1. Problems

In the days of J. G. Droysen (1808–84), “Hellenism” was a term used for Greek culture and thought, and more specifically for nonclassical biblical Greek. Droysen, however, applied it to the epoch of the fusion of Greek and Near Eastern patterns, which began with Alexander the Great (336–323 b.c.). For him the postclassical age was no longer one of decay but a time of transition from Greek to Christian culture. He also saw a development in the Greek world itself to a rational view of things an…