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religions and religious beliefs were the man-made products of the philosophy of
individualism. Practically every religious belief capable of being devised by the human
mind was found in pagan Greece. In their religious beliefs "we find ghosts and spirits
and nature gods, tribal religions, anthropomorphisms [gods in human form], the
formation of a pantheon [a temple for the worship of many pagan gods], individual
religion, magical rites, purifications, prayers, sacrifices [animal, vegetable and human]--
ALL ARISING FROM THE COMMON STOCK AND THE SUCCESSIVE PHASES
OF RELIGIOUS HUMANITY" (Harrison, "Religion of Ancient Greece," pp. 12, 13).
Many of their doctrines and customs will be relevantly discussed in future pages of this
thesis.

Hellenism Spread Throughout Alexander's Empire

Wherever Alexander or his successors went, they carried with them an intense
desire to Hellenize all nations. They took with them Greek society and imposed it upon
all their captive peoples. They spread Hellenism from one end of the new Empire to the
other. Palestine was as much infused with the New Greek culture as any other nation.

The Greeks considered it their right to govern in the way they deemed most
suitable. In consequence of this, the Greeks disbanded the official Sopherim, the
religious guardians of the Law of Moses. They would not tolerate the Jews being taught
a different way of life from their own. Hellenism was established throughout the whole
of Palestine.

Sopherim No Longer in Authority

It is not known how the Greeks dismissed the Sopherim from their official
capacity as teachers of the Law. But within a score of years after the coming of the
Greeks, the Sopherim disappear from history as an organized body having religious
control over the Jews. It is obvious that the Greeks took away the authority of the
Sopherim and forbade them to teach. Whether this was done forcibly or by peaceful
methods remains a mystery. But it is definitely known that their authority was very soon
taken away.

Without the religious guidance of the Sopherim, many of the Jews began to
imbibe the customs and ideas of the Greeks which were inundating the land. The Greeks
were establishing their whole society firmly in Palestine and all the Empire.

"With the change from Persian to Greek rule, Hellenism made its influence felt,
AND CAME POURING LIKE A FLOOD into a country which had known nothing of it.
THERE WAS NO ESCAPE FROM ITS INFLUENCE. IT WAS PRESENT
EVERYWHERE, in the street and the market, in the everyday life and ALL THE
PHASES OF SOCIAL INTERCOURSE" (Herford, Talmud and Apocrypha, p. 77).

When the Sopherim were removed from the scene, along with the teaching of the
Law of Moses, and this new culture substituted for the Law, we can comprehend why the