# Question about foreign knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures before 300 BC **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 7, 2007, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-foreign-knowledge-of-the-hebrew-scriptures-before-300-bc/387001 "2007-01-07T00:48:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-foreign-knowledge-of-the-hebrew-scriptures-before-300-bc/387001/1 "2007-01-07T00:48:40Z")
Before the introduction of the Septuagint in the 3rd-2nd c. BC, how early could a typical educated person, such as a Greek philosopher, have had familiarity with the Hebrew scriptures? How old are the earliest references to them in any ancient non-Jewish sources? And were the Hebrew scriptures generally known among non-Jewish common people before Christianity became popular? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-foreign-knowledge-of-the-hebrew-scriptures-before-300-bc/387001/2 "2007-01-07T22:35:49Z")
bump ---
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-foreign-knowledge-of-the-hebrew-scriptures-before-300-bc/387001/3 "2007-01-10T18:46:13Z")
Final bump. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-foreign-knowledge-of-the-hebrew-scriptures-before-300-bc/387001/4 "2007-01-10T19:47:33Z")
I would venture to guess that copies of the Torah would have shown up in the Library of Alexandria at some point in time, perhaps prior to 300 BC. Now whether these documents would have been _of any interest_ to Greek philosophers of the Hellenistic Age I can scarcely say. But I have a hard time imagining that they weren’t _available_. Perhaps some of our more eminent classicists can weigh in on the question. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-foreign-knowledge-of-the-hebrew-scriptures-before-300-bc/387001/5 "2007-01-10T19:58:42Z")
The nearest a quick Google came up with was the beleif by the [Baha’i](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1'%C3%AD_Faith) that the ancient Greek philosophers were heavily influenced by Jewish beliefs, though this appears to be an article of faith rather than a historical fact: [http://bahai-library.com/index.php5?file=uhj\_socrates\_letters](http://bahai-library.com/index.php5?file=uhj_socrates_letters) ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-foreign-knowledge-of-the-hebrew-scriptures-before-300-bc/387001/6 "2007-01-10T20:21:45Z")
My B.A. is in Classical history. None of the ancient Greek texts I read mentioned the Hebrews or their scripture. As far as I can tell, the Jews weren’t even on their mental radar. Mind you, my reading wasn’t all-encompassing (couldn’t have been, in a few short years), but if there was an awareness among the Greeks of Hebrew scripture and/or culture, it must have been pretty low-key.