Studies in Early Jewish Epigraphy (Arbeiten zur Geschichte des Antiken Judentums und des Urchristentums, 21)

ARBEITEN ZUR GESCHICHTE DES ANTIKEN JUDENTUMS UND DES URCHRISTENTUMS HERAUSGEGEBEN VON Martin Hengel (Tiibingen), Peter ...

Author: Edited by Jan Willem van Henten and Pieter Willem van der Horst

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ARBEITEN ZUR GESCHICHTE DES ANTIKEN JUDENTUMS UND DES URCHRISTENTUMS HERAUSGEGEBEN VON Martin Hengel (Tiibingen), Peter Schafer (Berlin), Pieter W. van der Horst (Utrecht), Martin Goodman (Oxford), Daniel R. Schwartz (Jerusalem)

XXI

STUDIES IN EARLY JEWISH EPIGRAPHY EDITED

BY

JAN WILLEM VAN HENTEN AND

PIETER WILLEM VAN DER HORST

LEIDEN

·

EJ. BRJLL

NEW YORK

1994

·

KOLN

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

Die Deutsche Bibliothek- CIP-Einheitsaufnahrne Studies

in

early Jewish epigraphy

I ed. by Jan Willem van

Henten and Pieter W. van der Horst.- Leiden; New York; Koln : Brill, 1 994

(Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antik.enjudentums und des Urchristentums ; 21)

ISBN 9G-04-09916-6 NE: Henten, Jan Willem van [Hrsg.]; GT

ISSN ISBN

©

0169-734X 90 04 09916 6

Copyright 1994 by EJ. Brill, LeU/en, The Netherlands

All rights reserved. No part qf this publication ml!)' be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval .rystem, 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 EJ. Brill provided that the appropriate foes are paid directly to Copyright Clearance Center, 27 Congress Street, Salem A1A 01970, USA. Fees are subject to change. PRINTED

IN

THE NETHERLANDS

CONTENTS Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . .. .. .. . Abbreviations. .........................................................................

vii ix

Introduction by the editors ...................................................

1

WILLIAM HoRBtrRY

Jewish Inscriptions and Jewish Literature in Egypt, with Special Reference to Ecclesiasticus ......................

9

jAN WILLEM VAN HENTEN

A Jewish Epitaph in a Literary Text: 4 Mace 1 7:8-10 .......

44

J OHAN H. M. STRUBBE Curses Against Violation of the Grave in Jewish Epitaphs from Asia Minor...............................................................

70

P IETER W. VAN DER HoRST

Jewish Poetical Tomb Inscriptions .....................................

129

ALICE j. BIJ DE VAATE

Alphabet-Inscriptions from J�wish Graves .......................

148

DAVID Nov

The Jewish Communities of Leontopolis and Venosa.. . .

162

GERT LirDERITZ,

What is the Politeuma?. . ... .. . . . . ..... . . .. . .. . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. .. ... . . . . . .... .. .. .

183

TESSA RAJAK

Inscription and Context: Reading the Jewish Catacombs of Rome ..........................................................

226

GERARD MussiES

Jewish Personal Names in Some Non-Literary Sources ................................................................................

242

Index of passages.................................................................... I Inscriptions, ostraca and papyri. . . ............................ ll Bible.............................................................................. m Ancient writings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

277 277 283 285

PREFACE The present volume contains nine papers read at a conference on ancient Jewish epigraphy organized by members of the Faculty of Theology at Utrecht University. The editors, who were the conveners of the symposium, are grateful to Professor Martin Hengel for agreeing to publish this volume in the series AGAJU. They also wish to thank Mrs. Gonni Runia-Deenick who skil fully refashioned all the manuscripts into camera ready copy. They further owe thanks to Dr Peter Staples for correcting the English of the contributions by the Dutch participants. The style of references and abbreviations used in this volu �e is by and large that of the Society of Biblical Literature Membership Directory and Handbook, Decatur 1 992, 209-226. An exception is our use of CIJ (instead of CII) for J.-B. Frey's Corpus Inscriptionum ]udai carum (2 vols.; Rome: 1 936-1952; reprint of vol. 1 with a Prolego menon by B. Lifshitz; New York: 1 975) ; the reason for our preference is given in note 1 to the editors' Introduction to this volume. Abbreviations not listed in the SBL Handbook are found either in Liddell-Scott:Jones or are provided by the contributors. A list of additional abbreviations is given after this Preface for the convenience of the reader (the most extensive and reliable list of abbreviations used in the study of ancient epigraphy can be found in the excellent Guide de l'epigraphiste, eds. F. Berard, D. Feissel, P. Petitmengin & M. Seve, Paris: 1989) . The volume offers no bibliography since several of the authors provide one for their specific topic. Moreover, a select but recent bibliography can be found in P. W. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs (Kampen: 1 991 ) 161-1 70. An index locorum covers non literary sources, Bible, and other ancient writings. The editors

ABBREVIATIONS BS

Beth She' earim I-III. (eds. B. Mazar, M. Schwabe, B. Lifshitz & N. Avigad) CdE Chronique d' Egypte CEG Carmina Epigraphica Graeca CJZC Corpus jiidischer Zeugnisse aus der Cyrenaika ( ed. G. L uderitz) CPJ Corpus Papyrorum Judaic arum I-III (eds. V. Tcheri kover, A. Fuks & M. Stern) Dom. Flev. Gli scavi del Dominus Flevit I (eds. B. Bagatti & ]. T. M ilik) GV Griechische Vers-Inschriften I (ed. W. Peek) ICI Inscriptiones christianae Italiae septimo saeculo antiquiores ( ed. M. Buonocore) IGC Recueil des inscriptions grecques chretiennes d'Asie Mineure I (ed. H. Gregoire) IGLS Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie ( eds. L. ] alabert et al.) IGUR Inscriptiones Graecae Urbis Romae ( ed. L. Moretti) IOSPE Inscriptiones antiquae orae septentrionalis Ponti Euxini Graecae et Latinae ( ed. B. Latyschev) JIGRE Jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-Roman Egypt ( eds. W. Horbury & D. Noy) N RSV New Revised Standard Version O.Tait Greek Ostraca in the Bodleyan Library at Oxford (eds. J. G. Tait & Cl. Preaux) P.Apoll. Papyrus grecs d'Apollonos Ano (ed. R. Remondon) P GM Papyri Graecae Magicae ( ed. K. Preisendanz) REB Revised English Bible Regional Epigraphic Catalogues of Asia Minor I-II RE CAM ( ed. S. Mitchell) SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum ( eds. ]. ]. E. Hondius et al.) TSAJ Texte und Studien zum Antiken Judentum

INTRODUCTION PIETER W. VAN DER HORST AND jAN WILLEM VAN HENTEN

The study of ancient Jewish epigraphy has received quite a series of new impulses of late. Although the old collection of epigraphi cal material by Jean-Baptiste Frey1 is still indispensible, as our main tool it is now gradually being replaced by new and better editions of parts of the corpus of Jewish inscriptions. It is well known that right from the appearance of its first volume in 1936, CIJ was regarded as very deficient by the specialist epigraphists, 2 even though it could not be doubted that Frey's work was a major step forward as compared to earlier, partial collections from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries which covered only one country or city or site. 3 Frey was criticized not only for being sloppy in his presentation of the evidence but also for having overlooked quite a number of inscriptions. On the other hand'he had included some which do not belong in his edition. Many of these defects were remedied in the 1 975 reprint of the first volume (which covers Europe) by Baruch Lifshitz, who wrote a very extensive Prolegomenon, in which he proposed a considerable number of corrections and additions.4 But, unfortunately, Lifshitz died before he could start working on Frey's vol. II, which covers

1 J.-B. Frey, Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum. Recueil des inscriptions juives qui vont du life siecle avant jesus-Christ au VIle siecle de notre ere (2 vols.; Rome:

Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana, 1936-1 952) . The first volume was reprinted in 1 975 (New York: Ktav) with an extensive Prolegomenon con taining many additions and corrections by B. Lifshitz. This work will be referred to as CIJ; the often used abbreviation Gil should be avoided since it also stands for Coryus Inscriptionum lranicarum. 2 L. Robert, "Un corpus des inscription juives, " REf 1 0 1 ( 1 937) 73-86, reprinted in his Hellenica III (Paris: 1 946) 90-1 08, and Bulletin Epigraphique Ill (1952-1958), Paris 1 974, no. 24 (pp. 1 0 1-1 04) . A. Ferrua, "Addenda et corri genda al CIJ," Epigraphica 3 ( 1 94 1 ) 30-46. 3 The only scholar before Frey who aimed at a more or less comprehen sive collection was J. Oehler, "Epigraphische Beitrage zur Geschichte des Judentums," MGRJ 53 ( 1909) 292-302; 443-452; 525-538. 4 In an appendix to his book The Jews of Ancient Rome (Philadelphia: 1 960) H. ]. Leon reprinted all Jewish inscriptions from Rome with many correc tions and additions (most of which were accepted by Lifshitz in the reprint of CIJ vol. 1).

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Asia - including Palestine - and Egypt, but not the rest of North Africa, and is still more deficient than vol. I. It is therefore to be welcomed that recent work is focusing especially on the areas that Frey's second volume did and did not cover. The Cambridge Divinity Faculty Jewish Inscriptions Pro ject recently yielded its first produce : William Horbury & David Noy (eds.) , jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-Roman Egypt. With an Index of the Jewish Inscriptions of Egypt and Cyrenaica (Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Press, 1992; xxiv + 378 pp., 32 plates) . This magnificent volume comprises all the epigraphical data from the Egyptian diaspora. Even though these had been re-edited by D. M. Lewis in an appendix to vol. III of the Corpus Papyrorum judaicarum in 1 964,5 they were in need of a new edition in which work of the past three decades (especially by the very productive brothers Bernand) would be taken into account. The volume is much more than just a re-edition of the Egyptian inscriptions from Frey (or Lewis) . It contains several new inscriptions and also an extensive commentary and exhaustive bibliography to each item. Further it is good news that Asia Minor is now being taken care of by staff-members of the Tiibinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients p roj e c t . 6 As to the evidence from Roman North Africa, Y. le Bohec published a comprehensive survey of all Jewish inscrip tions in that area in 1981 .7 And the Cyrenaica material has been dealt with two years later when G. Liideritz published his excellent Corpus judischer Zeugnisse aus der Cyrenaica.B Asia Minor is still most urgently in need of a new treatment, but the Tiibingen project is promising on this point; and also the full publication of the Jewish inscriptions from Sardis by ]. H. Kroll has been announced. 9 The Cambridge project is now focusing on a new 5 V. A. Tcherikover, A. Fuks and M. Stern, Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum ( 3 vols.; Cambridge Mass.: 1 957-1964) vol. III, pp. 1 38-1 66. 6 A good example of the very useful publications from this project is F. Hiittenmeister & G. Reeg, Die antiken Synagogen in Israel ( 2 vols.; Wiesbaden : 1977) ; see also footnote 8. 7 Y. le Bohec, "Inscriptions juives et judaisantes de l'Mrique Romaine," Antiquites Africaines 17 ( 1 98 1 ) 165-207. 8 Wiesbaden 1 983; this volume appeared as one of the Beihefte of the Tiibinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients. For a minor supplement see P. W. van der Horst, '"Lord, help the Rabbi' . The Interpretation of SEG XXXI 1 578b", in Idem, Essays on the Jewish World of Early Christianity ( N o v u m Testamentum e t Orbis Antiquus 14; Fribourg - Gottingen: 1 990) 1 82-1 86. 9 ]. H. Kroll, "The Greek Inscriptions," The Synagogue at Sardis. Archaeo-

INTRODUCTION

3

edition of the evidence from Western Europe. As for ancient Palestine, we have the three volumes on the Beth She' arim cata combs by Mazar, Schwabe, Lifshitz, and Avigad. 1o The Masada documents are in the process of being published now. l l For other places in Hellenistic and Roman Palestine, especially Jerusalem, there is a whole series of recent articles with publications of new inscriptions in various journals (see especially the Israel Explo ration journal and Revue Biblique) . L. Y. Rahmani did resean:;h into Jewish ossuary inscriptions from ancient Palestine and hopefully the catalogue of these ossuaries will soon be published. 12 Evidently the accessibility of the epigraphic evidence of ancient Jewry has been increased considerably over the last decades, especially in the areas from Frey's second volume. In addition to that, an intro duction to the field was published recently, which offers a status quaestionis, a sketch of the main problem areas and bibliographical aids for nonspecialists.13 Biblical and Judaic scholars have often neglected Jewish inscriptions in the past, but in the last two decades there seem� to be a growing awaren�ss of the importance of these non-literary sources. Several scholars have made great efforts to attract a wider audience for non-literary Jewish and Early Christian texts. The Australian scholar Greg Horsley is an outstanding example of this trend and it is certainly partly due to his important series New Documents1 4 that the interest of Biblical scholars for documentary texts has been renewed. Other stimuli are the history of the Jews logical Exploration of Sardis Report (Cambridge Mass.; forthcoming) . 10 B. Mazar, Beth She'arim I: Catacombs 1-4 (Jerusalem: 1 973) ; M. Schwabe - B. Lifshitz, Beth She 'arim II: The Greek Inscriptions (Jerusalem: 1 97 4) ; N . Avi9:ad, Beth SJ;e'arim III: Catacombs 12-23 (Jerusalem: 1976) . 1 Y. Yadin & ]. Naveh, Masada I: The Aramaic and Hebrew Inscriptions (Jerusalem: 1 989) ; H. M. Cotton & J. Geiger, Masada II: The Latin and Greek Documents (Jerusalem: 1989) . 1 2 See M. Hengel, The 'Hellenization' of Judaea in the First Century After Christ (London: 1989) 9-1 0. 1 3 P. W. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs. An introductory survey of a millennium ofJewish funerary epig;raphy (300 BCE - 700 CE) (Kampen: 1 991 ) . See also L. H. Kant, 'jewish Inscriptions in Greek and Latin, " A NRW II 20.2 (Berlin - New York: 1987) 671-7 1 3. 1 4 G . H. R . Horsley, New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity (5 volumes; Macquarie University: 1981-1 989) . The series is now being continued by S. R. Llewelyn in collaboration with R. A. Kearsley in vol. 6 ( 1 992) . See now also P. W. van der Horst, "Das Neue Testament und die jiidische Grabinschriften aus hellenistisch-romischer Zeit," BZ NF 36 ( 1 992) 1 61 - 1 78.

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in Asia Minor by Paul Trebilco, with a synthesis of the epigraphi cal evidence,15 and the recent publication of the spectacular Jew ish inscription (s) of Aphrodisias by Joyce Reynolds and Robert Tannenbaum. 16 The mention of a large group of 'Godfearers' in the inscription as a distinct category alongside Jews and prose lytes has rekindled the debate on the status of the Godfearers, on the relation of these epigraphical 8EOO"E�E1s to the New Testament o�OlJIJ.EVOl and crE�OIJ.EVOl, and on the question of whether or not this designation was a terminus technicus. This find has brought home to many a New Testament scholar the importance of non literary sources for the study of early Christian and early Jewish religion. 17 This satisfying development was one of the motives for members of the Department of New Testament and Early Jewish Studies at the Theological Faculty of Utrecht University to organize a small scale symposium on Jewish epigraphy in antiquity. The con ference took place on May 1 8-19, 1992. The organizers were happy to have as lecturers also distinguished collaborators of the Jewish Inscriptions Project in Cambridge and of the Tiibinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients: William Horbury, David Noy, Gerd Liideritz, and Hanswulf Bloedhorn. Their papers are to be found in the present volume (except Bloedhorn's) , together with five papers read by Dutch participants. Some of the conference papers by Dutch scholars were of too introductory or general a nature to jus tify publication in this volume, e.g. a general survey of epigraphic sources by the Leiden epigraphist H. W. Pleket, and a paper on numerical structures in inscriptions by ]. Smit Sibinga. Tessa Rajak, who chaired some sessions of the conference, kindly accepted our invitation to contribute to the volume. Several important aspects of the material under discussion are 15

1991 ) .

P. Trebilco, Jewish Communities in Asia Minor (SNTSMS 69; Cambridge:

1 6 Jews and Godfearers at Aphrodisias. Greek Inscriptions with Commentary

(Cambridge: 1 987) . 1 7 See also L. H. Feldman, "Proselytes and 'Sympathizers' in the Light of the New Inscription from Aphrodisias, " REJ 1 48 ( 1 989) 265-305; S. J. D . Cohen, "Crossing the Boundary and Becoming a Jew," HTR 8 2 ( 1 989) 1 3-33. Very useful is the recent survey by Fergus Millar in E. Schiirer, A History of the Jewish People in the Age ofJesus Christ (rev. ed. by G. Vermes, F. Millar and M. Goodman) III 1 (Edinburgh: 1986) 150-176.

INTRODUCTION

5

highlighted in the papers presented in this volume. The connec tion between documentary and literary texts is being explored in some of the contributions. Others offer a discussion of a collection of related inscriptions like curse inscriptions or metrical epitaphs, or focus on aspects of the history of Jewish communities in the diaspora. Inevitably there is now and then some overlap in the papers (for example in those of Horbury and Van der Horst) , but it seemed to the editors that the small degree in which this was the case could not justify requiring the speakers/writers to avoid it at all costs. William Horbury (University of Cambridge, UK) opens the volume with a contribution in which he compares Jewish in scriptions from Egypt with Jewish literature from the same· area and period, especially the book of Sirach, Ecclesiasticus. After presenting a nuanced and balanced picture of the linguistic situation of the Jews in Egypt, he discusses epigraphic themes in Ecclesiasticus with special attention to the contact and divergence in the genres of encomium, lamentation and consolation, a,nd concludes inter multa alia that both the epitaphs and Ecclesiasticus verge on the 'nihilism' of the Epicurean or rather Sadducean view of death. Jan Willem van Henten (University of Utrecht) presents an elaborate discussion of all aspects of the beautiful literary epitaph in the 1 7th chapter of 4 Maccabees. It turns out to show some resemblance to real Jewish tomb inscriptions but also to have several points of contacts with formulae in pagan and Christian epitaphs from Asia Minor and with conceptions found in Greek traditions about heroes who liberated their country or city from tyranny. Some of the data discussed would seem to corroborate the old suggestion by Norden that the book originated in Asia Minor. Johan Strubbe (University of Leiden) , the author of a com prehensive work on the pagan epitaphs from Asia Minor with curses against tomb violation, now brings his learning to bear on Jewish curse epitaphs from the same area. Apart from some very useful methodological remarks concerning the identification of such curses as Jewish, his contribution is especially valuable for its rich documentation, chief of which is the appendix containing an exhaustive catalogue of all Jewish curse epitaphs from Asia Minor (texts, translations and bibliography) .

