Hellenistic History Research Articles

Hellenistic Amphora Stamps from Kalynda

This article analyzes twenty-six amphora stamps found during the excavations at the ancient city of Kalynda in 2022-2023. Twenty are identified as being of Rhodian origin, five are from Knidos, and one is unidentified. These finds not only contribute to our understanding of the Hellenistic history of the settlement but also provide some new information on the distribution and statistics of stamped amphora handles in southwestern Asia Minor. The quantity of stamped amphora handles found in Kalynda during a brief excavation period suggests that the settlement engaged in commercial relations with neighboring regions in the Hellenistic era. About 85% of the stamps found relate to the 3rd century BC, verifying the locality’s situation on a bustling trade path as backed by epigraphic documents and literary sources. These connections indicate an important relationship between Kalynda and the Ptolemaic administration.

Daniel and the Diadochi

Abstract Three verses in the book of Daniel describe the Hellenistic world as divided into four segments (Dan 8:8, 22; 11:4). The history of interpretation of the book of Daniel displays a remarkable readiness, even among critical scholars, to take this scheme literally and to press Hellenistic history into the mold supplied by Daniel’s apocalyptic visions. Daniel commentators agree, for instance, in understanding the four new horns of the goat in Dan 8 as representative of the Diadochi, the successors of Alexander the Great in the late fourth century BCE, but they disagree on precisely which Diadochi the apocalyptic seer had in mind. An examination of our classical sources for early Hellenistic history, particularly the most detailed source, Diodorus Siculus, demonstrates the near futility of trying to identify precisely four parts of the post-Alexander Macedonian Empire. In the present article, I find a symbolic interpretation of the number four to be the most satisfying, but I also make some suggestions for how to understand the number literally as a representation of the Hellenistic world. Nevertheless, commentators taking the number “four” in Dan 8:8, 22; 11:4 as a straightforward and simple reference to a historical reality have underestimated the chaos of the decades following Alexander’s death.

Vocabulary and practices of manumission in a fragment of the Life of Philonides (P. Herc. 1044)

The biographical work on Philonides of Laodikeia on the Sea in Syria (P. Herc. 1044+1715+1746) is not merely a source of information about the life of the philosopher, it also bears witness to both well-known and lesser-known aspects of Hellenistic history and civilization, not to mention the fact that it is an extremely rare and precious example of Hellenistic biography. This paper presents a new edition of a passage of the text in which references to vocabulary and procedures of Greek manumission can be detected, which suggest a parallel with papyrological and epigraphic documentary sources. This parallelism allows, in turn, to understand better the text of the papyrus and to supplement a technical term referring to relatives’ consent to the manumission of slaves.

Die Urgemeinde und das Judenchristentum

Die Urgemeinde und das Judenchristentum

PLATO AND THE ACADEMY (PHILODEMUS’ “HISTORY OF THE ACADEMIC PHILOSOPHERS”)

The paper offers a Russian translation of the portion of the “History of the philosophers” by Philodemus, available in two Herculaneum papyri (PHerc. 1021 and PHerc. 164), which deals with the history of the foundation of the Athenian Academy and the biography of its founder. This important source, introduced and extensively commented in the article, allows highlighting the most interesting details of Plato’s life and political pursuits both in Athens and in Sicily. The biographical details discussed are reconstructed on the basis of the earliest evidence, including the Platonic letters, the works of the students of Aristotle Aristoxenus and Dicaearchus, the platonic philosopher Heraclides of Pontus, the Hellenistic historian Neanthes (who’s information ultimately comes back to Isocrates), and some others. This gives the biography of Plato and the earliest history of Academy more credence.

Plato and the Academy (Philodemus’ “History of the Academic Philosophers”)

The paper offers a Russian translation of the portion of the “History of the philosophers” by Philodemus, available in two Herculaneum papyri (PHerc. 1021 and PHerc. 164), which deals with the history of the foundation of the Athenian Academy and the biography of its founder. This important source, introduced and extensively commented in the article, allows highlighting the most interesting details of Plato’s life and political pursuits both in Athens and in Sicily. The biographical details discussed are reconstructed on the basis of the earliest evidence, including the Platonic letters, the works of the students of Aristotle Aristoxenus and Dicaearchus, the platonic philosopher Heraclides of Pontus, the Hellenistic historian Neanthes (who’s information ultimately comes back to Isocrates), and some others. This gives the biography of Plato and the earliest history of Academy more credence.

