ABSTRACT
The period of about 150 years dealt with in this chapter saw the rise of two institutions which must have seemed (to some Jews, at least) to herald a golden age for the Jewish people. Yet these institutions pulled in quite different directions, were controversial and even dangerous in the eyes of some Jews, and in both cases led to strife, bloodshed, and civil war. The first was Jason’s “Hellenistic reform”; the other was the Hasmonean kingdom of Judah under the leadership of priest-kings. Both of these had far-reaching consequencespotentially, at least-and yet each was cut off in midstream before running the course dictated by its own internal logic. In many ways, this period is the fulcrum on which Second Temple history pivots.
