Alexandrian culture, during the reign of the Ptolemies, is the offspring
of a mixed marriage between two parents belonging to two widely
different races, and, as a cross breed, is endowed with many qualities.
It had the seriousness of the one parent and the delicacy of the other.

The Ptolemies encouraged the movement towards fusion. The result was
that the Jews in Egypt, not being hampered by reactionary endeavours
from the side of conservative parties, and with an adaptability peculiar
to their race, soon acquired the language of the people in whose midst
they dwelt. They conversed and wrote in Greek; they moulded and shaped
their own thoughts into Greek form; they clothed the Semitic mode of
thinking in Hellenic garb. The immediate result was the translation of
the Pentateuch into Greek. Vanity, of which no individual or race is
free, had embellished this literary production, which has acquired a
high degree of importance alike among Jews and Christians, with many
legends. This translation, known as the Septuaginta (LXX), was followed
by independent histories relating to Biblical events. One of the best
known authors is the chronographer Demetrius, who lived in the second
half of the third century, and whose work Flavius Josephus is supposed
to have utilised. Not to speak of the Greek authors in Judæa and Syria,
we may mention Artapanos, who, following the fashion of the day, wrote
history in the form of a romance, and showed traces of an apologetic
character. He endeavoured to attribute all that was great in Egyptian
civilisation to Moses. This was due to the fact that Manetho, the
Egyptian historian, and others following his example, had spread fables
and venomous tales about the ancient sojourn and exodus of the Hebrews
and their leader. To counterbalance these accusations, fables had to
be interwoven into history, and history became romance. Moses was
thus identified with Hermes, and made out to be the father of Egyptian
wisdom. But, if the close acquaintanceship of Hebraism and Hellenism