lingua franca of the East — Greek culture spread widely and reached all
the countries under Hellenistic governments, influencing every aspect of
life. The world became a small world — the “inhabited world”(oikou-
men 3 )—where each people followed their own traditional customs and
beliefs, participating at the same time in the new common supernational
culture, which was open to everybody since it was based not on birth but
on education.
The Jews, too, participated in this formidable movement of peoples
and ideas. In Egypt, they learned to speak and write in Greek, appealed to
Greek tribunals when the need arose, and gave Greek names to their chil-
dren. The onomasticon attested by the papyri shows that Jewish names
amount to no more than 25 percent; most names are Greek. Literary works
composed by Jews in Egypt also attest a high degree of integration between
Greek culture and traditional Judaism, and similar developments may well
have characterized other Diaspora communities. Scholars emphasize the
appropriation of Hellenistic themes, genres, forms, and styles for Jewish
purposes. The Jews appropriated Hellenism to the goals of rewriting bibli-
cal narratives, recasting the traditions of their fathers and shaping their
distinctive identity within the larger world of Hellenic culture. In a world
where Hellenic culture held an ascendant position, they strove to present
Judaic traditions and express their own self-definition through the media
of the Greeks. Literary models and rhetorical devices were often Greek,
while the content related specifically to Jewish interests.
An author such as the epic poet Theodotus (second to first century
b.c.e.) writes on biblical themes, whilehis language betrays Homeric in-
fluences. The tragedy composed by Ezekiel (second centuryb.c.e.)is
based on the biblical story of the Exodus but reflects Euripides’ influence.
Aristobulus, the second-century-b.c.e.philosophic writer and supposed
teacher of Ptolemy VI, maintains that Greek philosophy is to be found in
the Pentateuch, which he interprets allegorically. The same line of thought
is followed by the author of theLetter of Aristeas,who strives to demon-
strate that Hellenistic and Jewish traditions are only two different expres-
sions of the same metaphysical reality. He, too, gives an allegorical inter-
pretation to the text of the Pentateuch that explains the Jewish law
according the principles of Greek thought and presents Judaism and Hel-
lenism as two different forms emanating from the same divine entity, ven-
erated under different names.
Historical works composed by Jews also reflect the influence of Greek
literary models while centering on Jewish cultural and theological values.371Jews among Greeks and RomansEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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