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Article

prayer, Jewish  

Stefan C. Reif

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
26 April 2017
Subjects:
  1. Jewish Studies
Although some of the inspiration for later Jewish prayers undoubtedly came from the ancient Near East and the early books of the Hebrew Bible, there was at that early period of development little connection between the formal liturgy, as represented by the Temple cult, and the spontaneous entreaties of the individual. During the Second Temple period, the two methods of expression began to coalesce, and the literature included among the Dead Sea Scrolls testifies to the recitation of regular prayers at fixed times. The Talmudic rabbis laid down instructions for some statutory prayers, such as the shema‘ and the ‘amidah, and these gradually formed the basis of what became the synagogal liturgy.

Article

Ptolemaeus (4), of Mende, priest and author  

Kenneth S. Sacks

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Greek Myth and Religion
  3. Jewish Studies

Ptolemaeus of Mende, a priest, wrote on the Egyptian kings in three books. He wrote before Apion (first half of the 1st cent. bce), who refers to him. He attributes the Hebrew Exodus under Moses to the time of king Amosis (founder of the 18th dynasty).

Article

rabbis  

Martin Goodman

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Jewish Studies
The Hebrew term ‘rabbi’ which means ‘my master’, was a term of respect among Jews which by late Hellenistic times seems to have been particularly applied to religious teachers. According to the Gospels, Jesus was called ‘rabbi’ by some who addressed him. The term is also found in Greek transliteration on epitaphs from the late Roman period. But after ce 70 its main use was with reference to the religious authorities whose sayings are found in the *Mishnah and *Talmuds and who came to dominate Judaism by the end of antiquity.Later rabbinic tradition attributes the eventual prominence of rabbinic Judaism to the efforts of Yohanan ben Zakkai and a few colleagues in their academy at Jamnia (Yavneh) in Judaea after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in ce 70. Rabbis taught primarily in Judaea from ce 70 to the *Bar Kokhba war (ce 132–5), and mostly in *Galilee from ce 135 to c.

Article

religion, Jewish  

Martin Goodman

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Jewish Studies

Judaism in Graeco-Roman antiquity is better known than any other ancient religion apart from Christianity, primarily because of the survival to modern times of traditions about ancient Judaism through rabbinic and Christian literature. However, this same factor creates its own problems of bias in the selection and interpretation of evidence.

The main sources of knowledge about Judaism are the Old and New Testaments and other religious texts preserved in Greek within the Christian Church: the apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, and the writings of *Philon(4) and *Josephus. The works composed in Hebrew and *Aramaic produced by the rabbis after ce 70 stress rather different aspects. A fresh light has been shone on Judaism by the chance discovery of Jewish papyri in Elephantine and especially by the *Dead Sea Scrolls, which revealed the incompleteness of the later Jewish and Christian traditions even about the 1st cent. ce, the period for which most evidence survives. Pagan Greek and Latin writers emphasized the aspects of Judaism most surprising to outsiders but many of their comments were ignorant and prejudiced.

Article

Sabbath  

Martin Goodman

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Jewish Studies

The practice of resting from secular work every seventh day was widely recognized in the ancient world as a peculiarity of the Jews, for whom it was grounded in a divine instruction (Exod. 20:8-11). By the Hellenistic period, the Sabbath had also become for Jews the main day for assembly in *synagogues for instruction in the Torah. Greek and Roman writers frequently misunderstood the practice and ridiculed what they saw as superstition or idleness, especially when Jews refused to fight on the Sabbath. Josephus claimed that in his day there was no city or nation to which the Jewish custom of abstaining from work on the seventh day had not spread (C.Ap 2.282), but such adoption of the practice may have occurred without reference to Jews or Judaism.

Article

Sadducees  

Eyal Regev

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Jewish Studies
Sadducees (צדוקים, Σαδδоυκαῖоς, Saddoukaioi), a religious and political group within Judaism attested in Judaea from the 2nd century bce to the 1st century ce. The Sadducees are described by Josephus and are mentioned in the New Testament and in rabbinic texts that pertain to the Second Temple period, usually as opponents of the Pharisees in matters concerning law or theology. They held legal views stricter than those of the Pharisees. Many of the high priests from Herod’s reign to 70 ce were Sadducees.The name of the Sadducees probably derives from the name of the high-priestly house of Zadok. Presumably, the Sadducees identified themselves as the successors of these ancient high priests. It is uncertain, however, whether any of the Sadducean high priests were of Zadokite descent. In any event, the name of the Sadducees also implies a sense of righteousness (zedek).Josephus mentions the Sadducees as one of the three Jewish “philosophies” (.

