hellenism

The one thing which changes the structure and culture of Judea more than anything else was the inroads of Hellenism upon the Jewish People. of Alexander the Great; changed the process of Empire building. The standard approach was to conquer a country and take all the educated and skilled labor back to the capital. Alexander changes all that, and replaces it with a system of "syncretism" a process of assimilating the conquered culture and turning them into Greeks; a sort of Westernization.

Alexander the Great; changed the process of Empire building. The standard approach was to conquer a country and take all the educated and skilled labor back to the capital. Alexander changes all that, and replaces it with a system of "syncretism" a process of assimilating the conquered culture and turning them into Greeks; a sort of Westernization.

Alexander does much of this without firing a shot. He offered the conquered people things they wanted, could use, and would enjoy; Medical Insurance, Free Entertainment, Sports, and Education, in exchange for becoming more Greek and less Jewish.

So before this, the Jews were made up of the Priests & People. The process of Hellenization of Israel corrupted the priesthood, resulting in Sadducees. It creates the split of the People which results in the Pharisees (Rabbis), Essenes, Zealots, and the Herodians.

Hellenism was able to essentially wipe out the Jewish culture, outside of Jerusalem, to the point you had Judean Jews and Hellenized Jews. The Greek-Westernization resulted in the creation of the Greek Old Testament called the Septuagint.