The Jews among the Greeks and Romans : a diasporan sourcebook / edited by Margaret Williams.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Williams, Margaret, 1947-

Language:

English

Undetermined

Subjects (All):

Jews--History--586 B.C.-70 A.D--Sources.

Jews.

Jews--History--70-638--Sources.

Jews--Rome--History--Sources.

Hellenism--Sources.

Hellenism.

Jewish diaspora--History--Sources.

Jewish diaspora.

History.

Judaism--History--Post-exilic period, 586 B.C.-210 A.D--Sources.

Judaism.

Judaism--History--Talmudic period, 10-425--Sources.

Judaism--Post-exilic period (Judaism).

Physical Description:

vii, 236 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.

Summary:

As one of the few groups in the Greco-Roman world to resist cultural assimilation, the Jews remained an object of fascination throughout antiquity. Greek and Roman writers devoted much space to them, but few bothered to learn the facts about Jews, preferring to report stereotypes and rumor. Evidence does exist, however, to show what real Jews were like in antiquity and how they interacted with the Greeks and Romans, both pagan and Christian.

In The Jews among the Greeks and Romans, Margaret Williams assembles, assesses, and contextualizes literary and archaeological evidence relating to Jewish communities outside the land of Israel. The sourcebook covers the period beginning with the Diaspora that resulted from the chaos of Alexander the Great's death in 323 B.C.E and concluding with the demise of the Jewish Patriarchate around 420 C.E. This was a time which saw, first, the rapid opening up of opportunities for Jews and then, in the century after Constantine, the gradual but inexorable raising of barriers against them.

While previous collections have concentrated on literary texts, the present volume gives prominence to papyrological and epigraphic source material. Composed in accordance with Greco-Roman epigraphic conventions but written by Jews, these texts -- some only recently discovered -- constitute an extraordinarily rich source of information about the values and practices of Jews in antiquity.

Contents:

I. The Jewish Diaspora in the Hellenistic and early Roman imperial periods 1

1. Its extent in prophecy and actuality 1

2. Reasons for the diffusion of the Jews 4

3. Evidence for Jewish mobility within the Graeco-Roman world 10

4. Statistical information about Diasporan Jews 13

5. Location of Jewish communities 15

6. Occupations of Diasporan Jews 19

7. Terminology for Diasporan communities 27

II. Life inside the Jewish Diasporan community 33

1. The synagogue as the focal point of community life 33

2. Officials and dignitaries 37

3. Community structures other than the synagogue 50

4. Community values 51

5. Distinctive Jewish practices 54

6. Jewish festivals 59

7. Divisions within the Jewish community 64

III. Diasporan Jews and the Jewish homeland 67

1. Pilgrimage to Jerusalem 67

2. Payment of ancestral dues and taxes 68

3. Offerings to the Temple by Diasporan Jews 70

4. Diasporan charitable and military aid to Palestinian Jews 71

5. Diasporan Jews and the transmission of information to Jerusalem 72

6. Immigration to Judaea of Diasporan Jews 73

7. Diasporan burials in Judaea 75

8. The Judaean authorities and the Diasporan synagogue 78

9. The Patriarchs and the Diaspora 81

10. Palestinian influence on the language of Diasporan inscriptions 83

IV. Jewish interaction with Greek and Roman authorities 87

1. Jewish honours for Ptolemaic rulers 87

2. Ptolemaic and Seleucid privileges for the Jews 87

3. Jews in the service of the Seleucids and Ptolemies 88

4. Jewish honours for Roman Emperors 91

5. Privileges for Jews who were Roman citizens 92

6. Roman protection of the Jewish way of life 93

7. Jews in the service of the Roman government 95

8. Measures taken or threatened against the Jews by the Roman authorities 98

V. The Jews among the Greeks 107

1. Jews as citizens of Greek cities 107

2. Jews as councillors, magistrates and official envoys 109

3. Jewish influence upon Greek civic life 111

4. Jewish involvement in Greek cultural life 112

5. Greek cultural influences on the Jews 116

6. Intermarriage between Jews and Greeks 131

7. Friction between Jews and Greeks 131

8. Jewish relations with Christians in the Greek East 137

VI. The Jews among the Romans 143

1. Jews and the Roman citizenship 143

2. Jewish involvement in local government in the West 146

3. Jewish involvement in Roman cultural and religious life 148

4. Roman cultural influence on the Jews 148

5. Jewish interaction with Christians in the Roman West 153

VII. Pagans and Judaism: academic and real-life responses 161

1. Two academic views of the Jews and Judaism 161

2. Pagans sympathetic to Judaism 163

3. Pagan converts to Judaism - the proselytes 169

4. Other adherents to Judaism - instances of disputed status 172

5. Syncretist cults 176

1. Main events mentioned in this sourcebook 203

2. Select list of rulers 205

3. Egyptian months and their Julian equivalents 207

4. Glossary of selected names 207

Concordance of sources 217

1. Literary texts 217

2. Inscriptions 219

3. Papyri 222

4. Legal texts 222

5. Coins 222

6. Modern collections of ancient legal and literary texts 223

1. People 225

2. Places 227

3. Jewish community terminology 230

4. Jewish occupations 231

5. Miscellaneous topics 232.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [211]-215) and indexes.

ISBN:

0801859379

0801859387

OCLC:

37987046