The Song of the Muscles Chapter XNUMX - The Greeks are coming

The last chapter concluded the Biblical period, an era in which sports physical activity slowly began to be freed from the physical, rough, military umbilical cord, and as if looking directly towards a new era - to the days of the Second Temple, when you will be exposed to very special physical activity, sports in the special Greek style.

The days of the Second Temple begin with the return of Zion (538 BC) and the construction of the Second Temple, which was inaugurated in 516 BC, when the Persian Empire ruled the eastern Mediterranean basin. Daya and Adia are well heard in recent biblical literature, however there is nothing in them to imply physical activity among the Jewish people.

The situation changes, almost from end to end, from the last quarter of the fourth century B.C., when the Persian Empire collapsed in the face of the skillful and well-oiled front of the soldiers of Alexander the Great, Alexander of Macedonia, and a new era began in the eastern sector of the Mediterranean basin, and its name is the Hellenistic era, the one he requested, Although artificially and arbitrarily forced, almost forcibly, to blend, syncretistically, between the Hellenic and the Eastern culture, or as it was called by the Greeks under the name of "barbarism".

The soldiers of Alexander and his successors, as well as the administration that spread throughout the great Hellenistic kingdom, were not Hellenic (Greek) in origin at all, but rather Berber (from Macedonia which is in the northeastern part of the Balkan island), which carried the Hellenistic flag since the days of Philip II, the father of Alexander in question .

This principle and idea connects us well to physical activity and sports, and why? Because in the various urban centers of the Balkan Peninsula (the term Greece did not express geo-political control at all, but primarily cultural, social and religious), those called by the name ("Polaise") the cities of the polis (sovereign state cities), such as Athens, Thebes, Corinth, Delphi, and more, a very complex, educational-social system developed from the ground up, which placed on a miracle the combination of body and soul (what is called in Greek as "Eidos") to create a human, almost idolatrous, ideal of the strong in body and spirit. The idea was to develop a community of citizens through a special educational system, the one that served, in principle and pragmatically, the fat and butter of urban society.

The child/teenager was educated from the age of 7 to 14 in an institution combined between two divisions - the first - "Paleistra" (a wrestling school, to teach us how leading this branch was in Hellenic culture) and the second - "Didsklaum", we were a music school (liberal arts), and both Together they symbolized the pursuit of balance between body and spirit.
At the age of 16, the boys moved to the most important and central institution in education, which is the "Gymnasium", which continued to assimilate the above-mentioned combination and at levels suitable for the age of the teenagers. The origin of the name - "Gymnos" was, loosely translated - "exercise performed naked", and symbolized above all the aspiration to openly demonstrate physical strength, but balanced and athletic.

At the end of two years of schooling, the mature boys moved to the "Efbion" institution (from "Efboy" - sons of the youth), which trained them to become military officers and public servants. At the end of about two years, the graduates won the cloak of citizenship and were absorbed into public positions.

It should be noted that these institutions, as well as others such as the theater, the agora (economic-market center) or the acropolis (ritual center), but especially the gymnasium, were a necessary condition for the transformation of an existing city, or its initial establishment as a city-state, as a polis. This phenomenon was particularly prominent in the Hellenistic period, when the quasi-Hellenic rulers wanted to highlight their Hellenism and the fact that they were rulers and not ruled.

The establishment of polis cities was a very problematic issue: on the one hand, each such city with its institutions and facilities perpetuated the victory of Hellenism over barbarism, but on the other hand there was a fear due to the oppressive numerical ratio between a quasi-Hellenic minority and a barbarian majority, that locals would succeed in infiltrating the circle of theoretical citizenship and the office holders the public through gymnasium education. Moreover, the dynastic rulers, such as the House of Seleucus in Syria and its surroundings and the House of Ptolemy (Ptolemy) in Egypt, on the one hand did not want to lose their quasi-Hellenic uniqueness against the barbarians (aliba dedeat halanim) and on the other hand feared that their being a negligible minority might slowly disappear. Moreover, another parameter enters the above equations in the form of capital and power, since the dynastic rulers were interested in close ties with the local rich, and the latter, of course, demanded the price tag - gradual entrance to the gymnasium.
It turned out that during the period in question - from the end of the fourth century BC - the definition of "who is Greek?" changed beyond recognition, when the main point of diagnosis, the genetic-social "litmus test", moved from the biological field (birth into a Greek family) to the educational parameter (education in gymnasium), And the result - a continuous infiltration of barbarians (again, a Greek definition) who underwent a process of Hellenization.
In the end, this is almost certainly a socio-ethnic-political process, the likes of which are being conducted to this very day in all corners of the globe, and even in our own colonies.

