Jews of Babylonia and the Hellenic Diaspora
After Alexander the Great took over the Persian Empire in the late fourth century B.C.E. (Gruen, 77), the Jewish Diaspora began to grow exponentially, founding communities throughout the Mediterranean world (Gruen, 78). The migrating Jews soon found themselves under direct pagan rule, and undeniably engaged with the dominant Greek culture (Gruen, 78). Diasporic Jews even became separated from Hebrew itself, most of them speaking Greek. This was the age of the Septuagint, or the Hebrew Bible translated into Greek.
Without their linguistic distinction, and living under the direct rule of pagan powers, how then could the Jews effectively define themselves as different, or other, from their host culture? They did this by employing Greek concepts to express their ancient traditions. A common way of doing this was through “the re-inscription of biblical legend in Hellenic form” (Gruen, 85). An example of this is the romantic story of Joseph and Aseneth. The only part of this story that has Biblical basis is that Pharaoh gave Joseph Aseneth, daughter of the high priest, to be his wife in the book of Genesis. The rest of this story is totally fiction (Gruen, 85), but it is incredibly significant.
Within the genre of the Greek novel, the author transmits a story with Biblical roots, but does so in a way that promotes Jewish values. It is not an erotic tale, as many of its Greek contemporaries were, but a story about faith in the one true God (Gruen, 86). Using this vehicle, the Hellenic Jews were able to define themselves as different through a Hellenic genre by making the messages of their stories something unique to only their group.
The Hellenic culture was an overbearing, all-consuming phenomenon, which made its presence known to every subject of the empire. The Jews living in its presence felt the immense pressure of assimilation, but were able to keep their Jewish identities by making themselves a part of the historical tapestry upon which Hellenic culture derived its roots. For example, a Jewish author living in Egypt named Artapanus wrote in the second century C.E. that, “Abraham taught astrology to the Egyptian king, Joseph introduced order into the country’s economy, and Moses Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½the teacher of Orpheus’âÂ?¦invented boats and bricklaying machines, weapons for Egypt and tools for irrigation and war, philosophy, and also divided the land into thirty-six districts, assigning each its own deityâÂ?¦and thus Moses became loved by the masses and respected by the priests, and came to be known by the name of Hermes.” (Gafni, 230)
Jews living in Babylonia had a very different relationship to their host culture. They were already connected to the land they occupied, as it was the homeland of the patriarch Abraham (Gafni, 223). Under the rule of the Parthians, Babylonia was, “a loosely knit confederation with a decidedly feudal nature, and although this tended to weaken the kingdom as a whole, it also served as a unifying and strengthening factor for the individual ethnic groups within the empire,” (Gafni, 227). The Jews were allowed a sort of “tribal autonomy” (Gafni, 227), and were not expected to assimilate into any kind of pervasive culture, as their kin in the Hellenic world were (Gafni, 228).
With the rise of the Sassanian Empire in Babylonia, the Jews soon found themselves under the rule of a foreign religion, Iranian Zoroastrianism. However, they felt no kind of pressure to assimilate into the new state religion. This is not to say there the two communities lived together problem free. As example of their problems, the Zoroastrian priests removed fire from the rabbis’ midst, as they felt fire was holy and did not wish the Jews to defile it. In the Babylonian Talmud these fire-priests are cited as “the reason that the rabbis granted permission to move the Hanukkah candles on the Sabbath,” (Gafni, 234). Their rationale being that if the candles are out of sight to the fire-priests, it would be less likely that the Jews would suffer any hostility from them (Gafni, 234). There was never any real religious persecution against Jews and other non Zoroastrians, but rather tension involving belief over the sacredness of various things and places.
Unlike the Jews in the Hellenic Diaspora, Babylonian Jews had not lost touch with the Hebrew Language. They used Hebrew, as the Palestinian Jews of the period did, as a “literary vehicle” (Gafni, 241), rather than a spoken language, but they did not need to translate their Bibles into the pervasive languages of the region. They were engaged with three languages in their daily lives: Hebrew for studying the Bible and writing its commentaries, Aramaic for daily transactions within the community, and Middle Persian for use when engaged with the government, aristocracy or Iranian clergy (Gafni, 242). While many Middle Persian words did make their way into the Babylonian Talmud (Gafni, 242), the Jews in Babylonia had not lost touch with their Hebraic roots.
The Jewish cultures were very different throughout the Diaspora. Some were overwhelmed by an undeniable pervasive culture, while others were left to develop their communities without the pressure of assimilation. Some lost touch with the Hebrew language, while others remained very well versed in it. Either way, however, Judaism was able to persevere through all these conditions over the centuries. The Jews never found themselves lost in the prevailing world; instead they employed what ever means were necessary to maintain their distinctiveness from the host.
Works Cited
Gafni, Isaiah. “Babylonian Rabbinic Culture.” Cultures of Jews. ed. David Biale. New York: Schoken, Oct. 15, 2002. pg 223-266.
Gruen, Erich S. “Hellenistic Judaism.” Cultures of Jews. ed. David Biale. New York: Schocken, Oct. 15, 2002. pg 77-134.
