Civic integration of Jews in the cities of the Greek East in the first centuries B.C. and A.D.

摘要

The isopoliteia the Jews of Alexandria received from Ptolemy I was identical to politeia, or citizenship. Such a grant to Jewish mercenaries is comparable to other 3rd century BC grants of politeia and land to soldiers in Pharsalus and Miletus. An ethnarch and subsequently archontes nonetheless had administrative and judicial powers over the Jewish community during the principate of Augustus and afterwards, with powers comparable to those of the archontes of the Jews of Heracleopolis. Philo's two works the In Flaccum and the Legatio ad Gaium make it likely that the politeia of the Alexandrian Jews was indeed Alexandrian citizenship. Many Alexandrian Jews were deprived of this status by the prefect Flaccus' edict of 38 AD, but had it restored by Claudius in 41. The limitation imposed on the Jewish residential district immediately following their temporary disenfranchisement was probably maintained from 38 until 66, and Jews also became popularly known as xenoi in the city. There was perhaps a practical if not legal scaling back of the rights of Jews who had been Alexandrian citizens.;Josephus' documents regarding Jews in Asia Minor from Jewish Antiquities 14 show that during the 40s BC some elements in Tralles, Miletus and Ephesus resisted the decisions of Roman proconsuls of Asia Minor which protected Jewish religious freedoms. Other documents do not prove similar tensions elsewhere in Asia. The hearing of Ionian Greeks and Jews before M. Agrippa in 14 BC suggests earlier tensions over Jewish religious freedoms in this region endured, and were focused on the taxation of Jewish Temple monies and the recognition of the Sabbath as a holy day for local Jews. There was not necessarily a disagreement over the validity of the citizen status of Jews, some of whom were, according to Josephus, citizens in the cities of Ionia. Acts of the Apostles is argued to demonstrate that Jews understood how to and could at times apply pressure to the political institutions of their home cities in the 40s and 50s AD in some parts of mainland Greece and Asia Minor. These Jewish communities seem fairly comfortable in the Greek civic environment.;Directly before the Jewish revolt in 66 AD, Jews and Gentiles in Caesarea fought over control of local government and the cultural identity of the city. Jews were deprived of political rights, if not citizenship rights in their entirety. Because of the revolt in Judaea and internal disorders, the Antiochene assembly sought to abrogate the citizenship of their Jewish citizens in 70 AD, but was unsuccessful. The pogrom in Alexandria may be an important precedent which was imitated in Caesarea and Antioch, but with varying results. The events in Alexandria and Caesarea were fairly extraordinary according to Josephus' presentation in the Against Apion. His historical work actually highlights tensions between Jews and their neighbors in the Greek Diaspora, and is all the more trustworthy for that reason.