ABSTRACT
A f i f th factor wh ich should be l i n k e d to the appearance o f an expl ic i t p rog ram o f hermeneut ica l me thodo logy a m o n g the rabbis is the i n f l u ence of Hellenism and the intellectual traditions of Greek and Latin let
ters. Scholars are much divided on the extent of this cross-cultural con nection. D . Daube, f o r example , argues fo r the essentially Alexandrian and therefore Hel lenis t ic provenance o f the seven middot o f H i l l e l . 1 8 A f t e r
(16) Op. cit., pp. 80-81. (17) The contention of this article is, however, that Pharisaic/rabbinical hermeneutical
principles were not collected into formal lists until after 70 C.E. (cf. infra, p. 18f). By that time the motivation for identifying and systematizing methods of interpretation stemmed no longer from competition between sects but rather from an increasingly sophisticated meth odological consciousness and a felt need for clarity in exegetical discussion within rabbinical circles.