Article

Samaria  

Boaz Zissu and Dvir Raviv

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Jewish Studies
Samaria is mentioned in sources from the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods as a district in Palestine, located between Judea and the Galilee. It extended from the Jezreel valley in the north to the Beth El hills in the south, from the Jordan valley in the east to the Sharon plain in the west. Its southern border with Judea was dynamic, changing frequently. The border changes were only one aspect of the extensive ethnic and demographic changes in the region, which reached their peak in two main periods: the Hasmonean era and the Bar-Kokhba War (the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome, 132–136ce).From the Macedonian conquest through the Ptolemaic and Seleucid periods, there were two main cities in Samaria: the polis of Samaria, which served as a Hellenistic centre of government, and a Samaritan temple-city atop Mount Gerizim. In addition to the literary evidence, archaeological remains have been uncovered in excavations—in the city of Samaria, a large citadel surrounded by towers and the ruins of pagan temples; and on Mount Gerizim, the ruins of a city with a Samaritan cultic compound in its centre.

Article

Samaritans  

Reinhard Pummer

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
  2. Jewish Studies
The Samaritans are an ethno-religious community cognate with, but different from, Judaism. Both religions are branches of Yhwh-worshiping Israelites that parted ways around the turn of the era. Both, however, base their beliefs and religious practices on the Pentateuch/Torah. In the Persian period the Yahwistic Samarians built a temple on Mount Gerizim which eventually came to be seen as a rival temple to the temple in Jerusalem. Thus, the origin of the Samaritans lies in antiquity but a small community still exists today. Besides inscriptions and archaeological finds, our main source for the early history of the Samaritans is Flavius Josephus. For the Late Roman and the Byzantine periods, we have a variety of non-Samaritan texts and Samaritan chronicles. The latter, however, were compiled only in the Middle Ages, although they rely on older sources.Samaritans are an ethno-religious community cognate with, but different from, Judaism. Both religions worship Yhwh as the only god and differ principally with respect to the site that each holds most sacred: Mount Gerizim near the Roman city of Flavia Neapolis (modern Nablus) for the Samaritans and Mount Zion or .

Article

Scythopolis  

Antony Spawforth

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Jewish Studies
  2. Near East

Scythopolis (now Beth–Shean), a Canaanite, then Israelite, city on the right bank of the Jordan, its Greek name of unclear origin. It was conquered by *Antiochus (3) III from the Ptolemies (see Ptolemy (1)); an inscribed dossier reveals his intervention to protect illegal billeting in nearby villages (SEG 41 (1991), 1574; Eng. trans. in S. Sherwin-White and A. Kuhrt (eds.), From Samarkhand to Sardis (1993), 49 f.). Passing to the *Hasmoneans in 107 bce, it was rebuilt by A. *Gabinius (2) (Joseph.AJ 14. 88); in the 2nd cent. ce it was a predominantly Greek garrison-town in Roman *Judaea. Excavations have revealed extensive Roman and Byzantine remains with a colonnaded street laid out as late as ce 522.

Article

Semitic  

J. F. Healey

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Jewish Studies
  2. Linguistics
  3. Near East
Semitic, a term derived from the Old Testament personal name Shem, refers to a middle eastern language group (used linguistically by A. L. Schlözer in 1781, though J. G. Eichhorn claimed priority). Principal ancient constituents are *Akkadian, Ugaritic (see ugarit), Phoenician (see phoenicians), *Aramaic, Biblical Hebrew, Sabaic, and Ethiopic (Ge῾ez).