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Pieter W. van der Horst (University of Utrecht) deals with the 1 8 or 1 9 metrical epitaphs of Jewish origin, 1 2 of which are from Leontopolis in Egypt. Mter a brief overview of the material he situates the genre in its ancient context (there are many thou sands of pagan and Christian instances) and discusses some of the poems in more detail. The striking absence of expectations concerning afterlife in most of these epitaphs is highlighted, as are the many features derived from Greek poetry. In an appendix the Greek (and in one case Latin) texts of all extant Jewish metri cal epitaphs is presented. Alice J. Bij de Vaate (Utrecht/Amsterdam) discusses the enig matic alphabetic inscriptions in a number of Jewish graves. These alphabets (or parts of them) certainly were no epitaphs. By means of a comparison with quite a number of other alphabet inscriptions from the ancient world and with some literary data she comes to the tentative conclusion that we most probably have to do here with a kind of epigraphical . apotropaic magic: the inscriptions were to function as a means to protect the grave against any form of evil. David Nay (University of Reading/University of Cambridge) presents an overview of the material from both Leontopolis (Egypt) and Venosa (Italy) , the two diaspora cities with the largest corpus of evidence after Rome. He draws attention to such peculiarities as the relatively high number of epitaphs in verse, the frequent use of the epithets pasiphilos and mikros, the use of the word hos before age indications, the tendency to mention death in childbirth, the· lack of records of people aged over 50 at Leontopolis, and the proliferation of titles indicating both leading positions in the civic structure and places of honour in the Jewish community at the much later Venosa. Useful tables with indications of ages at death are included. Gert Liideritz (Tiibingen) presents us with a wide-ranging study of TTOAl TEUIJ.a. He discusses quite a number of instances, both literary and epigraphical, of this term in order to determine what exactly the Jewish politeuma in Cyrenaica might have been, a much debated question . Mter a thorough analysis of the most relevant sources he concludes that most probably it did not consist of the complete Jewish population of the city concerned, but rather functioned as a kind of �ouA.-rl, an aristocratic governing body of the Jewish community.

INTRODUCTION

7

Tessa Rajak (University of Reading) deals with the context of epitaphs, which is very important for the interpretation of the inscriptions. She focuses on the Jewish epitaphs of Rome, because their context is lost to a large extent, and examines some major unanswered questions in this area. The spatial context in which the inscriptions were located and the meaning of the symbols depicted with the texts are discussed, as well as problems like the differing types of Jewish milieu, the social standing of the Jews, the organization of the catacombs, the religious exclusivity in the burial milieu and Jewish symbols as statements of identity. She concludes that progress might still be made via the original records of discovery and excavation, and via comparative study with non:J ewish material. , Gerard Mussies (University of Utrecht) extensively discusses non-literary evidence for Jewish onomastics in the Graeco Roman world. He deals especially with the various types of Greek names adopted by Jews and subdivides them into four different categories; his treatment of the (pagan) theophoric elements ,in several names is particularly helpful. Interesting is also his dis cussion of the various ways in which Hebrew names were adapted to Greek declensions and of the systems to form hypo coristic names. As a by-product of his study of the new onomastic evidence in the Aphrodisias inscription, Mussies presents some acute observations on the much debated opening lines, and he also decisively refutes some of the arguments currently used to determine the gender ofJael, the 1TpocrTciTI1S of the community, in this inscription. The editors express the hope that the contributions in this volume will stimulate the study of early Jewish epigraphy and incite further investigations into this fascinating field of research. Utrecht,June 1993

JEWISH INSCRIPTIONS AND JEWISH LITERATURE IN EGYPT, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ECCLESIASTICUS WILLIAM HORBURY

What light do Jewish inscriptions and literature in Egypt throw on one another? The question was noticed by P. M. Fraser, who confronted all Ptolemaic Greek literature, including Jewish works, with the contemporary inscriptions.1 Since his monu mental book this question seems not to have been pursued. In the case of Graeco-Roman Egypt, however, it is strongly suggeste � by the fortunate preservation of a body of inscriptions and a body of literature from the same time and place. Outside the Holy Land itself, Jewish inscriptions usually abound just when and where definitely assignable Jewish literature is lacking. Egypt fared better. Moreover, in Egypt as elsewhere most Jewish inscriptions are epitaphs, and epitaphs form the class of inscriptions which stands closest to literature; but in Egypt the resemblances between Jewish epitaphs and Jewish literature are even stronger than might have been expected. The literature is often epitaphic in theme, and the surviving epitaphs are unusually often of some literary pretension. Like other inscriptions, however, they con tinue to be of high value as documents of communal life. Comparison is therefore encouraged by shared place and time, and by contacts in style and subject-matter. Here it is asked how the inscriptions (especially epitaphs) accepted by Jewish patrons in Egypt, on the one hand, and the contemporary Jewish litera ture in Egypt, on the other, can be mutually illuminating. Are the aspects of the Jewish community reflected in the inscriptions also reflected in the literature? To judge by the inscriptions, how repre sentative is the literature which survives? Can each contribute to the interpretation of the other? The discussion of these questions here will be in three parts: (i) introductory, to point out the literature and inscriptions in view; (ii) general, on language and style; and (iii) particular, on themes in the inscriptions and in one selected book, Ecclesiasticus. 1 P. M. Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria (3 vols., Oxford: 1 972) , for example in a contrast ( 1 .282-4, 286) between the differing Jewish attitudes suggested by the proseuche dedications and by the Third Sibylline book.

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(i) Introduction The literature current among the Jews in Egypt is rich in epitaphic material, as noted already. To this day their books do much to supply the needs of commemoration and consolation in universities, colleges and schools. Benefactors are commemo rated with Ecclesiasticus 44 ( "Let us now praise famous men") , departed teachers with a lesson from Wisdom 3 ("The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God") or 7 ( "I myself also am a mortal man, like to all") , and consolation for the untimely death of pupils can be sought in a lesson from Wisdom 4 ( "Youth that is soon perfected shall condemn the many years and old age of the unrighteous") . These famous passages by no means exhaust the material, which also includes Ecclesiasticus on death and mourn ing, discussed below. The literature here in view for comparison with the inscrip tions consists of books likely to have been translated or written in Ptolemaic and early Roman Egypt. These include, first and fore most, the LXX Pentateuch, followed by most of the Prophets and Hagiographa, III Maccabees, the Wisdom of Solomon and the Greek Ecclesiasticus. These Greek books are probably all Ptole maic, but for III Maccabees and Wisdom an early Roman date is also possible . Outside the biblical and apocryphal corpus, from Ptolemaic times there are the Letter of Aristeas, the Third Sibyl line book, Aristobulus the exegete, and a diverse group of biblical expansions and paraphrases (on Genesis, Joseph and Asenath; on. Exodus, ]annes and Jambres, Artapanus, and the iambic Exagoge of Ezekiel Tragicus) ; and from the early Roman period, Philo, the Prayer of Joseph, the Fifth Sibylline, and perhaps the Christian Epistle of Barnabas. Jews in Egypt will certainly have read other Jewish books as well, not to speak of gentile literature; but the books named can reasonably be considered as Egyptian Greek literature of the Jews and, later, of the Christians. From this litera ture one of the wisdom-books, Ecclesiasticus, is singled out for attention here. The Greek version of the book, as its preface shows, was made specifically for circulation in Ptolemaic Egypt. Jewish inscriptions and especially epitaphs from Egypt chal lenge comparison with contemporary literature to an unusual de gree, as again was noted above. The vocabulary of the short prose epitaphs which pre�ominate is of course intertwined, here as else-

JEWISH INSCRIPTIONS AND JEWISH LITERATURE IN EGYPT

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where, with the literary vocabulary of character and status; but among Jewish inscriptions from the ancient world those of Egypt are unique for their proportion of metrical epitaphs of some length. (See Professor P. W. van der Horst's contribution to this volume.) To be more precise, out of about 1 35 Jewish inscriptions sur viving from Graeco-Roman Egypt, 1 14 are epitaphs, all in Greek apart from five in Aramaic or Hebrew. 2 No less than fourteen of these epitaphs - about 1 3% - are Greek funerary poems; the contrasting proportions are two out of 2 1 8 Greek inscriptions at Beth She'arim-(1 % ) , two or three - from Larissa in Thessaly, from Lorium, near Rome,3 and from Rome itself - out of all other Jewish Greek inscriptions, and one or two, both from Rome, out of all known Jewish Latin epitaphs from antiquity (still smaller proportions) . The Greek poem from the city of Rome [ 141 ] should in fact provisionally be considered with the Egyptian material, for it is the epitaph of a native of Egypt, Theodosia, who was probably also Jewish. 4 Further discoveries may of course change th�se totals, but the number of known inscriptions is sufficiently large to make the high proportion of verse inscriptions in Egypt remarkable . This phenomenon is perhaps mainly explained by the relative ly early date of the whole body of Egyptian Jewish inscriptions. Most come from before the end of Trajan's reign, and a good number are definitely earlier in the Roman period, or Ptolemaic. Among the fourteen metrical epitaphs, one is very probably Ptole maic, of 1 1 7 B.C. [30= C-!J1490] ; the latest possible date for another is 5 B.C. [33=C..lf 1 510] ; two others have probable dates in the first century B.C. (49 B.C. [ 1 1 4= Cij 1 489] , 21 B.C. [32=Cij 1 509] ) ; another is definitely from the reign of Augustus, of A.D. 8 [ 40=C-!J 2 Numbers in square brackets below refer to entries in William Horbury & David Noy, jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-Roman Egypt (Cambridge: 1992) ; the total given above includes one inscription not in that collection, the prose epitaph of Joseph, probably from Tell el-Yehoudieh, published by P. J. Sijpe ste n, "Inscriptions from Egypt," Chronique d'Egypte 65 ( 1 990) 1 22-5 ( 1 22-3) . GIL xi 3758, reprinted and discussed by J. Reynolds & R. Tannenbaum, jews and Godfearers at Aphrodisias (Cambridge: 1987) 3 1 . 4 For bibliography see [ 1 41 ] ; the epitaph can conveniently b e seen also in G. Kaibel, Epigrammata Graeca ex lapidibus conlecta (Berlin: 1 878) , no.566 or G. H. R. Horsley, New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity, iv (Macquarie University: 1 987) , no.1 14.

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1 539] . The others are all probably from before the Jewish revolt of 1 15-8. This dating means that the metrical inscriptions come from a time when the epigram was still a popular verse form, not least in Egypt. Local fashion is indeed likely to form a second element in explanation of their numbers in Egypt. The great majority come from the settlement of Onias at Leontopolis [27-40] , but examples were found at two other sites in the Delta, Schedia near Alexandria [23] ,5 and Demerdash on the outskirts of ancient Heliopolis [ 1 14] ; the Roman epitaph of the Egyptian Theodosia is probably another example. When this distribution is viewed together with the popularity of metrical epitaphs among non:Jews in Egypt, readily seen from E. Bernand's collection of metrical in scriptions, the metrical epitaphs seem likely to represent a general rather than exceptional Jewish usage in Egypt. Jewish patronage need not imply Jewish authorship of the funerary poems, but it certainly does not exclude it, and there is no reason why Jews in Egypt, where Greek metrical verse by Jews flourished ( see below) , should not have been epigrammatists and composers of Greek epitaphs. The closely-related arts of lamentation and fune ral oration were highly esteemed later on in rabbinic circles in Judaea, Galilee, and the eastern and western diaspora. 6 (ii) Language and Style

When the books are confronted by contemporary inscriptions, the question of language is immediately raised. The Ptolemaic epi-. taphs include two in Aramaic, from Alexandria [3-4, CIJ 1 424-5] . From the Roman period there are three Hebrew epitaphs, not earlier than the second century, and in two cases probably a good 5 E. Bern and, Inscriptions metriques de l 'Egypte pico-romaine (Paris: 1 969) , no.37; not in CIJ. 6 Much material, mainly relating to the second century A.D. onwards, is collected and quoted by J. Hamburger, Real-Encyclopadie fur Bibel und Talmud, ii (Leipzig: 1 883) , 679-685, s. "Leichenrede"; in the name of Bar Kappara (late second-century Galilee) is the saying 11ElOil:> 111::::1.:::> c:>n ( b. Mo'ed Qa.t. 25a) . Tubal-Cain's sister Naamah was said to have been expert in songs and laments (Targum Ps.-Jonathan on Gen 4:22) . From the later west, perhaps in the early sixth century, is the Venosa epitaph of Faustina, for whom "dixerunt 6pr1 vous duo apostuli et duo rebbites" ( CIJ 61 1 ; the Greek word appears in Roman transliteration in the inscription) . From the earlier period of the Greek epigrams from Egypt considered here is the Aramaic apophthegm addressed to a skull, attributed to Hillel ( m. 'A bot 2:7) ; in spirit and subject-matter it is close to Greek epigram.

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deal later [ 1 1 8-9= CIJ 1 533-4, 1 33=CIJ 1536] . Two probably late Roman synagogue dedications from Alexandria are in Greek, but conclude with r::li'?tD in Hebrew characters [ 1 5= CIJ 1 438, 1 7= CIJ 1 437] . These seven are far outnumbered by wholly Greek inscrip tions, as just noted, but they suggest that some Egyptian Jews knew Aramaic under the Ptolemies, and Hebrew in the later Roman empire. Accordingly, the Greek literature indicated above would not fully represent the linguistic range of the Jewish community in Egypt. Is this conclusion justified? Jews in Ptolemaic Egypt did not commonly understand Hebrew, as the preface of Ecclesiasticus shows particularly clearly, and Ben Sira' s grandson chose to translate into Greek, not Aramaic. Nevertheless, there are ·con firmations of the use of Aramaic and Hebrew. First, on Aramaic, there is a good deal to support C. C. Torrey's argument that the Aramaic Jewish vernacular of Persian Egypt continued to be spoken by some Jews in Graeco-Roman Egypt.7 This was allowed, without specific reference to Torrey, by, V. Tcherikover, who urged that during the second century B.C. Aramaic was replaced among Egyptian Jews by Greek as the language of literature and documents, but is unlikely to have disappeared completely.s The two Aramaic epitaphs, even con sidered on their own, are likely to indicate some currency of the spoken language; for Aramaic, a vernacular without strong sacred associations for Jews in antiquity, is unlikely to have been used where it was not understood. The place particularly concerned in this instance is Alexandria itself, as noted already; the ·epitaphs were found in situ in a hypogaeum ascribed to the early Ptole maic period at lbrahimiya, on the eastern outskirts of the city. Besides these epitaphs, however, other Jewish Aramaic writings ascribed to the same period are papyri and ostraca from Upper Egypt which include Greek names. Further, Jewish Aramaic epitaphs from Edfu (Apollinopolis Magna) have been published since Torrey wrote; these are ascribed to the Persian period, but might be later.9 Definitely from a later time -A.D. 38, in fact - is 7

C. C. Torrey, Aramaic Graf f iti on Coins of Demanhur (New York: 1937) 4-6. V. Tcherikover in V. Tcherikover, A. Fuks & M. Stern ( edd. ) , Corpus Pa yrorum Judaicarum (hereafter CP]), i ( 1957) 30-31 . W. Kornfeld, 'Jiidisch-aramaische Grabinschriften aus Edfu," A nzeiger der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Wien, Philosophische-historische Klasse, 1 1 0 (1973) 123-37. 8

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the Aramaic word McipLv- recorded by Philo as uttered by gentiles in mockery of the Jewish acclamation of Agrippa I in Alexandria (Philo, Flacc. 39) . Philo 's description implies a disclaimer of any Aramaic knowledge, but this is perhaps rather like southern English disclaimers of any knowledge of the language they speak in Yorkshire, or, nearer his own time and place, the care taken in the Letter of Aristeas to maintain that Judaean Jews use He brew rather than Aramaic ( 1 1 ) , or the distaste for Aramaic expressed in a saying ascribed to R. Judah the Prince ( b. So.ta 49b) ; but although Philo only says that the mob used the Syrian language because Agrippa was a Syrian king, one may guess that part of the point of their insult was to mimic the use of Aramaic by some Jews, a linguistic trait which gave a handle to the wide spread description of Jews as Syrians - itself by no means a polite description in Alexandria and Egypt. To return to Torrey's argument, he emphasized that Aramaic among Egyptian Jews might explain - other explanations can of course be envisaged a striking description in the Acts of the Apostles; the tribune Claudius Lysias who saves Paul's life by taking him into custody in the temple court at Jerusalem is represented as assuming that the man known as 'the Egyptian' , who stirred up unrest in Judaea, will not know Greek (Acts 2 1 :37-8) . Lastly, going beyond Torrey, some minimal awareness of Aramaic in the Diaspora of the Greeks, not in Egypt itself but further west, in Corinth, seems to be suggested by Paul's own use of the phrase Maranatha, without translation, in I Corinthians 1 6:22. Paul was writing in Greek, . probably in A.D. 54, for a largely gentile Christian community which was, nevertheless, informed by Jewish literature and cul ture, and had also been taught by the Alexandrian Jew Apollos; and he assumes that this Aramaic phrase at least needs no explanation. Of course it is possible that Maranatha, here used by Paul to reinforce a solemn curse, was a standard phrase of Christian prayer, originating in Jerusalem or Antioch; but that consideration does not affect the point that at least a little Aramaic was evidently acceptable in a Greek-speaking community with Jewish associations and a link with Alexandria. By analogy, some Aramaic among the mainly Greek-speaking Egyptian Jews can be envisaged without difficulty. What can be suggested as the communal background of Egyptian Jewish Aramaic in the Graeco-Roman period? In early

