The Muscle Song XNUMX - The relationship of Maccabean literature to the Jerusalem gymnasium, or pornography and geography

One of the central and poignant questions troubling those interested in the culture of the body among the Jews of the ancient world is summed up in the following sentence: What was the attitude of Judaism towards this culture, its appropriators and those who take part in it. In this chapter we will deal with the Hellenistic period

One of the central and poignant questions troubling those interested in the culture of the body among the Jews of the ancient world is summed up in the following sentence: What was the attitude of Judaism towards this culture, its appropriators and those who take part in it.

As for the biblical period and the later Roman period (the days of the Mishna and the Talmud), I would risk saying that the attitude towards physical culture gradually strives towards a positive attitude to a certain extent. However, between these two periods lie the Hellenistic and Roman periods (until the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE) which raise certain problematics on the subject of our discussion.
In this list I will focus on the Hellenistic era.

The main and famous enterprise concerning physical culture lies in the construction of the Gymnasium and the Ephebion by the High Priest Jason, and the spirit rising from the ranks of the authors of the books hates Mason and his enterprises. However, and almost without exception, the authors of Maccabean literature are full of words of praise for the Hasmonean period, that is, from after the Maccabean revolt onwards.

Apparently, on the subject of our study, the Hasmoneans did not raise the anger of the Maccabean authors, since none of the Hasmonean kings established a gymnasium or an apebion in Jerusalem. However, an examination of the Maccabean literature reveals that physical activity in the Hellenistic style was not at all far from the Jews who lived under the Hasmonean rule.

More than that, archaeological excavations in Jericho brought up findings proving that the Hasmonean house was not at all far from the world of hedonism and the court life of Hellenistic princes, and for the subject of our study we highlight the finding of the Hasmonean swimming pool that was an integral part of the Hasmonean palace.

And by the way, the assumption that the Hasmonean kings continued to operate the sports facilities of Yeson in Jerusalem cannot be ruled out.
Let's not forget that the Hellenistic influence on the Hasmonean house is a solid fact: the Hasmonean army was built in the Hellenistic format, court life was also based on the Hellenistic pattern, the names of the Hasmonean kings were double - in addition to the Hebrew name, there was also a Greek name, such as Yohanan Hyrcanus, Alexandros Yanai and more. Also their coronation ceremonies were saturated with clear Hellenistic symbols.

Therefore, on the one hand, we will not be surprised at their positive affinity towards physical culture, and on the other hand at the absence of negative criticism towards them, similar to that directed at Yason in his time. Maccabean literature does not spare praise from the deeds and personalities of the Hasmoneans, with the exception of course of criticism towards one or another move, and this is because the Hasmonean kings brought Judah to a certain extent to sovereignty while Shison established the Gymnasium and the Ephebion in an area called "Hakra", where the Egyptian garrison was stationed until the conquest campaign of Antiochus III in 198 BC, and the "Hekra", as we know, symbolized above all Judah's subjugation to the Ptolemaic Egyptian kingdom, and later to the Syrian-Seleucid one (which may have even, as expected, used Jason's tools). Therefore, they were forgiven quite a few "crimes" such as their attachment to physical culture.

Alongside this, it is possible to clarify the negative attitude towards Yason and his enterprises also because of the primacy of his sporting-social enterprises. For example, the negative criticism leveled at him because he bought his priestly position with money from the Seleucid kingdom, but so did the first Maccabees like Jonathan and Shimon and their successors. But the Maccabean writers skipped negative criticism towards you for understandable reasons and this is just an example.

That's why I didn't come to reinvent the wheel by saying that things you see from here you don't see from there, or that pornography is a question of geography.

In any case, it should not be assumed that the sports facilities were open to the general public, but to the high socio-economic stratum, to the Jerusalem aristocracy, what's more, for large parts of it, the facilities symbolized the dangerous approach to Hellenistic society and especially the fear of falling into foreign labor. Either way, if a democratic and liberal atmosphere had been operating in those days, we would surely have heard the voice of the crowd, for "the voice of a crowd is like the voice of a demon". What was the content of his voice is unknown.