Hellenistic Inter-state Political Ethics and the Emergence of the Jewish State

Against the background of a reconstructed inter-state ethical code, the rise of the Hasmoneans, Judea's ruling dynasty, is given a new perspective. Doron Mendels explores how concepts such as liberty, justice, fairness, loyalty, reciprocity, adherence to ancestral laws, compassion, accountability and love of fatherland became meaningful in the relations between nations in the Hellenistic Mediterranean sphere, as well as between ruling empires and their subject states. The emerging Jewish state echoed this ethical system.
Table of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements
Part I: Mapping the Hellenistic Political Inter-state Ethical Code
Introduction
Chapter 1: Dialogue, War and the Public Declaration of Liberty (200-196 BCE)
Chapter 2: Two Zones of Influence – One Ethical System
Chapter 3: Hearings granted to Enemies through Dialogue
Chapter 4: The Use and Abuse of an Inter-state Ethical System – Rome's slide into Dominance
Part II: Ethical Climate, Patterns of Behavior and the Emerging Jewish State
Introduction
Chapter 5: The Hasmonean State as a Test Case for Patterns of Relationship between Empire and Subject State – The Book of 1 Maccabees
Chapter 6: The Subject State Corresponds and Reacts to the Hellenistic Inter-state Ethical System – The Book of 2 Maccabees
Bibliography