"Judaism on the World Scene"
by Robert A. Kraft (University of Pennsylvania)
copyright Robert A. Kraft (14 September 1992)
[[original = ch 3 in Catacombs and the Colosseum,
ed. S. Benko and J.J. O'Rourke (Valley Forge PA: Judson, 1972)]]
[[coding: ... ancient source
... modern monograph
... Greek word
... Latin word
... emphasis
... title
... levels of headings
% (umlaut), / (acute), \ (grave), ^ (circumflex)]]
It would be sheer folly to attempt a comprehensive and
definitive overview of even the political aspects of Judaism in
the early Roman period in this brief introductory treatment. The
work of Josephus alone covers almost seven hundred pages in the
Loeb Greek edition of the Antiquities (books 14-20) on the
period from Pompey's intervention in 63 BCE to the outbreak of
revolt in 66 CE, and an almost equal number of pages is used
elsewhere to tell the story of the "Jewish War" in 66-73 CE,
including background information from the Maccabean revolt
onward. To this extensive primary source material, which devotes
much space to the political intrigues of the house of Herod and
the general political situation in the Roman Empire, as well
as to the revolt, a variety of other bits of information about
Jews and Judaism can be added from ancient contemporary
sources, such as the two treatises of Philo of Alexandria on the
events around the years 37-41 (see below, nn.7,9), excerpts from
other authors (especially Greek and Latin), inscriptional
evidence, non-literary evidence from papyri and ostraca
(especially Egyptian) and from various "symbols" used by Jews
in this period.\1 Numerous analyses and syntheses of the
available materials have appeared over the years. To mention
only the most obvious general works dealing with Judaism in
this period, we have the older, so to speak "classical," multi-
volumed presentations by H. Gra%tz or E. Schu%rer, as well as
more recent synthetic attempts by such scholars as Salo Baron
or V. Tcherikover, or the editors of the "new Schu%rer," among
others.\2
Most students of early Judaism and/or early Christianity are more
or less familiar with the general chronological sequence of
events in Palestine during the period:
1. The gradual disintegration of the Hasmonean high priestly
kingdom, leading to the requested intervention of the Roman
general Pompey in 63 BCE;
2. The gradual disappearance of Hasmonean priestly rulers and
the rise of the house of Antipater-Herod, with the latter
established by the Romans as "king" somewhere around the year 40 BCE;
3. The partitioning of Herod's kingdom after his death in 4 BCE,
which led to placing Judea under direct Roman rule in 6 CE;
4. The seething dissatisfaction under Roman prefects as well as
Roman supported Jewish "kings," which manifested itself in the
near revolt at the time of Gaius Caligula (37-41 CE) and which
resulted in the "first revolt" of 66-73 CE;
5. Finally, the less fully documented "second revolt" under Bar
Kochba from 132-l35 CE, which added further encouragement for
emerging rabbinic Judaism to retreat from the world scene by
building its hedges higher.
These events are all part of Palestinian Jewish history, but
"Judaism" clearly was part of the world scene as well. Our
traditional preoccupation with the events in Palestine should
not blind us to the emphatic reality of that statement. Nor
should our tendency to see Judaism from the perspective of that
Pharisaic-rabbinic orthodoxy which flowered into Talmud and
Midrash blind us to the potential variety of outlooks that can
be covered in our period by the term "Judaism" when examined
from a rigorously historical point of view.\3 What was "Judaism"
in the eyes of Greco-Roman rulers and subjects? Who was a "Jew"?
Where were "Jews" encountered, and what were they doing or
thinking? How were they being treated? This treatment will deal
with some of these more general questions; some of the other
essays in the volume will necessarily deal in greater detail with
certain specific problems outlined here.\4
Answers are not easily found. Unless we wish to operate
arbitrarily in one way or another, we must allow a person in the
ancient world to answer whether, and in what sense, that person
chooses to be identified as a "Jew" or an adherent of "Judaism."
Although such an approach is ideal, our available sources seldom
provide the kind of information necessary to operate in that
manner. Thus we are usually reduced to discussing those who are
called "Jews" by a Josephus or a Suetonius or an unknown
contributor to the papyri, or those whose conduct or ideas seem
"Jewish" for one reason or another. Granting these difficulties,
what pictures emerge when the sources are sifted?
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Distribution
In the roughly three hundred years from the Maccabbean uprising
to the second revolt against Rome, "Jews" are said to abound
virtually everywhere in the inhabited world. There are numerous
general statements to that effect from a variety of sources
(mostly Jewish, admittedly!) , e.g.:
Sibylline Oracle -- "Every land and sea shall be full of
[Jews]";\5
Strabo, the hellenistic geographer, as quoted by Josephus -- "It
is not easy to find a place in the inhabited world which this
tribe has not penetrated and which has not been occupied by
it";\6
The appeal of Agrippa I to Gaius in 39 or 40 CE, according to
Philo, gives a detailed list of places where Jewish "colonies"
have been established "in every region of the inhabited world --
in Europe, Asia, Libya, on mainlands, on islands, both on the
coast and inland";\7
The speech of Agrippa II to dissuade Jews from revolting in 66
CE, as reported by Josephus--"There is no people in the
inhabited world which does not hold our fate in its hands";\8
Philo -- "one single country cannot support the Jews because
they are so numerous";\9
Josephus -- "the Jewish race is scattered widely over the entire
inhabited world among the local inhabitants, especially in
Syria."\10
Elsewhere, Josephus speaks of "not a few myriads" of Jews in the
Babylonian area under Parthian rule\11 and tells not only of
individuals and of particular communities there, but narrates a
relatively long story of temporary but large-scale military and
political success by some Jews in those eastern areas from about
20-35 CE, as well as the better-known tale of Izates, the
proselyte Jewish king of Adiabene, and his mother, Helena, at
about the same time.\12 Furthermore, Josephus reports edict
after edict dealing with Jews in various places throughout the
Roman world -- Sidon and Phoenicia, Asia Minor (Parium, Ephesus,
Delos, Cos, Sardis, Melitus, Pergamum, Halicarnassos, and
Ionia), Alexandria and Egypt, Cyrene, Rome.\13 Numerous papyri
from Egypt attest the extent of Jewish occupation and/or
influence there.\14
In our statistically conditioned society, we would very much
like to know how many Jews lived where! But the sources contain
very few figures that would be helpful in such a game, and even
these are probably unreliable, for the most part. Indeed,
perhaps the first official census capable of answering that
