The Specter of the Jews

Emperor Julian and the Rhetoric of Ethnicity in Syrian Antioch
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-0-520-29872-9
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, 235 Seiten, Cloth Over Boards, Format (B × H): 158 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 499 g

In the generation after Constantine the Great elevated Christianity to a dominant position in the Roman Empire, his nephew, the Emperor Julian, sought to reinstate the old gods to their former place of prominence—in the face of intense opposition from the newly powerful Christian church. In early 363 c.e., while living in Syrian Antioch, Julian redoubled his efforts to hellenize the Roman Empire by turning to an unlikely source: the Jews. With a war against Persia on the horizon, Julian thought it crucial that all Romans propitiate the true gods and gain their favor through proper practice. To convince his people, he drew on Jews, whom he characterized as Judeans, using their scriptures, institutions, practices, and heroes sometimes as sources for his program and often as models to emulate. In The Specter of the Jews, Ari Finkelstein examines Julian’s writings and views on Jews as Judeans, a venerable group whose religious practices and values would help delegitimize Christianity and, surprisingly, shape a new imperial Hellenic pagan identity.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Finkelstein, Ari

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Geschichte der klassischen Antike Römische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Geschichte des Judentums Geschichte des Judentums: Biblische & Klassische Periode

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations

Introduction: Emperor Julian’s Jewish Gambit
1. Julian’s Hellenizing Program and the Jews
2. Setting the Stage: Hellenes, Christians, and Jews in Cosmopolitan Antioch
3. Hebrews, Jews, and Judeans: Julian’s Ethnographic Arguments and His Hellenizing Campaign
4. Propitiating the Gods, Saving the Empire: The Place of Jewish Sacrifice in Emperor Julian’s Hellenizing Program
5. A Priestly Nation: Th e Jewish Priesthood as a Model for Julian’s Priestly Program
6. Th e God of Jerusalem and His Temple: Fixing the Jewish God in Julian’s Cosmos
7. Creating and Maintaining Hellenic Places in Antioch
Conclusions: Antioch in the Aftermath of Julian

Appendix: The Letter to the Community of the Jews
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Ari Finkelstein is Associate Professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Cincinnati, where he works as a historian of Jews and Judaism in the antique and late antique Greco-Roman world.