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Johns Hopkins University | AS.040.217

A Clash of (Ancient) Civilizations? the Jews in the Graeco-Roman World

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Judaism and Hellenism have been traditionally opposed to one another: the Jewish calendar celebrates the triumph of the Maccabees against the Hellenizers at Hannukah, and mourns the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the Romans on Tisha Be-Av. However, the relationship between the Jewish people and the Graeco-Roman world can hardly be reduced to a military confrontation. Did these apparently opposite worlds influence one another? How were the Jews viewed among the Greeks and the Romans and the many other ethnic groups living in the ancient Mediterranean, and how did they view Greek and Latin culture? What did they have to offer on the international, multilingual ‘cultural market’ of the Graeco-Roman world? Through a selection of ancient texts and modern scholarship, this course analyzes the vicissitudes of the Jewish people and of Judaism from the Hellenistic Age to the Late Antique, throughout the centuries in which Greeks, Romans and Jews found themselves living “under one roof”. All readings in English. Dean's Teaching Fellowship course.

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