The Hellenistic Period and the Jews

From the 330s onward BCE, the Persian realm Egypt and even northern India were absorbed into a much broader world. A whole lot of commonalities exist between Judaism which arose in the Hellenistic period and other Hellenistic religions. As we shall see in coming episodes, the best way to make sense of second temple Jewish esotericism is to consider it as part of a larger Hellenistic religious context.