Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

GREECE

Acrocorinth from ruins of Corinth; temple of Apollo (Phoenix Data Systems, Neal and Joel Bierling)

Lion gate, entrance to the citadel at Mycenae (Late Helladic IIIB, ca. 1250 b.c.e.) (B. K. Condit)

The regions inhabited by the ancient Greeks, including the Greek peninsula, the western coast of Anatolia (Ionia), the islands in the Aegean Sea, and Magna Graecia (the 8th-century b.c.e. Greek settlement in the coastal regions of Italy). “Greeks” here refers to the inhabitants of these areas, who were conscious of sharing a common history, language, and culture. In general, there was no hard and fast division between sacred and secular for the ancient Greeks, so that religion permeated their society and provided a sense of common identity. Cultic acts performed by the ancient Greeks which conform to modern conceptions of “religion” included prayer and sacrifice (virtually inseparable), as well as votive offerings, made to various Olympian deities and heroes, visits to Panhellenic sanctuaries such as Olympia (for athletic competitions every four years), and Delphi (the most famous of the Greek oracle sanctuaries). The Greeks called themselves “Hellenes” and their country “Hellas,” and labeled everyone else bárbaroi (“non-Greeks”). In the Iliad the Greeks in general are also called “Danaans” (1.42; 2.484-762), “Achaeans,” and “Argives” (used as equivalent terms in 2.333-35). The Romans were the first to call the Hellenes Graeci (a latinized form of Gk. Graekoi, of uncertain etymology), and their language Graecum (Aristotle Meteorologica 1.352a; Apollodorus Bibliotheca 1.7.3).

Bronze Age and Archaic Period
(Beginnings to 450 b.c.e.)

The Greek language belongs to the Indo-european family of languages, and more particularly to the western branch of Centum languages which includes Celtic, Italic, Germanic, Greek, and Hittite. Proto-Greek speakers arrived in the Greek peninsula toward the beginning of the 2nd millennium. In so doing, they displaced the indigenous inhabitants, now called Aegeans, whose existence is evident in such non-Greek place names as Corinth and proper nouns such as Hyacinth (the nth ending is the pre-Greek element). The new arrivals did not reject, but rather absorbed many features of Aegean culture including such native deities as Athena and Poseidon. These Greeks, in interaction and competition with other great civilizations (particularly the Minoans, a non–Indo-european people), ultimately grew to be a powerful warring and trading people who flourished until ca. 1200. They are now referred to as the Mycenaeans because of the striking material remains of their civilization that have been excavated at Mycenae, in the east central part of the Peloponnesus. The earliest surviving form of written Greek is called Linear B or Mycenaean Greek. Tablets inscribed with this proto-Greek syllabary of 87 signs dating from the Mycenaean and Minoan periods (1450-1200) have been recovered at Knossos on the island of Crete and from the mainland Greek cities of Pylos, Mycenae, and Thebes.

The collapse of Mycenaean civilization toward the end of the Bronze Age (ca. 1200) was closely followed by the migration of Dorian tribes into the western regions of mainland Greece, the last group of Greeks to arrive. The end of the 2nd millennium was a period of instability in the eastern Mediterranean theater, as indicated also by the Trojan War and the migration of the Sea Peoples to the coast of Palestine where they became known as the Philistines. This cultural collapse ushered in a Dark Age (1150-750) during which writing was forgotten and the cultural achievements of the Mycenaean and Minoan civilization remembered only in oral epic. Toward the end of the 8th century an alphabetic script from North Semitic, called Phoenician letters by the Greeks (Herodotus Hist. 5.58), was adapted in various forms, though the Ionic form eventually came to predominate. By the 5th century, from the perspective of modern historical linguistics, two major groups of Greek dialects are attested: West Greek, which consisted of various Doric dialects; and East Greek, which consisted of Attic-Ionic, Aeolic, and Arcado-Cypriot or Achaean. The Greeks themselves distinguished four dialects: Attic, Ionic, Doric, and Aeolic (Strabo Geog. 8.12.2; 14.5.26).

