The Hellenistic Movement, therefore, considered at its best, and apart altogether from the point of view of pure culture, constituted an immense stride forward in the enlargening and development of religious thought and belief. It is difficult to exaggerate its importance for, and effect upon, religion, and therefore upon all religious literature, during the period which we specially have in view. Of this we shall have more to say in estimating the influence and effect of Hellenism upon the Jews and their religion. SUMMARY The roots of the Hellenistic Movement must be sought in the conditions brought about by the rise of the Attic sea-power. The way was thus prepared for the victories of Alexander the Great, with whose name the spread of the Hellenistic Movement is more particularly associated, by his father, Philip; it was through the exertions of the latter that the Macedonian Empire was consolidated. The influence of Hellenism was, in the first instance, exercised by means of the spread of the Greek language; but it was a form of Greek which differed in many particulars from classical Greek, and is known nowadays by the name of Hellenistic Greek. This is the language in which the Septuagint and the New Testament are written; but it would be a mistake to speak of it as “Biblical Greek,” because it was in no sense used specifically for the Greek of the Bible, but was the ordinary language used in every-day intercourse, and was developed from the older form of Greek. Its wide prevalence is proved by the discovery of great numbers of _papyri_ and _ostraka_ on which this newer form of Greek occurs. The Hellenistic Movement coincided with an epoch which was, in many respects, one of dissolution, so that its influence began to spread at a time when men’s minds would be likely to welcome its newer and broader outlook upon the world. The greatest centre of Hellenistic culture was Alexandria; but this was only one, though the most striking, example of the Hellenization that was going on in many other cities. The Hellenization of these cities meant that their civic government was framed upon the Greek model; “barbarians” and Greeks thus found themselves politically upon an equality, and the knowledge of one another brought about in this way resulted in the existence of a cosmopolitanism which was new to the world. On the other hand, the directly personal part which each individual felt that he had to take as a citizen in the administration of affairs, emphasized his importance, and this was one of the contributing causes which made individualism a characteristic of the Hellenistic period. Individualism was fostered, further, by the philosophical systems of this period which centred in ethics; for ethical teaching concerns the individual first and foremost.