of naturalistic polytheism. And hence came the strong reaction against
Greek ideas among the bulk of the people, which prevented any
permanent fusion of cultures in the land of Israel.

The Hellenism of Alexandria was a more genuine product. The liberal
policy of the early Ptolemies made their capital a centre of art,
literature, science, and philosophy. To their court were gathered the
chief poets, savants, and thinkers of their age. The Museum was the
most celebrated literary academy, and the Library the most noted
collection of books in the world. Dwelling in this atmosphere of
culture and research, the Hebrew mind rapidly expanded and began to
take its part as an active force in civilization. It acquired the love
of knowledge in a wider sense than it had recognized before, and
assimilated the teachings of Hellas in all their variety. Within a
hundred years of their settlement Hebrew or Aramaic had become to the
Jews a strange language, and they spoke and thought in Greek. Hence it
was necessary to have an authoritative Greek translation of the Holy
Scriptures, and the first great step in the Jewish-Hellenistic
development is marked by the Septuagint version of the Bible.

Fancy and legend attached themselves early to an event fraught with
such importance for the history of the race and mankind as the
translation of the Scriptures into the language of the cultured world.
From this overgrowth it is difficult to construct a true narrative;
still, the research of latter-day scholars has gone far to prove a
basis of truth in the statements made in the famous letter of the
pseudo-Aristeas, which professes to describe the origin of the work.
We may extract from his story that the Septuagint was written in the
reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, about 250 B.C.E., with the approval, if
not at the express request, of the king, and with the help of rabbis