question on a large scale would be from the time of Vespasian
when the special Jewish tax was imposed throughout the Empire
after the first revolt (see p. 90). But to my knowledge, these
figures are unavailable. Various estimates of Jewish population
and distribution have been attempted and vary from a minimum of
three to four million to a maximum of eight million total around
the time of Jesus, with anywhere from 30 percent to 70 percent
estimated as living in Palestine itself. The consensus seems to
be that about two thirds of the Jews lived outside of Palestine,
especially in the adjacent areas in the eastern
Mediterranean.\15 Nor should we forget that the Jewish
"diaspora" includes Parthian east as well as Roman west. And
Parthia had her hellenistic cities, inherited from Alexander and
the Seleucids, as well as her less hellenized areas. Josephus
mentions one episode relating to Jews in Greek cities in
Parthia,\16 and speaks of numerous other Jewish settlements in
the Parthian part of the diaspora, but on the whole our
information is slight. Jacob Neusner conjectures that in our
period "the Jews must have formed minority communities in almost
every city of the Euphrates valley and throughout the western
satrapies of Parthia (some were in the east as well, in
Afghanistan, and in India, but we do not know when they reached
there)."\17
Image, Definition
When we search the sources to determine how "Jews" appeared to
their contemporaries and who was considered to be a "Jew" in our
designated period, the answer is not always as clear as we might
like. The popular press in the hellenistic-Roman world tended to
picture the Jews as an uncultured and uncivil lot who scorned
the gods of the cultured world and followed a "barbaric
superstition" -- haters of mankind, with odd customs and
practices; they were to be shunned as foreigners by hellenistic
purists.\18 On the other hand, Jewish apologists like Philo and
Josephus claim that much of the world responded in a positive
way to Judaism.\19 Unfortunately, we know very little in detail
about the "common Jew" on whose head such calumnies regularly
must have fallen. Nor do we know to what extent the same sorts
of attitudes toward Jews were prevalent among other
non-hellenistic groups such as the native Egyptians or Syrians, who
were themselves looked down upon by the more cultured "Greeks"
of the eastern Mediterranean.\20 Indeed, "Jews" are sometimes
lumped together with "Syrians" in the sources from this
period.\21 But we can safely assume that there was a deeply
rooted and widely known general grass-roots polemic against
"Judaism" (as against analogous groups in the ancient world),
which would hardly be sufficiently offset by the presence and
activity of cultured, often hellenized, Jews like the Herods or
Philo and his kin or Josephus.\22
When we turn to Josephus, our most instructive contemporary
Jewish source on this matter of Jewish identity, we find that
for the most part, a Jew appears to be one who lives by the
"ancestral customs" and "sacred rites" as they are sometimes
enumerated in the decrees that Josephus cites -- e.g., sabbath
observance, food laws, temple support and sacrifices, and
"common meals," to which list we also should add circumcision,
although it is not mentioned as such in the decrees or
emphasized by Josephus.\23 Nevertheless, there are some passages
in Josephus which complicate the issue; e.g., his references to
Samaritan-Jewish relationships, when he claims that
Samaria/Shechem was inhabited by "apostates" from Judaism who
were expelled for breaking food or sabbath or some other law,\24
and that when it seemed to their advantage, the Samaritans would
identify themselves with the "Jews."\25 The relationship between
apologetic and reality in such passages is not always clear.
Again, Josephus vacillates on what to call Herod and his
ancestors: Although he cites the data from Herod's close
associate, Nicolas of Damascus, that Herod's immediate ancestors
were prominent Jews from Babylon,\26 he seems to prefer labeling
Herod as "half-Jewish," at best,\27 and an "Idumean"
commoner.\28 Another problem arises with the figure of Tiberius
Julius Alexander, son of Philo's brother, the wealthy Alexander,
"the alabarch" of Alexandria; Tiberius is contrasted with his
father and accused of "not abiding by the ancestral customs."\29
But does this mean that Josephus would exclude Tiberius from the
category of "Jew"? And would Tiberius exclude himself? Elsewhere
we learn of "Jews" who for various reasons adopted a less than
strict attitude toward literal observance of the law, in part or
in whole; e.g.:
Sabbath is broken for the sake of self-defense.\30
Izates is advised by a leading Jew to become Jewish without
being circumcized.\31
There is a certain ambiguity in the grammatical structure of
some decrees cited by Josephus exempting from military service
certain "Jews of Roman citizenship (who are) accustomed to
practice Jewish rites"\32 -- are the phrases in apposition, or
were there also Jews of Roman citizenship who were not
accustomed to observe the rites?
We have clear evidence from Philo that there were some "Jews"
for whom an understanding of the symbolic meaning of the laws
sufficed, and, thus, who did not consider literal obedience
to be necessary.\33 Such issues as these, plus passing
references to Jewish magicians and the like,\34 make it
difficult to reconstruct with accuracy the many faces of
"Judaism" in the early Roman period. The clues are preserved;
what we do with them depends on our larger perspective and our
inclinations!
Activities and Occupations in General
Our specific information about Jewish life in the various areas
of the hellenistic-Roman world during the early Roman period is
limited. Apart from Palestine (and especially Jerusalem), we
probably know most about Alexandria, where Philo refers to the
presence of numerous Jews who were deprived of their houses,
shops, and other property during the disturbances in the reign
of Gaius Caligula (37-41 CE). These people were Jewish suppliers
(or investors?), farmers, shipmerchants, merchants in general,
and craftsmen.\35 We also hear about the wealthy Alexandrian
Jewish "alabarch" Alexander (see also above), who was in a
position to lend large sums of money and perhaps was an
outstanding representative of hellenistic Jewish "bankers."\36
That there were also numerous Jews who were poor and in debt is
well attested by the Egyptian papyri.\37 On the whole, the
evidence from Egypt and Asia Minor points to farming as perhaps
the single most important Jewish occupation among the masses,
with weaving and dyeing also mentioned frequently among the
trades.\38
THE RELATIONSHIP OF JEWS TO THE EMPIRE
Involvement in Roman Governmental Posts
We know far too little about the role of Jews in official
government posts in the early Roman Empire, and virtually
nothing of the parallel situation in Parthia.\39 Tcherikover
would have us believe that, at least for Egypt, "there is very
little evidence of Jewish officials in the early Roman period.