Festschriften and Collected Essays

Festschriften and Collected Essays Christopher T. Begg, Fred W. Guyette, Christopher T. Begg, and Eric F. Mason 1543. Sean A. Adams (ed.), Scholastic Culture in the Hellenistic and Roman Eras: Greek, Latin, and Jewish (Transmissions: Studies on Conditions, Processes, and Dynamics of Textual Transmission 2; Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter, 2019). Pp. 230. €74,72. ISBN 978-3-11-065787-6. This volume presents three important findings regarding its title topic. First, book culture and materiality were central to the practice of scholarship in antiquity. Second, there was a clear link between scholarship and educational practices in the period covered by the volume. And third, scholastic influence in the Hellenistic-Roman period was not unidirectional. Although Greek practices influenced the scholarly habits and literary approaches of newly conquered peoples, the Greeks were in turn influenced by the peoples they conquered. [Adapted from published abstract.] The volume opens with an introduction by editor A. that includes summaries of the component articles and concludes with a general bibliography, plus indexes of subjects, authors, and works cited. The ten component essays—all of which are in English—are as follows: Gaëlle Coqeuginot, "Scholastic Research in the Archive? Hellenistic Historians and Ancient Archival Records"; Myrto Hatzimichali, "Circulation of Lexica in the Hellenistic and Early Imperial Period"; Matthew Nicholls, "'Bookish Places' in Imperial Rome: Bookshops and the Urban Landscape of Learning"; Serena Ammirati, "Towards a Typology of the Ancient Latin Legal Book"; Stephanie Roussou, "New Readings in the Text of Herodian"; Eleanor Dickey, "What Does a Linguistic Expert Know? The Conflict between Analogy and Atticism"; R. M. A. Marshall, "Suetonius as Bibliographer"; Sean A. Adams, "Translating Texts: Contrasting Roman and Jewish Depictions of Literary Translations"; and Catherine Hezser, "Rabbis as Intellectuals in the Context of Graeco-Roman and Byzantine Christian Scholasticism." For abstracts of the two essays of most direct interest to OTA readers, see ##840, 975. 1544. David Allen and Steve Smith (eds.), Methodology in the Use of the Old Testament in the New: Context and Criteria (LNTS [JSNTS] 597; London/New York/Oxford/ New Delhi/Sydney: T&T Clark, 2020). Pp. xiii + 226. $114. ISBN 978-0-567-67604-1. This volume commemorates the 40th anniversary of the so-called "Hawarden Seminar," an annual gathering of scholars focused on the use of the OT in the NT. It opens with a foreword concerning the history of the Seminar by Susan Docherty and an introduction to the volume and its component essays by the two editors. The ten essays that follow are divided into three "sections": Methodological Insights for OT/NT Studies from Outside the NT (4 essays); The Role of OT Context in OT/NT Studies (4 essays); and The Role of Criteria for OT/NT Studies. It includes as well two responses to the preceding essays by, respectively, Rikki Watts ("Rethinking Context in the Relationship of Israel's Scriptures to the NT: Character, Agency, and the Possibility of Genuine Change") and Steve Moyise ("Concluding Reflection"). The volume's end-matter comprises a general bibliography and indexes of authors and references. For abstracts of the ten essays, see ##995, 1002, 1003, 1007, 1008, 1015, 1017, 1021, 1506, 1535. [End Page 529] 1545. John Barton (ed.), The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Companion (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016). Pp. xii + 613. $45. ISBN 978-06-91-15471-8. This book has been designed to be accessible to "non-specialists" and to readers from any religious background. OT scholars from around the world have contributed twenty-three essays. Each of the essays is approximately 25 pages in length. They are grouped together in four parts: Part 1 is "The Hebrew Bible in Its Historical and Social Context," with essays on "The Historical Framework: Biblical and Scholarly Portrayals of the Past" (Francesca Stavrakopoulou); "The Social and Cultural History of Ancient Israel" (Katherine Southwood); and "Israel in the Context of the Ancient Near East" (Anthony J. Frendo). Part 2 covers "Major Genres of Biblical Literature"; the essays in this section are: "The Narrative Books of the Hebrew Bible" (Thomas Römer); "The Prophetic Literature" (R. G. Kratz); "Legal Texts" (Assnat Bartor); "The Wisdom Literature" (Jennie Grillo); and "The Psalms and...