JEWISH INSCRIPTIONS AND JEWISH LITERATURE IN EGYPT

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Ptolemaic times, the Aramaic of the Persian period no doubt continued to be widely used for a generation - the generation to which the Ibrahimiya epitaphs and the papyri and ostraca from upper Egypt are ascribed. Mter that, however, Aramaic would be principally the language of new Jewish immigrants from Judaea, Syria and the east, a language spoken by parents but probably not by their children. In the second century B.C. such immigrants appeared in large numbers in the reign of Ptolemy Philometor, notably in the settlement of Onias, and Fraser puts the con solidation of the Alexandrian Jewish community in his reign. Later still such immigration will have continued, as is suggested by Claudius's letter to Alexandria of 41 , in which the Jews are forbidden to bring into the city other Jews from Egypt or from Syria. l0 Visits for trade or other purposes will have brought other Aramaic-speaking Jews to Egypt for a time. Ben Sira's grandson tells us of his move to Egypt without giving the reason . Commer cial reasons are exemplified in the grand manner in the Tobiad narrative of the tax-farmer Joseph and his son Hyrcanus in Egypt (Josephus, Ant. xii 1 54-236) . Political refugees are relatively well documented. Onias's flight from Judaea to Egypt when the Judaean government was hostile repeats a theme which will have been familiar in life as well as literature; it is met in the Hebrew Bible in the narratives ofJeroboam (I Kings 1 1 :40, 1 2:2, expanded in LXX III Kingdoms 1 2 :24 c-f, on his marriage in Egypt) and Jeremiah (Jer 41 : 1 7:Jer 44) , and it recurs in the New Testament and the Talmud (Matt 2 : 1 3-23, b. Sanh. 107b, on the Herodian and Hasmonaean periods, respectively) . An early Roman instance in life is the attempt of Sicarii to find refuge in Alexandria, the Delta and Upper Egypt during the suppression of revolt in Judaea in the early 70's (Josephus, JW. vii 409-2 1 ) , the incident which led to the demolition of the temple of Onias. Furthermore, both immigra tion and temporary residence by Jews from Aramaic-speaking regions took place against the background of a numerous Syrian population in Egypt, who themselves can be expected to have used Aramaic as well as Greek.l l It was probably always possible to hear some Aramaic spoken by Jews in Egypt. l O dTTo };up( as,; AtyuTTTou KaTaTT>..lovTas ' I ou8a(ous, Letter of Claudius, lines 95-6 in CPJ ii, no. l53, p.41 . 1 1 The evidence is summarized by V. Tcherikover in CPJ i ( 1957) 4-5.

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With this conclusion on the Ptolemaic and early Roman period in mind, three later pieces of evidence for Aramaic in Egypt can be noted. In a Greek column-dedication of the later Roman empire, probably from Alexandria, the donor's father bears the Aramaic name Abbiba [ 1 9=Clj 1 446] . Further, from the fourth or fifth century comes the Berlin papyrus of the Aramaic poem 'Ezel Mosheh preserved in the Fragment Targum. on Exod. xiv, showing Egyptian familiarity with synagogal poetry which has been transmitted in the Targums, and in a Cologne papyrus from the year 4 1 7 there is the Antinoe marriage contract in Aramaic and Greek. I 2 From elsewhere in the western diaspora, at this later period, are two bilingual Neapolitan Jewish inscriptions of the fifth or sixth century, in Latin with short Aramaic formu lae . 13 These confirm that Aramaic was current among some Jews in the west, and underline the likelihood that it was used in Egypt. To look back now over the whole Greek and Roman period, it may be said provisionally that Aramaic was general among Egyptian Jews in the earliest Ptolemaic times; under the Ptolemies Greek became the norm after a generation, but some Aramaic continued to be spoken, particularly by recent immi grants from Judaea, Syria and the east; in the later Roman empire it probably once again became more widespread. This first conclusion bears on literary problems. For example, the Aramaic-speaking presence provides a possible setting for the Aramaic form of the early chapters of the Wisdom of Solomon which is conjectured by F. Zimmermann . Again, the agree ments between Septuagint and Targum may have as part of their background an Egypt in which - as in Judaea -both Greek and Aramaic biblical translations were current. The main point here, 12 Y. Yahalom, '"Ezel Moshe ' - according to the Berlin Papyrus," Tarbiz 47 ( 1 978) 173-84 [Hebrew] ; P. Col. Inv. 5853, ed. C. Sirat, P. Caudelier, M. Dukan & M. Friedmann, La Ketouba de Cologne (Papyrologica Coloniensia XII, Opladen : 1 986) . The new aspect given by the Aramaic marriage con tract to the question of the use of Semitic languages in the diaspora is pointed out by F. Millar, "The Jews of the Graeco-Roman Diaspora between Paga nism and Christianity, A.D. 3 1 2-438, " in J. Lieu, ]. North & T. Rajak (edd. ) , The jews among Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire (London: 1 992) 97-1 23 (99) . 13 Nos. 2 and 4 in E. Serrao, "Nuove iscrizioni da un sepolcreto giudaico di Napoli," Puteoli 1 2- 1 3 ( 1 988-9) 1 03-1 17 (she notes Aramaic influence on no.2, but the formulae in both 2 and 4 are Aramaic rather than Hebrew) ; I owe my knowledge of this publication to Dr D. E. Noy.

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however, is that the surviving Greek literature of Egyptian Jews is not fully representative of Jewish speech, which in Ptolemaic and early Roman Egypt also embraced Aramaic . Secondly, is there confirmation of the knowledge of Hebrew which was suggested by the five inscriptions from the later Roman empire? The survival of Hebrew as a vernacular seems to be ruled out by the translation of the book of Ben Sira into Greek, and by the deep respect for the LXX expressed in the Letter of Aristeas, Philo, and the festival of the Septuagint; but at least a limited Ptolemaic currency for Hebrew in biblical reading and prayer is suggested by the Nash Papyrus of the Decalogue and the Shema< . The habit of writing the Tetragram in Hebrew characters in Greek biblical texts, attested in Egypt about the end of the· Ptole maic period by the divine names in Hebrew square characters in the Greek Genesis and Deuteronomy texts of Papyrus Fuad 266, would cohere with this view to suggest at least a small Hebrew educated public. 14 Lastly, the movement towards revision of Greek texts into closer accord with Hebrew exemplars is likely to, be already reflected in the condemnation of revisions in the Letter of Aristeas 310-1 1 ; and the Letter (30 and 38) possibly also attests for Egypt a custom of public reading of the Law in Hebrew before its translati o n . l 5 It is perhaps just worth noting also that Philo, admittedly in a flight of rhetoric, envisages the possibility not only of Jews learning Greek, but also of Greeks learning the lan guage of the Bible ( V. M. ii 40) ; behind the passage, is there knowledge of cases in which Greek-speaking Jews learned He brew? 16 At any rate, on the basis of the papyri just mentioned, and the allusion to revisions in the Letter of Aristeas, a small-scale knowledge of Hebrew in connection with the Bible and prayer can be assumed in Ptolemaic and early Roman Egypt; like the 14 The writing of the Tetragram in this MS. is described and discussed by F. Dunand, Papyrus g;recs bibliques (Papyrus F. Inv. 266): Volumina de la Genese et du Deuteronome (Introduction) (Cairo: 1966) , 39-55; the papyrus may come from the Fayum, a centre of Jewish settlement which has yielded inscrip tions including a proseuche dedication from Crocodilopolis [ 1 1 7=CPJ 1532a] . 15 ' E�palKOLS" ypcijl.J.Lawvfj AEy6j.LEVa (30) , EK TWV iTap ' Ujl.L V AE'YOjl.EVWV E�paLKWV ypajl.jl.cinuv (38) , so interpreted by J. H. A. Hart, Ecclesiasticus: the Greek Text of Codex 248 (Cambridge: 1909) 269-70. 1 6 Hart, Ecclesiasticus, 268 doubts that any learning of Hebrew in Philo 's time can be inferred from the passage, but his doubt seems to be mainly based on the debatable assumption that no-one who knew both Hebrew and Greek could have written as Philo does about the LXX. .

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knowledge of Aramaic, it will have become more widespread in the later Roman empire, when other Hebrew papyri, for example Hebrew biblical papyri from Antinoe, corroborate the evidence of the five Hebrew inscriptions.17 From the earlier period, however, with which the present comparison of literature and epitaphs is mainly concerned, no Hebrew inscriptions have come to light, and it cannot be said that the epigraphic material shows up the literature as unrepresentative in the way that seemed true of the use of Aramaic. Unlike Aramaic, Hebrew was not a Ptolemaic and early Roman Egyptian Jewish vernacular. Thus far, then, the surviving Egyptian Jewish literature has seemed not fully to represent the range of Jewish speech in Egypt; we should probably allow for some circulation of Aramaic writ ings, as the Aramaic epitaphs suggested, and for a few copies of Hebrew texts. This charge receives some counterweight, however, when the style rather than the language of the books is con sidered. The books give some indications of Jewish Greek style which complement the epigraphic evidence. The epitaphs can be strikingly literary, as already noted, although they also exhibit unpolished Greek. The literature is divided in a not wholly similar way. It includes literary Greek, such as the prose of III Maccabees and Philo, but the remainder is not simply lacking in polish. The LXX Pentateuch and much else in the Jewish Greek literature is, rather, a close translation from the Hebrew, often with relatively modest Greek literary aims, but seeming also to have the aim of fidelity to the diction and rhythm of the Hebrew. This Greek style can perhaps be called 'barbaric' . In using this adjective one may recall the Jewish and early Christian accep tance of the term 'barbarian ' , ' non-Greek' , for the Jewish and Christian scriptures and philosophy (so, among Christian apolo gists, Justin Martyr, First Apology, v 4, vii 3; Clement of Alexandria, Strom. i 9) . Thus Philo says that the beauties of the law, until it was translated into Greek, were known only to the barbarian part of the human race ( V.M. ii 27-8 ) . Clement of Alexandria, against this background, follows Josephus and Tatian in arguing for the barbarian origin of all that is best in Greek wisdom, leading up to the philosophers' debt to Moses (Strom. i 15-1 6, 21, 25, 29) . 17

Papyri are sm.:veyed by C. Sirat and others, Les papyrus en caracteres

hibraiques trouves en Egypte (Paris: 1985) .

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The style that can be called barbaric is particularly noticeable in the translation of poetry. Hebrew writing which was recog nized as poetic, including the Pentateuchal poetry ascribed to Moses and others, was rendered in a Greek equivalent of the stressed Hebrew verse, without any attempt at the quantitative classical metres, even though Philo and Josephus describe the originals as if they were hexameter compositions (e.g. Josephus, Ant. ii 346) . The biblical psalms were of course rendereq in this way, and this style of translation is also represented in the Greek Ecclesiasticus, in a distinctively developed fashion in the Wis dom of Solomon, and in a work probably read in Egypt, the Psalms of Solomon. This fashion is all the more striking in view of the abundance of Jewish Greek poetry in the classical metres, notably the hexameters of the Sibyllines and the iambics of Ezekiel Tragicus in the literature, and the elegiac distichs of the funerary epigrams accepted by Jewish patrons in the inscriptions. In the roughly contemporary Greek of Ecclesiasticus and Wis dom, the biblical style must have been consciously followed. Later in antiquity, and again in the renaissance and after wards, the roughness of the Jewish Greek renderings of biblical verse was smoothed out in metrical Greek paraphrases. One may therefore suspect that the continuing tradition of translation and composition in the manner of biblical verse represented a certain cultivation of and pride in the barbaric style, redolent of the Hebrew Bible. Probably there was Jewish precedent for the defiant attitude struck by the Christian .apologists who gloried in their 'barbarian philosophy' . "The doctrine of the barbarous Jews, as you call them, is most pious" (Clementine Homilies iv 1 3, in a passage probably from a Jewish source) 1 8 "I met with certain barbaric writings, too old to be compared with the wisdom of the Greeks, too divine to be compared with their errors; and it came about that I was persuaded by these, because of the unpretending cast of the language . . . " (Tatian, Ad Graecos, 29) . Such an attitude would explain the adornment of the non-metrical Greek equiva lent of biblical verse in Wisdom by 'Greek eloquence' , as Jerome noted; the same is true to some extent of the Greek Ecclesiasticus. .

18

For the Jewish origin of books iv-vi of the Homilies see M. Simon,

Vents Israel ( E .T. Oxford: 1 986) 49-51 ; in a lecture to the British Association of

Jewish Studies Quly 1 992) Dr J. N . B. Carleton Paget ( Queens' College, Cambridge) has reconsidered and defended this view.

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The writers will have judged themselves to be working in a traditional style, which could appropriately be adorned but which remained essentially awkward and plain by comparison with that of classical verse. In style, therefore, the inscriptions hardly exhibit the range of the literature; they present both literary and unpolished Greek, but only very rarely do they seem to echo the characteristically He braic Greek which is so prominent in the literature. The literature itself, however, both prose and verse, can be divided into barbarian and Hellene sections. It represents both a strong attachment to Hebraic style, and a contrasting delight in elaborate Greek litera ry style. Some such division appears in the epitaphs not in respect of style, but in the distinction between Hebrew and Greek perso nal names. The division in the literature has obvious potential for symbolizing difference of custom or conviction, perhaps between the zealous and those whom they would have considered lax; but sometimes at least freer thought can take the Hebraic form, as in the LXX Job, or zeal for Jewish observance can be arrayed in elaborate Greek prose, as in III Maccabees and Philo. Finally, the literary Greek of the metrical inscriptions suggests that the Hellene section of the Jewish Egyptian literature may once have been larger than now appears. There was a Jewish public in Egypt for Greek verse in the tradition of Homer and the tragedians, as Philo shows and the Jewish compositions in hexa meters and iambics confirm; but the inscriptions give the fullest and clearest evidence for Jewish appreciation of another popular verse-form, the epigram)9 (One could also ask, for example, if the Pappos to whom Leonides of Alexandria (mid-first century A.D.) sent a birthday epigram was Jewish, but the question remains spe culative . 20 ) Jewish composition of funerary epigrams is a strong possibility, as noted above, but there is no reason why Jewish authorship in this genre should have been restricted to funerary occasions or inscribed verse. This consideration in turn suggests, 19

xxiii .

On epigram in Egypt at this period see Horbury & Noy, Egypt, xxi

20 D . L. Page, revised and prepared for publication by R . D . Dawe & J. Diggle, Further Greek Epigrams (Cambridge: 198 1 ) , lines 1 974-7 (p.534, no. xxx) ; Leonides belonged to the circle of Poppaea, who had Jewish sympa thies, and the names Pappos or Papous were widely used by Jews in Judaea and Egypt, including the wealthy Papous of inscription [ 1 26] (the founder of a proseuche) .

·

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more generally, the likelihood that the Jewish taste for literary Greek evident in the inscriptions engendered Jewish Greek literary works, now lost, in other genres too. 2 1 Not all Jewish work of this kind need have entered the nets of Alexander Polyhistor or later Christian writers; the Christian writers will have been less concerned with what did not seem of value in biblical inter pretation, catechesis or apologetic. Here the inscriptions implicitly call into question the doubt whether there once existed a larger body of Greek Jewish literature than now survives. 22 (iii) Epigraphic Themes in Ecclesiasticus How then do particular books appear in the light of the epit�phs? Can epitaphs and literature illuminate one another? Here these questions are asked with Ecclesiasticus in view. This Greek trans lation was made for an Egyptian Jewish audience, but the inscrip tions show it up as barbaric in style, making concessions to the Greek literary tastes of many Egyptian Jews only in vocabulary, not in verse-form. In content, however, it shares with the inscrip tions three epitaphic themes: encomium, lamentation, and conso lation. The epitaphs themselves represent Jewish patronage, and Jewish authorship is a strong possibility, as noted above. Like other epitaphs, however, they are governed by convention, and cannot be taken to express fully the opinions on virtue and death held by the patrons who commissioned them. To a great extent they share the forms and sentiments of the non:Jewish Greek epitaphs of Egypt, although the plain and aniconic style of the Jewish monu ments will perhaps have distinguished them from non:Jewish memorials more clearly than appears simply from comparison of the inscriptions themselves. 2 3 In any case, the inscriptions were set up by Jewish patrons, and will therefore indicate views and 2 1 In discussion of the paper Prof. P. W. van der Horst supported this poin t from examples including the chronicle reference to Sosates, the 'Jewish Homer' (see M. D. Goodman in E. Schiirer, revised by G. Vermes, F. Millar, M. Black, M. Goodman & P. Vermes, The History of the jewish People in the Age ofjesus Christ, iii. 1 (Edinburgh: 1986) , 559, n.74) . 22 Such doubt is expressed by M. D. Goodman in Schiirer revised, iii. 1 , 472, n.4; see the review by the present writer in VT 38 ( 1 988) 239-43 (242 ) . 2 3 See, for example, plates x-xiv in Horbury & Noy, Egypt, showing, among monuments quoted or cited below, those of Demas (x) , Jesus (xi) , Arsinoe daughter of Theodosius (xii) , Abramos (xiii) , and Machaon (xiv) .

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expressions thought to be acceptable in the Jewish community as a whole.

