| Description |
1 online resource (xx, 486 pages) : maps |
| Contents |
The absence of evidence as the evidence of absence -- "Five hundred and forty souls were added to the church": the Letter of Severus of Minorca on the conversion of the Jews, early fifth century? -- "You shall have freedom from care...during my reign.": Letter 51, the Emperor Julian to the collectivity of the Jews, (perhaps spurious) (dated) March 1, 363: From Constantine to the death of Julian, 312-363 -- "The sect of the Jews is prohibited by no law": CTh 16.8.9, Theodosios I at Constantinople, September 23, 393: Valentinian, Gratian, and Theodosios I, 363-395 -- "Their synagogues shall remain in their accustomed peace": CTh 16.8.12, Arkadios at Constantinople, June 17, 397: Arkadios, Honorius, and Gamaliel VI, 395-408 -- "No synagogue shall be constructed from now on": CTh 16.8.25, Theodosios II, at Constantinople, February 15, 423: Honorius and Theodosios II, 408-423 -- "We deny to the Jews and to the pagani, the right to practice legal advocacy and to serve in the state service.": Sirmondian Constitution 6, Galla Placidia, in the name of five-year-old Valentinian and Theodosios II, Summer 425: Theodosios II in his majority, 423-450 -- "We do not grant that their synagogues shall stand, but want them to be converted in form to churches": Justinian, Novella 37, August 1, 535: in the aftermath of Theodosios II in the East, 450-604 -- "In what has been allowed to them, [the Jews] should not sustain any prejudice": Letter 8.25, Gregory the Great, to Victor, bishop of Palermo, June 598: in the aftermath of Theodosios II in the West, 450-604 -- "Here rests Faustina, aged fourteen years, five months... Two apostoli and two rebbites sang lamentations": Latin epitaph from Venosa, Italy, early sixth century: the price of (Christian) orthodoxy |
| Summary |
The alliance of the Roman Empire with the emerging orthodox Christian church in the early fourth century had profound consequences for the large population of Greek- (and Latin- )speaking Jews living across the Mediterranean diaspora. No known writings survive from diaspora Jews. Their experiences must be gleaned from unreliable accounts of Christian bishops and historiographers, surviving laws, and limited material evidence--synagogue sites, inscriptions, a few papyrus documents. Long neglected by historians, the diaspora population, together with its distinctive cultural forms, appears in decline by the early seventh century. This book explores why. In part, diaspora Jews suffered from disasters that affected the whole late antique Mediterranean population--continuing warfare, earthquakes, and plague. But, like all other non-orthodox Christians, Jews were subject to extensive pressures to become orthodox Christian, which increased over time. Late Roman laws, sometimes drafted by Christian lobbyists, imposed legal disabilities on Jews that were relieved if they became Christians. Fueled by malicious sermons of Christian bishops, Christian mobs attacked synagogues and sometimes Jews themselves. Significantly, Jews retained many of their earlier legal rights while other non-orthodox Christians lost theirs. In response, some Jews became Christians, voluntarily or under duress. Some probably emigrated to escape orthodox Christian pressures. Some leveraged political and social networks to their advantage. Some violently resisted their Christian antagonists. Jews may occasionally have entertained the possibility of divine messianic intervention or embraced forms of Jewish practice that constructed tighter social boundaries around them--an increased use of Hebrew, and heightened interest, perhaps, in rabbinic practices |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Jews -- Mediterranean Region -- History -- 70-638
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Christian converts from Judaism -- Mediterranean Region -- History
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Jewish diaspora.
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Church history -- Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600.
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Christian converts from Judaism
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Church history -- Primitive and early church
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Jewish diaspora
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Jews
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Mediterranean Region
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Mittelmeerraum
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| Genre/Form |
History
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9780190062958 |
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0190062959 |
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9780190222284 |
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019022228X |
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9780190222291 |
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0190222298 |
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