Polis Histories, Collective Memories and the Greek World by Rosalind Thomas

Reviewed by: Polis Histories, Collective Memories and the Greek World by Rosalind Thomas John Dillery Rosalind Thomas. Polis Histories, Collective Memories and the Greek World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. xii, 490. $135.00. ISBN 978-1-107-19358-1. With this volume, Rosalind Thomas introduces us to a massive set of ancient Greek writers who are almost entirely unknown to modern students and scholars: local Greek historians, "poorly understood or recognized" now, but forming a brand of writing that was "once popular and widely read" (386)—a type of historiography we should want to know more about. Thanks to Thomas's efforts, we are given a rare and precious glimpse into what was, for want of a better term, popular history in the late Classical and Hellenistic periods. The book is a triumph and will be required reading for those interested in ancient historical writing, and Hellenistic history and culture. Thomas begins with a crucial distinction: her focus will not be local history, but polis history (16–17). She very rightly wonders what "local" means, since most of these histories are of city-states and their regions, or they are island-or ethnos-histories; "local" history and historians (typically ἐπι-/ἐγχώριος: e.g., D.H. Th. 5, Paus. 1.1.4; cf. Hdt. 7.197.1, Thuc. 1.20.1) were really only called that by others, since "local history" is not really local for the people concerned; it is an understanding of the history of their world, one that happens to be defined by their locality. Another reorientation that she makes is temporal. Thomas observes that while these historians can be found in the early days of Greek historiography, they really flourished in the fourth and third centuries BC. Superficially, this finding puts Thomas in line with Jacoby, but only superficially: unlike Jacoby, who argued that local history was a late development and one in reaction to Herodotus, Thomas sees local history as written in ways that were animated by the same concerns Herodotus had; she often sees the more generous ("baggier," 19), Herodotean scope of the work of the epichorioi than the supposed predominance of a Thucydidean view of the past, one that "included customs, geography, early traditions and more recent political history" (21). The bulk of Thomas' volume consists of surveys of the different aspects or topics of polis- and island histories. Thomas does well to note how different city-states and regions developed distinct proclivities in how they understood their pasts: some histories were overtly political, others were focused on the cultural and religious; one set might tell the same story of the expulsion of a tyrant over and over again ("accumulative historiography") through a succession [End Page 232] of writers, while another might acknowledge past stasis but ultimately emphasize the solidarity of a notional and almost timeless demos. Above all, Thomas wishes to stress that "the writing of local history . . . and particularly polis history . . . is almost always an activity that . . . is a reflection of something else in addition to a simple interest in place" (390). Forcefully rejecting the "antiquarian/ism" (e.g., 20, 143–149, 324, 340, 388 and n.3) promoted by Momigliano as the essential orientation of these histories, Thomas holds that polis-history always has a hidden (or not so hidden) agendum: "we have a right to this land," or "we originated this cult," or simply "we are still important" in an age when the people concerned were not, or some combination of these orientations and others. Of course, one could take issue regarding some of the matters raised in the book. I am not sure if Thomas has succeeded completely in explaining a figure like Hellanicus and the problems of periodization that he poses (a contemporary of Herodotus and Thucydides, he sets the table for the later writers of Attic local history); and I wish she had more to say about Rome. But these are quibbles. Thomas ends her book with an enormously important discussion of the "big picture" relating to local history. As regions and localities, real places but also places of the "imagination," they asserted both their uniqueness and importance through what they thought their past was. At the...

Monsters of Military Might: Elephants in Hellenistic History and Art

Elephants were first deployed in warfare by Indian and Persian armies. The Greco-Macedonian troops first encountered these fearsome creatures in battle during the campaign of Alexander the Great. Subsequently, the Successors and later Hellenistic rulers similarly used elephants in battle. From this time, the animal began to appear in Greco-Roman art. Tracing the appearance of the elephant in Hellenistic history and art, I suggest that the elephant not only continued to be associated with its Asian and African origins and came to symbolize military triumph over exotic foes, it retained religious and mythic proportions as a fearsome, fabulous monster connected with the martichora and unicorn, griffon and sphinx, dragon and hippocampus. In particular, I re-examined the posthumous portrait of Alexander the Great in which he wears an elephant scalp as a headdress, similar to Heracles’ lion scalp. This deified portraiture not only depicts Alexander as descendant of Heracles and Dionysus, both sons of Zeus, but also—through connections with Ammon and Indra—as the legitimate ruler of the three continents of the known world, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Age of Conquests: The Greek World from Alexander to Hadrian by Angelos Chaniotis

