The Jews in the Greek Age. First Edition

Bickerman, Elias

ISBN 10: 0674474902 / ISBN 13: 9780674474901

Published by U.S.A.: Harvard University Press, 1988

About this Item

Harvard University Press; 1st Edition (1988). Blind notary style relief personal stamp on the title page otherwise The Book is NEW. The DJ (orange/blue) got little edge rubbing. 9.5"x6.25"x1.25". be4x.

Seller Inventory # ABE-15729091918

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Jews in the Greek Age. First Edition
• Publisher: U.S.A.: Harvard University Press
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674474902
• ISBN 13: 9780674474901
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

About this title

Synopsis

One of our century's greatest authorities on the ancient world gives us here a vivid account of the Jewish people from the conquest of Palestine by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.E. to the revolt of the Maccabees. It is a rich story of Jewish social, economic, and intellectual life and of the relations between the Jewish community and the Hellenistic rulers and colonizers of Palestine--a historical narrative told with consummate skill.

Bickerman portrays Jewish life in the context of a broader picture of the Near East and traces the interaction between the Jewish and Greek worlds throughout this period. He reconstructs the evidence concerning social and political structures; the economy of Hellenistic Jerusalem and Judea; Greek officials, merchants, and entrepreneurs as well as full-scale Greek colonies in Palestine; the impact of Greek language and culture among Jews and the translation of Jewish Scriptures into Greek; Jewish literature, learning, and law; and the diaspora in the Hellenistic period. He deploys his profound knowledge gracefully, weaving archaeological finds, literary traditions, the political and economic record, and fertile insights into an abundant and lively history.

This first full study of the pre-Maccabean interaction between the Greek and Jewish cultures will be welcomed by historians and specialists in Judaic studies. But any reader interested in the ancient Mediterranean world will find it to be filled with pleasures and discoveries.

Review

Bickerman displays the qualities of a great historian: mastery of primary sources, wide learning in other areas, careful yet often bold judgments, and ability to write a lively narrative. -- Daniel J. Harrington "Theological Studies" Highly readable and packed with information, much of which will be new even to those with some knowledge of one side or the other, Jewish or Greek.--Jasper Griffin "New York Review of Books " The last posthumous work of one of the greatest of all scholars of Judaism in Graeco-Roman antiquity...Note the power and brilliance, as well as the (as ever) bold and controversial character of its representation of Judaism and Jewish history in the period between Alexander and the Maccabees.--Fergus Millar "Journal of Jewish Studies " [Bickerman] displays the qualities of a great historian: mastery of primary sources, wide learning in other areas, careful yet often bold judgments, and ability to write a lively narrative.--Daniel J. Harrington "Theological Studies "