Early Judaism Video Lecture: From Alexander to Antiochus IV

This video, the fourth in a series of lectures I recorded in the fall of 2020, offers a big picture overview of Greek rule in Judaea from the death of Alexander the Great to the conquest of the Levant by the Seleucid king Antiochus III (ca. 323 BCE - 198 BCE). I also introduce the concept of “Hellenization.”

It’s riveting, I assure you, but best watched at 1.5 - 2x speed. 

See this post for more information as well as links to other video lectures in the series.

Major secondary sources / influences:

Cohen, Shaye. From the Maccabees to the Mishnah. 3rd ed. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2014.

Nickelsburg, George W. E. Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah: A Historical and Literary Introduction. 2nd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005.

Rainey, Anson F., and R. Steven Notley. The Sacred Bridge: Carta’s Atlas of the Biblical World. Jerusalem: Carta, 2006.

Schwartz, Seth. The Ancient Jews from Alexander to Muhammad. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Schwartz, Seth. Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 B.C.E. to 640 C.E. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.

Tcherikover, Victor. Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1999.