Ancient Egypt served as a hotbed for different religions, cultures, and ideologies. For centuries, Egypt served as a place where religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam flourished even through today. While these religions may not have received the warmest welcome by Egyptians, certain areas of Egypt permitted the existence and development of these cultures. This essay will focus on the relationship between Egypt and Judaism from the beginnings of the city of Alexandria through Philo of Alexandria. This portion in the timeline of Judaism is called Hellenistic Judaism, but it is not the only time Judaism existed in Egypt. Jewish experiences in Egypt such as Passover and the stories from Genesis and Exodus impacted the Jewish tradition and faith, but this essay will seek to emphasize how Hellenistic influences from Greek culture adapted with Judaism as it was present at the time.
After Alexander the Great’s conquest throughout Persia and Africa, Egypt was significantly impacted by the influence and traditions that came with Alexander and the Greek culture. Specifically, with the increased interaction with Greeks and Greek culture, Egypt began to be subjected to Hellenistic traditions as well as the Ptolemy Dynasty. Along with Greek influences as rulers of Egypt, Greek culture also influenced religions within Egypt especially those centered in the capitol at the time, Alexandria.1Donald Wasson, “Ptolemaic Dynasty”, Ancient History Encyclopedia, September 29, 2016.Alexander the Great founded Alexandria after his conquest through Syria, and it became a hub for naval activity as well as for educated individuals.2Joshua Mark, “Alexander, Egypt”, Ancient History Encyclopedia, May 2, 2020. Alexandria quickly flourished as a place of trade as a connection between the “routes that led to the Red Sea and the spice-producing countries”.3H. Ball, “Alexandria.” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, (1927), page 172. Since its emergence as a hub in Egypt, there has been a strong Jewish population present in the city. The Jewish population struggled to assimilate with their non Jewish counterparts in the city, but they had established a community within the city itself and set up their own organizations.4Ball, 173. Sects lived separately in different parts of the city and the Jews tended to live near the Delta.5Ball, 173. Since this essay will focus on Hellenized Judaism, it is important to note that much of the Greek influence on Judaism, occurred in Alexandria.6Ball, 176. One materialization of this is the Septuagint in which the Hebrew Bible was translated to Greek. While there was a presence of Judaism in Alexandria, the Jewish people in the city itself experienced some persecution as well as violence towards them.7Ball, 179. The Jewish residents desired citizenship which was unpopular with the other citizens of Egypt. Overall, the Jewish presence in Alexandria led to the adaptation of Judaism to incorporate aspects of the Hellenistic culture however, their experience in the city was that of persecution and violence by the non Jewish residents.
Looking at an actual interaction between Judaism and Hellenistic culture, the Septuagint provided a major influence on Judaism not only for the Jews in Egypt, but for the Greek speaking citizens both in Greece and Egypt. During the reign of Ptolemy II, a Greek ruler in Egypt, he ordered a number of Jewish scholars to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek. While this may seem a minor step in any direction, the translation of one ancient language to another had a dramatic effect on the Jewish community in Alexandria and all of Egypt. With this translation, Greek became a popular and dominant language spoken by the Jewish community, and Jews transitioned away from languages they used to speak such as Hebrew.8Jasmine Race, “A Brief Essay on the Septuagint and its Relationship with Hellenistic Judaism and Christianity,” Princeton University (2013): 2. Not only linguistically were the people in Egypt linked through the translation of the Septuagint and the continual intertwining of Hellenistic traditions into existing Egyptian ones, but culturally as well.9Moshe Simon-Shoshan, “The Tasks of the Translators: the Rabbis, the Septuagint, and the Cultural Politics of Translation”, Prooftexts 27, no.1 (2007), 30. One of the main sources of that is through the Letter of Aristeas which gave a description of the translation of the Septuagint, and how the translation influenced both Jewish and Greek citizens.