Reviewed by: Age of Conquests: The Greek World from Alexander to Hadrian by Angelos Chaniotis Gillian Ramsey Angelos Chaniotis. Age of Conquests: The Greek World from Alexander to Hadrian. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2018. Pp. xxxii, 446. $35.00. ISBN 978-0-674-65964-3. What was it like to live in a time best known for its epic wars, generations of heroic and villainous leaders, and world-spanning conquests? That is the question one would best keep in mind when reading this volume, however much the high politics of the "Long Hellenistic Age" might appeal. Taking a cue from the title, one might assume that this book focuses on the uniqueness of treating all of post-Classical Greek political history together, from Alexander's adventures through to the regime of philhellene Hadrian. Actually, you can get more out of it than a periodization-busting treatment of conquerors and ancient imperialisms. The best parts of the book, in this reviewer's opinion, are the chapters on social, economic, and religious conditions in the world of the conquered. This is the kind of big Hellenistic history that showcases why the period can be so fascinating: prolific evidence, rich personal stories, long sweeps of massive changes and continuities. Angelos Chaniotis has put a seasoned pen to paper, and presents an authoritative and readable book that could be both a popular history and a scholarly introduction. For students new to the topic, much of this volume is salutary—a vivid picture of the Greeks' life under different rulers—and relevant, as they read about people also grappling with questions of global migration, refugees, the meaning of citizenship and borders, populist and authoritarian leaders, and a huge gap between haves and have-nots. Researchers familiar with the subject matter will appreciate seeing how Chaniotis juxtaposes different topics and examples, in particular those that fall right in the period border-zone between Hellenistic and Roman. Here they are together as part of the longue durée of Greek polis civilization, and it is immensely satisfying to read through the Greeks' approaches to public life without stopping halfway simply because their homelands had now become Roman provinces. One of the more stand-out moments in the book is the brief discussion of what new "buzzwords" in Hellenistic religion—zelos ("emulation of glory") or epekoos ("the one who listens to prayers")—suggest about the "zeitgeist" and (one understands) the long-term effects of conquests, imperialistic leadership, and broad economic unsettledness on people (348). The desire for "protection" and "connection" is an undercurrent playing into the larger sections on elite patronage in the poleis, seen in the politicization of festivals (349–354), or the plutocratization of public service (137–143). At various points Chaniotis refers [End Page 109] to the debt-ridden and demographically and economically depressed plight of those living in Hellenistic Greece, encapsulated by Polybius' famous assessment at 36.17.5 (246). He spends a good amount of space throughout detailing how this situation related to the wars for supremacy as well as the slow process of transformation into Roman provinces after the conquests were finished. The volume contains eight maps and thirty-eight black-and-white figures, and the presentation is high quality. The references are all grouped together by chapter at the back and augmented by a bibliography. A republished thesis this is not, nor is it an exhaustively footnoted monograph. This will frustrate researchers looking for details on many of the items presented, but the format is accessible for those outside academia. Ten of the sixteen chapters cover the eponymous conquests, in terms of their chronology, warfare, and political decisions. Although most of the sections are necessarily brief, one highlight is the way that smaller powers are still included in the narrative, at least as symptomatic examples of the prevailing political culture. Romanists might appreciate the two chapters on kings, rulership, and polis-life that serve as a prelude to the discussion of "entanglement" with Rome. As already noted, the final four chapters on socio-economics, religion, and the continuity of Greekness ground one's sense of the conquests in the insecurities, aspirations, and tenacity of the Greek communities. Gillian Ramsey Campion...

