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| 1. The Jews had disobeyed their religious leaders many times before they encountered Hellenistic culture. Why did Hebrew priests and prophets think the Greeks were so dangerous? What did they personally have to fear about "corruption"? |
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| 2. Why was the building of a gymnasium, or "Greek secondary school," in Jerusalem particularly symbolic and offensive to Jews? Could anyone have stopped the project? By their insistence on maintaining separatism, were the Jews resisting or demanding special privileges from the rulers of the Hellenistic successor kingdoms? |
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