How do the Jews relate to this problematic? The episode begins with a very interesting writ of rights issued by the first of the Hellenistic rulers in Syria, Seleucus I. And in the context under discussion, we will present to you an interesting passage taken from the book of Josephus - The Antiquity of the Jews - as follows: "They (the Jews) were even honored by the kings of Asia (the Hellenists), when they went to war with them, because Seleucus Nicator (he is King Seleucus I, 281-301 BC) awarded them the right of citizenship in the cities he founded in Asia and Lower Syria, and in Antioch the metropolis itself, and established one sentence for them, the Macedonians and the Hellenes who settled (in those cities, the cities of the polis), in such a way that this (their) right of citizenship exists to this day. And the evidence - by order (of the king) the Jews, who do not want to use the fat of the foreigners, receive a certain amount of money from the heads of the gymnasium, the price of their (their) fat. And when an audience with Antioch wanted to cancel this (right) in the war (that was) in our days, Mokyanus, who was at that time commissioner of Syria, upheld it" (Kadamonyot Ha'Yudawid, 120, 119-XNUMX).

The Jews under the Hellenistic rule, and we are talking mainly about the residents of the cities, and especially the central cities, struggled (similarly to the local residents, who were not of Hellenic or Macedonian origin) to receive the right of citizenship, the citizenship of the Hellenistic city, which entailed immeasurably important advantages.
An important element in the life of the urban citizen community was education, and a central element of education in the Hellenistic period was, as mentioned, the gymnasium institution, which also served as a center for intellectual activity, a kind of social club of the past. The term "gymnasium people" included within it the center of gravity of the urban community from a political and social point of view. And it should be noted that, especially in the Hellenistic period, there was a strong connection between the gymnasium and the army, and the citizens were called to the flag, when necessary, when they acquired their military skills in the gymnasium and the Ephebion.

From all that was said at the beginning of the source above (by Josephus ben Mattathias) we see that Seleucus Nicator granted the right of citizenship to the Jews who lived in the cities (while emphasizing the granting of citizenship in Antioch, which was one of the four kingdom cities of the Seleucid Empire). If so, there are solid grounds for the belief that this right opened up for those Jews (at least those who want it) a possibility, a kind of entrance ticket to gymnasiums and pubs.

The closeness between the mention of the grant of citizenship and the mobilization of Jews under the Seleucid flag may also be of interest to us, due to the well-known affinity between the educational institutions in the Hellenistic cities (namely the gymnasium and the Ephebion) and the military element. However, since the range of possibilities and hypotheses in this regard is wide, we will not get caught up in historical speculations, with the exception of that general and interesting mention of the closeness of the affair.

We are more interested in the oil case mentioned in the source of Yosef ben Matthew. Olive oil was an inseparable element of the gymnasium, and it is unthinkable for a gymnasium to exist and run without oil for the body, and in particular for the use of the wrestlers in training and competitions. The wrestlers, whether in the "upright" style
(a kind of old-time judo) and whether in the more violent style, the "pankration" (we were an all-out fight, a kind of "catch-as-you-can"), they would consume considerable amounts of oil - before training or competition, when the two contestants would massage each other each other and use oil for this purpose (and there is a lot of literary and archaeological evidence for this throughout the Hellenistic world), and in particular at the end of the competition they would relieve their muscles and joints, mutually, for physical-athletic reasons and also to demonstrate the human-social part of physical activity. This interest also served as a kind of lever for homosexual relationships. If so, we will be able to gauge and evaluate the importance of this case that is embedded in the source that is being discussed here.

This right of receiving the oil for free is well reflected in the Hellenistic world, and especially in the Seleucid kingdom (that is, Hellenistic-Syrian). Oil production and even its supply were a royal monopoly. The use of oil was important and even widespread, and we know of cities, some of whose revenues were allocated to the purchase of additional oil. The oil was mainly used for two main purposes - for worship and gymnasium activity.

From the documentation treasure of the Seleucid Kingdom, one interesting document was found that reflects state policy. The document mentions the miracle of granting various privileges to the cities of the Hellespont in Asia Minor, first by King Antiochus III, and confirmed by the ruler Eumenes. Among the other privileges we find the right to grant free oil to the young men of the gymnasium. In the days of Antiochus III, and even earlier, the city enjoyed freedom and autonomy, but this did not exempt it from payments and taxes to the royal treasury. A part of these payments was returned to the city (on behalf of the kingdom) for worship purposes, and the royal treasury even allocated a certain amount of olive oil for the purpose of the palisades and gymnasiums. A similar picture also emerges from the time of Antiochus II.
It should be noted that this stipend was not granted for any reason but for the purposes of worship and its use by the young men who exercised and competed in the palestra and gymnasium.

