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ii. After the conquests of Alexander, Greek became the language almost of the whole world145. It was a Greek speech that Pompeius was reading, preparatory to delivery, when he received his deathblow off the port of Alexandria. It was in Greek that Brutus conversed with his friends on the evening of the battle of Philippi. The mass of the poorer population at Rome were Greek either in descent or speech. The Jews, therefore, dispersed by the Ptolemies and the Seleucidæ over the shores of the Mediterranean, were forced to adopt the Grecian language, and to use the Septuagint translation made at Alexandria, hence their name of Hellenists146, or “Jews of the Grecian speech,” which we shall find recurring so often in the Acts of the Apostles.

(c) The Rise of Synagogues.

During the captivity, when of course the Temple ritual was suspended, we gather that the devouter Jews were wont to assemble round the prophet Ezekiel and listen to his words and counsel147 (Ezek. viii.1; xiv.1; xxiii.31). Such meetings Ezra reproduced in Palestine amongst those who returned from Babylon (Ezra viii.15; Neh. viii.2; ix.i, &c.), and after the Maccabæan period they spread through every town and village, and in course of time gave rise to buildings called Synagogues, in which they might be held.