Effect of Hellenization on the Jews. When Greece was divided among Alexander’s generals, Judah became a border state between the Ptolemaic regime of Egypt and the Seleucid dynasty of Syria. First controlled by Egypt, the land was seized by the Seleucids in 198 B.C.E. In an effort to unite Judah with Syria in a Hellenic culture, Greek religion, language, literature, and attire were all promoted in Judah.

Greek colonies were founded throughout Jewish territory, including those at Samaria (thereafter called Sebaste), Acco (Ptolemais), and Beth-shean (Scythopolis), as well as some set up on previously unsettled sites E of the Jordan River. (See DECAPOLIS.) A gymnasium was established in Jerusalem and attracted Jewish youths. Since Greek games were linked with Greek religion, the gymnasium served to corrupt Jewish adherence to Scriptural principles. Even the priesthood suffered considerable infiltration by Hellenism during this period. By this means, beliefs previously foreign to the Jews gradually began to take root; these included the pagan teaching of the immortality of the human soul and the idea of an underworld place of torment after death.

Antiochus Epiphanes’ desecration of the temple at Jerusalem (168 B.C.E.) by introducing the worship of Zeus there marked the extreme point of Hellenization of the Jews and led to the Maccabean Wars.

In Alexandria, Egypt, where the Jewish sector occupied a considerable portion of the city, Hellenizing influence was also strong. (See ALEXANDRIA.) Some Alexandrian Jews allowed the popularity of Grecian philosophy to sway them. Certain Jewish writers felt obligated to try to accommodate Jewish beliefs to what was then the “modern trend.” They tried to demonstrate that the current Grecian philosophical ideas were actually preceded by similar ideas in the Hebrew Scriptures or were even derived from them.

Hellenists. In the book of Acts another term appears: Hel·le·ni·staiʹ (singular, Hel·le·ni·stesʹ). This term is not found either in Greek or in Hellenistic Jewish literature; hence, the meaning is not completely certain. However, most lexicographers believe it designates “Greek-speaking Jews” at Acts 6:1 and 9:29. In the first of these two texts, these Hel·le·ni·staiʹ are contrasted with the “Hebrew-speaking Jews” (E·braiʹoi [Westcott and Hort Greek text]). On the day of Pentecost, 33 C.E., Jews and proselytes from many lands were present. That many such Greek-speaking persons came to the city is evidenced by the “Theodotus Inscription” found on the hill of Ophel in Jerusalem. Written in Greek, it states: “Theodotus son of Vettenus, priest and synagogue-president, son of a synagogue-president and grandson of a synagogue-president, has built the synagogue for the reading of the Law and the teaching of the Commandments, and (he has built) the hostelry and the chambers and the cisterns of water in order to provide lodgings for those from abroad who need them​—(the synagogue) which his fathers and the elders and Simonides had founded.” (Biblical Archaeology, by G. Ernest Wright, 1962, p. 240) Some would connect this inscription with the “Synagogue of the Freedmen,” members of which were among those responsible for the martyrdom of Stephen.​—Ac 6:9; see FREEDMAN, FREEMAN.

The form of Hel·le·ni·staiʹ that appears in Acts 11:20, however, with reference to certain residents of Antioch, Syria, may refer to “Greek-speaking people” generally, rather than Greek-speaking Jews. This seems to be shown by the indication that, until the arrival of Christians of Cyrene and Cyprus, the preaching of the word in Antioch had been restricted to “Jews only.” (Ac 11:19) So the Hel·le·ni·staiʹ there mentioned may mean persons of various nationalities who had been Hellenized, using the Greek language (and perhaps living according to Greek custom).​—See ANTIOCH No. 1; CYRENE, CYRENIAN.