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The Arrival of Greek Rule The Jews of Judah remained under Persian rule for nearly 200 years. In 331 B.C., Alexander the Great, a King from Macedonia who had conquered Greece, defeated the Persians. Alexander brought Greek language and culture to Judah, and allowed Jews to remain in Judah.
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Lesson 6.4: The Jews in the Mediterranean World The Arrival of
Greek Rule
The Jews of Judah remained underPersian rule for nearly 200 years.
In 331 B.C., Alexander the Great, aKing from Macedonia who
hadconquered Greece, defeated thePersians. Alexander brought Greek
languageand culture to Judah, and allowedJews to remain in Judah.
How Did Jewish Ideas Spread?
Judah remained thecenter of Judaism underAlexander, howevermany
Jews were spreadout over other lands inthe Mediterranean. These
groups of Jewsliving outside Judahbecame known as theDiaspora,
meaningscattered. Jews of the Diasporaremained loyal toJudaism and
practicedtheir religion whileadapting to othercultures. A group of
scholars livingin Egypt copied the Torahinto Greek, and thisversion
called theSeptuagint, helpedspread Jewish ideasacross the
Mediterraneanworld. The Revolt of Maccabeus
After Alexanders death, hiskingdom was divided intoseveral
kingdoms. One kingdom coveringsoutheast Asia was ruled overby a
family known as theSeleucids. By 200. B.C., Judah wasunder the
Seleucid Kingscontrol. In 176 B.C., Antiochus came topower as the
Seleucid king andrequired Jews to worship manyGreek gods and
goddesses. Many Jews refused to abandontheir religion and in 167
B.C., JudasMaccabeus, a Jewish priest, fledto the hills and formed
a rebelarmy called the Maccabees. After many battles, the Maccabees
succeeded in capturingthe Temple, ridding it of all the Greek
statues of gods, andrededicating the temple to the worship of God.
Jews celebrate this cleansing of the Temple each year withthe
festival of Hanukkah. Roman Rule in Judea By 100 B.C.,
Romanscontrolled much ofthe EasternMediterranean.Located in
presentday Italy, Romesought to expand. In 63 B.C., Romanforces
conqueredJudah and renamedit Judaea. At first during Romanrule, a
Jewish rulerwas chosen, namedHerod.
During his reign, hebuilt many cities andforts. The SecondTemple
was rebuiltand remained thecenter of worship. Jewish Groups After
Herods death, Romanofficials ruled Judea, anddifferent groups of
Jews haddifferent views on how to dealwith the Romans. One group,
the Pharisees,gained support of the people.They taught people to
applyreligion to their daily lives. The Pharisees They stressed
obeying writtenand oral laws as a way to getpeople to obey the
TenCommandments. The Pharisees wanted the Jewsto be free from Roman
rule, butdid not want to fight theRomans. Instead theyencouraged
people to practicethe Torahs teachings withgreater devotion. Jewish
Groups Another group, called theSadducees was made up of
noblefamilies, many serving as nobles andpriests in temples. They
favored written law andrejected oral law, were moreconcerned with
applying the laws ofthe Torah to religious ceremonies,rather than
everyday life. The Sadducees also favoredcooperation with Romans in
order tokeep peace in Judea. A third group called the Essenes were
made of priests who broke away from Judea to live at Qumran, an
area in the desert near the Dead Sea. The Essenes These priests
followed only the laws of the Torahand spent their lives praying
and waiting for God todeliver the Jews from Roman rule. Centuries
later, inA.D., 1947, ancientscrolls were found incaves at
Qumran,most likely written bythe Essenes, thesescrolls becameknown
as the DeadSea Scrolls. These scrolls wereimportant becausethey
told historiansseveral things aboutJudaism during theRoman times.
Some scrolls told a story of a group of Jews in exile who
sawthemselves as lone beings surrounded by enemies. Some described
beliefs, holy days, and practices of Jewishgroups. The variety of
the scrolls make historian believe they werepart of a library,
hidden perhaps for protection duringRoman conflicts. Jewish Groups
A fourth group, called theZealots lived in Judea andfought for
their freedomduring the A.D. 60s, whenJewish hatred of Roman
rulereached its peak. Most Jews retained hopeand faith in their
religion thatGod would deliver them, butthe Zealots prepared to
act. Jewish-Roman Wars The Zealots revolted in A.D. 66 and overtook
the small Roman Army in Jerusalem. However, the Romans returned
four years later and retook the city, killing thousands of Jews and
destroying the Second Temple. The Western Wall Today, the Western
Wall of the Temple complex still stands in Jerusalem, and many come
to this wall to pray. In A.D. 132, a military leader named Simon
ben Kosiba, known as Bar Kochba led the Jews in another battle for
freedom. After three years, the Romans crushed this revolt, and
passed stricter rules and controls over the Jews. Romans did not
allow Jews to live in or visit Jerusalem, and they renamed Judea,
calling it Palestine, referring to the Philistines, whom the
Israelites had conquered centuries before. The Rabbis The Jews
regrouped with the help of their rabbis, or religious leaders.
Since Jews no longer had a Temple, synagogues became important, and
rabbis taught and explained the Torah. One of the most famous
rabbis was Yohanan ben Zaccai
One of the most famous rabbis was Yohanan ben Zaccai. He persuaded
the Romans to spare the city of Yavneh, where he founded a school
to continue teaching the Torah. This school would become a model
for other schools, and a center of Torah studies. Rabbis preserved
the basic beliefs of Judaism.
Eventually, rabbis gathered their oral discussions about Jewish law
and recorded them in a book that would be called the Talmud,
meaning instruction. The Talmud became the basis for human law
throughout ages, and remains the ultimate authority of Jewish law
to this day.