[LITERATURE.—Droysen, _Geschichte des Hellenismus_ (3rd ed., 1877); Schürer, _A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ_, II, i. pp. 1-149 (1890-1891), German ed. II, pp. 1-267 (1901-1909); Usener, _Götternamen_ (1896); Kaerst, _Geschichte des hellenistischen Zeitalters_ (1901, 1909); Zeller, _Die Philosophie der Griechen_, III, i. ii. (4th ed., 1903, 1909); Zeller, _Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy_ (Engl. ed., 1909); Rohde, _Psyche_ (3rd ed., 1903); Edwyn Bevan, _Jerusalem under the High-priests_ (1904); M. Friedländer, _Griechische Philosophie im Alten Testament_ (1904); Gruppe, _Griechische Mythologie und Religionsgeschichte_ (1906); Mahaffy, _The Silver Age of the Greek World_ (1906); Krüger, _Hellenismus und Judenthum im neutestamentlichen Zeitalter_ (1908); Farnell, _Greek Religion_ (1912); Wendland, _Die Hellenistisch-Römische Kultur in ihren Beziehungen zu Judentum und Christentum_ (1912); Edwyn Bevan, _Stoics and Sceptics_ (1913); Farnell’s art. on “Greek Religion” in Hastings’ _Dict. of Religion and Ethics_.] To offer in any detail an account of such an immense subject as the Hellenistic Movement would be out of the question here; but no study which has to do with Jewish religion or culture of the three last pre-Christian centuries can be taken in hand without some reference to the Movement which so profoundly affected the world of those times. The object of the present chapter is, therefore, to indicate the main directions in which Hellenistic influence was exercised; so much is essential when it is remembered that the books of the Apocrypha form an integral part of the Greek Old Testament, which is itself one of the most striking products of the Hellenistic Movement in the domain of literature. A word must be said at the outset regarding the use of the terms _Hellenic_ and _Hellenistic_. It is not always easy to be strictly logical or consistent in the way in which one employs these; the fundamental difference between the two is this: _Hellenic culture_ refers, of course, to the pure Greek civilization, religion, etc., existing previous to the coming of Alexander the Great; _Hellenistic culture_ refers to this civilization as it appeared after having absorbed numerous elements in the domain both of thought and religion from non-Greek sources after the coming of Alexander the Great. Hellenistic culture exercised a greater and wider influence upon the world than Hellenic, because by absorbing alien elements it was able to become a world-culture. The terms have thus a distinct and clearly defined difference. But inasmuch as Hellenistic culture is based upon and has as its chief characteristic Hellenic culture, it is sometimes convenient to use the terms Hellenism and Hellenic in a wide and inclusive sense; as so used it is equivalent to the term _Greek_, without restriction to any particular age. I. HELLENISM IN ITS SECULAR ASPECT