The crushing reverses which the Jews ex- perienced at the hands of the Rom. power from 70 till 150 A.D., first in Judaea and later in Cyprus, Alexandria, Cyrene, and elsewhere, drove tlie race in upon itself and soon established a prejudice against any Jewish books not wTitten in Hebrew A little before A.D. 70, when the final agony waa at hand, it was forbidden by the Rabbis to Jewish fathers to have their sons any more instructed in • See Schllrer, HJP, is above, J 22.
GREECE, HELLENISM
GRIEF
263
Greek,* which proves that till then it had been a com- mon practice. The ^vriting of divorcement might, according to the Mishna, be in Greek (Gittin, ix. 8) ;^ and the LXX was recognized by official Judaism {Mff/Ula, i. 8). In spite of tlie prejudice aroused against Gr. by the events of A.D. 70, two or three new Gr. translations of OT were made for the use of Gr. Jews in the hundred years which ensued. But the prejudice continued to grow, and the cruelties perpetrated upon Jews by the Christians, so soon OS they got the upper hand, must have in- tensified it. And the result is seen to-day in the circumstance that of all the voluminous Jewish- Greek literature which once existed, nothing sur- vives except what the Christian Church has Kept. No doubt the vigilant censorship of the Cath. Church is, in part, resjmnsible for this deprivation, which we of to-day feel so keenly. For the fanati- cism which destroyed all heretical works so-called was not likely to spare Jewish books. Still, the pre- judices of the Jews themselves must be largely to olame.
The tendencies and characteristics of Greek Judaism will be further dealt with under the articles Israel and Religion.
It is enough here to point out that the Gr. Jews were not alien, as is often supposed, from the Messianic hope. The Jewish SibyllLne poems know of it ; and Philo, in spite of all nis Hel. training, held it with intense fervour, as is clear to aiiy one who will read his two tracts de Prcemiis et Foenis and rle Exsecrationibus.
The relations of tlie Jews to their Gr. fellow- townsmen were invariably hostile on both sides. They were constantly ready to massacre each otlicr. This hatred was due to the fact that in eacli city the Jews formed a community apart, often under archona or ethnarchs, or an assembly of their own. They could join in no heathen festivals, nor eat any meats, nor even use oil for anointing which they had not tliemselves prepared. How much the Gentiles resented this Jewish ex- clusiveness is clear from hints in Juvenal, Tacitus, and other ancient writers. The Jews, in fact, held the same jiosition in a pagan community as do the Mohammedans of India among the Hindoos who surround tliem. Add to this that the Gr. Jews lost no opportunity of making converts among the pagans, and were especially successful in winning over the women. These converts were, of course, obliged to cut themselves adrift from their old friends and families — a circumstance which intensitied the hatred of the Greeks for a religion and race at once exclusive and usurping. The pro- pagandi.sm of the Christians had from the first the same result. The new religion, like the old, spread among Gentiles at the expense of family ties and afl'ections ; and on their ruin ultimately consecrated the principles and edifice of monasti- cism. In the Jewish sects of Essenes and Thera- peutae, esp. of the latter, we may trace similar results arising out of similar conditions within Gr. Judaism itself. The Kom. Government, however, always recognized Judaism as the religion of a race, and therefore as something respectable and deserving of protection from Gentile assaults. l''or Christianity, which was not a national cult, and for that reason a more rapid solvent of family and citizen tics, the Government had less solicitude ; and was less anxious, as a rule, to protect it from the storms of popular hatred which it everywhere excited. For further information on such points, see art. on Proselytk ; and on the w hole subject of Greek Judaism, see Schiirer, HJP (esj). IL i. 11-51, and II. iii. 15()-381), before each chapter of which is piven an array of the chief authorities on every part of the subject. F. C. Conybeark.
• Talmud, Sola, Ix 14
GREEK LANGUAGE.— See LANGUAGE.
GREEK VERSIONS. — See Septuagint and
Verskjn.s.
GREEN — See CoLOtms (vol. L p. 457*).
GREET, GREETING.— In OT 'greet* occurs only once, 1 S io" ' Go to Nabal, and greet him in my name' [a-.^-^) -ryj \Vzrhi<:,-x, lit., as AVm, 'and ask him in my name of peace'). The AV is from Wye. 1388 (tlirough Bish.); the l.'iS2 ed. has 'salute,' which is the word in Cov. and Dou. ; Gen. ' aske him in my name how he doeth.'
In Apocr. the usual Gr. formula of salutation, Xo'pei", is tr^ ' greeting ' in I Es 6', Ad. Est 10',
1 Mac 122» 15=- 1« ; and ' sendeth ' or ' send greet- ing' in 1 Es89, 1 Mac 10'«- ^ 11** IZ^ 14=», 2 M.-jj 11 '"•--■-■'•". RV omits 'sendeth' or 'send.' In
2 Mac V xalpfi-" ital iiyi.alvii.v is tr'^ 'sent (RV send) greeting, and health.' In Sir 6' we have 'a fair- speaking tongue will increase kind greetings' (finrfiocrfiyopa., RV 'courtesies').