Toward the end of the Dark Age, in the 8th century, there are two developments of particular importance. First, a North Semitic alphabetical consonantal script (presumably acquired through trading contacts) was adapted to fit the particularities of the Greek language by giving written form to vowels as well as consonants. This new form of literacy made it possible to put the tradition of oral poetry into writing during the 7th century, as exemplified in the two monumental Homeric poems, the Iliad and Odyssey. These tales of the Trojan War (Iliad) and one warrior’s return home from that war (Odyssey), attributed to the legendary Ionic poet Homer, served as sacred texts for the Greeks: retelling the glories of the Mycenaean past, exemplifying heroic behavior, identifying and characterizing the Olympic deities. These poems were, for centuries, the foundation of Greek education.

The Archaic period conventionally begins with one of the first fixed dates in Greek history: the (traditional) founding of the Olympic games in 776. By the 7th century the often hereditary basileís (“kings,” or more accurately, “chieftains”) had been overthrown in most city-states by the kaloikagathoí (“nobles”). During the 7th century individual members of the nobility, with popular support and often with a mercenary force, overthrew the nobility and ruled unconstitutionally as tyrants. The beginning of the Archaic period also coincided with the emergence of the most characteristic Greek form of political organization, the (normally) autonomous pólis or city-state. A typical polis, which originated during the mid-8th century and achieved its classic form by the close of the 5th century, consisted of an acropolis, walls, an agorá (“market”), temples in honor of Olympian gods, a theater, and a gymnasium. The power of aristocracies and hereditary ruling elites was strong; but movements toward democracy were made. For example, changes in warfare (from chariots and cavalry to foot soldiers) encouraged and, in fact, demanded the participation of common people. Culturally, the Archaic period is known as the Lyric Age, when the voice of the individual poet first appears (e.g., Archilochus of Paros, Theognis of Megara, and Sappho of Lesbos). More communal-based poetry was also produced (e.g., choral lyric of Alcman and Spartan military poetry). Also, the first philosophers interested in cosmology and the problem of the one and the many appeared in Milesia in Ionia, including Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. Finally, motivated by land hunger caused by an overly dense population and spurred on by merchants seeking profit, the great period of Greek colonization began in the middle of the 8th century. By the early 7th century, many Greek metropolises had established colonies in regions as widespread as Egypt, the coast of the Black Sea, the coast of Italy, and Spain.

There are several biblical references to Greece and the Greeks in this Archaic period. The Table of Nations (Gen. 10:2-5; 1 Chr. 1:5, 7) lists Javan as one of the children of Japheth. The name Javan is the linguistic equivalent of the Greek Ion, the eponymous ancestor of the Ionians. The Greeks, as “Javan” or “Javanites,” are elsewhere referred to as traders (Ezek. 27:13, 19) or as one of the nations among whom Israel will be sent (Isa. 66:19; Joel 3:6[MT 4:6]).

Classical Period (450-323 b.c.e.)

The 5th century is generally considered the period when Greece (particularly Athens) reached its greatest heights of political power and cultural achievement; but this was not until it had faced its greatest national challenge up to that time: the Persian invasions during the early 5th century. However scarce direct historical links between classical Greece and Israel may be, there is a significant common history involving the nation of Persia and some of its leaders. Cyrus the Great (ruled 559-530) ordered the return of captive Jews to Jerusalem for the rebuilding of the temple (e.g., Ezra 1; Isa. 44:28); this same Cyrus extended his empire into Greek territories of Asia Minor and was later the subject of a novelistic biography, Xenophon’s Cyropaedia, or “The Education of Cyrus.” Darius I (d. 486) led the first great assault against Greece (490), which ended in the decisive defeat of the Persians at the battle of Marathon. Darius I also supported the decree of Cyrus (cf. Ezra 6) and figures prominently in the book of Daniel. Xerxes I (who does not appear in the biblical record) led a second, larger invasion in 480-79 that also failed. In 478-77 an anti-Persian alliance was formed, called the Delian League since it was headquartered on the island of Delos. Athens assumed leadership of this league and built an empire, demanding tribute from its Greek “allies” and asserting its military might to enforce Athenian interests. The great temples of the Athenian acropolis were built during this period. In various ways, these temples celebrate victory over the invading Persians (e.g., the “Greeks vs. barbarians” theme of Parthenon artwork; the temple of Athena Nike, “victory”).