(a) Encomium First, how does Ecclesiasticus compare with the epitaphs in the vocabulary of character and status used especially in encomium? This vocabulary appears in Ecclesiasticus not only in the final encomium of the fathers, but also in the proverbs which form the staple of the book. It offers both contrasts and contacts with the inscribed texts, but is likely to reflect a roughly comparable social background. Ecclesiasticus lacks one or two favourite moral epi thets from the inscriptions. Those not found include dA.u1TOS' and XPTlcrT6S' , the latter being particularly common in epitaphs (but dxpr]crTOS' appears twice ( 16: 1 ; 37: 19) , and XPTlcrTo118da once (37: 1 1 ) ) . On the other hand, the characteristically scriptural epithet 8(KalOS' occurs in Ecclesiasticus (although by no means so often as in Wisdom) , but is lacking in the inscriptions. Where content is the same, expression may still differ; the chaste wife is awcppwv in a Jewish epitaph, or her body is a:yvoTpacp£s [36= CIJ 1 5 1 3, 33= CIJ 1 5 1 0, both discussed below] , but she is alcrXUVTTlPcl or aJ.lWJ.lOS' in the Greek Ecclesiasticus (26: 15; 40: 1 9) . One shared epithet is d yaeo s , used of the good wife in Ecclesiasticus (7: 1 9; 26: 1 , 3, 1 6) , in 26: 1 6 as yet another word in the sense of 'modest' or 'chaste' . In 12:7; 29: 14 (Hebrew not extant) and 39:25 it is used of the good man (:m!l) , as opposed to the sinner (a J.lapTWAO S' , chosen to render l11 , 'bad' ) . In these three places dya86s accordingly, through contrast with the 'sinner' , takes on biblical overtones overlapping with those of 8(KaLOS', but at least in the first two places generosity is central to the sense; the 'good man' lends or stands surety, while (in 29: 1 4, and probably also in 1 2 : 7) the ciJ.lapTWAOS' is the borrower who does not repay, as in Ps. 36 (37) :21 LXX. Generosity in a non-financial sense remains cen tral when, in the praise of the fathers, Phinehas is distinguished in more Hellenic fashion by the d ya86Tl1S' or generosity of his soul's eagerness ( 45:23) , a rendering which follows the tendency found elsewhere to picture the high-priests as ethical examples. 24 The generous ' good man' portrayed in Ecclesiasticus is very 2 4 For illustration see W. Horbury, "The Aaronic Priesthood in the Epistle to the Hebrews," JSNT 19 ( 1 983) 43-71 (59-63) .

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like his counterpart in the inscriptions. The metrical epitaph of the Leontopolis dignitary Abramos [39=CPJ 1 530a; plate xiii] ends by presenting him simply as 'a good man '; the whole may be quoted, since other lines in it are discussed below. lTEvnlKOTa TPL£DV ETEWV KUKAOV ilS' avooavTa airrbs b rrav8a!J.aTwp T1P1racrev Ets ' At8rw . ti) X8WV cij.l.!J.cxl>aVJls, OLOV 8Ej.l.as cl!J.cplKaA{JlrTLS ' A��ou t/Juxf'f;' Tou IJ.aKaptcrTOT(hou· oVK: ay€pacrTos E:,<J>u yap ava rrT6A.tv, aAA.a Km cipxt� rrav8'fv.4l €8vudJ EcrTEET' €v ao<J>lq. 8tcrcrwv yap TE T6rrwv rroA.tTapxwv auTbs rrELj.l.W , n1v &!J.epfJ 8arravrw e-eav(xms xaptatv . miVTa 8€ crot, ElTEotX' ooa TOt, t/Juxfl, rrp'tv E:KeUJE-s ' Kat TEKVWV ayaewv aiJeOIJ.EV yevei]. clAACI aU, 6> rrapo&1Ta, l8Wv aya8ou TacpOV av8p0s OV TE KaTEu<J>rl!J.WV TOLa cppc]aas li:rrt8t · ya1av EXOLS EAacppav e'Ls TOV arraVTa xp6vov.

5

•

10

When he had already accomplished a span of fifty-three years, the all-subduer himself carried him off to Hades. 0 sandy earth, how notable a body you cover: that which had the soul , of Abramos, most fortunate of men. For he was not without honour in the city, but was crowned in his wisdom with a communal magistracy over all the people. "For you were honoured by holding a city magistracy in two places, fulfilling the double expense with gracious liberality. Until you hid yourself in the grave all things that befitted you were yours, dear soul, and we, a family of good children, increase them. " "But you, passer-by, beholding the grave of a good man, depart with these favourable words for him: ' May you find the earth light upon you for all time' . "

"Good man" here (line 1 1 ) suggests first o f all that Abramos showed the generosity befitting his station, as was emphasized earlier in the epitaph (line 8) ; his soul (line 4) manifested its quality in his bounties, and had this piece been in prose he might have been accorded a 'goodness of soul', aya86Tl1S l/Juxfls, recalling Ben Sira's praise of Phinehas (Dr ]. W. van Henten draws attention also to the comparable IV Mace. 14:20 (cf. 15 :28; 1 8:20) , in which the mother of the seven sons is "of like soul with Abra ham", 'A�pad � o �6 tJ;uxov ) . The 'good' children, similarly, are setting up his stone with generous filial piety (line 1 0) . This interpretation of d.ya86s as 'generous' is of course in full accord with the usage of the word in Ecclesiasticus, and this sense of

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d ya66s recurs in Jewish and early Christian Greek as reflecte � in the New Testament. Thus the generous vineyard-owner in Matt 20: 1 5 is dya66s , and the wealthy and charitable Joseph of Arima thaea and Barnabas are both described in Luke-Acts as d vit p d ya66s, although in the last two cases something is added from the more distinctively Jewish or Christian vocabulary (Luke 23:50; Acts 1 1 :24) . The characteristically Greek farewell to the liberal Abramos can also be seen, however, in the light of the contrast with aj.lapTwA.6s in Ecclesiasticus, to be open to a further and more biblical understanding when read by a Jewish passer-by. Abra mos would then be 'good' not simply· as a benefactor, but also in a sense verging on 'righteous' , as contrasted with 'sinner' ; compare again Joseph of Arimathaea, fully described as dvT) p dyaeos Kat 8( KaLOS (Luke 23:50) . Once again, however, the biblical contexts evoked, especially in wisdom passages like Ps 37, would probably not be far removed in theme from the primary interest of the epitaph in benefaction. In any case the passer-by, whether Jew or Greek, is left at the end not with Abramos's personal name, but with the deceased as the exemplar of a social virtue - an effect of such epithets whether in literature or on stone. The section consisting of chapters 38-41 : 1 3 in Ecclesiasticus has many contacts with the inscriptions. It deals first with the physi cian, sickn·ess, funeral rites and mourning, then with the work of the scribe and of various craftsmen, then with the wise man and (in a hymn) the underlying goodness and justice of God's works, then with the fear of death and with the social virtues, and lastly with death, children, and a good name. The virtues commended include good faith and generosity, as u(crns and xcipLs respective ly may be rendered in Sir 40: 1 2 & 1 7. I H crTLS in the sense of reliability which it has by contrast with venality in Sir 40: 1 2 is a civic virtue suitable to a magistrate, as is xd pLS, associated with EAET)j.lOO'lJVT) in Sir 40: 1 7 (as in 1 7:22) and therefore to be rendered 'generosity' ; compare the use of xdpLS in the plural to describe bounties by a Jewish office-holder in the epitaph of Abramos, who held office in two places, 'ri]v &IJ.Epii Bam1vrJV €eawas xaptow ,

"fulfilling the double expense with gracious liberality" [39= CPJ 1530a, 1.8] .

( In the English biblical versions at Sir 40: 1 7, therefore, 'bounti-

JEWISH INSCRIPTIONS AND JEWISH LITERATURE IN EGYPT

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fulness' (AV) or 'bounty' (RV) seem preferable to 'kindness' (NRSV, REB) ; the later renderings are probably influenced by iOn in the Hebrew text, but the second half-line in the Hebrew clearly refers to almsgiving, 2 5 and this is probably the specific 'kindness' intended in the first half.) These qualities of rr(crTLS and xcipLS are the virtues ascribed to the young Somoelos in another Leontopolis metrical epitaph [ 29= C(J 145 1 ] : ct BE eE-A.ELs, yvwvat Bwaaat TTOOOll TTLaTLS' if3E XclpLS', Ka't. TTW;' TT
But if you wish, you can know how great was (my) faithfulness and grace, and how all are possessed by grief.

From Ecclesiasticus, then, it seems likely that Somoelos here is praised for virtues suited to a magistrate, reliability and generosity (I would now add this interpretation to the comments on [29] ) ; though likely to be young, for his father is still alive, he will have come from a background wealthy enough to support offi ce , holders, and perhaps did hold office . �ocf>( a is a virtue linked with charity in encomium, both in Ecclesiasticus and in the epitaphs, once again as a feature in the portraits of dignitaries; it was shown by Abramos, in the epitaph already quoted, OVK ayEpaaTOS' Eu 'Yelp ava TTT6AtV, aAAa Kat cipxfl TTav8iJJ.!£P tevuET tv ao<J>lg

"for he was not without honour in the city, but was crowned in his wisdom with a communal magistracy over all the people" [39= CPJ 1530a, lines 5-6] .

Here wisdom is especially associated with government, as often in the wisdom literature itself. Thus in Ecclesiasticus the en comium of the fathers mentions the 'wise words' of 'the rulers of the people' (li you IJ.EVOL A.aou ) , and also their works of charity (8LKaLocruvaL ) , among the reasons why nations shall tell of their aocpta (44:4, 10, 15) . 2 5 So (in accord with the Greek and the usual associations of i1p1� in Ben Sira) NRSV, REB, and G. L. Prato, ll tema della teodicea in Ben Sira (Rome: 1 975) , 325 & n.46, 393-4; with less probability, the virtues in both halves of the line are taken in a general sense in A. A. Di Lella & P. Skehan, The Wisdom of Ben Sira (New York: 1987) , ad loc.

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'hocp(a appears also in the epitaph of Demas [30= Clj 1 490; plate x] ' who died aged 38 iTOAAWV avepwm.uv �Oleos EWV aocp [(aL ] "having helped many by his wisdom". Not only government but also many particular professions are associated with wisdom, as appears from Sir 38:24-39: 1 1 . Nevertheless, the suggestion that Demas was a physician (a profession singled out for praise by Ben Sira) , although it is commended by the medical associations which �o1186s can have, seems less likely than the view that he was yet another magistrate [30 line 4, with comment] . The more general associations of �o1186s as a virtue of those in high places are illustrated by its occurrence as the name of an Alexandrian priestly family in the first century B.C. (Josephus, Ant. xv 320) . A medical family more probably lurks behind the epitaph of a five year-old boy who died in A.D. 8, bearing the name of the Homeric arch-physician Machaon [ 40= Clj 1 539; plate xiv] . In the vocabulary of character and status, therefore, there is by no means a complete overlap between Ecclesiasticus and the in scriptions. Nevertheless, Ecclesiasticus often illuminates the back ground of the epitaphs, as on Abramos as a good man or on the virtue of reliability ascribed to Somoelos; and the epitaphs in turn can confirm the interpretation of Ecclesiasticus, as on xcipLS" with the sense of bounty. The correspondence between the two bodies of material already seems close enough to show that the Greek Ecclesiasticus was indeed, as its translator hoped, potentially of value to Egyptian Jews, and that the values expressed in the Greek epitaphs were not remote from the thought-world of the Jewish · scriptures, as developed by a second-century Judaean Jew like Ben Sira.

(b) Lamentation The second epitaphic theme to be considered, lamentation, is once again prominent both in the inscriptions and in Ecclesias ticus. Ben Sira enjoins it as a basic duty (7:33-4 (37-8) ) ; he repeats customary precepts on mourning in a paradoxical demonstration that folly is worse than death (22: 1 1-12) , but he does so here with an emphasis on moderation which anticipates his fuller direct teaching on lamentation (38 : 1 6-23) , in which he seeks to recon cile proper feeling with due restraint. His concern for moderation receives illumination from the conventional but very marked stress on lamentation in the inscriptions.

JEWISH INSCRIPTIONS AND JEWISH LITERATURE IN EGYPT

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The third passage in Ecclesiasticus mentions duties incumbent on chief mourners, including provision of a winding-sheet for the rrp68EO"LS when the corpse is laid out, and the burial itself; and its advice is enforced with an aphorism from the deceased, in the manner of an epitaph (38:22, discussed below) . The main duty in view, however, is lamentation. The advice given is to mourn whole-heartedly for a day or two, lest one should cause offence, but then to be comforted: 1TLKpavov KA.au81J.OV Kat 8Ep1J.avov KOlTET6v ... Kat napaKA.iJ8TJTl (38:1 7) ,26 The particularly forceful language of the counsel to mourn - "make your weeping bitter, and your lamentation heated" - probably represents the original Hebrew throughout, 2 7 but in any case is close to the urgent tone of the frequent injunctions to mourn in the epitaphs. Specially ·note worthy is the use in Ecclesiasticus here of 8Ep1J.a( vw, 'make hot' , representing Hebrew con (see the previous footnote) ; the phrase recalls two biblical passages with the same pair of Hebrew and Greek verbs, on the burning grief felt by the avenger of blood (oTL TE8Ep1J.aVTal Tij Kap8(q , Deut 19:6) and by the psalmist brooding, on death (E 8Ep1J.dV8TJ 1) Kap8( a IJ.OU E VTOS IJ.OU, Kat E-v Tij IJ.EAE TlJ IJ.OU EKKau8iJcrETUl rrup, LXX Ps 38 (39) :4) , 28 This verse in Ecclesiasticus touches three much-discussed features of the Egyptian epitaphs: their stress on lamentation, their references to being 'set on fire' (with grief, or in cremation?) , and the apparent contradiction between advice to mourn and not to mourn in one unusual inscription. Ecclesiasticus resembles the epitaphs first of all, then, in its forceful counsel to lament bitterly and heatedly. Lamentation is inculcated at 7:34, 22: 1 1 , and this passage; despite the accompanying words on moderation in 22: 1 1 26 This probably refers (so Di Lelia ad loc.) to public lamentation near the time of the funeral, constituting part only of the week's mourning ( 22 : 1 2 ) ; this, it can be inferred, might be concluded "more gently" (T} 8tov , 22:1 1 , invoking, like 38:23, the thought that the departed is at rest) . 2 7 MS. B. ( here, the Cambridge University Library fragment T.-S. 1 6. 3 1 2) , text I:Jnin, margin Ciiin ; S. Schechter, in S. Schechter & C. Taylor, The Wisdom of Ben Sira (Cambridge: 1 899) , 62, ad loc., followed by R. Smend, Die Weisheit des Jesus Sirach (Berlin: 1 906) , ad loc., read by a probable emenda tion, in accord with the Greek, cnm. (Schechter compares also the use of the Aramaic cognate in Talmud Babli, Shabbath 1 53a �1'ElCi1 C'n� "make lamen tation heated".) M. H. Segal, Sepher Ben Sira ha-Shalem(2nd edn, Jerusalem: 1 958) , ad loc., notes Schechter's proposal but does not indicate a preference; Di Leila & Skehan ad loc. follow the text of the fragment without mentioning the margin, the Greek, or the proposed emendation. 28 These passages are cited by Segal, Ben Sira, ad loc.

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and 38: 1 6-1 7, the threefold occurrence in Ecclesiasticus of the counsel to lament attests the importance attached to this traditional duty, and it is significant that the more outspoken advice on moderation in the last passage has to be preceded by a strong and almost violent expression of the call to mourning. The summons to lament which is also characteristic of the Egyptian Jewish epitaphs had further analogies in contemporary Judaea, if, as seems likely, an Aramaic inscription from the tomb of Jason in Jerusalem is to be interpreted as a lament;29 but it is particularly well-marked in the Egyptian material. Three epi taphs include a threefold call to lament, and a large number have a single request for tears or mourning. 3° Three of them may illustrate the contacts with Ecclesiasticus in content and language. The first, evidently set up by an heir, has a threefold call [34= C.lj 1 5 1 1 ; plate xi] : ELI..LEL €yw ' I TJO"OUs, b cf>Ds BE ct>�ts, rrapo&1Ta , (E-�KoVTa ETwv) �Aeov 8 ds ' AElBav· KA.awaTE 8-fl 4La miVTas Tov €earrlVTJS llETa[3
I am Jesus, my father was Phameis, passer-by; and at the age of sixty I went down to Hades. All of you weep together for him who suddenly passed to the deep place of the ages, to dwell in darkness. And you, Dositheus, bewail me; for it is laid upon you to pour forth . most bitter tears over my tomb. You are my child, for I departed childless. Weep, all together, for the hapless Jesus.

This harsh but impressive epigram is almost solely on the duty of

29 So N. Avigad, "Aramaic Inscriptions in the Tomb of Jason, " IE] 1 7 ( 1 967) 1 0 1-1 1 ( 1 05, comparing Leontopolis epitaphs) . E . Puech, "Inscriptions funeraires palestiniennes: tombeau de Jason et ossuaires," RB 90 ( 1 983) 482533, takes �)'P 'lament' as the identically-spelt word meaning ' nest' , in the sense of ' dwelling' (referring to the tomb) ; but his objection that the rendering 'lament' implies feminine gender (when he takes the verb to require a masculine subj ect, although this is itself questionable) is not clearly justified (the plural of the word in this sense occurs as r)'P , Targ. Ps. Jonathan Gen 4:22) . 3 0 See Horbury & Noy, Egypt, 298 (injunctions to lament, from fifteen inscriptions) ; Sijpesteijn, "Inscriptions from Egypt, " 1 22-3 ( ol napoBE'l TaL KAaU<JaTE aTuxflv VEWTEpov eav6vTa ) .

