OLLI Workshop: History of the Middle East
Leader: Theo Pavlidis (t.pavlidis@ieee.org)
Handout No. 2 - October 1, 2012
Outline
The Hellenistic Period: After Alexander's victories
(circa 330BCE) the Greek language and culture
spread throughout the Middle East and survived the Roman conquest.
The Roman Conquest: Starting around 200BCE
and ending with the conquest of Egypt around 30BCE
the Romans took over the Greek kingdoms and states around the Mediterranean.
The Romans not only allowed the Greek language to flourish in the lands
they conquered but educated Romans adopted the Greek language and culture
for themselves. (One of the Roman emperor's wrote his memoirs in Greek.)
The First Global Era: A good part of today's Europe,
North Africa and the Middle East were ruled by one power (Rome) and those
around the Mediterranean shared a common language, Greek.
Spread Of Judaism: It is estimated that 10% of the population
of the Roman Empire were Jews. In the lands of what is today Greece and
Asia Minor the percentage was close to 20%. There was a strong interaction
between Greek philosophy and Judaism.
Visuals for Second Meeting
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Greek-Jewish interaction
The picture shown on the left is taken from the cover of the book
(in Greek) Hellenism and Judaism by M. G. Fougias. The word
ACTHP means star in Greek. |
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