It would appear that some financial and police offices were
entrusted to Jews. . . . Some tax-collectors in Edfu, especially
those collecting the 'Jewish tax' (after 70 CE), might have been
Jews, but we have only one definite instance."\40 Six Jewish
sitologoi (wheat accountants?) are mentioned in a document
from 101/102 CE.
As for posts in the Roman administration in the proper sense,
there was, in theory, no obstacle to a Jew entering upon the
career of a Roman official and reaching even the highest ranks.
Yet in practice this was open only to those who were ready to
renounce the Jewish faith [sic] and to sever any links with
the Jewish community [sic]. Such a break with Jewish
tradition was not easy and the number of Jewish renegades
appears to have been very small.
Only Tiberius Alexander, who became procurator
of Judea (ca 46 CE), then prefect (procurator?) of Egypt,
and a staff general under Titus during the siege of Jerusalem,
is well known and "his career was in every sense
extraordinary."\41
Further, Tcherikover concludes that at least in Egypt, where
Rome abolished the Ptolemaic army, "Rome was not interested in
engaging Jews for military service,"\42 despite the importance
of Jewish soldiers and military settlers in early times. It is
debatable whether this policy was general throughout the Roman
Empire, although the evidence is scanty. Josephus tells of the
drafting of four thousand Jews (probably exaggerated) in Rome by
Tiberius, in connection with his expulsion of Jews from the
city;\43 earlier, Herod is said to have sent a force of five
hundred men from his own bodyguard to fight under a Roman
general.\44 There is mention of a Jewish centurion in an
Egyptian ostracon from 116 CE,\45 in addition to our knowledge
of the military career of Tiberius Alexander. As we have already
noted (see also below), there is evidence that Rome sometimes
exempted at least certain Jews from military service, which may
suggest that others were not exempted! The existence of
Jewish soldiers in Parthia has already been mentioned, but they
seem to be presented as a special case.\46
Involvement in International Politics in General
***
That the Hasmoneans left a tradition of active participation in
international politics is abundantly clear from the frequent
references in Josephus to envoys sent to Rome, Parthia, and
other nearby kingdoms.\47 The history of the Herods is best
understood against this background, for Herod's father,
Antipater, served as a special ambassador of the Hasmoneans to
both East and West.\48 The Herods and other Jewish leaders seem
to have moved relatively freely in and out of Rome. Indeed, if
Josephus is to be trusted in this matter, Julius Caesar honored
Herod's father, Antipater, by awarding him Roman citizenship and
tax-free status, as well as appointing him "procurator"
epitropon) of Judea;\49 Caesar also is said to have granted
the right to one of the last Hasmoneans, Hyrcanus II, his
children, and his envoys (presbeutai) "to sit with members
of the senatorial order as spectators of the contests of
gladiators and wild beasts"\50 and to be admitted to the Senate
chamber at his request for the purpose of making petition.\51
Whether such privileges were unusual or not need not detain us
here; what is clear is that at least some of the leaders of the
Jews clearly were "on the world scene" in a political sense and
must have had some sort of established embassies in cities such
as Rome. And there is no reason to suppose that the number of
Jews capable of serving as ambassadors, envoys, and advocates in
such a setting was small. We hear of Jewish envoys from the
diasporas\52 as well as from Palestine; and after the death of
Herod the Great, as many as fifty Jewish envoys are mentioned as
sent from Jerusalem to Rome to protest the continuation of
Herodian rule under Archelaus.\53 To what extent there was an
active training program for such persons is not clear, but a few
tantalizing hints survive -- e.g., reference to extensive Greek
studies under the Pharisaic teacher Gamaliel II.\54 Occasionally
we even catch a glimpse of an identifiable "Jewish" personality
in addition to the Herods at work in these diplomatic spheres,
such as Nicolas of Damascus or Philo and his brother's family
(especially Philo's nephew Tiberius Julius Alexander) --
perhaps we can include also Josephus, and possibly even Paul?
That their "Jewishness" was not always consistent with later
Rabbinic "orthodox" perspectives ought not concern us here! Some
Jews who may have had some influence on the international
political scene, but in a less official way, would have been
such individuals as the somewhat obscure Poppaea who was first
the wife of Otho and then of Nero, and whom Josephus describes
as a "pious woman (theosebes) who pleaded [with Nero] on
behalf of the Jews"\55 or Berenice, the daughter of Agrippa I and
widow of another of Philo's nephews (Marcus),
who is said to have been a mistress to Titus in Rome, if not
already earlier in Palestine.\56 Drusilla, the sister of
Berenice, married a Roman governor of Judea, Felix.\57 Possibly
Flavius Clemens, a Roman consul, and his wife Domitilla\58 also
deserve mention because he was executed and his wife exiled by
their cousin Domitian (ca. 95 CE) on the charge of "atheism," a
charge often used against those who followed "Jewish
customs."\59
Jewish Citizenship and "Rights"
When we approach the problem of the legal and civil status of
Jews in the eyes of the Roman officials in general, we are faced
with several problems of interpreting the sources. What was
involved in the word "citizen" (polites)? In what sense were
Jews "citizens" of Alexandria, for example, and what did it mean
to be a "Roman citizen"? In many places, Josephus seems to
display a studied vagueness in his use of the term "citizen,"
e.g., he argues against Apion that there is a type of
citizenship (tropon tes politeias) that consists of bearing
the name of the area (or government) in which one resides -- e.g.,
Antiochenes, Ephesians, Romans, Alexandrians.\60 This seems to
be equated with "honorary citizenship" (tes kata dosin
politeias) which Apion also enjoyed. But was it in any way
"legal" citizenship? The edict of Claudius in 41 CE raises
strong doubts in that it seems to discourage the hope that some
significant segments of the Alexandrian Jewish inhabitants
addressed by it were legally entitled to the designation
"citizen of Alexandria," which seems to have been a prerequisite
for being a Roman citizen,\61 and which depended on successful
participation in the Greek gymnastic education.\62 Doubtless
Tiberius Julius Alexander qualified: it would be interesting to
know the background and status of Philo and his brother
Alexander in this connection. Other references to specific Jews
holding Roman citizenship include Antipater (thus also many of
the Herods?),\63 Paul,\64 and Josephus.\65
Josephus also refers to an incident in Caesarea at the start of
the first revolt in which the right of "equal citizenship"