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lamentation, as prescribed in Ecclesiasticus. With "weep, all together" compare in Ecclesiasticus "Be not wanting to those who weep, and mourn with those who mourn" (7:34) . The ground for lamentation is the heavily emphasized thought of death as exile; the dead man 'went', 'passed away', 'departed', to abide in 'Hades', ' the deep place of the ages' , 'in darkness ' . The injunction to mourn the dead man as an exile to perpetual darkness represents a topic also used in. Ecclesiasticus: ElTL VEKp4} KA.avaov, E�EALlTEV yap cpws, "weep for the dead, for he has left the light" (22: 1 1 ) . The lines addressed to Dositheus, presumably the heir, are particular ly close to the third passage on mourning in Ecclesiasticus, quoted at the beginning of this section ( 38: 1 6-1 7) ; they treat mourning as a requirement, but also specify 'most bitter' tears, like Ben Sira's 'embittered' weeping. Consolation is entirely absent. Similarly, the early epitaph of Demas [30] , quoted in (a) above for its one line of direct encomium, otherwise speaks only of sorrow, and enjoins lamentation: KA.au craTE TOV TipoA.t TI6 vTa . . . lTOALV, av6pC:mwv 8' il6Ea Kal cptA.lav, "weep for him that has left . . . ,his city, and the haunts and friendship of men" (lines 5-6) . No consolation is offered, but the call to mourn the one who has 'left' his own place exemplifies a topic used with similar vocabulary in Ecclesiasticus, as just noted. A third epitaph is governed, again, by a threefold summons to lamentation, but is a shorter and humbler composition, made up of metrical tags (37= C.lj 1 522) : ITamrtwva J.lELKpCv KA.aooov mtOTas . KNiE llE J.lfrnlp, 'fl iT [EiTU ] PUJJ.lfvTl , ELK [ootE ] TTTaETllV : KA.au [ craTE] iTUVTES.

Stand near and weep for Pappion, the little one. Mother, consumed with grief, weep for me, dead at twenty-seven; all of you, weep.

Here the mother is "set on fire" (lTETiupw�E VT} ) , in what seems although this has been questioned - to be an allusion to burning grief. The 'heated' lamentation commended in Ecclesiasticus with a different Greek verb (6Ep�alvw) will be compared below. Thus far, the Egyptian epitaphs can be seen emphatically to echo the summons to lament given by a Judaean Jew, Ben Sira. In this respect both Ecclesiasticus and the epitaphs tally with

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ancestral practice as reflected in the Jewish scriptures. In study of the epitaphs it has been asked if the value placed in them on lamentation is not likely to be distinctively Jewish, and their correspondence here with Ecclesiasticus and probably also with the tomb of Jason might seem to support the answer Yes; but it seems better to regard Jewish emphasis on lamentation as repre senting an emphasis found generally also in contemporary gentile culture, as the importance of the theme in non:Jewish Greek epitaphs from Egypt confirms.3 1 Ecclesiasticus is therefore of interest here principally as showing that this emphasis is reflected equally by literature and by inscriptions in Egypt, and was shared by Egyptian and Judaean Jews; it can fairly be said to represent a general Jewish attitude, and it exhibits one of the bonds of common feeling between the diaspora and the home land, as well as between Jews and their non:Jewish neighbours. Pappion 's epitaph, however, is part of the evidence cited in another discussion of Jewish practice; is cremation rather than inhumation reflected in the use of the verb nup6w here and in two other epitaphs [32=C.lj 1509, line 4 TlJ.l [n ] Em)pwKav €yw "I whom they burned (? with grief) "; 83= C.lj 1507 [K] A
Horbury & Noy, Egypt, 76-7, on [33] . G. Zuntz, reviewing CP] iii, in ]SS 1 0 ( 1 965) 29 1-2. Horbury & Noy, Egypt, 66-9, on [32] .

·

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passage on mourning and funeral rites in Ecclesiasticus (38: 1 623) . It tantalizingly fails to specify a mode of burial, neither com mending inhumation nor forbidding cremation nor mentioning secondary interment of bones; inhumation might seem most readily compatible with the 'rest' of the dead (38:23, E:v civanavan VEKpou, Hebrew no m:nv� or no n:Jtzno; cf. 22: 1 1 ) , but the wording can hardly be pressed to rule out cremation. On the other hand, as noted above, Ecclesiasticus here inculcates 'heated' lamentation by metaphorical use of another verb signifying 'to make hot' ' 8Ep!J.aL vw, repr� senting Hebrew con ; and this usage itself has biblical antecedents (Deut 1 9:6, Ps 39:4, quoted in Greek above) . Accordingly, the metaphorical use of nupow for burning indig nation and grief can be compared with the metaphorical use of 8Ep!J.a(vw in Ecclesiasticus and the Jewish scriptures - in Deutero nomy, the Psalter and Ecclesiasticus with specific reference to grief at a death, and in Ecclesiasticus with a reference also to lamentation, such as is in general likely to be present in the epitaphs. Here, therefore, Ecclesiasticus contributes to the inter pretation of the inscriptions, taking its place beside III Maccabees as evidence that 'fiery' grief will have been a familiar concept among Jews in Egypt, and strengthening the view that nupow is to be understood metaphorically in the three epitaphs sometimes taken to reflect a practice of cremation. Lastly under the heading of lamentation, the advice in Eccle siasticus to be comforted after whole-hearted mourning (38 : 1 7) is comparable with the injunctions to the bereaved in the short but unusual metrical epitaph of Rachelis [ 36=C.lf 1 5 1 3] : ci.OTEot KCIL cE-vm, tcaTatcXa:(x:mTE mivTES' ' PaxflALv acfxl>pova, 1Ta<JLLAT)V, W.; (€Twv) X . IJ.ll tJ.€ tJ.aTTJV 1T€vffiT€ KEVa{S' } . E'L 8 ' CKAbyov (fpa XP6VVOV KEpLIJ.EvOV , aAA.a EAEOUS' EA1TLOO ci.ya6llv €yw 1Tpoo8EXOIJ.aL . teat ' Aya8otcA.fls W.; (€Twv) Arl ·

5

Fellow-townsmen and strangers, all weep for Rachelis, chaste, friend to all, about thirty years old. "Do not mourn me in vain, [? uttering] empty [? groans] . If it was decreed that I should live but a short time, yet I look for a good hope of mercy. " Also Agathocles, about 38 years old.

Here the poet or the stele itself calls for weeping- (line 1 ) , but

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Rachelis tells the moumers to be comforted (line 3) .The apparent contradiction has been connected with other contrasts between lines 1-2 and lines 3-5; broadly speaking, the former are classical in style and content, but the latter, probably also meant as verse, are much rougher, and biblical in idiom.34 In fact the successive injunctions closely correspond to those in Ecclesiasticus, as noted in comment on [36] (see the previous footnote) . Moreover, the epitaph and Ecclesiasticus both speak of death as decreed by divine judgment, and if the Greek version is followed this occurs in both cases in a speech by the dece·ased, a point discussed below (line 4 of the epitaph, KEKpq.J.€vov, compare Sir 38:22 l-lv1lcr8TlTL TO Kp( 1-1.a I-LOU ) . The great difference between Ecclesiasticus and the epitaph (and between this epitaph and most other Egyptian Jewish epitaphs of this period) lies in Rachelis's "good hope" of an after life, also discussed below. With regard to lamentation, mean while, Ecclesiasticus here suggests that lines 3-5 in the epitaph continue rather than contradict lines 1-2, and that, as would be expected, the thought of death as a divinely decreed judicial sen tence was widespread among Jews. Conversely, the inscription underlines the strikingly epitaphic style of the speech by the deceased in the Greek Ecclesiasticus (38:22) . On the theme of lamentation, then, the inscriptions come close to Ecclesiasticus in both content and language . The book can accordingly contribute to their elucidation, whether on the exege sis of a single unusual epitaph (Rachelis) or on debated questions of burial custom raised by more than one inscription (Pappi on) . , The stress on the importance of lamentation which is common to Ecclesiasticus and the inscriptions emerges as one of the bonds uniting Egyptian and Judaean Jews, and Jews and their gentile neighbours. (c) Consolation and Death Lastly, a third epitaphic theme common to Ecclesiasticus and the inscriptions is consolation. Here, perhaps, the inscriptions most clearly offer a special contribution to the reconstruction of ancient Judaism. It is on this theme, however, that divergence between the two bodies of material has already begun to appear. Both 34

For comment see Horbury & Noy, Egypt, 82-6, on [ 36] .

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agree, with rare exceptions in the epitaphs, in treating death as the end; but Ecclesiasticus builds up consolation upon the thought of death as universal,35 whereas in the Egyptian Jewish epitaphs the main reaction to death is simply the lamentation illustrated above. One or two inscriptions have links with the main consolatory argument offered in Ecclesiasticus, at least one seems to reflect a less argued but still consolatory admonition to enjoy life, such as also occurs in the. book, others lightly touch the consolatory theme of rest, again present in Ecclesiasticus, and two suggest a consolation abse n t from Ecclesiasticus, the after-life; but all these consolations except the last assume the finality of death, in some epitaphs there is no consolation, and in any case lamentation predominates over consolation. The contact and divergence between the sources on this third theme are illustrated by the aphorism put in the mouth of the departed in the Greek Ecclesiasticus (38:22, partly quoted above) : !J.vT,aeT,TL To Kpqm IJ.OU, oTL ofrrws Ka't. To cr6v· EIJ.OL €xeEs Ka't. cro'L crfpEpov.

Remember the sentence upon me, for so also shall thine be; yesterday for me, and to-day for thee.

In Ecclesiasticus this grim commonplace leads to repetition of the advice to be comforted (38:23) , and its thought is more explicitly used for a theological consolation in a later passage on death ( 41 :34 "Fear not the sentence of death" which is "from the Lord over all flesh") . Within the passage on the duty of mourning (38: 1 6-23) the aphorism directly from the deceased comes in appropriately in the context of the burial, mentioned in verses 1 6 and 23, and corresponds to a characteristic feature of Egyptian Jewish and other epitaphs, a speech by the departed. It seems likely, then, that the Greek of verse 22, in which the deceased is the speaker (IJ.OU ... E IJ.Ol ) , represents the original Hebrew. The single Hebrew witness here, the same Cambridge fragment of MS. B which was cited above (T.-S. 1 6.31 2) , indeed makes the poet continue as speaker (,'? . . .1pn) ; but, a change of subject being unexpected, yodh in ,pn and ,'? will have been read in the course of transmission as the 35 See Prato, Teodicea, 332-63, discussing 4 1 : 1- 1 3 and related passages; L. J. Prockter, '"His yesterday and yours today' ( Sir 38:22) : Reflections on Ben Sira's view of death," journal for Semitics 2 ( 1 990) 44-56 (without the particular concern with consolation involved in Prato' s main subject) .

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virtually identical waw.36 Epigraphic material therefore contri butes here to the textual reconstruction of the Hebrew Ecclesiasti cus. On the other hand, advice fully agreeable to Ecclesiasticus here is not readily found in the Egyptian Jewish epitaphs. Instead, elements in the advice are attested singly. Thus, within the speeches of the departed, Rachelis's epitaph [36= C.lf 1 5 1 3, quoted above] enjoins comfort after grief, and also shares with Ecclesias ticus the thought of death as a judicial sentence, but still lacks Ben Sira's particular consolatory argument. Her "good hope of mercy" remains close in vocabulary to the expression of national hopes in Ecclesiasticus (2:7-9, developing Deut 30:9) , but is also close to Jewish expressions of a hope of immortality, such as Wis 3 :4, 9; the latter is probably intended.37 The principal consolation in Ra chelis's epitaph therefore traverses the assumptions of Ben Sira's consolation, although, conversely, passages in Ecclesiasticus like 2:7-9 could have been understood, by those who shared the senti ments of the epitaph, in the sense of their own fuller hope. Immortality is again the consolation, once again in a speech by the deceased, in the concise and moving metrical epitaph of Arsinoe, who died in child-birth; this ends KUL Tclos EV KOA'TTOLS KpimTEL TO E�OV � OOTOS ayvoTpa<j>Es' t/Juxil s ELS ocrlous ETIETE

Now this grave hides in its bosom my chastely-nurtured body, but my soul has flown to the holy ones" [ 33= Clj 1 5 1 0 , with comment] .

The 'perfect' disciples, qualified to sing the Creator's praise, are ba(OL in the Greek Ecclesiasticus (39 : 1 3, 24) , and to a jew this line in the epitaph might recall being "gathered to the fathers" (Gen � ------1 5 : 1 3, etc.) , but its hint at an after.;Iife for ibe soul is once again remote from Ben Sira's consolation. This is one of two Egyptian Jewish epitaphs in which body and soul are linked and distinguished. The other, that of Abramos, quoted above, is much closer to Ecclesiasticus. First, the divinity that snatched Abramos to Hades was the all-subduer, b nav8a3 6 This possibility is not raised by Schechter & Taylor, Smend, Segal or Di Lella & Skehan, all ad loc.; there is no special discussion of this verse in Prockter, "'His yesterday"'. 37 Horbury & Noy, Egypt, 85-6, on [ 36] .

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35

j.l.clTWp;38 the portentous epithet is used in a fully Hellenic context, but its solemn reserve contrasts with the more vivid mythology of the epitaph of a bride, who is made to say, in allusion to the story of Proserpine [ 31 = CIJ 1508] � po [B ] ov [E- ]v Kfrrrwt [v ] oTLcrtv 8pocrEpa1at TE9 [ll ] A.6s [at] vt8tws l-IE A.a�w(�w)v �ET' twv ' At811 [ s ]

. . . suddenly Hades came and snatched m e away, like a .rose i n a garden nurtur� d by fresh rain.

In Abramos's epitaph, by contrast, it seems likely that a supreme deity is envisaged (see the previous footnote) . Here, therefore, the epigram corresponds to the negative side of the characteristically scriptural assertion that the deity himself "kills and makes alive, leads down to Hades and leads up" (LXX I Kingdoms (I Sam) · 2:6, cf. Deut 32:39) , a negative side which is singled out in Ecclesias ticus, following Job and Ecclesiastes. The epitaph thus connects the universality of death with an almighty power, as Ben Sira does (41 :3) . Secondly, the reference to Abramos's soul which follows th is opening statement leads into obituary rather than future hope; Abramos was snatched to Hades, but his body now beneath the sandy earth once held the notable soul of a generous magistrate and benefactor, and his children too can say that they have behaved handsomely towards him, addressing him as "dear soul" in lines following the epitaphic convention that the de ceased both speaks and is spoken to. The passer-by is asked to say, May you find the earth light upon you for all time . (This common epitaphic wish occurs also in the epitaph of Arsinoe daughter of Theodosius, quoted below, and in [ 1 09= CIJ 1 484, 1 1 3= CIJ 1 488] . 39) Thus, after the initial reference to Hades, the epigram moves from the mention of the soul, connected with the past lifetime of Abramos, back again to the initial theme of the repose of his body in the present beneath the earth. The epitaph therefore seems compatible with the Epicurean doctrine of the mortality of the soul (Lucretius iii 41 7-829) , ascribed by Josephus

38 For the reference of this epithet to an omnipotent divinity rather than time, against a Greek literary background, see Horbury & Noy, Egypt, 98, on [39] , line 2. 39 On this wish see R. Lattimore, Themes in Greek and Latin Epitaphs (Urbana: 1942 ) , 65-8.

36

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also to the Sadducees, who "hold that souls perish along with bodies" (Ant. xviii 1 6) . The epigrammatist's treatment of Hades as the place to which Abramos was "snatched away" could merit Ben Sira's comment ou yap €anv €mivo8os (38:21 ) . Thirdly, the particular consolations in this epitaph, implied rather than worked out, are two which, once more, appear in Ecclesiasticus: the universality of death ( 41 :3) , and rest in the grave (38:23) . A similar train of thought emerges in the Doric dialogue epitaph of another Arsinoe, daughter of Theodosius [38 (and plate xii) Clj 1530] : =

CJTOAa �avVrELpa . -TLS Ev KUavmryEt TiJjl�WL KE1am; KaL mhpav Kat 'YEVETllV Eve-rrE . ' ApaLv6a, KOUpa 8' AA.tVIlS Ka't Bfl8oatmo , ¢ai.J.Laffi 8' Ovtou 'Ya Tpocf>bs �ETEpa . lTOO<JaETllS s wA.Lcreas irrro <JKOT6EV KA4J.a A6.8as ; LKOOETllS 'YOEpov xwpov El31lv VEKUwV. (Euyt�s BE 'Y�ous; -((}Eux�v . -KaTEA.tvrravEs aimfl TEKVOV; aTEKVOS E(3av Els' .At8ao 86jlous . 'L11 <JOL Kolxf>a. xSWv a cf>8L�EVOLO cpuMKTwp . KaL <JOL, eELVE , cf>Epm Kaprrov arro <JTaXtxuV.

The stele bears witness. - "Who are you that lie in the dark tomb? Tell me your country and your father. " "Arsinoe, daughter of Aline and Theodosius, and the land which nourished us is called the land of Onias." "How old were you when you slipped down into the shadowy region of Lethe? " "At twenty years old I went to the mournful place of the dead." "Were you joined in marriage?" "I was . " "Did you leave him a child?" "Childless I went to the . house of Hades. " "May the earth, the guardian of the dead, be light upon you." "And for you, stranger, may it bear fruitful crops. "

Here too the poem returns at the end to the initial thought of the tomb, and then the prayer that the earth may be light is developed with grace and tact to bring consoling hints of rest and of nature's continuity; but the ' dark' tomb in the first line prepares for a mournfully repetitive insistence on the underworld - " t h e shadowy region of Lethe", "the mournful place of the dead", "the house of Hades". This threefold reference to the underworld recalls the similar threefold reference in the epitaph of Jesus son of Phameis, quoted in the previous section. In Arsinoe's epitaph here the theme of rest is again part of such consolation as is offered, but the principal emphasis lies on the finality of death,

JEWISH INSCRIPTIONS AND JEWISH LITERATURE IN EGYPT

37

again in accord with Ben Sira' s maxim that "there is no way up again" (38:2 1 , quoted above) . Perhaps the nearest analogy, in form as well as content, to the aphorism from the deceased in Ecclesiasticus is in [32= Clj 1 509] , where the departed Horaia, speaking also for her dead husband and daughter, dismisses the reader of their epitaph with the distich ' A'M.' C.LlTEXELS, til �LVE, aacf>W; Ta aTTaVTa Trap' 'flp.wv : ayyE-'M.ELV TTUaLV TOU eavchou TO TclXOS .

