RELG 433 - Biblical Archaeology
Course Notes
Module 14
Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Period
This week's section spans the time from 333 BC, when Alexander the Great set out on his conquest of the East, to roughly the time of the New Testament.
Alexander was a Macedonian, and Macedonians were regarded as hillbillies by the Greeks of Athens. Alexander's father, King Philip of Macedon, hired the philosopher Aristotle as a teacher for young Alexander, so Alexander grew up speaking Attic Greek, and with a respect for Greek traditions.
In the Empire which Alexander founded, Greek was the lingua franca - the language which was generally understood and used for communication. Even after the death of Alexander and the break-up of his Empire, Greek continued to be used for communication between the various ethnic groups in the Middle East. However, because it was spoken by such a heterogeneous group, it did not remain pure Attic Greek, but developed into what was called "common Greek" or κοινη - this is the variety of Greek in which the New Testament was written.
After Alexander's death, his Empire was split between warring factions : two large portions - Egypt, under the Ptolemaic Dynasty, and Asia Minor, Syria-Palestine, and parts of Mesopotamia, under the Seleucid dynasty; one smaller portion, Greece and Macedonia, fell to another general. Other parts to the East, which had been the last to be conquered and were the first to break free, became independent again - India, Bactria, and what is now Afghanistan.
Judah, the region around Jerusalem, where the Jews lived, was on the border between the Ptolemaic and the Seleucid empires. It was initially under the control of the Ptolemies, but Antiochus III invaded and took control of Palestine and Judah after the Battle of Banias in 198 BC. The rule of Antiochus IV was so terrible that the Jews rose in rebellion in 167 BC, led by the family of the Maccabees. The Maccabees managed to secure independence from both the Seleucids and the Ptolemies, from 163 BC to 63 BC, and founded the ruling house of the Hasmoneans.
In Egypt, the Ptolemaic Dynasty became corrupt and weak. In 204 BC Ptolemy IV died, leaving his young son as Ptolemy V. Antiochus III took advantage of this weakness, and captured Syria and Palestine from Egypt. The decisive battle was fought at Banias in 198 BC.
Ptolemy V died in 181 BC at the age of 28, leaving a 6-year-old son to become Ptolemy VI. In 169 BC Antiochus IV invaded Egypt, and the country was further divided by civil war. At this point Ptolemy VI appealed for help from Rome, and the Romans took Egypt under their "protection" and drove Antiochus IV back to Syria.
Rome took more and more control over Egypt, until by 59 BC Ptolemy XII resorted to bribing Rome to allow him to be king of Egypt. Ptolemy XII died in 51 BC, and his 17-year-old daughter Cleopatra VII claimed the throne.
Cleopatra understood how to play politics with Rome - she had an affair with Julius Caesar, even to the extent of having him set her up in a palace in Rome in opposition to his legal Roman wife, and having a son and a daughter by him. When Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, Cleopatra transferred her attentions to Marc Antony.
Cleopatra was the last ruler of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. On her suicide after the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Rome took complete control of Egypt.
In 161 BC the Hasmoneans of Judah decided to make a treaty of mutual friendship and support with the Romans, against the Seleucids, hoping that Rome would help them to stay independent if the Seleucids attacked.
Rome, however, started to play politics with various Jewish factions such as the Pharisees and the Sadducees, particularly with the two sons of Salome Alexandra, the Hasmonean Queen. In 63 BC the Roman general Pompey invaded and took control of Palestine, and appointed Hyrcanus, one of Salome Alexandra's sons, as high Priest in Jerusalem.
Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
