The Greek word "diaspora" describes the Jewish population after the Assyrians conquered their homeland of Israel, because this word refers to dispersion or separation. The Assyrians came into Israel and broke up all of the Jews by deporting them to different areas around the Mediterranean. The ethnic and religious scene of Israel also change because settlers from Syria, Iran, and Babylon diluted what was left of the Jewish population. Though this did break Jewish people up into smaller groups, this isolation made made them come together. As Bulliet puts it, "the exile sharpened their identity." Small groups built synagogues in order to bring others together, and in their isolation they built a strong sense of community. This also resulted in Judaism being an exclusive religion, because people could not convert. Jews could only marry other Jews, and they also had other strict rules such as dietary restrictions. It was a terrible thing to take away the homeland for the Jewish faith, but instead of crippling the religion, it caused them members to come together and to become stronger than ever before.
The Greek and Roman philosophies were based on logic and reason. This was because though the Romans and Greeks worshiped thousands of deities, their religion did not mention anything about how to live one's life. This left a hole to fill by Roman Philosophy. Philosophical conversations involved talking about big questions, but since these philosophers did not have religion to fall back on, they had discussions and answered questions based on reason. Asking these questions and attempting to answer them logically led to the first scientific vocabulary. Greek and Roman philosophers answered big questions using reason because they did not have ways to answer those questions with religion.
Something I found interesting about the Jewish community's response to exile was the development of monotheism. In monotheist Judaism, Yahweh was believed to be the only God. He determined who would be his followers, or "Chosen People," in addition to dictating the 10 Commandments, which outlined how each follower should live their life. This, as Kyle pointed out, made Judaism and exclusive religion and strengthened the population. The treatment of the Jewish population is responsible for the formation of the religion that we now know it to be. The transition to monotheism was a significant turning point as well.
ReplyDeleteIt is also what made Judaism different from the Greco-Roman philosophy. This was more science than religion, and understanding how the world worked was the central focus of the time.