Anthropomorphism, Theatre, Epiphany: From Herodotus to Hellenistic Historians

Abstract:This paper argues that, beginning with the Euripidean deus ex machina, dramatic festivals introduced a new standard into epiphanic rituals and experience. Through the scenic double énonciation, gods are seen by mythical heroes as gods, but by the Athenian spectators as costumed actors and fictive entities. People could scarcely believe these were ‘real’ gods, but would have no doubt been impressed by the scenic machinery. Thus the Homeric theme of a hero’s likeness to the gods developed into the Hellenistic theme of the godlike ruler’s (or actor’s) theatrical success (or deceit). So in the Athenians’ Hymn to Demetrius Poliorcetes, a victorious ruler entering a city is welcomed as a better god than the gods themselves. The simultaneous rise in popularity of paradoxical stories and experiences in the Hellenistic period was grounded not in believing, but in disbelieving – a phenomenon associated with antiquarian interests, the self-publicity of religious sanctuaries, or amazed credulity. People were increasingly drawn to ‘real’ gods, leading to long pilgrimages and extensive financial outlay (in the mysteries) in order to see them. I investigate this phenomenon by focusing upon fragments of the ‘mimetic’ or ‘tragic’ Greek historians that survive from this period.

The Sons of Seleucus ii and the Historicity of Dan 11:10

Dan 11:10 presents textual and historical difficulties. While some scholars favor the Qetiv/og reading of bnw “son”, corresponding to what has been seen as the more historical statement that one son of Seleucus ii, the famous Antiochus iii, fought against the Ptolemaic kingdom, others prefer the reading of bnyv/“sons” with the Qere, Th.-Dan. and the Vulgate, though they have not understood the verse in a meaningful historical fashion. This article attempts to show that recent developments in the study of Hellenistic history in Asia Minor demonstrate that both sons of Seleucus ii, first Seleucus iii and then Antiochus iii, raised large forces for campaigns to restore their father’s kingdom to its former glory. Dan 11:10 becomes an interesting example of the historicity of Dan 11.

LITHIC POETICS: POSIDIPPUS AND HIS STONES

The 20 poems collected together as thelithikaof Posidippus, the first surviving poems on a papyrus roll only published in 2001 and dating from the third century BCE, offer a range of spectacular new evidence for a series of issues in Hellenistic history, art and literature. The standard view is that Posidippus was probably author of all the epigrams in the roll known as P. Mil. Vogl. VIII 309, although this has been contested and by no means need certainly be the case. For my purposes here, I do assume that the interconnected poetics of the poems in thelithikado imply a single poet who is quite likely to be Posidippus, since poem 15—independently anthologised in antiquity and known through a manuscript tradition—was attributed to Posidippus in the twelfth century by the Byzantine poet and grammarian John Tzetzes. Historically speaking, the fact that so many of these poems focus on gems from the east gives remarkable insight into the interchange between Hellenistic and Achaemenid cultures: specifically, they signal the prestige of treasures from the east in the Hellenistic courts. In the history of collections, they represent a very early example of exoticism in elite collecting, of the accumulation of valuables in what we may assume was a royal and non-sacredSchatzkammer, of the need for an aesthetic response (in this case through short poems) to ‘label’ and valorise the precious items in the collection. In the history of ancientWissenschaft, the poems’ use of late Classical gem-lore (exemplified in texts like theOn Stonesof Theophrastus) offers a vivid instance of the ways theoretical knowledge circulated at least in elite contexts around the royal circle.

HERODIAN INNOVATION: The Glass Industry

When timing, location, resources, experience, and inspiration coincide, a phenomenon can occur such as the invention of glass blowing and its impact on the development of the Roman glass industry. The impetus for this new industry came from Hellenistic glass production, particularly in Israel where Herod's personal relationship with Augustus assured economic, social, and political strength. The Herodian period is marked by creative energy, manifested in the technology of the time and demonstrated in remarkable advancements in the glass industry. New technology, originating in Jerusalem, spread so rapidly that it is difficult to track. This paper examines the late Hellenistic, Herodian and Augustan history of glass and how technical advancements coincided with improved Roman sea trade to transform glass making into a global industry. Earlier technical advancements had previously allowed greater production and lower prices, but it was the invention of glass blowing that truly revolutionized glass making.

Seleucid Coinage in 175–166 BCE and the Historicity of Daniel 11:21–24

Historians and Bible scholars often state that Antiochus IV, a famous figure in Hellenistic history, became the king of the Seleucid kingdom immediately after the assassination of his brother Seleucus IV in September 175 BCE. They base this idea on a reconstruction of Seleucid coinage and on three texts: an Athenian inscription, a Babylonian King List and a passage in the historian Appian. Thus a Biblical passage, Dan. 11:21–24 is considered inaccurate in portraying Antiochus IV’s accession as a gradual one that required extended political strategy. A new study of the coins of Antiochus, son of Seleucus IV, and Antiochus IV and of all these texts, however, will suggest that Antiochus, son of Seleucus IV, was king by himself for at least a couple of years if not from 175 until 170 when he was executed, and that Dan. 11:21–24, while clearly polemical, and numismatics, while complicated, should be reconsidered as evidence in the reconstruction of an important sequence in the history of this period.