(isopoliteian) was taken away from the Jews by Nero at the
instigation of the Syrian populace.\66 Elsewhere, he cites
several Roman edicts concerning especially Asia Minor in which
"Jewish Roman citizens" are granted special rights --
specifically exemption from military services\67 and the right
of self-determination in general.\68 It is also claimed that the
Jews of Asia and Cyrenean Libya had been granted "legal
equality" (isonomia) by former kings, although there is no
reference to Roman citizenship in the decree of Augustus that
follows.\69 With respect to the edicts concerning military
service, we may ask whether the exemption of "Jews who are Roman
citizens" (in Ephesus and Delos, see n. 67) held true in general
also for non-enfranchised Jews throughout the Empire,\70 or even
in western Asia Minor? In any event, these edicts suggest that
there was a sizable group of Jews in western Asia Minor who
enjoyed Roman citizenship and who also observed the ancestral
customs. Philo adds an allusion to emancipated Jewish captives
who enjoyed Roman citizenship in the city of Rome at the time of
Augustus.\71 Little else can be said with certainty. In Egypt,
at least, the problem of citizenship and civil status also had
definite financial overtones. Near the beginning of Roman rule
in Egypt (ca. 24/23 BCE), a special tax seems to have been
established for all "non-Greek" inhabitants -- the
laographia of sixteen drachmae annually.\72 Those Jews
unable to support convincingly their claim to legal citizenship
in the hellenistic city of Alexandria probably were legally
lumped together with other non-Greek inhabitants (especially the
native "Egyptians") and subjected to the tax. Although in the
fragmentary account of a dispute between King Agrippa I and
Isodorus, Agrippa claimed that the Jews did not pay the tax,
Tcherikover is convinced from the other evidence that, in
general, the Jews did pay it.\73 This distinction was one way
for the Greek Alexandrians to maintain a relatively pure pattern
of culture and citizenship. Whether similar measures were taken
elsewhere in the Roman world, not to mention the Parthian world,
is not clear.
Some of the specific rights supposedly granted to Jews in the
early Roman Empire -- or at least to some Jews in some places
and times in the period under consideration -- are of special
interest in relation to the general structure of usual Roman
policy. There is, for example, the claim that despite a general
prohibition of "religious societies" by Julius Caesar, the Jews
alone were permitted their thiasoi.\74 Special financial
considerations also are claimed such as exemption from certain
"civic" expenses contrary to Jewish ideas\75 and permission to
support financially the Jerusalem cult,\76 as well as local
Jewish "communal" activities.\77 As we have seen (n. 70), there
seem to have been circumstances in which exemption from military
service was provided at least to some Jewish Roman citizens at
one point, and normal court and related legal procedures were
suspended with reference to Jews on the sabbath.\78 With respect
to the Roman Emperor cult, the sources suggest that Jews were
allowed some sort of compromise solution in view of their
monotheistic orientation.\79
One aspect of the supposed privileged status of Jewry under Rome
changed radically after the first revolt in 70 CE, when instead
of permitting contributions to continue to flow into the now
destroyed city of Jerusalem, Vespasian instituted a special tax
on Jews, as a sort of reparation for the war, and financed the
rebuilding of the Temple of Jupiter of Rome with this money --
the "Jewish tax" (Ioudaikon telesma) or fiscus
Iudaieus, also known as the denarii duo Judaeorum and
the didrachmon or half-shekel tax.\80 This tax was levied on
every Jew from the ages of three to sixty/sixty-two throughout
the Roman world, male and female, slave and free.\81 Thus for
large families, the tax may have created considerable economic
hardships. Our main detailed knowledge of the tax comes from
Egypt, where it was collected at least to the middle of the
second century.\82 In connection with this tax, a separate
census of Jews would have been necessary. Whether the tax was a
significant factor in influencing any individuals or groups to
separate from Judaism (e.g., "Jewish Christians") is a question
worth pursuing elsewhere. The Jewish tax was in addition to the
other regular taxes, such as the laographia, guardtax,
bath-tax, and others.
After the First Revolt
In closing, a word is in order about the history of Judaism
subsequent to the events of 66-73, for which we have no Josephus
to guide us. From Egypt, we get little information except what
relates to the revolt in the last days of Trajan, 115-117. "The
political history of the Egyptian Jews from 70 CE till 115 CE is
almost a blank," writes Tcherikover, and the "almost total
annihilation of Egyptian Jewry" after the revolt is indicated;
Egyptian Judaism does not re-emerge in force until the
fourth century, in a relatively conservative form compared with
the period of Philo!\83
Apart from Egypt, we have some awareness of the general events
in Palestine, and a few references to Jews elsewhere -- such as
Justin's courteous opponent Trypho, with his disciples.\84 The
Palestinian Hillelite Pharisees seem to have been solidifying
their hold on the religious life and traditions of Judaism
through their deliberations and decisions in the Academies of
Jamnia, Joppa, Lydda, and others, which were established on the
basis of a policy of peaceful coexistence and cooperation with
Roman rule.\85 The revolt under Trajan extended from Cyrene to
Cyprus, and even on into Mesopotamia; but there is little
evidence that Palestine provided any large-scale support. That
some of the rabbinic leaders, including the famous teacher Aqiba
himself, should take up the messianic cause of Bar Kochba
against Rome some fifteen years later would seem to be a tribute
to the image projected by that "Son of the Star," as well as an
extreme display of dissatisfaction with the new conditions
instituted by Hadrian after the Trajan revolt. But the results
were disastrous -- Jews were expelled from the city area; cultic
practices were forbidden as well as Rabbinic ordination: and at
last Jerusalem was transformed into a hellenistic-Roman city,
Aelia Capitolina. Henceforth, many survivors in Palestinian
Rabbinic Jewry began to look toward Parthian Babylon for solace
and the hope of a brighter future. It is striking that there is
virtually no evidence for support from the Babylonian area of
either of the two major Palestinian revolts against Rome in 66
and 132, although Babylonian Jews did oppose Trajan's armies in
the revolt of 115. The reasons for such seeming inconsistencies
are not apparent,\86 especially since there is evidence that
Parthian interests, as well as the interests of Babylonia Jewry
would have been well served by a defeat of the Roman legions in
Judea.
