Judean Cultural Resistance to the Persian and Hellenistic States: The Beginnings of a Jewish Kingdom

Abstract

The date of 539 B.C.E. was significant for the people of ancient Judea for two reasons. First, it marked the rediscovery of and the rebuilding process for their sacred Temple in Jerusalem. Secondly it was the start of the inclusion of Judea into a large, cosmopolitan Persian Empire and then into the newer Hellenistic Kingdoms of the late 4th century B.C.E. As a result of this inclusion the Jews would be presented with a number of difficulties. A major one would be the cultural conflicts that would plague Judean society for centuries, mostly connected with marriages to non-Jews and various degrees of religious and cultural syncretism with (mostly) Greek neighbors. The other would be the questions of how Judea should function within the broader kingdom in which it was located, what kind of autonomy the Jews should receive and how this autonomy should be maintained. These questions would lead to disputes and, by the middle of the 2nd century B.C.E., outright revolt.