Jewish Communities in Asia MinorScholarly assessment of Jewish communities in the Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman Diaspora has, in the past, been dominated by our knowledge of the large and influential communities in Rome and Alexandria. This book brings together the evidence for significant Jewish communities in another part of the Diaspora, namely Asia Minor. By collating archaeological, epigraphic, classical, New Testament and patristic sources, the book provides an invaluable and coherent description of the life of Jewish communities in Asia Minor, and so gives a more complete picture than was previously available of Jewish life at the time. By describing the strength, vitality and diversity of Jewish life in Asia Minor, the author is able to point to the retention of their Jewish identity by these communities, despite their close relations with the wider pagan society in which they lived. A degree of integration did not, therefore, mean the abandonment of an active attachment to Jewish tradition. The survey the book provides thus contributes to our understanding of the New Testament and of early Christianity. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
1 Jewish Communities of Asia Minor in Literary Sources | 5 |
2 the Jewish Communities at Sardis and Priene | 37 |
3 the Jewish Community at Acmonia | 58 |
4 The Jewish Community at Apamea | 85 |
5 the Prominence of Women in Asia Minor | 104 |
6 Theos Hypsistos and Sabazios Syncretism in Judaism in Asia Minor? | 127 |
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Common terms and phrases
Acmonia Antioch Antiochus III Apamea Aphrodisias Asia Minor Brooten century BCE chapter Christians citizenship clearly coins communities in Asia cult Cumont curse dated decree deity Deut Diaspora Ephesus evidence example flood Gentiles God-worshippers Greek gymnasiarch Hanfmann honour Imperial cult involved Jerusalem Jewish community Jewish identity Jewish influence Jewish inscriptions Jews Jews in Asia Josephus Judaism Kraabel Kroll forthcoming Lifshitz Luke Magie MAMA munities Nannakos Noah pagan Panticapaeum passage Paul Pergamum perhaps Philo Phocaea Phrygia Pionius probably proselytes Rajak Ramsay refer Reinach Reynolds and Tannenbaum Robert Roman Rome Sabazios Sabbath Safrai and Stern Sardis synagogue scholars Schürer Seager second century seems Sibylline Oracles significant Smallwood 1981 Smyrna suggests Tannenbaum 1987 Temple tax term Text Theos Hypsistos third century Torah tradition Vermes and Millar whilst woman women worship Yahweh Zeus Θεὸς θεοσεβεῖς θεοσεβής καὶ τὸ τὸν τῶν ὕψιστος