On this paradoxical note, and with Judaism entering what proved
to be a new era, perhaps it is fitting to end this all too brief
overview of a frequently paradoxical period of Jewish history.
NOTES
\1/ Theodore Reinach, Textes d'auteurs grecs et romains
re/latifs au Judai%sme (1895; reprint 1963 by Georg Olms) .
See also the corrections and suggestions contained in the review
of Reinach's work by H. Willrich in Berliner philologische
Wochenschrift of 1895; Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum,
ed. J. D. Frey in 2 vols., 1936, 1952. See also J. Gray, "The
Jewish Inscriptions in Greek and Hebrew at Torca, Cyrene and
Barce," in A. Rowe, Cyrenaican Expedition of the University of
Manchester, 1952 (Manchester: University Press, 1956) , pp.
43-59; Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum [henceforth CPJ] ed.
V. Tcherikover and A. Fuks, 3 vols. (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1957-1964); E. R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols
in the Greco-Roman Period, 12 vols., (New York: Pantheon
Books, Inc., 1953-1966).
\2/ See the bibliography appended to this chapter for fuller
information and further suggested reading. At an introductory
level, the treatment by Hans Lietzmann in chapters 1-2, and
especially in chapter 6 of the first volume of his History of
the Early Church (New York: The World Publishing Company,
1957, 1949), is highly recommended as a convenient and readable
capsule presentation.
\3/ See, e.g., M. Simon, Jewish Sects at the Time of Jesus
(Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1967; French, 1960).
\4/ E.g., Jews as a Social Class (chap. 4 of this book); Jews
and Education (Chap. 6 of this book).
\5/ Sibylline Oracle 3. 271ff. This passage contrasts the
omnipresence (and offensiveness) of the Jewish people in exile
with the emptiness of the Holy Land because of their failure to
fear God (3.265ff). Lanchester (in Charles, Pseudepigrapha
372) dates the passage to about 140 BCE. (See bibliography.)
\6/ Josephus, Antiquities 14.115. Strabo died around 21 BCE,
and in this quotation is referring to events that took place
around 86 BCE.
\7/ Philo, Embassy to Gaius 281-283: Egypt, Phoenicia,
Syria, Pamphylia, Cilicia, Asia Minor (to Bithynia and Pontus) ,
Europe, Thessaly, Boeotia, Macedonia, Aetolia, Attica, Argos,
Corinth, much of the Peloponnese, Euboea, Cyprus, Crete,
Babylonia, and the other satrapies beyond the Euphrates are
explicitly mentioned.
\8/ That is, worldwide slaughter of Jews could occur if the
nations are roused against them; Josephus, Jewish War 2.398.
\9/ Philo, Flaccus 45.
\10/ Josephus, Jewish War 7. 43.
\11/ Josephus, Antiquities 15.39; see also 15.14; 18.313 and
339.
\12/ Ibid., 18. 310ff.; 20. 17ff.
\13/ Ibid., 14. 190-264; 16.27ff. and 162f.
\14/ See the material in CPJ, and in Tcherikover,
Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews (Philadelphia: Jewish
Publication Society, 1959) , pp. 284ff.
\15/ Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization, pp. 284-295,
discusses the problem in some detail, and in n. 86 (p. 504)
refers to particular estimates made by various scholars. See
also Lietzmann. History I, p. 76, and the very valuable
older discussion by A. Harnack, The Mission and Expansion of
Christianity in the first Three Centuries. I (London: Williams
and Nargate, 1908 [reprinted as Harper Torchbook, 1962]), pp.
1-9.
\16/ Antiquities 18.373-379. More than 50,000 Jews are said
to have lived in the Greek-Syrian city of Seleucia for five
years (ca 35-40? CE), and some of them later fled to the
nearby Greek city of Ctesiphon.
\17/ J. Neusner, A History of the Jews in Babylonia: I The
Parthian Period. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1965) , p. 15.
\18/ Relevant materials may be found in Reinach's collection of
texts: e.g., the fragment from Hecateus of Abdera (early third
century BCE, pp. 14ff.); the fragment from Posidonius (early
first century BCE, pp. 56ff.); Cicero, Pro Flacco 28.66-69
(first century BCE, pp. 237ff.) ; the fragment from Damocritus
(date uncertain, p. 121); Juvenal, Satire 14. 96-106 (second
century CE, pp. 292ff). See also the apologetic offered by
Josephus, Against Apion (especially in book 2, sections
80ff., 121ff, 137ff).
\19/ Josephus, Against Apion 2.280ff; Philo, Life of
Moses 2.19ff.; see also Seneca, quoted in Augustine, City of
God 6.11. For other reactions to Jewish propaganda and the
activity of some Jews to make converts ("proselytize"), see
Horace, 1 Satire 2.142; Josephus, Antiquities 18.81-84;
Matthew 23.15; Juvenal, Satire 6.542ff., and 14.96ff. For an
overview of Jewish propaganda and missionary activity in
general, see Lietzmann, History I, pp. 80ff.
\20/ Strained relationships between Jews and Egyptians or Jews
and Syrians are hinted at in such passages as Antiquities
18.373f. and 20.184, but few details are available.
\21/ "Syrian" often includes "Palestinian"; see the evidence
listed in CPJ I, 4f and n. 13, such as the Edict of Claudius
in CE 41, or the reference to Agrippa I as a "Syrian" in Philo,
Flaccus 39.
\22/ Josephus' work Against Apion stands as an excellent
example of Jewish attempts to deal with the problem (e.g.,
2.190ff). Much of Philo's literary activity also may have had
such a purpose in view.
\23/ A rather "liberal" attitude to circumcision by Josephus may
be hinted at in Life 113 (compare Antiquities 20.41; n.
