Art, History and the Historiography of Judaism in Roman Antiquity Brill Reference Library of Judaism
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Art, History and the Historiography of Judaism in Roman Antiquity Brill Reference Library of Judaism Editors Alan J. Avery-Peck (College of the Holy Cross) William Scott Green (University of Rochester) Editorial Board David Aaron (Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati) Herbert Basser (Queen’s University) Bruce D. Chilton (Bard College) José Faur (Netanya College) Neil Gillman (Jewish Theological Seminary of America) Mayer I. Gruber (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) Ithamar Gruenweld (Tel Aviv University) Maurice-Ruben Hayoun (University of Strasbourg and Hochschule fuer Juedische Studien, Heidelberg) Arkady Kovelman (Moscow State University) David Kraemer (Jewish Theological Seminary of America) Baruch A. Levine (New York University) Alan Nadler (Drew University) Jacob Neusner (Bard College) Maren Niehoff (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Gary G. Porton (University of Illinois) Aviezer Ravitzky (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Dov Schwartz (Bar Ilan University) Günter Stemberger (University of Vienna) Michael E. Stone (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Elliot Wolfson (New York University) VOLUME 34 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/brlj Brill Reference Library Art, History and the Historiography of Judaism of Judaism in Roman Antiquity Editors By Alan J. Avery-Peck (College of the Holy Cross) Steven Fine William Scott Green (University of Rochester) Editorial Board David Aaron (Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati) Herbert Basser (Queen’s University) Bruce D. Chilton (Bard College) José Faur (Netanya College) Neil Gillman (Jewish Theological Seminary of America) Mayer I. Gruber (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) Ithamar Gruenweld (Tel Aviv University) Maurice-Ruben Hayoun (University of Strasbourg and Hochschule fuer Juedische Studien, Heidelberg) Arkady Kovelman (Moscow State University) David Kraemer (Jewish Theological Seminary of America) Baruch A. Levine (New York University) Alan Nadler (Drew University) Jacob Neusner (Bard College) Maren Niehoff (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Gary G. Porton (University of Illinois) Aviezer Ravitzky (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Dov Schwartz (Bar Ilan University) Günter Stemberger (University of Vienna) Michael E. Stone (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Elliot Wolfson (New York University) VOLUME 34 LEIDEN • BOSTON 2014 Cover image: Model of the Beth Alpha synagogue, 1972 (courtesy of Yeshiva University Museum). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fine, Steven. Art, history, and the historiography of Judaism in Roman antiquity / by Steven Fine. pages cm. — (Brill reference library of Judaism, ISSN 1571-5000 ; volume 34) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-23816-9 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-23817-6 (e-book : alk. paper) 1. Judaism—Rome—Historiography. I. Title. BM150.F56 2014 704.9’48960937—dc23 2013031393 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 1571-5000 ISBN 978-90-04-23816-9 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-23817-6 (e-book) Copyright 2014 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. CONTENTS List of Illustrations .......................................................................................... vii Transliteration and Abbreviations ............................................................. xiii Preface ................................................................................................................ xv Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 1 “See, I Have Called the Renowned Name of Bezalel, Son of Uri . .”: Josephus’s Portrayal of the Biblical “Architect” ............. 21 2 A Note on Ossuary Burial and the Resurrection of the Dead in First-Century Jerusalem ........................................................................ 37 3 Caligula and the Jews: Some Historiographic Reflections Occasioned by Gaius in Polychrome ................................................ 51 4 “When I Went to Rome . There I Saw the Menorah”: The Jerusalem Temple Implements in Rabbinic Memory, History, and Myth ................................................................................... 63 5 Coloring the Temple: Polychromy and the Jerusalem Temple in Late Antiquity ..................................................................................... 87 6 Jewish Identity at the Cusp of Empires: The Jews of Dura Europos between Rome and Persia .................................................. 101 7 “Epigraphical” Study Houses in Late Antique Palestine: A Second Look ......................................................................................... 123 8 Furnishing God’s Study House: An Exercise in Rabbinic Imagination .............................................................................................. 139 9 The Jewish Helios: A Modest Proposal Regarding the Sun God and the Zodiac on Late Antique Synagogue Mosaics ................. 161 10 Between Liturgy and Social History: Priestly Power in Late Antique Palestinian Synagogues? ............................................. 181 vi contents 11 The Menorah and the Cross: Historiographic Reflections on a Recent Discovery from Laodicea on the Lycus ............................. 195 12 Jews and Judaism under Byzantium and Islam ............................. 215 Index ................................................................................................................... 229 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1 Jacob Binder, The Talmudist, Boston, 1919 (courtesy of Milton Freeman) ............................................................................... 1 2 John Singer Sargent, “Synagoga,” detail from Triumph of Religion, Boston Public Library, 1919 (courtesy of the Boston Public Library) .................................................................... 3 3 Joseph Freeman, a model for Jacob Binder’s The Talmudist, ca. 1923 (courtesy of Milton Freeman) ...................................... 5 4 Model of the Beth Alpha synagogue, 1972 (courtesy of Yeshiva University Museum) ........................................................ 17 5 Reconstruction drawing of the Beth Alpha synagogue by Jacob Pinkersfield (after E. L. Sukenik, The Synagogue of Beth Alpha [Jerusalem: The Hebrew University, 1932], 7) .... 18 6 Sacred Realm: The Emergence of the Synagogue in the Ancient World, 1996, “Ancient Synagogue Bema,” built from spolia and facsimilies of artifacts from various synagogues in Israel. Foreground: the Meroth synagogue mosaic. Left: model of the Beth Alpha synagogue (courtesy of Yeshiva University Museum) ........................................................ 19 7 Bas-relief of a building site, Terracina (after Jean-Pierre Adam, Roman Building: Materials and Techniques, trans. A. Mathews [Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994], 45) ............................................................................................. 21 8 Wall painting of a procession of a guild of carpenters, Pompeii (after Adam, Roman Building, 95) .............................. 35 9a–b Ossuary, Jerusalem region, first century. Inscription: Yehosef bar Eglon (courtesy of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore) ........................................................................................... 38 10 Tomb of Jason, Jerusalem (photograph by Steven Fine) ...... 40 11 Ossuary, Jerusalem area, first century (© Trustees of the British Museum) ............................................................................... 41 12 Bas-relief from the Hulda Gate of the Temple Mount, Jerusalem (photograph by Steven Fine) .................................... 46 13a–b Bust of Gaius Caligula, original and reconstructed polychromy (courtesy of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen) ...................................................................................... 51 viii list of illustrations 14 Reconstructed polychromy of the Virginia Caligula (courtesy of Bernard Frischer) ..................................................... 52 15 Caligula Shoes, Jerusalem (photograph by Steven Fine) ..... 62 16 3-D scan of the spolia from the Jerusalem Temple, Arch of Titus, Rome (scan by Unocad, courtesy of the Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies) .......................... 63 17 Postage stamp showing the menorah on the seal of the State of Israel ablaze, Israel Independence Day, 1955 ......... 65 18 Spolia from the Jerusalem Temple, Arch of Titus, Rome (photograph by Unocad, courtesy of the Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies) .......................................... 67 19 The Arch