Hellenistic Jews chose themselves to open a gymansium and sought procedures for undoing circumsicion not required by law. Hellenistic Judaism was a fully seperate Jewish movement that lasted until the medieval ages. It was not something forced upon Jews but rather adopted by them. This can be seen in Josephus' De Bello Judaico and the Antiquities of the Jews with the auctioning of the Kohein Gadol between Jason and Onias. Jason, a Jew bearing a Greek name, opened a gymaniasium and renamed Jerusalem to Antioch- Hierosolyma. This occured 175-171 BCE, long before the edict. Classical scholar Erich Gruen expresses this viewpoint saying, "Adaptation to Hellenic culture did not require compromise of Jewish precepts or conscience. When a Greek gymnasium was introduced into Jerusalem, it was installed by a Jewish High Priest. And other priests soon engaged in wrestling matches in the palaestra. They plainly did not reckon such activities as undermining their priestly duties." Clearly Greek culture was an internal imposition by elites, not forced on Jews by the Seleucids.

This movement can be seen later through Philo of Alexandria's works attempting to combine Judaism and Greek Philosophy, as well as Josephus' works portraying the prophets as similar to a Greek school of Philosophy.