Hellenistic Judaism

Hellenistic Judaism was a form of Judaism in classical antiquity that combined Jewish religious tradition with elements of Hellenistic culture and religion. Until the early Muslim conquests of the eastern Mediterranean, the main centers of Hellenistic Judaism were Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch in Syria (modern-day Turkey), the two main Greek urban settlements of the Middle East and North Africa, both founded in the end of the 4th century BCE in the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great. Hellenistic Judaism also existed in Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period, where there was a conflict between Hellenizers and traditionalists.

The major literary product of the contact between Second Temple Judaism and Hellenistic culture is the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible from Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic to Koine Greek, specifically, Jewish Koine Greek. Mentionable are also the philosophic and ethical treatises of Philo and the historiographical works of the other Hellenistic Jewish authors.^[1][2]

The decline of Hellenistic Judaism began in the 2nd century, and the precise causes are not fully understood. Following the Roman suppression of the Diaspora Revolt (115–117 CE), Jewish populations in Egypt, including the large and influential community in Alexandria, as well as those in Cyrenaica and Cyprus, were eradicated. Jewish presence in these regions was not re-established until centuries later, without regaining their former influence. Over time, much of the Greek-speaking diaspora was incorporated into the rabbinic framework by the rabbis. Additionally, it is possible that some members of Hellenistic Jewry were marginalized, absorbed, or gradually became part of the Koine-speaking core of early Christianity centered on Antioch and its traditions, such as the Melkite Greek Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch.