In this lesson we will explore the Ancient Greeks who were known for their historic clashes with the Persian Empire. They were the ultimate underdog champions. It seems that the only ones who could defeat the Greeks were the Greeks. Weakened by infighting, they are ultimately supplanted by the Macedonians and Romans. However, the spread of their culture set the plate for the spread of the gospel.

1. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Understanding the People of
the Biblical World
One of God’s
“Rosetta Stones”
for Understanding God’s Word

2. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The
Greeks

3. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Genesis 10
NoahJaphethJavan
2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer,
Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal,
Meshech, and Tiras.

4. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
An Oversimplified Timeline of the Bible
(+ or - 100 years)
2000 BC
Abraham
1500 BC
Moses
1000 BC
David
500 BC
Babylonian
Captivity
4 BC
Birth of
Jesus
Mycenaeans Greeks

5. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Mycenaean
Language
Linear B

6. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The Dorians
(Sparta)
The Ionians
The Aeolians

7. A New Language
•The Greeks
modified the
Phoenician
alphabet which is
very similar to
Hebrew.

8. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The Archaic Period

9. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Greeks in Italy
•By the 8th century B.C. the
Greeks populated southern
Sicily.
•By the 7th century B.C. they
had a presence throughout
the southern coast of Italy as
well.

10. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld

11. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Persian
Empire

12. The Battle
of
Marathon
490 B.C.

13. The Battle
of
Marathon
490 B.C.

14. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The
Greek
Phalanx

15. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The
Battle of
Thermo-
pylae
480 B.C.

16. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The Battle
of Salamis
480 B.C.

17. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld With the Persians defeated, the
Greek city states returned to their
normal pattern of…

18. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The
Peloponnesian
War
431 BC – 404
BC

19. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The Corinthian
War
395 BC – 387 BC

20. Rise of
Phillip II
of Macedon
359 BC

21. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Phillip II of
Macedon

22. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Alexander the
Great

23. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
“Here is the man who was
making ready to cross
from Europe to Asia, and
who cannot even cross
from one table to another
without losing his
balance.”

24. Map of
Macedon at
the Time of
Philip’s
Assassination
by Pausanias –
336 B.C.

25. The
Battle of
the
Granicus
River
334 B.C.

26. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The
Battle of
Issus –
333 B.C.

27. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The Legend
of the
Gordian
Knot

28. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
The Alexandrian Solution

30. Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!

31. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Cassander
Antigonus “One Eye”
Lysimachus
Ptolemy
Seleucus
TheDiadochi
(Successors)

32. The Hellenistic Period – 300 B.C.

33. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Daniel 8
20 As for the ram that you saw with the
two horns, these are the kings of Media
and Persia. 21 And the goat is the king of
Greece. And the great horn between his
eyes is the first king.

34. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Daniel 8
22 As for the horn that was broken, in
place of which four others arose, four
kingdoms shall arise from hisnation, but
not with his power.

36. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
How the Hellenistic Greek Period
Paved the Way for the NT

37. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
How the Hellenistic Greek Period
Paved the Way for the NT
A Common
Old
Testament

38. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
How the Hellenistic Greek Period
Paved the Way for the NT
Many
Jewish
outposts
arose.

39. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Practical Lessons
•From the Greek Dark Ages
we learn that life has its
ups and downs.

40. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Hosea 6
1 “Come, let us return to the LORD;
for he has torn us, that he may heal
us; he has struck us down, and he
will bind us up. 2 After two days he
will revive us; on the third day he
will raise us up, that we may live
before him.

41. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Hosea 6
3 Let us know; let us press on to
know the LORD; his going out is sure
as the dawn; he will come to us as
the showers, as the spring rains that
water the earth.”

42. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Practical Lessons
•From the Classical Greek
Era we learn the danger of
infighting.

43. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
James 4
1 What causes quarrels and what causes
fights among you? Is it not this, that
your passionsare at war within
you? 2 You desire and do not have, so
you murder. You covet and cannot
obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do
not have, because you do not ask.

44. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Practical Lessons
•From Alexander the Great
we learn the limits of
personal ambition.

45. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Ecclesiastes 6
1 There is an evil that I have seen under
the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: 2 a
man to whom God gives wealth,
possessions, and honor, so that he lacks
nothing of all that he desires, yet
God does not give him power to enjoy
them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is
vanity; it is a grievous evil.

46. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
Practical Lessons
•From Alexander’s generals
we learn the ugliness of
greed and the lust for
power.

47. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
•Crateras – crushed under
Eumenes charging horse.
•Perdiccas – murdered by his own
officers.
•Eumenes – executed by
Antigonus.

48. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
•Lysimachus – killed in hand to
hand combat with Seleucus.
•Seleucus – Killed by Ptolemy’s
eldest son.
•Antigonus – Killed by the armies
of Seleucus and Lysimachus.

49. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld
•Of Alexander’s Seven Power-
hungry generals, only
Antipater and Ptolemy died old
men of natural causes.
•They spent the majority of
their adult lives battling their
one time compatriots.

50. ThePeopleoftheBiblicalWorld Other People we need to know: The Romans