Repensando a ideia de helenização: revisitando o caso de 2 Macabeus

Abstract

: This article aims to analyze the historiographical concept of “Hellenization” in light of the book of 2 Maccabees and the historical reality of Hellenistic Judaism. The central theme of this investigation, therefore, is the relationship between the Jews and the Greek culture in the Hellenistic period, in order to ascertain the validity of the term “Hellenization” to express the situation of this historical context. The author, after explaining the specific use of the Greek term Ἑλληνισμός in 2 Maccabees as the Greek way of life imposed over Jewish culture (Ἰουδαϊσμός), analyzes how the very book of 2 Maccabees and the historical reality contradict the opposition that the author of such book proposes to the terms.