It was also in the 5th century that an extraordinary number of talented Athenian authors produced what is now “classical” Greek literature. Aeschylus, then Sophocles and Euripides crafted their tragic dramas; Aristophanes wrote his bawdy comedies that held a distorted mirror up to the great Athenian democracy; Herodotus and Thucydides wrote their histories that chronicled the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars respectively. This latter war, with Sparta and its allies, strained Athens but did not stop its creative output. The dramatic competitions (held in honor of the god Dionysos) continued. Sophists and the established order challenged each other; Socrates (469-399) challenged both. He was put to death on charges of impiety in 399, five years after the end of the Peloponnesian War that left Athens defeated and Sparta, for a time, as the most powerful Greek city-state.

Dynamic political and cultural forces continued to work in the 4th century. No dominant political power emerged until Philip II of Macedon (382-336) attempted to unite politically the quarrelsome and divided Greek city-states. The surviving literature of the period records the voices of the great orators who opposed Philip (e.g., Demosthenes, 384-322) and those who supported him (e.g., Isocrates, 436-338). It was also at this time that Athens secured its reputation as the seat of philosophy through the writing and teaching of Plato (429-347), the most famous student of Socrates, and Aristotle (384-322), the most famous student of Plato. A new era began, however, with the career of Philip’s son Alexander III.

Hellenistic Period (323-31 b.c.e.)

The successful military campaigns of Alexander the Great (356-323), which pushed east as far as India, radically changed the political and cultural character of the Mediterranean world. Initially, Alexander intended to avenge the hardships suffered by the Greeks during the Persian invasions of the early 5th century. As a student of Aristotle, Alexander knew and embraced Greek culture and disseminated it, along with the Greek language, throughout his vast empire; this spread of “Greeklike” ways throughout the period yields the name “Hellenistic.” Alexander accomplished this in part by founding many Greek city-states where large numbers of Greco-Macedonian veterans settled after serving in his army. Alexander’s death in 323 ignited a complex struggle for power among the Diadochoi (the “successors”) that ultimately resulted in the establishment of three dynasties, all named after their Greco-Macedonian founders: the Antigonid dynasty in Macedon and Greece, founded by Antigonus I (ca. 382-301); the Seleucid in Asia Minor and Syria, founded by Seleucus I Nicator (358-281); and the Ptolemaic in Egypt and the southern Levant, founded by Ptolemy I Soter (ca. 367-282). The Ptolemaic dynasty survived the longest, until the death of Cleopatra VII (69-30), who, following the sea battle of Actium in 31 when she and Antony were defeated by Octavian, committed suicide on 3 August 30 when Octavian captured Alexandria.

Thanks to the many thousands of papyri preserved by the dry sands of Egypt and recovered during the past century, Ptolemaic Egypt is the best-known of all the Hellenistic kingdoms. For example, papyrus documents indicate that military and administrative personnel were recruited from mainland Greece. They then contributed to the antithetic stratification of society which consisted of a Greek elite who dominated Egyptian nationals. Ptolemaic Alexandria was both the administrative capital of Egypt and seat of Greek scholarship which centered on the Museon (destroyed by fire during Julius Caesar’s siege of Alexandria in 47), one of the largest libraries in the ancient world. Alexandria was home to a large Jewish diaspora community (which later included the Apollos mentioned in Acts 18:24; 19:1 and frequently in 1 Corinthians). During the 3rd century, first the Pentateuch and eventually the rest of the OT was translated into Greek and came to be known as the Septuagint (LXX, from Lat. septuaginta, “70”), since according to legend 70 Jewish translators took part in the project (narrated in the Epistle of Aristeas).