But stranger, you have clearly all there is to know of us; tell all men of the swiftness of death.

Here the universality of death is stressed in a general warning of its swift approach. In both points of content, as in its form as an utterance of the departed, Horaia' s saying is comparable with Sir 38:22 . On the other hand, it probably implies an injunction to enjoy life, such as occurs not here but elsewhere in Ecclesiasticus in this connection ("Remember that death will not tarry . . . do not defraud yourself of a good day ... for there is no seeking of luxury in Hades", 14: 1 2-1 6) . Advice of this kind had long been familiar in the ancient world, including Judah (Isa 22: 1 3) , but by the second century B.C. it was doubtless often associated with Epicurus;40 it was rejected in the Wisdom of Solomon (2: 1-9) and by St. Paul (I Cor 15:32-4) , but can occur in a Jewish inscription more expressly than is the case in Horaia' s epitaph, just as it does in gentile epitaphs - as Ecclesiasticus would lead one to expect.4 1 Thus the tomb of Jason has the Greek inscription Eixf>paLVEcrTE OL (WVTES a8EA<j>OL, K(al) TTELV qm· o(u8EtS) a8avaTOS

"Rejoice, brethren who are alive, and drink together; no-one is immortal ". 42

40 The letter of Epicurus to Menoeceus, against the fear of death and for recognition of pleasure as the highest good, includes a complaint that some in ignorance or opposition wrongly identify this pleasure with luxurious living (Diogenes Laertius x 1 24-6, 1 29, 1 32) . 41 For a Greek metrical epitaph from Cos in which the departed says TIEL VE , �A.€ ms- TO TE AOS' see A. Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East (E.T. London: 1 9 1 0) , 295-6, with photograph; G. Kaibel, Epigrammata graeca ex lapi dibus conlecta (Berlin: 1 878) , nos. 261 , 362, 480a, 439 are cited by C. Larcher, Le livre de la Sagesse, i (Paris: 1983) , 228, to illustrate Wis 2:6. 42 The text follows Puech, "Inscriptions funeraires, " 492-4. Ou BE!. s-

38

W. HORBURY

This may relate to memorial dinners held at the tomb (E. Puech, as cited in the previous footnote) , but that would not remove its Epicurean overtones. Horaia' s stress on the universality of death therefore offers some analogy to the consolatory argument of Sir 38:22, 41 :3-4, in addition to the similarly partial analogies found in other epitaphs, but her final injunction as a whole implies counsel closer to the more Epicurean comfort of Sir 14: 1 1-19, a passage itself comparable with the Judaean Greek inscription of the tomb ofJason. In sum, therefore, the Egyptian epitaphs fail to correspond fully to the more theological line of consolation developed in Ecclesias ticus. Sometimes, indeed, as in the epitaphs of Jesus son of Phameis and Demas quoted in the previous section, compositions of some length offer no consolation at all; this is true also of the elaborate double epigram [ 1 41 ] , commemorating the daughter of an Egyptian and probably Jewish family in Rome with an invective against Charon. On the other hand, as seen in the present section, some material in the epitaphs can be compared at least in part with the theological consolation of Ecclesiasticus, and some passages point also to other kinds of consolation; rest in the grave is an opening and closing theme in the epitaphs of Abra mos and Arsinoe daughter of Theodosius, Horaia hints at advice to e�oy life (both topics are met in Ecclesiasticus) , and Rachelis and the other Arsinoe express hopes of immortality (absent from Ecclesiasticus) . In form, however, there is a closer correspon dence. Ecclesiasticus and the relevant inscriptions have contacts in vocabulary, and almost all of the epitaphs in question put their words of consolation into the mouth of the deceased, just as happens with the grim but salutary aphorism of Sir 38:22. The marked resemblance between Ecclesiasticus and many of the inscriptions on this theme which emerges, despite these diffe rences, is in the presupposition that death is bitterly lamentable for its finality. This correspondence between many of the epitaphs and Eccle siasticus on death as the end has been mentioned already; but it d. 8dvaTOS becomes popular as part of an address to the departed in Jewish epitaphs from Beth She ' arim and Rome, gaining associations different from those which it has when addressed to the survivors (L. H . Kant, 'Jewish Inscriptions in Greek and Latin," ANRW ii.20.2 ( 1 987) 671-7 1 3 (680 & n.34) ) .

JEWISH INSCRIPTIONS AND JEWISH LITERATURE IN EGYPT

39

deserves separate notice in its bearing on the description of Judaism in this period. In Ecclesiasticus, following earlier biblical tradition, there is no pleasure, no praise of God, no life in Hades ( 1 4: 1 2 (quoted above) , 1 7:27; 41 :4) . This position receives some qualification from the importance in Ecclesiasticus of national hopes, as at 2:7-9, cited above, and from Ben Sira's view of death as 'rest' (dvchraucrts ) , also noted above (22:1 1 ; 38: 1 6) ; but the main emphasis is on the. finality of death . Similarly, immortality figures expressly in only two of the epitaphs. The concept of rest is implied in occurr�nces of the widespread wish that the earth should lie lightly on the dead; but the theme of death as departure to the shadows is far more prominent, and in the nature of the widely-used imagery of Hades the thought of departure · is continuous with the harsher thought of death as captivity. So, in epitaphs quoted above, Demas left the city, and the haunts and friendship of men, Arsinoe daughter of Theodosius went child less to the house of Hades, the all-subduer snatched Abramos away to Hades, Hades himself, as in the myth of Proserpine,, snatched away a bride whose name is lost, and Jesus son of Phameis suddenly passed to the deep place of the ages (Els J.lUXOV atwvwv) , to dwell in darkness. (The "deep places (J.luxot) of Hades" are mentioned in the Wisdom of Solomon ( 1 7: 1 3 ( 1 4) ) and Philo (e.g. Heres 45) , and the Essenes hold that base souls are punished in a J.!UXOS, according to Josephus (f. W ii 1 55) .) As noted already, the epitaphs do not necessarily express the full mind of the Jewish community on death, but they show that a mainly mournful and often mythological commemoration could regularly be accepted as suitable, even though it seemed to leave the departed, by contrast with the affirmations of the Wisdom of Solomon, in the dominion or palace of Hades (q8ou �aaL\Etov, Wis 1 : 1 4) . In Ecclesiasticus Hades is scarcely described; it is the negation of life, and references to it are descriptive mainly through echoes of earlier biblical passages on Hades. By contrast, in the epitaphs the Greek legends of Hades are primary, although for the most part Hades is not personified (the exception is [ 3 1 = C.lj 1 508] , alluding to Hades and Proserpine) . Does this content suggest that the epitaphs were remote from Jewish feeling? Mythological allusions were de rigueur in funerary epigrams, but the hold of the myths of Hades on Jewish as well as gentile imagination should not be underestimated. It appears in Wisdom and Philo, as cited

40

W. HORBURY

in the previous paragraph, but it was not restricted to the diaspora; it can also be seen in Josephus, for example on Essene views of the after-life (f. W ii 1 55-6) , and will have formed part of the back grotlnd of the practice of placing a coin in the mouth of the departed, in accord with the Greek custom of providing Charon's fare, now attested in Jewish burials in Jerusalem.43 Egyptian Jewish patrons are likely to have appreciated the mythological elements in the epitaphs. On the subject of Hades there was in any case a considerable overlap between biblical and Greek con ceptions, recognized in earlier discussion of the epitaphs. 44 This overlap was both signalled and encouraged by the use of Greek q 8T}S' to render Hebrew ,,�tv , in the LXX Pentateuch and other biblical and post-biblical writings, including Ecclesiasticus in the passages just cited, among others. It could extend to the personi fication of Hades (lsa 5:14 LXX, cf. Wis 1 : 14) . The accord between the epitaphs and Ecclesiasticus in their main emphasis is therefore not lessened by the contrast between the mythology of the epitaphs and the biblical reserve of Eccle siasticus. Both verge on what has been called the 'nihilism' of Epicurean views of death, a characteristic discerned in some Latin epitaphs of this period against a Greek and Roman literary back ground which includes the verse of Lucretius and Horace.45 Opinions on death which can broadly be called Sadducaic seem therefore to have been influential among Jews in Egypt as well as Judaea, where the inscriptions of the tomb of Jason come close to Ecclesiasticus. With the Egyptian epitaphs in view it seems · natural that the grandson's translation of Ben Sira for circulation in Egypt preserved the strong statements of the original on this subject. The polemical tone of the argument for immortality in Wis 1 -3 can accordingly be seen to have a possible setting in inner-Jewish as well as Jewish-gentile controversy; the two in scriptions expressing hope of an after-life will represent circles in which this argument might be acceptable, but these inscriptions 43

Z. Greenhut, "The "Caiaphas" Tomb in North Talpiyot, Jerusalem, "

'A tiqot 2 1 ( 1 992) 63-71 (70-7 1 ) . As noted i n the text above, Charon figures in

[ 1 4 1 ] (n.4, above) . 4 4 P . W. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs (Kampen: 1 99 1 ) ; Horbury & Noy, Egypt, xxiii-xxiv. 45 C. Pietri, "Grabinschrift II (lateinisch) ," RA G xii ( 1 983) cols. 5 1 4-90 (544-6) .

JEWISH INSCRIPTIONS AND JEWISH LITERATURE IN EGYPT

41

are much outnumbered by those in which the departed is in Hades, and there is fierce lamentation but little or no consolation. Jewish patronage of these epitaphs also suggests that more weight should be given to Josephus's description of the Sadducees in terms recalling the Epicureans.46 His philosophical accounts of the Jewish sects need not simply arise from his special wish to use philosophical terms, perhaps for the benefit of gentile readers;47 probably they also reflect the way in which many Jews themselves viewed' their schools of thought, finding, as Josephus did, a resemblance between the Epicurean and the Sadducaic views of death. All these points underline the need to allow for exceptions, both in Judaea and in Egypt, when the prevalence of hopes for an afterlife among Jews in the first century B�C. is affirmed. 48 The inscriptions together with the Greek as well as the Hebrew Ecclesiasticus suggest the wide and long-term influence of opinions about death which were characteristic of the Sad ducees, and the convergence of these epigraphic and literary sources is of particular note in the absence of clear first-ha,n d evidence for Sadducaic customs and convictions. To conclude, attention to three shared themes has suggested that Ecclesiasticus as translated for Egyptian Jews, and the inscribed epitaphs of Egyptian Jews, throw light on one another in various ways. The metrical inscriptions in particular show up the book as 'barbaric' in style, and as a markedly Jewish book despite its Greek dress. On the other hand, in content and presuppositions Ecclesiasticus and the epitaphs are remarkably close. In two verses (38: 1 7, 22) the context provided by the inscriptions has confirmed or suggested that the Greek is a better guide to the original than the surviving Hebrew, and in another ( 40: 1 7) that the sense of the Hebrew is best given by the Greek. The epitaphs rather than other inscriptions such as proseuche dedications have been in view, but the dedications too, in their respect for the royal 46 Hart, Ecclesiasticus, 280; an example which he does not specify is Ant. xviii 1 6, on the mortality of the soul, cited above in connection with Lucretius. 47 This view is exemplified in A. E. Cowley, "Sadducees," Encyclopaedia Biblica iv (London: 1 907) cols. 4234-40 (4238) and E. P. Sanders, judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 B.C.- 66 C.E. (London: 1 992) 301 , 303. 48 Sanders, Judaism, 298-303 allows for the Sadducaic position, but does not mention Epicurean influence on gentiles at this period; educated Jews are likely to have been affected by it.

42

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HORBURY

house, would be found to accord with the outlook of Ecclesiasticus (e .g. 38:2; 39:4) . Here, then, inscriptions and literature seem to attest the same set of Jewish attitudes, applauding social virtues, lamenting death, and starting consolation - when it is offered from a recognition of death's universality and finality. This con clusion balances the contrast pointed out by P. M. Fraser (n. l above) between the attitudes implied by the dedications on the one hand, and the Third Sibylline on the other. The inscriptions suggest that apocalyptic oracles on resurrection or immortality are likely to have encountered reserve in sections of the Jewish community during the late Ptolemaic and early Roman periods, although they also show that hopes for an after-life had some influence; and they help to explain, as noted already, the pole mical tone of Wisdom's argument for immortality. At the same time the comparison of Egyptian inscriptions with a book trans lated for Egypt but written in Judaea has drawn attention to the links between Egypt and Judaea, notably in the shared attestation of a Sadducaic position on death. To recapitulate, some of the main conclusions reached in this paper as a whole on the literature vis-a-vis the inscriptions are tabulated below. (i) The inscriptions confirm the importance of Greek among Jews in Egypt, but show that the surviving Greek literature of these Jews does not fully represent their languages and culture; Ara maic speech will have been important among them, and some restricted knowledge of Hebrew in connection with bible-study is likely, as papyri confirm. This point is of interest for the inter relationship of the Targums and the LXX, and for the possible circulation of Hebrew biblical texts outside Judaea. (ii) In the light of the metrical inscriptions, the 'barbaric' style of the usual Greek translations of Hebrew verse sticks out like a sore thumb. The adoption of this mode of translation might correspond to a Jewish attitude like that later struck by Tatian and other early Christians, on the surpassing merit of the 'barbarian' scriptures and philosophy. (iii) The large number of literary and poetic inscriptions suggests the likelihood that formerly there will have been more Greek books by Jews than now survive.

JEWISH INSCRIPTIONS AND JEWISH LITERATURE IN EGYPT

43

(iv) The values expressed in Greek terms in the encomia of the Egyptian Jewish epitaphs are not remote from the thought of the Judaean Jew Ben Sira in his development of the biblical Wisdom tradition; epithets overlap only occasionally, but general presuppo sitions seem closely similar. (v) On lamentation, the inscriptions are close to Ecclesiasticus in both content and J anguage. The book accordingly contri�?utes to their elucidation, confirming, for example, that they are unlikely to reflect the practice of cremation . Conversely, the great empha sis in the inscriptions on the duty of lamentation, also accepted as a duty in Ecclesiasticus, helps to explain Ben Sira' s characteristic advocacy of moderate mourning. More broadly, the a ccord between book and inscriptions on lamentation reflects common feeling on the subject between diaspora and homeland, and between Jews and their gentile neighbours. (vi) Consolation is much less important in the epitaphs than' in Ecclesiasticus, and may not figure at all even in relatively ambitious compositions. On the other hand, the epitaphs present some contact with Ben Sira's arguments, and in two cases attest a consolation which he does not propound, hope for an after-life. The epitaphs do not necessarily fully express Jewish views ori death, but they show that predominantly mythological and mournful inscriptions were . regularly thought suitable , even though they seemed to leave the departed in Hades. Here again Egyptian Jews seem close to Judaeans, as Ecclesiasticus and the tomb of Jason suggest; the greater mythological content of the inscriptions does not lessen this concord, given some familiarity with Greek myth among Judaean Jews, and the overlap between biblical and Hellenic conceptions of Hades. (vii) The agreement on the finality of death between the majority of the inscriptions and the Greek Ecclesiasticus, and between the Greek and the Hebrew Ecclesiasticus, suggests that a broadly Sadducaic position on death was influential among Jews in both Egypt and Judaea in the late Ptolemaic and early Roman periods.

A JEWISH EPITAPH IN A LITERARY TEXT: 4 MACC 1 7:8-1 0 ]AN WILLEM VAN H ENTEN

The reader of 4 Mace 1 7:9f. may for a moment be surprised to find an epitaph in a writing full of pagan and Jewish literary motifs and all kinds of rhetorical devices. I The first line of the passage really looks at first glance like the beginning of a funeral inscription: "Here lie buried an aged priest, an old woman and her seven sons . . . ". At a second glance, these verses appear to belong to one of the images the author uses in chapter 1 7 to enhance the glory of the Maccabean martyrs. The phenomenon of a passage marked in a certain way as an inscription but transmitted as part of a literary text is not unusual in ancient literature. The famous epigram in commemoration of the Spartan victims of Thermopylae attributed to Simonides is found in the Histories of Herodotus (7.228) and in a Latin version in Cicero' s Tusculanae disputationes ( 1 . 1 01 ) . I t is also transmitted i n the Antho logia Palatina ( 7.249) . 2 Well known Jewish examples of ' docu ments' in literature are for instance the political decrees in historical writings like the Book of Ezra in the Hebrew Bible ( 1 :24; 6:3-5, 6-1 2; 7 : 1 2-26) , 1 Maccabees (8:23-32; 1 2:6-1 8, 20-23) and Josephus. These decrees are intriguing, because scholars are faced with the problem of whether they are authentic or not. In the case . of Ezra, related non-literary sources have been transmitted (lines 30-32 of the Babylonian Cyrus Cylinder) , but the discrepancies between them and the decree of Cyrus in Ezra could be a reason to doubt the authenticity of the decree in Ezra.3 Be this as it may, it '· 1 I would like to thank Ms A. J. Bij de vaate, Dr J. H. M. Strubbe, Dr G. Mussies and Prof. P. W. van der Horst for their very useful advice. 2 W. Peek, Grieehisehe Vers-Insehriften (Berlin: 1 955) no. 4: "'0 �E1v', ci:yy€>-AELv AaKE8aqJ.ov(ots- on Tij8E Kd1J.E8a To1s- KE(vwv piJIJ.aat TTEL861J.EVot. ( "Stranger, bear this message to the Spartans, that we lie here obedient to their laws") Cicero, Tuse. disp. 1 . 1 0 1 :

Die, hospes, Spartae nos te hie vidisse iaeentis, Dum sanetis patriae legibus obsequimur.

