. Its pagan world outlook was perceived as no different from that of its polytheistic forerunners in the threat which it posed to the heart of Jewish existence. This attitude is indirectly yet undoubtedly reflected in the impressively large output of Jewish "apologetic" literature of the age, constituting, in effect, Jewry's ideological confrontation with the surrounding and generally hostile pagan society.

Scores of extant Jewish non-rabbinical and non-canonical literary works of the Greco-Roman period---written almost exclusively in the Greek tongue---extending down to the second century CE, were undoubtedly directed as much toward the outside world as toward the communities of the Jewish dispersion. These works may be broadly categorized as follows: apocryphal literature (the bulk of the output; see Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha); biblical exegesis (e.g., Demetrius the Chronographer and Aristobulus, "teacher of Ptolemy," two of the better known figures in this category); and historical or pseudo-historical compositions (for example, The Exodus from Egypt by Ezekiel the Tragedian, and the Third Book of Maccabees). Towering above these and the many other books and authors are the figures and works of PHILO of Alexandria and Josephus Flavius, one of the outstanding historians of antiquity.

A cursory glance at two literary works, the Letter of Aristeas and the Fourth Book of Maccabees, reveals the polemical nature of much of the Jewish writing of the period. The former work, purporting to recount the origins of the Septuagint (translation of the Bible into Greek), employs the framework of the Greek symposium to extol the glories of Judaism as against the inanity of pagan polytheism. The Fourth Book of Maccabees depicts the supposed confrontation between the wicked monarch Antiochus Epiphanes and the soon-to-be-martyred mother (Hannah) and her seven sons and the aged Eleazar. In this composition as well, the beliefs and practices of Judaism are elevated to sublime heights and the pagan religious outlook refuted---all in the course of a typically Greek philosophical (strongly Stoic-oriented) encounter between the Jewish protagonists and the pagan sovereign.

Nevertheless, the Jewish communities (from Italy in the west to the borders of Babylonia and Persia in the east) were strongly affected by the political, social, and cultural currents eddying about them. Certain upper-class segments of Jewish society, even in the Land of Israel, learned increasingly to swim with the Hellenistic tide, until matters came to a head in the reconstitution of Jerusalem as a Greek polis and the establishment of Greek-style gymnasia in the Holy City. The Hasmonean revolution put an end to this blatant antithesis of Judaism but not to other, less radical influences. Thus the selfsame Hasmonean rulers, while making strenuous efforts to eradicate pagan practices in newly conquered Jewish areas, were themselves prone to Hellenistic influences, at least in their outward form. Even during the early days of the Hasmonean uprising, some of Judah the Maccabee's diplomatic envoys had decidedly Greek names, while later Hasmonean rulers bore names such as Hyrcanus and Aristobulus.

Talmudic literature testifies to the subtle yet strong infiltration of Greek and Latin loan words (two of the more commonly known being Sanhedrin and Prosbul), phrases, and concepts into the Aramaic and Hebrew texts. Much of the Hermeneutic basis of talmudic legal reasoning, such as the Seven Rules of Hillel, is regarded as having a Greek-Hellenistic grounding. Herod's crowning achievement, certainly in Jewish eyes, namely, the vastly enlarged and enhanced Jerusalem Temple, was a masterpiece of Greco-Roman architecture and perhaps even the primary reason for the illustriousness of Jerusalem in pagan eyes (cf. Pliny the Elder and Tacitus). Inscriptions, ancient literature, and other archeological evidence, indicate that Jewish communal structures, though intrinsically Jewish, nevertheless did not remain unaffected by the societies around them. Terms such as gerousia, boulei and Archisynagogos., denoting the various autonomous Jewish governing communal bodies and their officialdom, speak for themselves in this respect.

It is apparent, therefore, that Hellenism left a strong imprint on Jewish outward forms (literary, architectural, and otherwise) and, to some extent, practice. Where essential content was concerned, however, the Jews refused to accept the Hellenistic order of the day. Unlike many other pagan authors of that age who, though of Semitic stock (e.g. Philo of Byblos and Berossus the Babylonian), strove to prove how really Greek their cultural heritage was, the Jews not only stressed the uniqueness of Jewish culture but addressed themselves to what they perceived as the basic vapidity of paganism. Finally, having emerged triumphant from their encounter with Hellenism, the Jews could apply the talmudic dictum, "Let the beauty of [the Greek language of] Japheth stay within the tents of Shem [i.e., Israel]" in its broadest sense; i.e., maintain what was valid and essential in Hellenistic culture while placing it within a Jewish context and framework.

Hellenism the national character and culture of the (ancient) Greeks; see HELLAS.

Imitation of ancient Greek thought or styles. Also, an approach to life that focuses on the growth and development of the intellect. "Hellenism" is sometimes used to refer to the belief that reason can be applied to examine all human experience. A cogent discussion of Hellenism can be found in Matthew Arnold's Culture and Anarchy.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - hellenisme

Nederlands (Dutch)
de Griekse cultuur, hellenisme, griekse uitdrukking/woord/ gewoonte

Français (French)
n. - hellénisme

Deutsch (German)
n. - Hellenismus (Studium der griechischen Kultur)

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ελληνισμός, ελληνικός ιδιωματισμός

Italiano (Italian)
ellenismo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - helenismo (m)

Русский (Russian)
эллинизм

Español (Spanish)
n. - helenismo

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - hellenism

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
希腊文化, 希腊风格, 希腊精神

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 希臘文化, 希臘風格, 希臘精神

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 그리스 문화, 헬레니즘, 그리스화

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ヘレニズム

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الهيللينيه, الحضارة الأغريقيه القديمه, ولاء أو محاكاة للفكر الأغريقي والعادات والأساليب الأغريقيه القديمه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮הלניות (תרבות יוון הקדומה), יוונות, התיוונות‬

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