EXAMPLE D: THE HELLENISTIC AGE (one of nine charts yet to be printed and hyper-linked) The three centuries which proceeded Jesus' birth and ministry witnessed sweeping changes in the Land Between (the land of the Bible). Pages 30-31 of Regions on the Run summarize these centuries, while the opening pages of the Gospels, the book of Acts and the letters of Paul all reflect the issues and tensions of these centuries. Biblical Backgrounds' chart--The Hellenistic Age--provides a temporal and spatial graphic of these centuries and their main geo-political issues. The sweeping blue seen on this chart shows Rome's advance into the Eastern Mediterranean. The mixture of great cultural change brought by the Hellenistic kingdoms, Rome's advance and fervent eastern nationalism set the scene for explosive political tensions leading up to the days of Jesus. The chart diagrams these issues and sets the rise and fall of the Maccabees within its larger context. A context that encourages the student to open the pages of the Gospels with a new appreciation for their setting within the Roman world. Future electronic hyperlinking will also make this chart come alive.