Jewish Leadership and Hellenistic Civic Benefaction in the Second Century B.C.E‪.‬

The abridgment of a multivolume history into a single book requires a penchant for economy, a discerning eye, and, in particular, the selection of words that minimize verbiage yet maximize meaning. Seldom has one prompted so much discourse, out of so few words, as the epitomist of 2 Maccabees when he coined the terms "Judaism" and "Hellenism." (1) Over two millennia later, these two words stand at the forefront of research on Jews of the Greco-Roman era. (2) The attention lavished on "Judaism" and "Hellenism" is due to the wide and complex array of phenomena that they represent, and scholars have endeavored to break down these terms in an effort to understand better their relationship to each other. While Judaism of the Second Temple period has been well atomized, few attempts have been made to unpack the component parts of Hellenism that were encountered by Jews. (3) One such element of Hellenism that appears in our sources for ancient Judea is euergetism, a neologism created from the wording of Greek honorific decrees that recognized a [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ("benefactor") of the city. (4) Euergetism was a form of civic benefaction in which a voluntary gift to a city was recognized and repaid with rewards that carried high symbolic value. This informal institution was ubiquitous throughout the Greek-speaking world from the fifth century B.C.E. onwards and was defined by a remarkably consistent set of features. (5) A benefactor would personally provide the city with one or more contributions that might include food, construction projects, public games, fortifications or other forms of defense, victory in military campaigns or athletic competitions, various municipal services, and/or provisions for the local cult. (6) In return, the [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] would be recognized for his or her contribution/s with a prize drawn from a fairly standardized set of rewards. The gift most characteristic of euergetism was an honorary decree passed by the local council that recounted the benefactor's contribution/s to the city and bestowed personal honors upon the [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. The honors set forth in the decree were also symbolized by other gifts given to the benefactor, including statues in his or her image, crowns, and/or seats of honor at games and festivals. The gifts were awarded in public ceremonies that praised the benefactor, and the decrees themselves were inscribed and displayed in prominent locations, serving to publicize the benefaction, encourage others to contribute to the city, and elevate the social status of the [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. (7)