JESUS THE MESSIAH
His Life and Times
No. 3
Jews Spread Out All The Way to Rome
No one knows the exact date when the first Jewish wanderers found their way to the city of Rome. In the wars under Pompey, Cassius, and Antonius, many of them were brought captive to the city and sold as slaves. Generally, the Caesars were friendly to the Jews, but bringing them as slaves proved to be a huge mistake. They clung so tenaciously to the ancestral customs and values that it was impossible to make them conform to the ways of heathen households. Josephus, a Jewish Historian, tells a story in his writings about some Jewish Priests who during their captivity in Rome refused to eat anything but figs and nuts so as to not defile themselves eating the Gentile food.
Finally their Roman masters gave them their freedom for a small ransom or sometimes with no payment at all. These freed slaves formed the nucleus of the Jewish community in Rome and the social values that were started in the city were set forth by these people. The Jews were very sober, industrious, hard-working people and many of them acquired wealth. Over the years they grew mightily but still did not have a very high social position there even though many of them had acquired wealth.
By the time of Augustus, their number was 40,000 and 60,000 in the time of Tiberius. They still were not able to erase the hateful mark that was placed upon them for being a Jew. Augustus had assigned them a certain quarter of the city called the 'fourteenth region', with part of it stretching out to the sea. From the graves found here, it must have been a poor section of town. Not very many markers were found on the graves. Mostly there was just a faint rough representation of a seven-branched candlestick in red coloring.
Another Jewish quarter was found where the people must have been richer and had more status because of the symbols and markers on the graves. Still another was found near the ancient Christian catacombs.
As the years went by they must have spread out all over just about every quarter of Rome, judging by the locations of their synagogues.
Another way of tracking history that has proved significant has been the tracking of their dead. Much history has been revealed about them by reading their tombstones and monuments. They are mostly written in bad Greek or Latin. There is stark comparison between Jewish graves and the ones of the much more polished Romans. Still, the things that were written as tribute to people's lives tells much about characters in the Bible and confirms many things that fill its pages.
Except for a brief time under the rule of Tiberius, there was no law to prevent the spread of Judaism. They enjoyed liberty to worship as they pleased and had exceptional privileges. They could celebrate all their feast days and observe their Sabbaths with the assurance that Caesar had ordained and agreed to these things. They objected to bearing arms or march on the Sabbath, so they were freed from military service. They did not have to appear in a court of law on a holy day. This wonderful treatment lasted through several Caesars and when the last one died, they mourned him greatly, to the awe of the Romans. As a whole, for many years they were treated exceptionally well by the leaders of the countries where they lived.
The Jews of Asia Minor could also boast of wonderful privileges given to them by the rulers of Syria. Some of them possessed dual citizenship in that they could say that they had Roman and Asiatic citizenships. Those who enjoyed the Roman citizenship were entitled to a civil government of their own that was independent of the rule and tribunals of the cities in which they lived.
In truth, they enjoyed even more than religious liberty and communal privileges. In keeping with the tradition of the times, the rulers that were friendly with Israel gave large gifts to the temple in Jerusalem and to the Synagogues in the provinces. The magnificent porch of the Temple was adorned with many such gifts. It is recorded in history were the Ptolemies repeatedly offered expensive gifts. A golden wreath was offered after Sosius was given control over the city and Augustus and his wife gave several flagons (beautiful pitchers for serving liquid which were very ornamental and intricately carved) for use in the Sanctuary. Augustus even made provision for himself for a daily sacrifice until the last war with Rome was pronounced over. From archaeological findings it seems that Jews were not the only ones to use the Temple. There was a 'Court of the Gentiles' and a tablet was found that warned Gentiles 'not to proceed further'. In the words of Josephus it was "held in reverence by nations from the ends of the earth."
They experienced special favor also in Syria where the largest number of them lived at the time. In Antioch their rights and immunities were recorded on tables of brass.
Antioch was the third city of the empire of Syria and lay just outside of what the Rabbis of earlier had designated as the original boundaries for the Holy Land. This city formed an advanced post between the Palestinian and the Gentile world. Its chief synagogue was a magnificent building and the connection between Antioch and Jerusalem was very close. The Jewish capital watched eagerly everything that happened in Antioch. The rapid spread of Christianity there must have excited deep concern among the Rabbis who didn't believe in Christianity in the holy city of Jerusalem. Their concern was so great that three of them went on a mission to Antioch no doubt to try to arrest the progress of this new thing called Christianity there. Later in historical writings there is definite controversy between the Rabbis and Christianity.
The Jews there were strictly Hellenistic. In earlier times the Greek language was not a single, uniform tongue. Each of the city-states spoke their own dialect according to their progress and achievements. Even though there were numerous dialects, four were very prominent, and little by little these four gave way to one prominent one. Athens had become the cultural center for learning with having great writers and philosophers on one hand and great athletes on the other hand. The city held great athletic events and festivals. Because of the writings and scholars which came from there, it was the Attic Greek Dialect which rose to prominence as the official language. It became the language of the Egyptians, Syrians, and Jews, as well as the Greeks. From this language the phrase Hellenistic of Koine emerged. So the Jews there had emerged with the others and had learned the Attic Greek as their main language.
Because of the Jews being Hellenists, the Rabbis could not find a copy of the Book of Esther in Hebrew to even read, and he had to write out a copy from memory to read in the Synagogue. It was in this setting that the term 'Christian' was first used and it was from the church in Antioch that the Holy Spirit called out Paul and Barnabas to be used in their Christian work.
From the map below you can see how widespread the Jews had become from the homeland of Palestine. Their beliefs were so ingrained in them that they had taken them with them thousands of miles and started their own synagogues at the places they had settled.
For more information from this book, go to the archives page at my site www.cathydeaton.com There are other articles of interest there also.