31 below). In Antiquities 1.192 and 214, Josephus promises
to expound on the rite elsewhere (probably in his proposed
treatise on "Customs and Causes"--see Antiquities 4. 198),
but this material is not extant (The only reference to
circumcision or uncircumcision in the papyri collected in
CPJ is in #4.) Josephus also mentions that it is "Hebrew
custom" not to marry a Gentile wife (Antiquities
18.345); on Hebrew women marrying non-Hebrew men, see
Antiquities 20.139-146 (especially 143).
\24/ Antiquities 11.340, 346; see also the story about
Samaritan origins presented in the "Paralipomena Jeremiou"
(or "4th Baruch") 8, where those Jews returning from exile who
refused to separate from their Babylonian spouses were excluded
from reentering Jerusalem and thus found Samaria.
\25/ Antiquities 11.340ff.; on Samaritans in Egypt, see
CPJ III, ##513-514, and especially p. 103.
\26/ Antiquities 14.9; cf. 14.283 and 20.173.
\27/ Ibid., 14.403.
\28/ Ibid., 14.403, 489, 491; 15.2, 17,
81, 220, 374; 17.192. What may have originated as an ancient,
inner Jewish polemic, has had a far-reaching influence on modern
descriptions of Herod; see, e.g., Lietzmann, History I, pp.
19-20 ("Idumean," "not native born," etc.). Interestingly,
"Slavonic Josephus" calls Herod an uncircumcised Arabian (Loeb,
vol. 3, p. 636 to War 1.364ff) while some Christian
commentators apparently dubbed him a Philistine (see Thackeray's
note ad loc.)
\29/ Antiquities 20.100. For a good digest of information on
Tiberius Alexander, see CPJ II, 188-190 (on #418).
\30/ Antiquities 12.276 (the Maccabean revolt), in agreement
with 1 Maccabees 2.41 and 9.43 -- see also Antiquities
14.63ff. Indeed, in Jewish War 2.517ff., offensive warfare on
sabbath is mentioned. But in Antiquities 18.319ff., Josephus
is critical of even self-defense on the sabbath, which may
accord with such general prohibitions as those found in Jubilees
50.12 (compare 1 Maccabees 2.38, 2 Maccabees 6.11). See also 2
Maccabees 8.26ff, where offensive warfare is suspended on the
sabbath.
\31/ Antiquities 20.41 (see also n. 23 above). But later in
20.46 he decides to become circumcised.
\32/ Ibid., 14.237, 240.
\33/ Philo, Migration of
Abraham, 89ff.
\34/ E.g., Antiquities 20.142 (see
Feldman's Loeb note) . On Jewish phraseology in the magical
papyri, see the collection of Papyri Graecae Magicae by K.
Preisendanz (only 2 of the 3 volumes were published; Leipzig:
Teubner, 1928, 1931); W. L. Knox, "Jewish Liturgical Exorcism"
in Harvard Theological Review 31 (1938), 192ff; W. L. Knox,
"Jewish influence on Magical Literature" in St. Paul and the
Church of the Gentiles (New York: The Macmillan Company,
1939), pp. 208-211; CPJ I, 110ff, and 3, section 15.
Recently M. Margaliouth of Jewish Theological Seminary in New
York has recovered an extensive Hebrew work of "magical"
orientation from the remains of the Cairo Geniza (see New York
Times, Dec. 29, 1964); his edition of the materials is
forthcoming.
\35/ Flaccus 56-57. See also 3 Maccabees 3.10 (Jews in
business) and the general treatment by Tcherikover,
Hellenistic Civilization, pp. 337-339. At one point,
Josephus mentions an actor of Jewish descent in Rome (Life
16).
\36/ Josephus, Antiquities 18.159ff.; see also ibid.,
20.100 and 5.205. There also seems to be a warning
against taking a loan from "the Jews" in a papyrus letter sent
to an Alexandrian businessman in CE 41 (CPJ II, #152). On
the probable connection of the position of "alabarch" (or
"arabarch") with fiscal matters, see Tcherikover, Hellenistic
Civilization, pp. 339f (520, n. 26); Josephus refers to
another Alexandrian "alabarch," Demetrius, as also being wealthy
and prestigious (Antiquities 20.147). There is evidence that
Alexander's son Marcus Julius Alexander also was an
"international" businessman of sorts; see L. Feldman's note to
ibid., 19.276ff. (Loeb), and CPJ II, 197f. (introduction
to #419).
\37/ CPJ I, 48ff and section 7 (also Tcherikover,
Hellenistic Civilization, p. 340 and pp. 520f notes 30-31).
See also Juvenal, Satire 3.14-16 on Jewish beggars in Rome.
On the infrequent references to Jewish slaves in our period, see
Tcherikover Hellenistic Civilization, p. 342.
\38/ See Lietzmann, 1, pp. 79f. for a summary of the
older evidence, and Tcherikover in CPJ I, 48f. and
Hellenistic Civilization, pp. 333-343, especially for the
Egyptian evidence.
\39/ Neusner conjectures that Zamaris of Babylonia may have
served Parthia officially (Jews in Babylonia I, pp. 38f.) --
see Antiquities 17.23ff. Parthian involvement in
Jewish-Palestinian affairs also is mentioned, e.g, in ibid.,
14.340ff and 384 (see also n. 46 below).
\40/ CPJ I, 53; see CPJ II, #240.
\41/ CPJ I, 53; see also II, 188ff. (above, n. 29) , on
Tiberius Alexander.
\42/ Ibid., 1, 52.
\43/ Antiquities 18.84 (the draftees were assigned to
Sardinia); notice that some of the Jewish draftees refused to
serve. Tacitus, Annals 2.85, claims that Egyptian
religionists also were banished at that time under the same
conditions.
\44/ Antiquities 15.317.
\45/ CPJ II, #229.
\46/ The military rule by the Jewish brothers in Antiquities
18.310ff. (above, n. 30). See also the story of the Jewish troop
from Babylonia hired by Herod the Great to settle in Batanaea as
a buffer-zone (ibid., 17.23ff.).
