Hellenistic influence upon the Jews was exercised in an intensive manner during the century of comparative peace for their country, which was one of the results of the battle of Ipsus (B.C. 301). The considerate treatment accorded to the Jews by their rulers during this period was calculated to help forward the process of Hellenization. The policy of the Egyptian kings of settling Greeks and Macedonians in Palestine resulted in the rise of many Greek cities there. Both in Western and Eastern Palestine civic life was framed upon the Greek model; a marked individualism among the Jews was one of the results of this. Hellenistic influence was exercised, further, by means of the annual celebrations of the Greek festivals; the gymnasium and all that this involved became a still greater means for the spreading abroad of this influence. The fact that the powerful high-priestly party favoured the Hellenistic Movement did much to forward it. Thus, by the time that Antiochus Epiphanes came to the Syrian throne in B.C. 175 much of what was essentially Hellenistic had become ineradicably rooted in Jewish modes of life and thought, so much so that when the great reaction against Hellenism arose in the shape of the Maccabæan revolt, it was in many directions powerless to effect a return to the Ezra ideal. One effect of the deep and widespread influence of the Hellenistic Movement is to be seen in the large number of Greek words which, as the Hebrew of the Mishna shows, have been incorporated into the Hebrew language. As to Greek influence upon the _religious belief_ of the Jews of Palestine, it did not directly affect its fundamental tenets; but in one way or another, in conjunction with other eastern influences, it did affect Judaism as a faith in some respects. Angelology and demonology, which Judaism absorbed from the east, were elements the incorporation of which may so far be regarded as due _indirectly_ to the Hellenistic Movement in that the Greek spirit inculcated, and set the example of syncretism, an example followed by the Jews no less than by other peoples under the sway of Hellenism. In the domain of eschatology both Greek and Eastern influences affected the Jews; which of the two was the more powerful is not easily decided. As regards the belief in the future life of the Jews the signs of Greek influence are plainly discernible. This influence cannot be restricted, however, to the points mentioned because the inter-relation of doctrinal tenets is such that the development or modification of one dogma affects others; an example of this is the way in which the later angelology and demonology of the Jews affected their doctrine of God. The chapters on “Traces of Greek Influences in the Old Testament and the Apocrypha” and “The Apocalyptic Movement” should be read in conjunction with the subject of this chapter. The Essene Movement was the outcome of mainly Hellenistic, but also of Eastern, influences. CHAPTER III