3 See for example R. J. van der Spek, "Cyrus de Pers in Assyrisch perspectief. Een vergelijking tussen de Assyrische en Perzische politiek ten opzichte van onderworpen volken," Tijdsehrift voor gesehiedenis 96 ( 1 983) 2f.,

A JEWISH EPITAPH IN A LITERARY TEXT: 4 MACC 1 7 :8- 1 0

45

seems interesting to investigate 'documentary texts' embedded in a literary context and deal with some obvious questions in this connection : Do we find in these texts the same formulae and procedures as in related non-literary sources? Does the formal structure correspond to some of these sources? Is the vocabulary somehow special in relation to the literary context and similar to that of inscriptions or papyri? What exactly is the connection between the ' docur:nent' and the literary work in which it is em bedded? The epitaph in 4 Mace 1 7:9f. is clearly fictitious, as can be seen from the immediate context. Nevertheless, it is useful to study this passage in the light of the questions just mentioned and to elaborate the correspondences to Jewish and non:Jewish in scriptions. Mfinity with non-literary sources could tell us more about its meaning and the historical context of the work, and' the possibility that some Jewish epitaphs might ultimately have a literary parallel in the epitaph of 4 Mace 1 7:9f. cannot be excluded beforehand. 1 . Text, translation and some introductory comments 4 Maccabees is a discourse on the autonomy of reason and at the same time a eulogy on the Maccabean martyrs ( cf. 1 : 1 with 1 :2, 1 0) : 1 The work probably dates from about 100 CE and originates 22f. A. Kuhrt, "The Cyrus Cylinder and Achaemenid Imperial Policy," ]SOT 25 ( 1 983) 83-97. P. Ackroyd, "Problems i n the Handling o f Biblical and Related Sources in the Achaemenid Period, " Achaemenid History III, Method and Theory ( eds. A. Kuhrt & H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg; Leiden: 1 988) 33-54. Concerning 1 Mace 8 and 12 and Josephus J.-D. Gauger, Beitriige zur judischen

Apologetik. Untersuchungen zur Authentizitiit von Urkunden bei Flavius Josephus und im I. Makkabiierbuch (Bonner Biblische Beitdige 49; Koln/Bonn: 1 977) .

Some scholars deny the historicity of the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Arta xerxes in Ezra also because of the very close connections with the context of the narrative in Ezra. J. C. H. Lebram, "Die Traditionsgeschichte der Esra gestalt und die Frage nach dem historischen Esra," A chaemenid History I, Sources, Structures and Synthesis (ed. H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg; Leiden: 1 987) 1 03-1 38 . Cf. U. Kellermann, Nehemia. Quellen, Uberlieferung und:. Geschichte (BZAW 1 02; Berlin: 1 967) . W. Th. In der Smitten, Esra, Quellen, Uberlieferung und Geschichte (Studia Semitica Neerlandica 15; Assen: 1 973) . See for a concise summary of various opinions L. L. Grabbe, judaism from Cyrus to Hadrian ( 2 vols. ; Minneapolis: 1 992) 2.32-36. 4 See further on 4 Maccabees C. L. W. Grimm, ''Viertes Buch der Macca baer," Kurzgefa.fltes exegetisches Handbuch zu den Apokryphen des Alten Testamentes (6 vols. ; eds. 0 . F. Fritzsche & C. L. W. Grimm; Leipzig: 1 85 1 -1 860) 4.283370. J. Freudenthal, Die Flavius Josephus beigelegte Schrift Uber die Herrschaft der

Vernunft (IV Makkabiierbuch), eine Predigt aus dem ersten nachchristlichen

46

J·

W.

VAN HENTEN

from Antioch in Syria or a city in Asia Minor.5 The martyrology in 4 Maccabees is focussed on the ideal way of life. Neither an actual struggle for liberation nor the institutions of a Jewish nation ultimately matter to the author. The martyrs defeat the tyrant in a moral and spiritual sense by their perseverance (inroiJ.OVrl ) until death: "they became responsible for the downfall of the tyranny jahrhundert (Breslau: 1 869) . A. DeiBmann, "Das vierte Makkabaerbuch," Die Apokryphen und Pseudepig;raphen des Alten Testaments ( 2 vols.; ed. E . Kautzsch; Tiibingen: 1 900) 2 . 1 49-1 77. E. Norden, Die antike Kunstprosa. Vom VI. jahr hundert v. Chr. his in die Zeit der Renaissance ( 2 vols. ; Leipzig/Berlin: 1 9 1 53) 1 .4 1 6-420 . A. Dupont-Sommer, Le guatrieme livre des, Maccabees. Introduction, traduction et notes (Bibliotheque de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes 274; Paris: 1 939) . E. Bickerman, "The Date of Fourth Maccabees," Louis Ginzberg jubilee Volume, English Section (New York: 1 945) 1 05-1 1 2; reprinted in Studies in jewish and Christian History (3 vols. ; AGJU 9; Leiden: 1 976-1 986) 1 .275-281 . 0 . Perler, "Das vierte Makkabaerbuch, Ignatius von Antiochien und die altesten Martyrerberichte ," Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 25 ( 1949) 47-72. M. Hadas, The Third and Fourth Books of Maccabees. Edited and translated (New York: 1 953) . R. Renehan, "The Greek Philosophic Background of Fourth Macca bees," Rheinisches Museum fur Philologie 1 1 5 ( 1 972) 223-238. J. C. H. Lebram, "Die literarische Form des vierten Makkabaerbuches, " VC 28 ( 1 974) 8 1-96. A. O 'Hagan, "The Martyr in the Fourth Book of Maccabees," Studii Biblici Franciscani Liber Annuus 24 ( 1 974) 94-1 20. U. Breitenstein, Beobachtungen zu Sprache, Stil und Gedankeng;ut des Vierten Makkabiierbuchs (Basel/Stuttgart: 1 976) . P. L. Redditt, "The Concept of Nomos in Fourth Maccabees," CBQ 45 ( 1 983) 249-270. H . Anderson, "4 Maccabees (First Century A.D . ) . A New Trans lation and Introduction," The Old Testament Pseudepig;rapha (2 vols. ; ed. J. H. Charlesworth; London: 1 985) 2.531-564. J. W. van Henten, De joodse marte

laren als g;rondleggers van een nieuwe orde. Een studie uitgaande van 2 en

4

Makk.

( Diss. Leiden: 1 986) 1 78-225. H.:J. Klauck, "Hellenistische Rhetorik im Diasporajudentum. Das Exordium des Vierten Makkabaerbuches ( 4 Makk. 1 . 1-12) , " NTS 35 ( 1 989) 451-465. Idem, "4. Makkabaerbuch," jildische Schriften aus hellenistisch-romischer Zeit 111/6 (eds. W. G. Kiimmel & H. Lichtenberger; Giitersloh: 1 989) 645-763. B. Heininger, "Der bose Antiochus: eine Studie zur Erzahltechnik des 4. Makkabaerbuchs, " BZ 33 ( 1 989) 43-59. R. Weber, "Eusebeia und Logismos. Zum philosophischen Hintergrund von 4. Makka baer, " ]Sf 22 ( 1 99 1 ) 2 1 2-234. R. Darling Young, "The 'Woman with the Soul of Abraham ' . Traditions about the Mother of the Maccabean Martyrs, "

"Women Like This ": New Perspectives on Jewish Women in the Greco-Roman World

( SBLEJL 1 ; ed. A.:J. Levine; Atlanta: 1 99 1 ) 67-81 . 5 J . W. van Henten, "Datierung und Herkunft des Vierten Makkabaer buches, " Tradition and Re-interpretation in Jewish and Early Christian Literature. Essays in Honour of Jiirgen C. H. Lebram (SPB 36; eds. J. W. van Henten, H. J. de Jonge et al. ; Leiden: 1 986) 1 36-149. Klauck, "4. Makkabaerbuch" (see footnote 4) 668f. J. N . Bremmer, "The Atonement in the Interaction of Greeks, Jews, and Christians," Sacred History and Sacred Texts in Early Judaism. A Symposium in Honour of A. S. van der Woude (eds. J. N. Bremmer & F. Garcia Martinez; Kampen: 1992) 75-93, esp. pp. 87f. D . A. Campbell, The Rhetoric of Righteousness in Romans 3. 21-26 QSNTSup 65; Sheffield: 1 992) 2 1 9-228 (p. 228: "definitely after 1 35 CE, and possibly up to a century later") .

A JEWISH EPITAPH IN A LITERARY TEXT: 4 MACC 1 7 :8- 1 0

47

which beset our nation, overcoming the tyrant by their fortitude so that through them our fatherland was purified" ( 1 : 1 1 ) . 6 The motives which the martyrs bring forward to justify their decision to die rather than submit to the tyrant are, among other things, their piety and loyalty to the Jewish law (e.g. 9: 1 , 29; 1 6 : 1 6) . The author clearly used 2 Maccabees as a source for his description of the martyrdom and its context (3:20-4:26) . As in 2 Maccabees, this con text is determined by the threat to the Jewish people by Antiochus IV, which the Lord allows to take place because of the sins of the people (3:2 1 ; 4: 1 6-21 ) . As jiirgen Lebram rightly stated, the literary form of 4 Maccabees resembles to a great extent the Athenian funeral orations of the classical and early Hellenistic period. These orations were originally delivered at the tomb 6f the soldiers who fell for Athens, but that does not mean that 4 Macca bees was also delivered at the tomb of the martyrs in Antioch or somewhere else. There are at least two instances of an ETTL Tciqnos A.oyos , which were not given as a speech, and 4 Maccabees too seems to be a literary work.7 The epitaph is found in ch. 1 7, wh)ch contains mainly an enumeratio of the glorious acts of the martyrs. It can be considered as fictitious, if only for its introduction, which points to a hypothetical epitaph. Text: 8 Kat yap aeLOv �v Kat Err' auTOU TOU EiTl Ta(ou avaypci�aL Kat TauTa Tots cim) ToD E 8vous ds J.LVd av A.Ey6 J1EVa (17:8, introduction) 'EvTauea y£pwv LEpdJs Kat yuvi] yEpma Kat E-rrTa rra'l8Es €yKEKft 8EuvTm 8ta Tupcivvou �(av 9 TTJV 'E�pa(wv rroA.tTdav KaTaA.Dam 8EAOVTOS', o't Kat EeEBLKllaav TO 'YEVOS' I O Els 8EOV aopWVTES' Kat Jl.EXPL 8avciTou TclS' �aacivous VrrOJl.ELVaVTES' . ( 1 7:9-10, epitaph)

6 7

Translation Anderson (see footnote 4) , slightly altered. Plato, Men. Lysias, Or. 2. Other funeral orations: Thucydides 2 .34-46, Demosthenes, Or. 60, Hypereides, Or. 6, and fragments from Gorgias (see for the text H. Diels & W. Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker griechisch und deutsch ( 3 vols; Berlin: 1951-1956) 2.284-286. See Lebram (see footnote 4) . Van Henten (see footnote 4) 1 79-1 85. Klauck, "4. Makkabaerbuch" (see footnote 4) 660-662 and 75 1 . In general: N. Loraux, L 'invention d 'A thenes. Histoire de l 'oraison funebre dans la "cite classique" (Civilisations et Societes 65; Paris: 1 98 1 ) . Concerning the literary character of 4 Mace, see Lebram, esp. p. 83. 8 According to A. Rahlfs, Septuaginta. ld est Vetus Testamentum Graece iuxta LXX interpretes (2 vols.; Stuttgart: 1 935) 1 . 1 1 82. 9 Codex � * reads 8u1 Tvpavvov. 10 Cod. A and V read l 8vos .

48

J. W. VAN HENTEN

"It would in fact be appropriate to engrave on that place near their tomb, 1 1 as a memorial to those members of our nation 1 2 (or: "as a remembrance for the members of the people") , the following words: ' Here lie buried an aged priest, an old (or: "respectable") woman (or: "a woman who was an elder") and her seven sons, through the violence of a tyrant bent on destroying the polity (or: "political body" or "way of life") of the Hebrews. They vindicated their people, 1 3 staying faithful to God 1 4 and enduring torments even unto death."'

It is not too difficult to summarize the meaning of this passage in outline. In the context of the praise of the martyrs, the text alludes to a commemoration of the violent and glorious death of these nine Jews who did not surrender to the tyrant Antiochus IV. The introductory formula in 4 Mace 1 7:8 clearly refers to an epitaph, as is indicated by the phrases civaypa�aL Kat TaDTa ... Els j..Lvdav A.Ey6j..LE Va ("engrave/inscribe these words . . . as a memorial") and E-n ' auTou TOU ETILTa(ou (see below) . The persons mentioned in the epitaph are of course the Maccabean martyrs: the ninety years old Eleazar and the anonymous mother and her seven sons ( cf. 2 Mace 6: 1 8-7:42) , who are the key persons in 4 Maccabees. The priesthood of Eleazar ( 1 7:9) , who was a scribe according to 2 Mace 6: 1 8, is mentioned in other passages in 4 Maccabees too (5:4, 35; 7: 1 1 f.) . Before making a closer comparison of 4 Mace 1 7:8-1 0 with the vocabulary of Jewish epitaphs, some details of these phrases require further commentary. The words E-n' auTou Tou ETILTa(ou ( 1 7:8) are problematical. Dupont-Sommer reads with recension q and codex 46 E-n ' auTou Tou Taou 1 5 and some scholars seem to translate the text on the basis of Taou instead of ETILTa(ou. However, ETILTa(ou should be 1 1 DeiBmann ( see footnote 4) 1 73: " . . .auf eben dieses Grabgemalde" (E-mni<j>tos as adjective, supplemented by TT(va� ) . Anderson (see footnote 4) 562: "upon their tomb itself'. Klauck, "4. Makkabaerbuch" (see footnote 4) 75 1 : "auf dem Grabmal selbst". 12 Anderson (see footnote 4) 562. 13 Anderson I.e. "race". 1 4 Anderson I.e. "looking unto God". 1 5 Dupont-Sommer ( see footnote 4) 68, followed by E. Bammel, "Zum jiidischen Martyrerkult," TLZ 78 ( 1 953) 1 1 9-1 26; reprinted in Idem, judaica. Kleine Schriften I (WUNT 37; Tiibingen: 1 986) 79-85, esp . p. 83 footnote 43. 'Em Td<j>tos can be used as a noun, with the meaning 'funeral oration' (Aris toteles, Rhet. 141 5b; Dio Cassius 55.2.2; 57.20.3; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, De Dem. 23. 1 0; 44. 3; Josephus, Ant. 1 7 § 1 77; Lucianus, Alex. 60; Plutarchus, Vitae dec. orat. 9 [Mor. 849F] ) or 'memorial game' (often in inscriptions, for instance IG 112 . 1 1 006 11. 22f.; 1 0 1 1 11. 9f.; 1 029 1. 1 3; IG V. 1 660 1. 4) .

A JEWISH EPITAPH IN A LITERARY TEXT: 4 MACC 1 7 :8- 1 0

49

considered as the preferred reading, 1 6 and cannot be taken simply as referring to the grave itself.17 The first meaning of ElTLTaLos (as an adjective) is that it indicates something at or over a grave .I 8 The context of 1 7:8 shows that we can assume this meaning here too, because the verse continues 1 7:7, where the author considers the idea that he could "portray the story of the piety of the mother on something" ( E-ul TLVOS (wypaflcraL Tl)v Tfls dmE�Elas crou l crTop(av) . In 1 7:7 .this place is not specified, but E-u' aiJTou Tou ElTLTa(ou in 1 7:8 follows on ElTL TLVOS in 1 7:7, which means that both verses should be connected with a hypothetical situation near the burial place . A funeral oration (ETIL TaLOS A6yos ) 19 in com memoration of the fallen was usually delivered at the tomb and this was the obvious place for an epitaph too. 2o The orators of the funeral orations do not refer, however, to an inscription on or near the grave as a remembrance of the respectful deeds of the deceased, but point to the grave at the beginning of their speech to attract the attention of the audience. Lysias writes for instance: "If I would consider the possibility , to make clear to you, who are present at this grave (til uap6VTES ElTL T<{}8E TQ Tci4'J) , in a speech the virtue of the men who lie buried here . . . " ( Or. 2. 1 ) . Because of the link between 1 7:7 and 1 7:8, the most satisfactory solution seems to be to consider the phrase E lT ' auTou Tou ElTL Ta(ou as a reference to the piece of stone (or metal) near the grave, on which the epitaph was to be inscribed: perhaps a tombstone, or a stele, or the stone which closed the grave.21 16 17

Klauck, "4. Makkabaerbuch" (see footnote 4) 75 1 , following Hanhart. Cf. Josephus, Ant. 7 §42 concerning David mourning for Abner "He then gave him a magnificent burial in Hebron and composed laments for the dead; standing by his grave . . . (hn Tacp(ous TE auyypatJsci�Evos 6p1lvous auTos €rrt ToO Tacpou aTcis) ", transl. R. Marcus. 18 LSJ 664 s.v. Cf. the correspondent adjectives E TTLTU��( 8tos and € m Tu��LOS' "at/over a tomb", see for instance Heliodorus, Eth. 4.8.8 and MAMA 1 232 1. 7. 19 Cf. in connection to 4 Mace 1 7:8-10 Lebram (see footnote 4) 84: "Der Redner nimmt hier Bezug auf das fiktive Grab der Martyrer und schlagt eine dafiir passende Inschrift vor, die das Gedachtnis der Getoteten lebendig halten soll. Derartige Hinweise auf das Grab derer, denen die Lobrede gilt, findet man im €mTacpws Myos .. . " He referred in this respect to Thucy dides 2 .43.2, Demosthenes, Or. 60. 1 and Hyperides, Or. 6. 1 , 3. See also Lysias, Or. 2 . 1 and 60, Van Henten (see footnote 4) 1 8 1 . Klauck, "4. Makkabaerbuch" (see footnote 4) 751 . 20 See for pagan references t o a fictitious epitaph Klauck, "4. Makka baerbuch" (see footnote 4) 751 . 2 1 Cf. already Grimm ( see footnote 4) 361 .

