"Judaism on the World Scene"

by Robert A. Kraft (University of Pennsylvania)

[electronic version created by Robert A. Kraft (14 September 1992); html version created 30 March 2006; updates are indicated in green]

[[original = ch 3 in Catacombs and the Colosseum, ed. S. Benko and J.J. O'Rourke (Valley Forge PA: Judson, 1972)]]

[[coding conversion:
original pagination rubricated in double brackets [[n]]
<s>...</s> ancient source (now in bold)
<m>...</m> modern monograph (now in italics)
<g>...</g> Greek word (also in unicode, needs diacritics)
<l>...</l> Latin word (now in italics)
<e>...</e> emphasis (now in bold italics)
<h( )>...</h( )> levels of headings ]]

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.1Numerous 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

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.

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:

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.3What 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

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).

 

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.:

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.

Elsewhere, Josephus speaks of "not a few myriads" of Jews in the Babylonian area under Parthian rule11and 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

11Josephus, Antiquities 15.39; see also 15.14; 18.313 and 339.

12Ibid., 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.

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

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.

 

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.21But 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

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.

22Josephus' 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.

 

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.:

 

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.

31Antiquities 20.41 (see also n. 23 above). But later in 20.46 he decides to become circumcised.

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?

32Ibid., 14.237, 240.

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!

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.

 

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

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 Jewish War 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, History 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.

 

 

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 σιτολογοι <g>sitologoi</g> (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

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 Antiquities 14.340ff and 384 (see also n. 46 below).

40 CPJ I, 53; see CPJ II, #240.

41CPJ I, 53; see also II, 188ff. (above, n. 29) , on Tiberius Alexander.

 

Further, Tcherikover concludes that at least in Egypt, where Rome abolished the Ptolemaic army, "Rome was not interested in engaging Jews for military service,"42despite 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

42Ibid., 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.).

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" επιτροπον <g>epitropon</g>) 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 πρεσβευται (<g>presbeutai</g>) "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.51Whether 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 diasporas52as 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 θεοσεβης (<g>theosebes</g>) 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 Domitilla58 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

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.

51Ibid., 14.210.

52E.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. [For a discussion of the possible meanings of the term "Herodians" as found in Mark 3.6 and 12.13 (= Mt 22.16), see John P. Meier, "The Historical Jesus and the Historical Herodians," JBL 119 (2000) 740-746.]

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.

 

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" πολιτης (<g>polites</g>)? 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 (τροπον της πολιτειας <g>tropon tes politeias</g>) 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" (της κατα δοσιν πολιτειας <g>tes kata dosin politeias</g>) 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,61and which depended on successful participation in the Greek gymnastic education.62Doubtless 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

60 Against Apion 2.41.

61See 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).

62See 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 See Life 425.

 

Josephus also refers to an incident in Caesarea at the start of the first revolt in which the right of "equal citizenship" (ισοπολιτειαν <g>isopoliteian</g>) 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 services67 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" (ισονομια <g>isonomia</g>) 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.71Little 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 λαογραφια <g>laographia</g> of sixteen drachmae annually.72Those 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.

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.

71Philo, Embassy to Gaius 155, 157.

72See 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.

 

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 θιασοι <g>thiasoi</g>.74 Special financial considerations also are claimed such as exemption from certain "civic" expenses contrary to Jewish ideas75 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

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.

 

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" (Ιουδαικον τελεσμα <g>Ioudaikon telesma</g>) or fiscus Iudaieus, also known as the denarii duo Judaeorum and the διδραχμον <g>didrachmon</g> 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.81Thus 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.82In 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 λαογραφια <g>laographia,</g> guardtax, bath-tax, and others.

80 See CPJ I,81; Josephus, Jewish War 7.218; Dio Cassius 66.7.2.

81See 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.

82CPJ II, introduction to section 9.

 

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

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).

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.

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.

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

1Theodore 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).

2See 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.

11Josephus, Antiquities 15.39; see also 15.14; 18.313 and 339.

12Ibid., 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.

22Josephus' 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.

31Antiquities 20.41 (see also n. 23 above). But later in 20.46 he decides to become circumcised.

32Ibid., 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 Jewish War 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, History 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.

41CPJ I, 53; see also II, 188ff. (above, n. 29) , on Tiberius Alexander.

42Ibid., 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.

51Ibid., 14.210.

52E.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.

61See 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).

62See 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 See 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.

71Philo, Embassy to Gaius 155, 157.

72See 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.

81See 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.

82CPJ 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., Judaism in the first Centuries of the Christian Era, the Age of the Tannaim. 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: Schocken Books, Inc., 1961).

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//