The Letter of Aristeas was written to explain the translation of the Septuagint. The Letter was written by a Jew in the attempt to present Judaism in a positive light to the Greeks.10Ronald Charles, “Negotiating Diaspora in Ancient Hellenistic Judaism”, in Paul and the Politics of Diaspora, (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2014). The actual writing of the Letter is one of the prime examples of how Hellenism influenced and altered Judaism. Many scholars claim that the author of the Letter attempts to incorporate aspects of both Judaism and Hellenism in order to relate to both groups to convey his message.11Charles, 48. The author exemplifies this hybrid style of culture in writing, and he is described as “remaining a Jew and be, in some sense, like the gentiles”.12Charles, 48. It should be noted that the author of this Letter was situated in Alexandria in the midst of the Greek influence, authority, and traditions. Many scholars read the Letter almost a defense for Hellenized Jews or any Jews for that matter within Alexandria. The author of the Letter saw the dangers of fully assimilating with the Hellenized culture for fear of upsetting the traditional Jewish way of life.13Charles, 52. However, the situation is a double edged sword for the author because should the Jews refuse to adapt and incorporate aspects of the Greek culture, further problems of assimilation and persecution would continue to occur.14Charles, 53-54. The author combats both of these issues by balancing back and forth between the two customs and traditions by appealing to both. Scholars noted the frequency throughout the Letter the author praises the Greek king, Ptolemy II, for his power and rule over Egypt suggesting a form of recognition and respect for his reign.15Charles, 54. He balances this by describing the knowledge and success that Jewish elites have found in the city of Alexandria at the time.16Charles, 55. However, the author of the Letter hints that Ptolemy II may have requested that the Septuagint be made as a way of comparing Jewish texts with other texts, specifically philosophical, that the Greeks relied on.17Charles, 56.
To place the previous information in context with Egypt as a whole, now it is important to note how Egypt played a role in this collaborative translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. Egypt provided the location necessary for this transaction to take place seeing as it would be only one of a few places in the world at the time where these two cultures would have a chance of being in the same city. Alexandria in particular provided a location in which the Jewish elites and scholars could translate the Hebrew Bible and incorporate aspects of the Hellenistic culture which was so prevalent there. It seems as if during the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, as argued by the author of the Letter, it finally allows for Judaism to fully incorporate into the Hellenistic world from a cultural as well as social standpoint.18Charles, 59 It came to the point where Greek was the primary language spoken by Jewish residents, and the wealthy or educated Jewish citizens read Plato and Homer, something probably never thought possible prior to the Jewish exposure to the Hellenistic culture.19V. Tcherikover, “The Ideology of the Letter of Aristeas”, The Harvard Theological Review 51, no. 2 (1958), 80. Egypt provided the landscape necessary for those two cultures to intertwine.
Finally, it is necessary to investigate Philo of Alexandria, one of the foremost supporters of the Jewish tradition embracing and including many aspects of Greek traditions. Philo immersed himself in Greek education and tradition by taking advantage of what Greeks had to offer. It is evident that Philo’s main source of knowledge comes from Greek philosophers and poets such as Homer, and he is oftentimes caught attempting to quote from them which exemplified the combination of Greek and Judaism.20Erkki Koskenniemi, “Philo and Greek Poets”, Journal for the Study of Judaism in Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period41, no. 3 (2010): 301-302. In fact, many scholars believe that Philo almost entirely received his education in the Greek education system, and he studied Judaism through Greek translations of the Bible.21Koskenniemi, 302. It should be noted that Philo was one of the foremost leaders and advocate of the Jewish tradition adapting and including the new Hellenistic ideas. In his works, there are many instances in which Philo attempts to bridge the gap that exists between Judaism and Greek thought. One example would be in his Doctrine of Creation. He works on both the “level of mythical Hebraic religious tradition and the level of philosophical speculation in the Greek tradition”.22Marian Hillar, “Philo of Alexandria,” Center for Philosophy and Socinian Studies, https://www.iep.utm.edu/philo/. Philo attempts to bridge the gap between these two traditions by pulling from biblical stories as well as Greek philosophical as well as scientific thought.23Hillar, “Philo of Alexandria”. Philo tried to blend the two traditions together to help unify and bring about Hellenized Judaism. Philo’s work laid down some foundation for Hellenistic Judaism to continue to spread throughout the Jewish population. Many scholars have tried to cast down the importance of Philo, but he was one of the first Hellenized Jews to make an impact in his writing and promotion of Hellenized Judaism.
Hellenized Judaism attempted to mesh the existing tradition of Judaism with Greek tradition with which Judaism was recently exposed to. Several influences such as the Septuagint and Philo of Alexandria made this adaptation possible. Egypt itself also allowed for the synthesis of the two cultures to occur. Alexandria permitted the flourishing of educated Jews for the translation of the Hebrew Bible as well as permitted Jews to have wealth and success. Some Jews may not have felt this success in the time of the harmonizing of the culture through violence and discrimination, yet many Jews continued the adaptation of Judaism because Egyptian culture permitted it.