If so, it appears that those Jews who received the financial compensation for the amount of oil from the heads of the gymnasium, were none other than those who exercised in the gymnasium and took an active part in it.

The question that arises from the text is: Why is the opposition of the Jews to the use of the oil given by virtue of the royal right by the heads of the gymnasiums, since it is not an oil for culinary consumption?
The reason lies, without a doubt, in the religious plane: the fear of defilement by foreigners. This concern emerges from the evidence attributed to the early days of the Second Temple. Therefore, those Jews (those who took an active part in the life of the gymnasium) demanded that they be given the price of this oil (and it is believed that they used oil produced in the textile mills of Jewish farmers in the area). This demand raises another bewilderment: if the Jews do not use foreign oil, why would they demand its price from the heads of the gymnasium?
In my opinion, apart from the fact that the Jews were not willing to give up, in principle, this right, since it includes one angle from the very right of citizenship (a right, which, as mentioned, the Jews fought for during the Hellenistic period), it is more important to emphasize, similarly, their demand that came, Probably, from the mouth of the young Jews, members of the gymnasium, highlighting their view that they are not a foreigner among the gymnasium, but equal members of their Hellenistic neighbors.

Moreover, it is puzzling, perhaps, Joseph's comment, in the second part of the source, when he highlights the oil case as proof of the right to citizenship, the author could have been content with giving evidence of receiving citizenship and not adding a comment about the oil. It seems to me, similar to what happened in Alexandria in Egypt in a later period (during the reign of Emperor Claudius in 41 AD) - the connection between the struggle to obtain citizenship and the infiltration of the city gymnasium, to protect the hearts of the Alexandrian citizens, and that the issue of granting the right of citizenship to the Jews of Antioch is fundamental (as it happened in other cities) in the struggle of the Jews to obtain this right. And this is, essentially, the layer of the Jewish aristocracy, rich in assets, which bought it key positions in the Hellenistic city. These families requested, for the sake of the things, to give their sons the same education that the children of the citizens were given, and this education was provided in the gymnasium. Thus, it seems that within the general Jewish struggle for citizenship, the demand for legal entry into gymnasiums stood out, and lest, as happened in Alexandria, a series of attempts to enter gymnasiums preceded or accompanied that struggle, or during it. This demand aroused the Antiochian community of citizens. However, the Jews did not bury their hands in the plate, and, it seems, directed what they asked for to the kingdom of the body, and it took the trouble to emphasize the right to receive the oil for free, in other words: the right to enter gymnasiums, thus giving a secondary effect to the right of citizenship.
The opposition of the Antiochian citizens to the right to receive the money for the oil arises for two reasons: the political-principled reason - to expropriate the Jews from the circle of citizenship, since gymnasium activity was an important condition for obtaining citizenship, and the economic reason - monetary payment (for the oil) was, without a doubt, from the city's revenues. However, it seems that from these two reasons, and more from the second reason, we can learn that the number of Jews who took part in the life of the gymnasium was large. Otherwise, if this number was small, it is difficult to understand the fierce opposition of the townspeople to the same payment (for the oil) to the Jews.

Moreover, the line of objections to this privilege for quite a few years (at least during 400 years!!), according to the source in Josephus ben Mattathias ("... and when a crowd with Antioch wanted to cancel this (right) in the war (which was in our days), it was supported by Mokyanus, who was at that time commissioner of Syria"), may be explained on the basis of the assumption that Jews continued in those years, and even beyond, to take part in the life of the gymnasium.

The main question that arises, and to a certain extent arises, from this commentary undoubtedly concerns the ritual issue, regarding foreign work, since the various sports activities in the Hellenic and Hellenistic gymnasiums were deeply immersed in Greek worship, and from this the question remains - how did the Jews bridge the gap between their faith and the foreign work required by the gymnasium activity. I will not avoid a discussion of this matter, but it will be postponed to one of the following chapters where we will deal with the interesting case of the gymnasium in Jerusalem in the period that only slightly preceded the Maccabean-Hasmonean rebellion.

The case in question, which has as an additional reinforcement for the gymnasium activity of Jews throughout the Hellenistic world, may, when joined with other additional testimonies, shed more and more light on the interesting general topic, namely - the culture of the body among the Jews of the Hellenistic world.