Settlement and History in Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Galilee: An Archaeological Survey of the Eastern GalileeLeibnerUzi Settlement and History in Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Galilee: An Archaeological Survey of the Eastern Galilee Mohr SiebeckTübingen, 2009, xii, 471, €119.00ISBN 978-3-16-149871-8

Settlement and History in Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Galilee: An Archaeological Survey of the Eastern GalileeLeibnerUzi <i>Settlement and History in Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Galilee: An Archaeological Survey of the Eastern Galilee</i> Mohr SiebeckTübingen, 2009, xii, 471, €119.00ISBN 978-3-16-149871-8

&lt;i&gt;Jewish Perspectives on Hellenistic Rulers&lt;/i&gt; (review)

Reviewed by: Jewish Perspectives on Hellenistic Rulers Ljubica Jovanovic Tessa Rajak, Sarah Pearce, James Aitken, and Jennifer Dines (eds.). Jewish Perspectives on Hellenistic Rulers. Hellenistic Culture and Society, 50. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2007. Pp. xiv, 363. $49.95. ISBN 978-0-520-25084-0. In opposition to the consistent practice of biblical scholars to treat the Greek Bible merely as an aid in correcting its Hebrew original, the contributors of this fine volume (Dines, Grabe, and van der Kooij) wholeheartedly embrace Elias Bickerman's half-century-old call to research the Septuagint in its own right and in its Hellenistic context. Traditionally, the Hellenistic Jewish literature in Greek that emerged around the time of the Septuagint under the names of Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha fell in the domain of biblical scholars, and not of classicists, whose expertise was challenged because of their insufficient grounding in Semitic languages. Now, however, bringing classical and biblical studies together has become a guiding principle of the "AHRC Parkes Greek Bible in the Graeco-Roman World Project," which in 2003 sponsored an international colloquium on "Representations of Hellenistic Kingship." In this volume, the project's editorial board collected sixteen conference papers which are not only well rooted in both Hellenistic history and Jewish literature, but also thoroughly and successfully committed to putting "the spotlight on both sides" (4). [End Page 121] Murray's excellent article on the role of philosophers in the Hellenistic royal houses, and Rowlandson's well-supported insights on the dynamics of the Ptolemaic court, set the scene for the topic of this volume: construction of Hellenistic rulers by Greek-speaking Jews. Instead of a standard discussion on dating and provenance, the remainder of the volume is animated by a comparative methodology based on the principle of "actualization" and "contemporization"—i.e., the "reading of the past in terms of the present" (3)—which opens up unlimited possibilities for research and yields refreshing results. Rajak's Jewish image of the "Angry Tyrant," Honigman's literary analysis of Aristeas, Evans' "Hellenistic interpreter," and van Henten's "Royal ideology," all testify to the versatility of this method. Even Alexander and Alexander's proposition that Greek Esther was a response to 3 Maccabees, although somewhat speculative, is a remarkable and innovative proposal. The greatest value of this volume is its pointing to new directions for future research based on the best of recent scholarship. Fowler's presupposition that Hellenistic influences last longer and have a wider reach than had previously been thought allows for the inclusion of the Parthians into the discussion. Gruen underlines that the search for historicity in Hellenistic literature really reveals more about the Jewish authors than it does about Hellenistic rulers, and Edwards goes one further by arguing for the greater use of archeology to offset the overreliance on literary sources in Hellenistic studies. Pearce calls for a careful reexamination of previous scholarship, even that of the rightly influential Bickerman. And, lastly, Fowler's "Kingship and Banditry" brings to the study of the Hellenistic past our modern-day experiences with freedom fighters and terrorism. The pity is that this collection of exceptionally fine articles is poorly edited. In the first place, the logic behind the structure and fourfold division of the book is never explained and seems arbitrary. Why Gruen's discussion of non-Greek biblical texts from the Persian period opens the section on "Rulers in Greek-Jewish Texts" is a case in point. Rajak's introduction could have offered some help, but here the attention she pays to each article varies greatly and is dictated by her narrative on the conference's overall concerns. Perhaps a standard introduction that explained the ordering of the articles and summarized them sequentially would have greatly helped the reader to use each of these essays independently. Luckily, the titles represent their contents well, a virtue frequently lacking in current academic writings. Moreover, the indexes are fraught with problems too many to enumerate here, and only a few examples must suffice. First, the references to Jeremiah jump indiscriminately between Hebrew and Greek numbering conventions. Secondly, Greek Esther, though cited (228), is not indexed. Third, a number of references in the...

