FEATURE
Grecian Empire
AMAZING events in Greek history have fulfilled Bible prophecy. Greece seemed an unlikely candidate for world power, as its people were divided into independent tribes and city-states.
But Bible prophecy recorded in the sixth century B.C.E. pointed to a dramatic change. Symbolizing Greece first as a leopard with wings and then as a he-goat with a conspicuous horn, it foretold in an unmistakable way that Greece would trample down the Medo-Persian World Power. It also disclosed that the power of a “conspicuous horn” would be broken and that four others would come up instead of it.—Da 7:6; 8:5-8, 20-22; 11:3, 4.
Alexander the Great proved to be that “conspicuous horn.” Beginning in 334 B.C.E., he led a small but well-disciplined Greek army to one victory after another. With lightning speed he conquered Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and the entire Medo-Persian Empire as far as India. But in just a few years Alexander was dead, and in a relatively short time his empire was split four ways, among four of his generals.
The Grecian Empire was short-lived, but its effects were long-lasting. Before his death, Alexander had introduced Greek culture and the Greek language into all parts of his domain. Common Greek became the lingua franca of many nationalities, and this later contributed to the rapid spread of Christianity throughout the Mediterranean area.
Athens, with the site of the ancient agora in the foreground and the acropolis in the background on the right. Even after Greece ceased to be a world power, Athens remained an international cultural center
MAP: Greece, Conquests of Alexander
MAP: Greece, Grecian Empire
In 323 B.C.E., at 32 years of age, Alexander was stricken by malarial fever and died. By 301 B.C.E., four of his generals had established themselves in power: Ptolemy Lagus over Egypt and Palestine; Seleucus Nicator over Mesopotamia and Syria; Lysimachus over Thrace and Asia Minor; and Cassander over Macedonia and Greece (Da 7:6; 8:8; 11:4)
Greek games, such as these shown on a relief found in Athens, were associated with Greek religion and promoted Hellenism. A gymnasium established in Jerusalem thus corrupted Jewish youths
A ceramic platter showing a pig being sacrificed. In a vicious attempt to defile and to stamp out the worship of Jehovah, Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) made such a sacrifice on an altar built over the large one in Jehovah’s temple in Jerusalem and then dedicated the temple to Zeus
Coin bearing the likeness of Antiochus IV (Epiphanes)
Ancient Corinth. Christians in the first-century congregation here had to contend with the influence of Greek philosophy and the morally corrupting practices of its religion
The philosopher Plato, of the fourth century B.C.E., did much to propagate the Greek notion of immortality of the soul
The Alexandrine Manuscript, in Greek, of the fifth century C.E. Most of the Christian Greek Scriptures was originally written in Koine, the common Greek