The call of the discus: gymnasia and the decline of Greece in 2 Maccabees and Cicero

Two details in the description of Hellenism (Ἑλληνισμός) in 2 Maccabees 4:10–15 have close parallels in Roman texts discussing Greek citizen training in the gymnasium. The article argues that these overlaps are not coincidental: 2 Maccabees engages with a Roman discourse that identifies the gymnasium as the source of the cultural and military decline of Greece. This observation may have ramifications for the date of 2 Maccabees, but more importantly it changes our understanding of the book’s presentation of the Hellenistic reform in Jerusalem.