Article

Sepphoris  

Zeev Weiss

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
28 June 2017
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
  2. Jewish Studies
In the heart of the Lower Galilee lie the remains of Sepphoris, capital of the Galilee during long periods of antiquity. Both literary sources and archaeological finds indicate that the city’s population included pagans, heretics, and Christians living alongside the Jewish population. Many sages lived in the city, which, according to rabbinic literature, boasted numerous synagogues and academies (batei midrash). When Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi (the Patriarch of Judaea) moved to Sepphoris at the beginning of the 3rd century, the Jews gained a significant presence on the city council. With the growth of the Christian community came the construction of churches and the involvement of the episcopus (head of the Christian community) in municipal affairs. Economically, Sepphoris had become a well-established city due to the fertile soil in the nearby valleys and its active trade with the immediate surroundings and distant markets. Hellenistic Sepphoris was built on its hill and slopes. Early in the 2nd century ce, the city spread considerably eastward, boasting an impressive grid of streets with a colonnaded cardo and decumanus running through its centre. Various public buildings were built in the city, including a temple, a forum, bathhouses, a theatre, a monumental building identified as a library or archive, as well as churches, synagogues, and some other structures dating to the early Byzantine period. Most of the common people lived in simple houses, while the wealthy lived in spacious, well-planned dwellings. The architectural layout of these large structures is impressive, as are the more than sixty colourful mosaics from the 3rd to 6th centuries ce uncovered in its private and public buildings. The various depictions in the mosaics have parallels in other cities of the Roman and Byzantine East, not only enhancing the ancient ruins of Sepphoris but also providing invaluable information about the city and its population. The wealth of evidence emerging from Sepphoris offers perhaps the greatest insight into Jewish society and its changing attitudes towards the Graeco-Roman culture to which it was exposed. This new outlook did not occur overnight or in all strata of Jewish society; rather, it was an ongoing process that intensified in the Roman period and reached a peak in the 5th and 6th centuries ce.

Article

Septuagint  

Henry Joel Cadbury and Martin Goodman

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
30 July 2015
Subjects:
  1. Jewish Studies
Septuagint, (in abbreviation, LXX), the collection of Jewish writings which became the Old Testament of the Greek-speaking Christians. They are mainly translated from the Hebrew (or *Aramaic) scriptures but include also some other pieces composed by Jews in the Hellenistic period, some in Greek and others translated from lost Semitic originals.The name is derived from a story preserved in Greek, the Letter of Aristeas (probably of the mid-2nd cent. bce; see aristeas, letter of), relating that Ptolemy II Philadelphus (see Ptolemy (1)), the contemporary king of Egypt, asked for a translation of the Jewish Law (the Torah, i.e. the Pentateuch), and was sent from Jerusalem 72 learned Jews who on the island of Pharos near *Alexandria (1) made a Greek translation of it for the royal library. (The number 70 became a popular alternative to 72 probably because of the widespread use of this number elsewhere in Jewish tradition.) The story which at first had some verisimilitude was embellished by later writers with legendary elements and was extended to include beside the Pentateuch the other translated books. The LXX was authoritative for *Philon (4), who claimed that the translators had been divinely inspired.

Article

Sibylline Oracles  

Erich S. Gruen

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
  2. Jewish Studies
The Sibylline Oracles had a long life. The Sibyl was in origin a single Greek prophetess, renowned for the accuracy of her forecasts, divinely inspired, but portrayed as mad or raving, and regularly spewing forth dire forebodings. Additional Sibyls gradually sprang up in a variety of locations in the Mediterranean world, including the renowned Cumaean Sibyl whom Aeneas reputedly consulted. Sibylline prophecies were eventually collected in written form in Rome and used by Roman authorities to provide interpretation of unusual prodigies or natural disasters or to offer advice on significant matters of foreign entanglements and wars. Although that collection (insofar as it is historical) has long since disappeared, the voice of the Sibyl was reproduced in literary form. The extant Sibylline verses, composed in Homeric Greek hexameters, constitute twelve books of oracles, fashioned over a period of several centuries by numerous different and no longer identifiable hands. They constitute a motley assemblage of grim forecasts, historical references, apocalyptic visions, and denunciations of various peoples, especially Romans, for their abandonment of piety and indulgence in evil. The genre was appropriated by anonymous Jewish authors, speaking through the voice of the Sibyl, and employed to convey condemnation of cities and nations for the sins of idolatry, licentiousness, and a range of vices. Vivid portrayals of the end time and eschatological conflagration feature many of the texts. Subsequent Christian writers interpolated verses, added exaltations of Christ, and appropriated Sibylline pronouncements for their own ends. Others manipulated the oracles to record historical personages and events in the framework of prophetic pronouncements. The result was a complex and unsystematic compilation of reconstructed or fabricated prophecies ascribed to Sibyls but largely representing the ingenuity of Jewish and Christian compilers.

