107: Jews and Judaism from Alexander the Great to Antiochus III
In this episode, we delve into the history of the Jews – both in the homeland of Judea and the many communities of the Diaspora. From the conquests of Alexander, the Jews navigated through a new paradigm that favored “Greekness” and embraced many aspects of Hellenistic culture, while also trying to uphold the Laws of Moses that linked them back to the glory days of Solomon and David. The flowering of diasporic literature, such as the creation of the Septuagint, was one byproduct of Judeo-Greek interaction. Yet tensions with the Hellenistic monarchies could lead to severe unrest, as will eventually culminate in the Maccabean Revolt.
Episode Notes:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/07/30/107-jews-and-judaism-from-alexander-the-great-to-antiochus-iii/)
Episode Transcript:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/107-jews-and-judaism-from-alexander-the-great-to-antiochus-iii-transcript.pdf)
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107 Jews and Judaism from Alexander the Great to Antiochus III
In this episode, we delve into the history of the Jews – both in the homeland of Judea and the many communities of the Diaspora. From the conquests of Alexander, the Jews navigated through a new paradigm that favored “Greekness” and embraced many aspects of Hellenistic culture, while also trying to uphold the Laws of Moses that linked them back to the glory days of Solomon and David. The flowering of diasporic literature, such as the creation of the Septuagint, was one byproduct of Judeo-Greek interaction. Yet tensions with the Hellenistic monarchies could lead to severe unrest, as will eventually culminate in the Maccabean Revolt.
Episode Notes:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/07/30/107-jews-and-judaism-from-alexander-the-great-to-antiochus-iii/)
Episode Transcript:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/107-jews-and-judaism-from-alexander-the-great-to-antiochus-iii-transcript.pdf)
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Interview: "The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World" with William Dalrymple
Historian and broadcaster William Dalrymple (“The Company Quartet“, “Empire“) joins the podcast to discuss his latest book “The Golden Road“. A survey covering from antiquity to the early medieval period, the book seeks to address India’s far-reaching (and often forgotten) influence across the entirety of Eurasia, from tracking the spread of religions like Buddhism and Hinduism, investigating the growing evidence of Indo-Roman trade, and even down to the invention of “Arabic” numerals based on Indian scripts and mathematics.
Episode Notes:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/06/15/interview-the-golden-road-how-ancient-india-transformed-the-world-with-william-dalrymple/)
William Dalrymple:
https://williamdalrymple.com/
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/golden-road-9781639734146/
https://x.com/DalrympleWill
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106: Jewish Literature in the Hellenistic Age
Among the various peoples of the ancient Mediterranean, few cultures possess such a extensive surviving corpus of texts as the Jews. With the conquest of Alexander and the widespread introduction of Greek culture, Jewish authors voiced their grievances against the Hellenistic kingdoms while celebrating the antiquity of their own history, offering us a valuable perspective of the period at large. We will be discussing selected key texts: the apocalyptic visions of Daniel, the dynastic histories of I and II Maccabees, and the extensive writings of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.
Episode Notes:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/05/31/106-jewish-literature-in-the-hellenistic-age/)
Episode Transcript:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/106-jewish-literature-in-the-hellenistic-age.pdf)
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46:04
Bonus: Elizabeth Taylor's "Cleopatra" (1963)
“Cleopatra” (1963), a four-hour epic starring Elizabeth Taylor as the titular queen, is legendary in the history of filmmaking. Its notoriously troubled production made it one of the most expensive movies ever made and brought 20th Century Fox on the verge of collapse, but Taylor’s portrayal has defined the image of Cleopatra in pop culture for over sixty years. We look back on the history of the film itself, assess its presentation of Hellenistic Egypt, and talk about the problems of telling the story of powerful woman whose life was so entangled with that of the men around her.
Episode Notes:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/04/01/bonus-elizabeth-taylors-cleopatra-1963/)
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New Zealand