\47/ E.g., ibid., 14.29f., 34, 37, 146 (see 1 Maccabees
14.21), 222, 223-226, 233, 243, 247, 302, 304, 307, 314;
16.160f, 299; 17.219ff, 299f., 328, 343; 18.109f., 143.
\48/ To Aretas of Syria (Antiquities 14.15, 81, 122); to the
Roman leaders Pompey (14.37) and Julius Caesar (14.137 = 16.53).
\49/ Antiquities 14.137; 14.143.
\50/ Herod the Great later established similar contests in
Jerusalem every four years; see ibid., 15.267-276.
\51/ Ibid., 14.210.
\52/ E.g., ibid., 16.160, from Asia and Libya; 18.257ff,
from Alexandria.
\53/ Ibid., 17.299f. Later, after a decade of rule by
Archelaus, a delegation of "Jews and Samaritans" successfully
petitioned Caesar to remove Archelaus.
\54/ See Sota 49b concerning the 500 pupils studying "Greek
wisdom" under Gamaliel II (ca CE 90). See also S.
Lieberman, Greek in Jewish Palestine (New York: Jewish
Theological Seminary, 1942), 1f. and 20, and Hellenism in
Jewish Palestine, 1950, and more recently, "How much Greek in
Jewish Palestine?" in Biblical and Other Studies, ed. A.
Altmann, Brandeis University Studies and Texts 1 (Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963) , pp. 123-141; on the
sending out of "apostles" from Palestinian Judaism to the
diaspora in the latter part of our period, see Neusner, op.
cit., I, p. 43 (and n. 1).
\55/ Antiquities 20.195; see also Life 16.
\56/ Tacitus, History 2.2; Suetonius, Titus 7; Dio
Cassius 66.15 and 18; A. J. Cook {Crook ??}, "Titus and
Berenice," American Journal of Philology 72 (1951) ,
162-175. Josephus is silent about this aspect of Berenice's
involved life. See Antiquities 20.145ff.
\57/ Antiquities 20.142-144.
\58/ A virgin "niece" of Clemens, named Domitilla, was later
named as a Christian by Eusebius. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical
History 3.18, 4-5. See also in this book Chapter 2, page 67
and Chapter 4, page 119.
\59/ Dio Cassius 67.14; see also Suetonius, Domitian 15.
\60/ Against Apion 2.41.
\61/ See Pliny the Younger, Epistle 6 to Trajan (and
Trajan's reply, Ep. 7), which admittedly dates from several
decades later. This particular problem (see p. 514 n. 84) and
the problem of Jewish "civic rights" in general are discussed at
length in Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization, pp.
309-332, with the conclusion that in the early Roman period, the
Alexandrian Jews fought for their civic rights and lost,
Josephus' apologetic claims notwithstanding (pp. 325f.), while
elsewhere in the diaspora "the organized Jewish community as a
whole stood juridically outside the Greek city," although
throughout the Greco-Roman world "isolated Jews could acquire
civic rights individually" (p. 331).
\62/ See CPJ II, 46ff (#153.52ff).
\63/ Josephus, Jewish War 1. 194 (Antiquities 14.137).
\64/ Acts 22.25-29; 23.27 (see also 21.39); but Paul never
claims this for himself in his preserved writings, and this may
give cause for serious doubt.
\65/ Life 425.
\66/ Antiquities 20.184.
\67/ Ibid., 14.228-234, 232, 237, 240; at Ephesus and Delos.
\68/ Ibid., 14.235, at Sardis; but 14.259 casts some doubt
on the civil status of these Jews of Sardis.
\69/ Ibid., 16.160.
\70/ So it is usually claimed, at least for Palestinian
Judaism; see, e.g., Lietzmann, History 1, 23 (based on
Schu%rer 1, 458) -- but on p. 79, Lietzmann is much more
cautious about the subject with respect to the diaspora
Jews.
\71/ Philo, 155, 157.
\72/ See CPJ I, 61ff and 81; Tcherikover, Hellenistic
Civilization, p. 311ff; S. L. Wallace, Taxation in Egypt
from Augustus to Diocletian (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1938), p. 116.
\73/ CPJ II, #156c.
\74/ Antiquities 14.215.
\75/ Ibid. 16.28; 16.45.
\76/ Ibid., 16.27, 163. For evidence of the temple tax being
collected in Parthia, see Antiquities 18.312. Philo refers
to these "first fruits" or "ransom" contributions, e.g., in
Special Laws 1.78 and Embassy to Gaius 156, 316. The
religious situation in Jerusalem at this time is not always easy
to assess because of Josephus' preoccupation with the more
political (and entertaining?) aspects. However, numerous Jews
throughout the Roman and Parthian worlds sacrificially sent
their annual contributions to Jerusalem until the very end.
\77/ Antiquities 14.214f; 14.260 (?).
\78/ Ibid., 14.264; 16.27, 45, 60 (?), 165, 168 (?).
\79/ See Josephus, Against Apion 2.77; Jewish War 2.197,
409; Philo, Embassy to Gaius 152-158, 317.
\80/ See CPJ I,81; Josephus, Jewish War 7.218; Dio
Cassius 66.7.2.
\81/ See CPJ I, 80ff (including Jewish Roman citizens; see
82 and n. 66). On the rather strict methods of determining
whether an individual was liable to the tax or not, see
Suetonius, Domitian 12.
\82/ CPJ II, introduction to section 9.
\83/ See CPJ I, 85-93, for a listing of primary and
secondary sources dealing with this period; also Neusner, op.
cit., I, 70ff (especially the notes).
\84/ Whether Justin's Trypho is to be identified with Rabbi
Taraphon (see, e.g., J. Quasten, Patrology 1, Glen Rock, N.
J.: Newman Press, 1951, p. 202) is problematic; Eusebius calls
Trypho "the most distinguished Hebrew of that time" (Eccl.
Hist. 4.18.6).
\85/ It is unfortunate that in Christian circles, the word
"council" (e.g., "Council of Jamnia") has come to be associated
with these Pharisaic Jewish communities and their discussions.
These were not "Councils" in the later Christian sense (eg.
"Council of Nicaea").
\86/ Neusner, op. cit., 1, pp. 66 and 73, attempts to
suggest possible explanations.