The rise to power of the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes (ca. 215-164), as well as the career of Alexander the Great and the assumption of power by the Diadochi that preceded it, is referred to in Dan. 8; 1 Macc. 1, both written before the middle of the 2nd century. Greece itself was largely subject to the Antigonid rulers in Macedonia throughout this period until 146, when Rome, following its victory in the Fourth Macedonian War, destroyed Corinth and made both Greece and Macedonia into Roman provinces. The Roman province of Achaia was initially organized in 46 and later reestablished as a senatorial province by Augustus in 27. Achaia was the official name for the Roman province of Greece, and it is primarily by that name that Greece is referred to in the NT (e.g., Acts 18:12; 1 Thess. 1:7; 2 Cor. 1:1), though the more popular synonym Hellas also occurs once (Acts 20:2; cf. 1 Macc. 8:9).

One of the more important intellectual developments during the Hellenistic period is the development of several major schools of Greek thought, each of which regarded itself as an heir of Socratic thought. The two schools founded by Plato and Aristotle, called the Academy and the Peripatetics respectively, continued to develop throughout the Hellenistic period. The major philosophical schools or movements established somewhat later included Cynicism (founded by Diogenes, ca. 412/403–324/321), Epicureanism (founded by Epicurus, 341-270), Stoicism (founded by Zeno, 335-263, who taught in the painted Stoa “colonnade” in Athens), and Scepticism (founded by Pyrrhon of Elis, ca. 365-275, and sometimes called Pyrrhonism). All these schools regarded philosophy, not as an arcane subject, but as the “art of living” par excellence, which provided answers to the urgent human problems of human suffering, including anger and aggression, fear of death, love and sexuality, sickness and misfortune. The goal of all of these schools of thought was the attainment of eudaimonía (i.e., happiness or the flourishing life) through the use of reason and argumentation.

Urban life flourished in this period. Seats of power were in large cities: Alexandria (Egypt), Antioch (Syria), Pergamon (Asia Minor), Pella (Macedon); and, while not unprecedented, cities that were founded or flourished in this era shared the common elements of the Greek polis or city-state. These included the agora, essentially a large, public space that could serve as the hub of commerce, local administration, social, and religious activity (particularly in temples). A theater was obligatory, as was the Greek gymnasium, which existed not only for athletic exercise (conducted nude, Gk. gymnós), but also for training in the traditions of Greek culture. The gymnasium was a symbol of Greek culture, making the construction of one in Jerusalem all the more controversial (1 Macc. 1:14; 2 Macc. 4:9).

Roman Period (31 b.c.e.–476 c.e.)

In the Roman period, Greece as a nation had little to no political power; the Romans had conquered the Mediterranean world and made it their empire. Greece nevertheless exerted a strong cultural influence, providing the models for most Roman art and literature. Athens became a “university town” and was particularly distinguished, as it had been, for philosophy (cf. Acts 18:19-20; 1 Cor. 1:20-23).

The prevalence of Greek culture is reflected in the NT use of Héllēn (“Greek”) as a cultural as well as an ethnic designation, referring to someone who is Hellenized or Greek-speaking and educated. The Pauline dichotomy of “Jew and Greek” (Rom. 1:16; 2:9-10; 3:9; 10:12; 1 Cor. 1:24; 10:32; Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11) comes to mean Jew and “Gentile,” “non-Jew” or “pagan.” Also, the “Greek” woman in Mark 7:26 is actually a Syrophoenician “by birth” or “race.” The ethnic designation, however, is also used (Acts 16:1; Gal. 2:3).

Bibliography. J. Boardman, G. Jasper, and M. Oswyn, eds., The Oxford History of the Classical World (Oxford, 1986); J. N. Colstream, Geometric Greece (New York, 1977); P. E. Easterling and B. M. W. Knox, eds., The Cambridge History of Classical Literature, 1: Greek Literature (Cambridge, 1985); M. I. Finley, ed., The Legacy of Greece (Oxford, 1981); A. H. M. Jones, The Greek City from Alexander to Justinian (Oxford, 1940); A. W. Lintott, Violence, Civil Strife and Revolution in the Classical City, 750-330 B.C. (Baltimore, 1982); C. G. Starr, Individual and Community: The Rise of the Polis, 800-500 b.c. (New York, 1986); F. W. Walbank, et al., CAH, 2nd ed., 7/1: The Hellenistic World (Cambridge, 1984).

David E. Aune and Hans Svebakken