Theophrastus’s Jewish Philosophers

In the late fourth century BCE, Hellenistic historians and ethnographers began to notice the Jews. Megasthenes, Clearchus and Theophrastus all identify Jews with philosophers; while Megasthenes and Clearchus mention these Jewish philosophers in the context of Indians, it is Theophrastus who provides the most extensive (albeit still brief) witness. This paper argues that Megasthenes, Clearchus and Theophrastus confused Jews with their priests, whom they identified—like other eastern (e.g. Indian) sages—as ‘philosophers’. At the same time, one of the most striking features of the Jewish practices known at least to Theophrastus (and his contemporary, Hecataeus of Abdera) was its aniconism. This reinforced the inference that Jews engaged in the kind of heavenly worship that permeates the discussions of Greek philosophical religion. The Jews were thus doubly philosophical, once by (mistaken) class, and once by this similarity to Greek philosophical aniconism.

New Light on the Nebiim from Alexandria: A Chronography to Replace the Deuteronomistic History

If the periodization of Israel’s past was worked out by the composer of the Deuteronomistic History already in the sixth century BCE, is it not strange that we have to wait until Ben Sira to find the earliest mention of the Joshua—Kings succession? The four-century gap between the work of DtrH and Ben Sira begs for an explanation. In the wake of the present trend of challenging the validity of the Deuteronomistic History hypothesis, this article reviews the evidence offered by Ben Sira. Identifying the scope of the gloss at the end of Sira 49 leads to understand the Praise of the fathers (Sira 44—49) as a theological commentary of the books of the Nebiim, a collection recently put together when Sira wrote his Wisdom. The Nebiim constituted a rival collection to the first ever Jewish Chronography crafted barely a century earlier for the Alexandria library to provide Hellenistic historians with sources pertaining to Jewish past. On the basis of Nina Collins’ ground-breaking study of the Letter of Aristeas, the opposition between the Chronography and the Nebiim is understood as a reflection of the tensions between the Library and the Jews at the time of the translation of the Torah. The point is that the initiative for translation and canonization Hebrew literature always originated from Hellenistic scholars, and that the Jews were reacting to it. The Alexandrian Canon hypothesis thus needs to be revived, albeit in a modified form, despite the conclusions reached 40 years ago by Albert Sundberg. Even Josephus, who had a low opinion of the LXX, based his list of thirteen prophetic books on the Alexandrian Chronography, transmitted by the LXX’s Historica (Joshua—Esther). In reaction to the Chronography, Alexandrian Judaism created the Nebiim, retaining the first part of the Alexandrian Chronography (minus Ruth) while adding the Prophetic books proper. Whereas Demetrius the Chronographer or the school to which he belonged is likely to have produced the Chronography, Ben Sira, who migrated to Egypt with the Ptolemaic elite of Jerusalem after the battle of Panion could have been involved in the formation of the Nebiim. His grandson translated his grandfather’s Wisdom once the Nebiim were officially canonized by the Hasmonaeans. A three-century shift is therefore required for the organization of the Joshua—Kings succession, which means that the periodization of Israel’s past belongs to the last stage of the formation of the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, and not to the onset of their growth. Alexandria is restored in its position as the leading centre for canonizing ANE literature.

La figura del mesías según los historiadores judeo-helenísticos Filón de Alejandría y Flavio Josefo

In this paper the author analyses the image of the Messiah as depicted by the Jewish- Hellenistic historians Philo of Alexandria and Flavius Josephus. Philo's image is basically of an eschatological nature clearly sharing Hellenistic philosophical concepts. In the works of Josephus, however, several types can be distinguished, having all in common the human nature of the Messiah and his influence on historical events.