jews in a graeco- roman world 99
regulations, introduced by the Pharisees in accordance with ancestral
tradition, had been abolished by her father- in- law Hyrcanus, these she
again restored’. (On the significance of the support of the Pharisees, see
Chapter 6.) But Hyrcanus as High Priest emerged as weak in the shadow
of his powerful mother – indeed, Josephus asserts that she selected him
for the role precisely because of his lack of energy, presumably so that
he would not challenge her rule – and on her death in 67 bce at the age
of seventy- three Hyrcanus’ claim to the throne was challenged by his
younger brother, Aristobulus II. Within four years the conflict between
the two brothers had provided an opportunity for the Romans to inter-
vene and the independence of the Hasmonaean state came to an end.^14
Already in 104 bce Aristobulus I had taken the title of ‘philhellene’,
according to Josephus, and the foundation myth of the Hasmonaean
dynasty as the saviours of Judaism from Greek culture did not prevent
pious Jews, in the land of Israel as well as in the diaspora, adopting
those aspects of Hellenism which they felt compatible with their reli-
gion. It is ironic that the books of Maccabees themselves, with their
tales of opposition to Greek values, are preserved only in the Greek
language. There are many other Jewish writings in Greek preserved
from the late Second Temple period, mostly only in fragmentary form.
Many adopted Greek literary forms to express Jewish ideas, most
remarkably in the epic poem of a certain Philo (otherwise unknown)
entitled About Jerusalem, and the Exagoge (‘Exodus’), composed as a
Greek drama in the style of Euripides, by Ezekiel the Tragedian, with a
striking portrayal of the voice of God speaking from the burning bush
and an unexpected introduction, into the messenger speech of a scout
sent to find a camping place for the Israelites, of a mighty bird – a
phoenix – that is followed by the other birds as their king.^15
The discovery of a fragment of Ezekiel’s Exagoge among the papyri
recovered from the Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus reveals that the text
was read in Egypt in antiquity and it is likely that Egypt was also where
it was composed. But the place of composition of many other Jewish
Greek texts, like the colourful rewriting of scripture in Eupolemus’
work About the Kings in Judaea, is unknown, and it is not implausible
that Eupolemus, who added to the biblical narrative material from
Greek sources such as Herodotus and Ctesias in order to demonstrate
the magnificence of the Jewish kings of antiquity, should be identified
with the Judaean Jew of the same name who was selected by Judah
Maccabee in the 160s bce as one of the ambassadors sent to Rome to
establish an alliance between Rome and the Jews. That Judaean Jews