Page 100 - Biblical Backgrounds

Pre-Common Era Greek Backgrounds to the Bible

Connect…

You probably have or remember one or two people who greatly influenced your life. Their direct or
indirect engagements with you have left a lifelong impact on your life. Now, try to imagine that on a
large scale; think of a person whose exploits greatly influenced the course of world civilization.

This lesson will cover the Greek era as ushered in by Alexander the Great (356–323 B.C). Starting his
major military campaign at only twenty years of age, Alexander conquered the Persian empire, in effect,
extending his rule from Greece to the Indus valley, including North Africa. As he conquered the lands,
Alexander introduced or at least paved the way for a culture that would heavily shape the politics,
education, religion, and other civilizations of the world of his time and beyond.

Let us find out how these numerous civilizations inform the Biblical backgrounds of this era and
subsequent ones.

The Lesson ...

Location and History

The story of Alexander the Great begins in his birthplace of Pella, 24 miles northwest of Thessalonica,
and the official capital of Macedonia. The ancestry of Macedonia can be traced as far back as around
2000 BCE. There are different narratives concerning the origins and early developments of Macedonia.
However, there is wide agreement that along the way, it became a consolidated “kingdom” of tribes
under a monarch. This consolidation made it one of the “Greek City-states,” among them Sparta,
Athens, and Thebes.

It is hard to describe the exact size of Macedonia because its boundaries varied over the centuries and
because the exact boundaries during much of the country’s history are unknown. The kingdom was,
however, always located at the northeast corner of the Aegean. Today, the independent Republic of
Macedonia stands to the northwest of its most famous ancient cities. 143

Building up to the days of Alexander’s conquest, the aforementioned “city-states” saw a series of back-
and-forth pushes for power among them. This is why the story of Philip II, Alexander’s father, is an
important precursor to the rise of Alexander. Macedonia rose to prominence with the ascension of
Philip II in 359 B.C, who ruled from the royal capital of Pella. Philip united the tribes and cities of
Macedonia. He overpowered the northern barbarians and subsequently conquered the Greeks to the

143 Hartog, P. A. (2016). Macedonia. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair
Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

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