Article

synagogue  

Martin Goodman

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Jewish Studies
Synagogue (Gk. συναγωγή), the name used by Greek-speaking *Jews to describe both their communities in the diaspora and their meeting places for regular public recital and teaching of the Torah (the Law of Moses, as embodied especially in the Pentateuch).The belief of Jews that they have a duty to hear the law being read at least on occasion can be found already in Nehemiah 8: 1–8, composed probably in the 4th cent. bce, but the first evidence of Jews dedicating buildings to this or a similar institution is found in Ptolemaic Egypt (see Egypt, Ptolemaic), where Jewish inscriptions recording the erection of prayer-houses (proseuchai) have been found, dated to the 3rd cent. bce and after. *Josephus' use of the term proseuchē to describe the building in *Tiberias in *Galilee where sabbath meetings were held during the revolt against Rome in ce 67 (Vita 277) confirms the identity of the proseuchē with the synagogē.

Article

Talmud  

Martin Goodman

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
30 July 2015
Subjects:
  1. Jewish Studies
The greatest achievement of rabbinic Judaism in late antiquity, the Talmuds are compendia of legal opinions, sayings, and stories by and about the *Rabbis of the first five centuries of the Christian era. Two quite separate Talmuds are extant: the Palestinian (or Jerusalem) Talmud, redacted in Palestine in c. ce 400, and the Babylonian Talmud, redacted in Mesopotamia in c. ce 500. Both Talmuds are organized as commentaries on the *Mishnah , tractate by tractate; for some tractates a commentary is found only in the Babylonian Talmud. The commentary (termed gemarah, lit. ‘completion’) attempts harmonization of conflicting views expressed in the Mishnah, and elucidation of obscure passages, in order to produce a complete, unified account of Jewish law. In the process the editors included much extra material of only tangential relevance to the Mishnaic passage under discussion. This extra material consists partly in homiletic narratives about rabbis, partly in independent literary units containing disputes over legal interpretation, partly (but less frequently) in *Midrash of biblical texts.

Article

Theodotus, epic poet, c. 2nd cent. BCE  

Thomas Kuhn-Treichel

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
26 May 2021
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature
  2. Jewish Studies
Author of an epic poem about the biblical patriarch Jacob, with special focus on the rape of his daughter Dinah and the conquest of Shechem, as narrated in Genesis 34. There is no external evidence about his life. Some scholars have tried to identify correspondences between his description of Shechem and the archaeological remains, suggesting a date between the late 3rd and the first half of the 2nd century bce;1 others, highlighting possible allusions to historical events, have argued for the last third of the 2nd century bce.2 Jakob Freudenthal has put forward the influential thesis that Theodotus was a Samaritan, as the town of Shechem, located below the Samaritans’ cultic centre on Mount Gerizim, plays a pivotal role in his poem and is in one place called ἱερὸν ἄστυ (“holy city,” Suppl. Hell. 757.7).3 Meanwhile scholars tend to take him for a Jew, arguing that ἱερὸν ἄστυ reflects a Homeric topos rather than a particular affinity to the place.

Article

Tiberias  

Arnold Hugh Martin Jones and Tessa Rajak

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
  2. Jewish Studies
Tiberias, on the west side of Lake Galilee, was founded by *Herod (2) Antipas. Despite its Greek constitution, it was a primarily Jewish city. It was generally treated as capital of *Galilee until *Nero gave Galilee to M. *Iulius Agrippa (2) II. In the Jewish revolt, the people were anti-Roman, but the upper classes loyal; according to *Josephus' Life, the city repeatedly changed sides, then surrendered to *Vespasian.

Article

Tosefta  

Martin Goodman

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Jewish Studies
Tosefta, a collection of rabbinic legal opinions organized in much the same way, and with similar material to, the Mishnah. The relationship of the Tosefta to the Mishnah is debated: at times the Tosefta text comments on the Mishnah, but at other times the Tosefta is quite independent and contains material from before the redaction of the Mishnah. The Tosefta itself was redacted some time in the 3rd cent. ce.

Article

Zealots  

Martin Goodman

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Jewish Studies
Zealots, a Jewish political group in the 1st cent. ce. According to *Josephus the Zealots were one of the three factions who controlled *Jerusalem in the last years of the Jewish revolt against Rome (ce 66–70). In 68 the Zealots attacked the existing leaders of the rebel Jewish state, seized control of the Temple and, despite reverses at the hands of other Jewish factions, maintained an independent role until the capture of Jerusalem by *Titus in ce 70.Josephus' depiction of the excesses of the Zealots when in power in Jerusalem is deeply hostile (BJ 4. 128 ff.), but he none the less described their leaders as priests of distinguished lineage (BJ 5. 6). Their supporters included country people from northern Judaea. They signalled a break from the previous leadership in Jerusalem by execution of political opponents and by appointing a high priest from a non-traditional family. The name zēlōtēs was apparently a self-designation (BJ 4.