FOR ADVANCED READING
For Further bibliography, see R. Marcus, "Selected Bibliography
(1920-1945) of the Jews in the Hellenistic-Roman Period,"
Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 16
[1946/47], 97-181; also the appended notes in Loeb, Josephus
volumes; and G. Delling, Bibliographie zur
ju%disch-helleniistischen und intertestamentarischen Literatur
1900-1965 (Texte und Untersuchungen 106; Berlin,
Akademie-Verlag, 1969) {++new ed.}.
Primary Source Collections
Altju%disches Schrifttum ausserhalb der Bibel. Edited by P.
Riessler. Augsburg: Filser, 1928. Reprinted Darmstadt, 1966.
Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament. Edited by
R. H. Charles. 2 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1913.
Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum. Edited by J. B. Frey. 2
vols. Rome: Pontificio instituto di archeologia cristiana, 1936,
1952.
Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum (CPJ). Edited by Victor
Tcherikover and A. Fuks. 3 vols. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1957-1964.
Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period. Edited by E. R.
Goodenough, 12 vols. New York: Pantheon Books, 1953-1969.
Textes d'auteurs grecs et romains re/latifs au Judaisme.
Edited by Theodore Reinach. Paris: Leroux, 1895; reprint
Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1963.
The "Dead Sea Scrolls." Translated by Millar Burrows in The
Dead Sea Scrolls and More Light on the Dead Sea Scrolls: New
Scrolls and New Interpretations. New York: The Viking Press,
1955 and 1958.
The Works of Josephus. Edited by H. St. J. Thackeray, R.
Marcus, A. Wikgren, and L. Feldman in the Loeb edition, 9 vols
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1926-1965.
The Works of Philo. Edited by F. H. Colson, G. H. Whittaker,
and R. Marcus in the Loeb edition, 12 vols. Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 1929-1962.
Selected General Treatments
Baron, Salo W., A Social and Religious History of the Jews.
14 vols. thus far. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952.
Bickerman, Elias J., "The Historical Foundations of Postbiblical
Judaism," in The Jews: Their History, Culture and Religion.
Ed. by L. Finkelstein, vol. 1. New York: Harper & Row,
Publishers. 1960; pp. 70-114.
Bonsirven, Joseph S., Palestinian Judaism in the Time of Jesus
Christ. Translated by Wm. Wolf. New York: Holt, Rinehart &
Winston, Inc., 1964.
Bousset, W., and Gressmann, H., Die Religion des Judentums in
spa%thellenistischen Zeitalter, Tu%bingen: Mohr, 1926.
Foerster, Werner, Palestinian Judaism in New Testament
Times. Translated by Gordon E. Harris. Philadelphia: Fortress
Press, 1964.
Gra%tz, H., History of the Jews. 11 vols. Philadelphia:
Jewish Publication Society of America, 1891, ET in 6 vols.
Juster, Jean, Les Juifs dans l'Empire romain -- Leur condition
juridique, e/conomique et sociale. 2 vols. Paris: Geuthner,
and New York: Burt Franklin, 1914.
Leon, Harry J., The Jews of Ancient Rome. Philadelphia:
Jewish Publication Society, 1961.
Moore, George F., 3 vols. Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1927-1930.
Pfeiffer, Robert H., History of New Testament Times, with an
Introduction to the Apocrypha. New York: Harper & Row,
Publishers, 1949.
Reicke, B., The New Testament Era: The World of the Bible from
500 B.C. to 100 CE. Translated bp David Green. Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1968.
Schu%rer, Emil, Geschichte des ju%dischen Volkes im Zeitalter
Jesu Christi. 4 vols. Leipzig: Hinrichs 1901-1911; ET, A
History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus. 5 vols.,
Edinburgh: Clark (abridged in 1 vol. ed. Glatzer; New York:
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Simon, Marcel, and Benoit, A., Le Judaisme et le Christianisme
Antique. Nouvelle Clio 10. Paris: Presses Universitaires de
France, 1968.
Tcherikover, Victor A., Hellenistic Civilization and the
Jews. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America,
1959.
Zeitlin, Solomon, The Rise and fall of the Judean State: A
Political, Social, and Religious History of the Second
Commonwealth. 332 - 37 BCE. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Jewish
Publication Society of America, 1962.
Some Specific Aspects
(see also the bibliographies appended
to Loeb, volumes 6-9 of Josephus, by R. Marcus, A. Wikgren, and
L. Feldman)
Askowith, D., The Toleration and Persecution of the Jews in
the Roman Empire ... Under Julius Caesar and Augustus. New
York: Columbia University Press, 1915.
Bell, H. I., Jews and Christians in Egypt. London: Oxford
University Press, 1924.
Clark, K. W., "Worship in the Jerusalem Temple after A.D. 70,"
New Testament Studies 6 (1960) 269-280.
Farmer, W. R., Maccabees, Zealots, and Josephus: An Inquiry
into Jewish Nationalism in the Greco-Roman Period. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1956.
Finkelstein, Louis, The Pharisees. 2 vols. Philadelphia:
Jewish Publication Society of America, 1962.
Harnack, Adolf, "Judaism, its Diffusion and Limits." Book 1,
chapter 1 in The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the
first Three Centuries. ET by J. Moffatt. London: Willams and
Nogate, 1908; reprint Harper Torchbooks; revised and expanded in
the 1924 German edition.
Hengel, M., Die Zealoten. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1961.
Liebermann, Saul, Hellenism in Jewish Palestine: Studies in
the Literary Transmission, Beliefs and Manners of Palestine in
the 1st century BCE - 4th century CE. New York: Jewish
Theological Seminary, 1950.
MacDonald, John, The Theology of the Samaritans.
Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1965.
Montgomery, James A., The Samaritans. New York: Ktav
Publishing House, Inc., 1968 (Reprint of 1907 original).
Neusner, Jacob, A History of the Jews in Babylonia, vol. 1:
The Parthian Period. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1965.
Perowne, Stuart H., The Life and Times of Herod the Great.
Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1959.
Simon, Marcel, Jewish Sects at the Time of Jesus. Translated
by D. Farley. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1967.
Thomas, J., Le mouvement baptiste en Palestine et Syrie 150
av. J.-C. - 300 apr. J.-C. Gembloux: Duculot, 1935.
//end//