50

J · W. VAN HENTEN

To ytvos probably refers to the Jewish people (cf. 1 2: 1 7) . Els 8Eov tiopwvTES expresses the obedience of the martyrs to God. There is a similar phrase referring to the obedience to Jesus in Heb 1 2:2 (tiopwvTES Els TOV 'I T}aouv; cf. Epictetus 2 . 1 9.29) . Finally it is difficult to establish precisely the meaning of the word 1TOAl Td a . Not only is the usual meaning "polity", or "con stitution" possible here, but also alternatives like "political body" or "way of life" should be taken into consideration. 22 . . •

2. The vocabulary and content of 4 Mace 1 7:8-1 0 in comparison to Jewish epitaphs and other Jewish inscriptions

Neither the phrase Els jJ.Vdav AEyoj.lEVa nor the combination of E1Tl Taws and avaypaw in the introductory formula in 1 7:8 are attested in literary sources or inscriptions, but the word j.lVda is, of course, very often found in formulae in the context of pagan, Christian and Jewish epitaphs (j.!VELUS xapw' j.lVELUS EVEKEV' j.lVELUS EVEKa etc.) . Such a formula occurs for instance at the end of a Jewish inscription from Crete in remembrance of an infant called Judas ( CIJ 731d 11. 5-6) : ... (j.!) Vdas xapw · ETWV a There are a few other examples of Jewish epitaphs with this formula ( CIJ 733g; CIJ App. 3 67 ; 2 3 !Cos 323) . 24 In two inscriptions from a synagogue ( CIJ 75425 and 804) there is a related formula im€p j.!VLUS , 26 which also I .

22 Cf. 4 Mace 3:20; 8:7; 2 Mace 4: 1 1 ; 8 : 1 7; 1 3: 1 4; also 6:23A concerning Eleazar, and see below. 2 3 It is doubtful whether this epitaph is Jewish. Cf. Frey's commentary: "Tant a cause des noms, qu' a cause de Ia formule finale, llVE( as xcipLv, courante sur les inscriptions classiques et tres rare sur les epitaphes juives, tout invite a considerer notre titulus comme paien" (vol. 1 p. 570) . There are, however, Jewish epitaphs with this formula, and the inscription was found at the Jewish burial place in Thessaloniki. So the epitaph may be Jewish. However, P. W. van der Horst, Ancient jewish Epitaphs. An introductory survey of a millennium ofjewish funerary epigraphy (300 BCE - 700 CE) ( Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology 2; Kampen: 1 992) p. 18, advises in principal against the application of only one criterion to consider an inscription as Jewi s h . 2 4 !Cos 323, see W. R. Paton & E. L. Hicks, The Inscriptions of Cos (Oxford: 1 89 1 ) no. 323, is probably Jewish too. Its decoration seems to be "a variation of the gabled Torah shrine", S. M. Sherwin-White, "A Note on Three Coan Inscriptions," ZPE 21 ( 1 976) 1 83-188, esp. p. 1 87. 2 5 See B . Lifshitz, Donateurs et fondateurs dans les synagogues juives (Paris: 1967) no. 28. 26 Cl] 804 ( IGLS 4 1 320; Lifshitz no. 39) 11. 4f. : Kat inr€p ll.Vtas ElcmK(ou Kat 'E8e-cr(ou Kat 'Hcrux(ou rrpoy6vwv ETrOLT)O'EV T'f)v 1/nlWO'LV. =

A JEWISH EPITAPH IN A LITERARY TEXT: 4 MACC 1 7 :8- 1 0

51

occurs in a probably Christian inscription from Syria of unknown date (IGLS 4 1 636) . Cl] l48, an epitaph from Rome for a man called Ursus ( "Here lies Ursus, scribe, who lived for 22 years and two years and three months. In remembrance of the fiance. May his sleep be in peace") contains the phrase !J.Vda TOV IJ. (E)AAOVUIJ.(ou ( "in remembrance of the fiance'') . 2 7 In a few other Jewish epitaphs from Rome we find a formula with IJ.VE(a which is not attested in pagan �pitaphs. The clearest example is CIJ 3 7 0, an epitaph for Makedbnis, a Hebrew from Caesarea in Palestine : !J.V(a 8tKa(ou Els EuA.oy(av ( "in remembrance of a righteous one, for a blessing") .28 It contains an allusion to Prov 1 0:6f like the slightly different phrase IJ.VTliJ.T} 8tKa(ou Els EuA.oy(av in other epitaphs. 29 So, although there is no parallel for the phrase ds !J.Vdav AE'YOIJ.EVh in Jewish inscriptions, the word IJ.VELa together with civaypat/.Jat and ETTL Ta(ou, point to a funerary inscription. But is there actually any resemblance between the Jewish epitaphs which have been preserved and this fictitious instance in 4 Mace 1 7 :9f.? The dead persons are indicated in 4 Mace 1 7 :9 as yipwv LEpE,US Kal yuvil yEpata Kal ETTTa rra18Es ( "an aged priest, an old [?] woman and her seven sons") . In comparison to other epitaphs, it is peculiar that the names of the deceased are not given. Even the shortest examples of Jewish epitaphs usually contain the name (-s) of the dead person (-s) . The name of the priest was known ( 'EA.Ea(apos/ 'EA.Ea(ap) , as appears from 4 Mace 1 :8; 5:4, 14; 6: 1 , 5, 14, 1 6; 7: 1 , 5, 10, 1 2; 9:5; 1 6: 15; 1 7: 1 3 (cf. 2 Mace 6: 1 8, 24) . The mother and her seven sons, however, are anonymous in 2 and 4 Maccabees. They are only ascribed personal names in rabbinic 27 28

See also BS 2 1 83 1. 2. Cf. CIJ 1 1 9 and 343. MvE(a and lltnlllTJ seem to b e interchangeable in several funeral formulae, cf. IJ.VE(as xciptv and IJ.VTJIJ.TJS xciptv, which is fre quently used in pagan, Christian and Jewish inscriptions. H. J. Leon, The jews of Ancient Rome (Philadelphia: 1 960) 1 26. Cf. also J. Reynolds & R. Tan nenbaum, jews and Godfearers at Aphrodisias ( Cambridge Philological Society Su flementary Volume 12; Cambridge: 1 987) 38-40 concerning IJ.VfliJ.a . See CIJ 8 6 11. 2-3. Cf. Clj 76, 201 , 629, 6 6 1 and 7 3 1 c . Cf. IGC 326, a Christian inscription from the neighbourhood of Tmolos (Lydia) from the fifth century CE. Cf. the two positive statements in Prov 10:6f.: P',:) !li�,? m:>,:l and i1:>,:J? p •,:) ,;,r ( "blessings are showered on the righteous . . . The righteous are remembered in blessings") . See Van der Horst (see footnote 23) 37f. for the correspondences between the vocabulary in the Greek epitaphs with versions of LXX and Aquila of Prov 1 0:7. See concerning funerary formulae also the forthcoming dissertation by Ms A. J. Bij de Vaate (Diss. Amsterdam) .

f

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J· W. VAN HENTEN

versions of their martyrdom ( b. Cit 57b; Midr. Lam. Rab. 1 :1 6) and in Christian traditions.30 But maybe we should not pay too much attention to this detail, because the deceased were known from the literary context of the epitaph. The first part of the vocabulary of 4 Mace 1 7:9-1 0 is not unusual in comparison to Jewish epitaphs. The name 'E�pa.lm for Jews occurs in different spellings ( 'E �p€os ,31 At�p€os,32 'E�pa1os ) .33 Its meaning should not be equated with that of 'I ou8a1m . According to M . Hengel and other scholars 'E�pa'Los would indicate in the diaspora Jews who came from Palestine or who had special ties with their homeland.34 Van der Horst suggests that the word was also used in combination with auvaywyfl (auvaywyfl 'E�patwv) to distinguish a Jewish community from other religious or ethnic groups .35 This could find some support from literary sources, where 'E �pa'Los sometimes seems to be used to emphasize the otherness of Jews, especially in the context of a direct confronta tion with non:Jews. The 'epitomist' of 2 Maccabees usually refers to (ot ) 'I ou8a1oL ,36 but in the passages on martyrdom suddenly switches to ot 'E�pa'Lm . In 2 Mace 7:31 the youngest boy says to the king: "And you, King Antiochus, who have devised all kinds of harm for the Hebrews, you will not escape God's hand" (cf. 1 1 : 1 3 and 1 5: 37) . I n the chapters o n martyrdom i n 4 Mace 5-1 8, ol 'I ou8a1m is used only once (5:7) , and ot 'E�pa'Lm several times in 3 0 See R. Doran, "The Martyr: a Synoptic View of the Mother and Her Seven Sons," Ideal Figures in Ancient Judaism. Profiles and Paradigms (SBLSCS 1 2; J. J. Collins & G. W. E. Nickelsburg eds.; Chico: 1980) 1 89-22 1 . Van Henten (see footnote 4) 237f. G. Sternberger, "The Maccabees in Rabbinic Tradition," The Scriptures and the Scrolls. Studies in Honour of A. S. van der Woude on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday (eds. F. Garcia Martinez, A. Hilhorst & C . Labuschagne; Leiden: 1 992) 193-203. 31 CIJ 291 , 3 1 7, 354, 502, 535, 750b, 784, 793. 32 CIJ 370, 5 1 0. 33 CIJ 379, 505, 754. Cf. 718. 34 Cf. CI] 370 MaKE86vLs o Al�p€os KEcrapdJS Tfis IlaA.EcrTtVTJS ( "Make donis the Hebrew from Caesarea in Palestine ") . See further M. Hengel, "Zwischen Jesus und Paulus," ZTK 72 ( 1 975) 1 51-206, esp. p. 1 69 and footnotes 99 and 1 02 . J. Z. Smith, "Fences and Neighbors: Some Contours of Early Judaism, " Approaches to Ancient Judaism II (BJS 9; ed. W. S. Green; Chico: 1 980) 1-25, esp. pp. 1 8f. P. J. Tomson, "The Names Israel and Jew in Ancient Judaism and in the New Testament," Bijdragen 47 ( 1 986) 1 20-140 and 266-289. Van der Horst (see footnote 23) 70. 35 Van der Horst (see footnote 23) 87f. 36 See for instance 2 Mace 3:32; 4: 1 1 , 35f.; 5:25; 6: 1 , 8; 8 : 1 0; 9: 1 8; 1 0:8, 1 2 , 1 4f., 24, 29.

·

A JEWISH EPITAPH IN A LITERARY TEXT: 4 MACC 1 7 :8- 1 0

53

the context of the torturing of the martyrs (8:2; 9:6, 1 8; sing. in 5 : 2 ) . 37 Probably this usage is connected with notions of the exclusiveness of the Jewish people, such as its long history, its own law and wisdom and its covenant with the Lord ( cf. 2 Mace 7:31; 1 1 :1 3) .

References to women38 and priests39 are found frequently in Jewish inscriptions, but a priest and a woman together do not occur in Jewish epit.aphs, not to mention the exact combination of a priest and a woman with her seven children. The noun yf. pwv and the adjective yEpaL
14: 1 8.

Cf. also 4 Mace 4: 1 1 and Judith as a 'E�pa(a in Jdt 1 0 : 1 2; 1 2: 1 1 and

38 Of course, the word yuvf) occurs often in Jewish epitaphs, frequently with the meaning 'spouse' , see for instance CI] 22, 23, 35a (Rome) , 578, 619d (Venosa) ; 761 , 773, 779, 780 (from Eumeneia, Apameia or Hierapolis , in Phrygia) ; 1 491 and 1 502 (Leontopolis) ; BS 2 149 and 1 70 (Beth She'arim) and SEC 31 1 407 Uericho) . See for an overview R. S. Kraemer, "Hellenistic Jewish Women: The Epigraphical Evidence, " Society of Biblical Literature 1 986 Seminar Papers (ed. K. H. Richards; Atlanta: 1986) 1 83-200. 39 Clj 346, 347, 375 (Rome) ; 746 (Ephesus) !Eph 1 676, see H. Wankel, R. Merkelbach et al. , Die lnschriften von Ephesos (7 vols. ; Die Inschriften griechischer Stadte aus Kleinasien [henceforth ICSKJ 1 1-1 7; Bonn: 1 9791 98 1 ) , who suggest reading lEp€ws for latp€os ) ; Aphrodisias inscription A I . 27 (Reynolds & Tannenbaum, see footnote 28) p. 5; Clj 785 (Cilicia) ; 930 Uaffa) ; 1 404 Uerusalem) ; BS 2 49; 180 and 1 8 1 (Beth She ' arim) . See also t € pLaaa in CIJ 3 1 5 and 1 5 1 4 ( JICRE 84) and possibly l€pna in CIJ 796 (Galatia, near Eudoxias, RECAM 2 1 33) and CIJ 1 085 (Beth She 'arim) . See further B. J. Brooten, Women Leaders in the Ancient Synagogue (BJS 36; Chico: 1 982) 73-99. P. Trebilco, jewish Communities in Asia Minor (SNTS MS 69; Cambridge: 1 99 1 ) 50 and 1 39. Van der Horst (see footnote 23) 96. W. Hor bury & D. Noy, Jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-Roman Egypt (Cambridge: 1992) 1 58. 40 LSJ s.v. 345f. Cf. iTpEa�uT€pa in CIJ 73 1 c and SEC 35 995, see Brooten (see footnote 39) 1 2f. and 4 1 . R. S. Kraemer, "A New Inscription from Malta and the Question of Women Elders in the Diaspora Jewish Communities, " HTR 78 ( 1 985) 43 1-438. Van der Horst (see footnote 23) 1 06f. 41 rtpwv occurs in the famous inscription from Aphrodisias (face B I. 1 1 ) to identify a specific person. The most probable interpretation i s that i t is used here to distinguish between two Jewish persons called Oxycholios by their age ( cf. I . 1 1 ·o�ux6A.ws y€ pwv with I. 1 7 ·o�ux6A.ws VEWTEpos ) . See Reynolds & Tannenbaum (see footnote 28) 6f. and 1 03. An epitaph from Eumeneia, which is considered Jewish by L. Robert (see footnote 46) , refers to a Menas son of Philippus as �OUAEUTllS and yEpaL6s; here 'member of the gerousia' , see J. A. van Rossum, De gerousia in de Griekse steden van het Romeinse Rijk (Diss. Leiden: 1988) 3. 42 r€pwv and yEpaui seem to occur just once in Jewish inscriptions, =

=

=

54

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W. VAN HENTEN

shows clearly that Eleazar was an old man (see for instance 4 Mace 5:4 and 9:6) . The meaning of the adjective yEpaui may be less obvious in connection to the mother, because there is apart from this word no indication in 4 Maccabees that she was an old woman. This means that a political sense cannot be ruled out; but, nevertheless, the meaning "old" is the most probable one, because according to ancient standards a woman with seven children was considered old (possibly also as "reverend" or "respectable") .43 The formula 'EvTau8a E'YKEKJl8EUVTaL . . . in 4 Mace 1 7:9 is interest ing in the light of Jewish epitaphs. At first sight it seems to be a variant of the rather common formula €v8ci8E KELTaL . . . , which was also usual on Jewish epitaphs, especially from Rome .44 The verb E'YKTJ8ElJW ( ' to bury in a certain place' ) is, contrary to the simplex KTJ8Euw, very rare in literary sources.45 There are probably twelve occurrences of the simplex KTJ8Euw in Jewish epitaphs and one with TTpOKTJ8Euw ( 'bury before oneself) .46 In (probably) five of these instances the prepostion E-v precedes the verb, which is only separated from the preposition by the relativum u (referring to a whereas the office of yEpoucruipxTJs is mentioned frequently in epitaphs from Rome ( Clj 9, 95, 1 06, 147, 189, 301 , 353, 355, 368, 405, 408, 425, 5 1 1 , 733b; SEC 26 1 1 78; 33 791 ) , also in some Italian epitaphs outside Rome ( Clj 533, 561 , 600, 6 1 3) , a few from Palestine ( CI] 803, BS 2 141; SEC 2 6 1 687) and one from Malta ( SEC 35 995) . See Van Rossum (see footnote 4 1 ) 194 with footnote 23. 43 LSJ 345 s.v. yEpm6s I. F. Rehkopf, Septuaginta-Vokabular ( Go ttingen : 1 989) 60 "ehrwiirdig, alt". 44 Leon (see footnote 28) 1 22. See also G. E. Kirk, "Early Christian Gravestone-Formulae of Southern Palestine," PEQ ( 1939) 1 8 1-186. A. Ferrua,' "Epigrafia sicula pagana e cristiana," Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 1 8 ( 1 941 ) 1 5 1-243, esp. 2 1 8-223. S. L. Agnello, "Iscrizioni cemeteriali inedite di Siracusa," Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 36 ( 1 960) 1 9-42. 45 I did not find any other occurrences in literary sources than the two mentioned in LSJ 472 s.v. : besides 4 Mace 17:9 Josephus, Ant. 9 § 1 04 (relating that Jehoram was not buried in the sepulchres of his fathers: . ;oihE Ta'Ls rraTpc{lms E-vEKi)8Eucrav aim)v 8i]Kats) . 46 CIJ 775, 776, 777, 778, 779, 780 (all from Hierapolis in Phrygia) W. Judeich et al. , Altertumer von Hierapolis Uahrbuch des kaiserlich deutschen archaologischen Instituts, viertes Erganzungsh �ft; Berlin: 1898) nos. 2 1 2, 69, 342, 72, 80 and 225. According to L. Robert, "Epitaphes d'Eumeneia de Phry gie," Hellenica 1 1-12 ( 1 960) 41 4-439, esp. pp. 436-439, another epitaph from Eumeneia in Phrygia (3rd century CE) with KTJ8E u w pass. and rrpOKTJ 8E u w should b e considered Jewish too ( a parallel o f the curse inscriptions from Acmonia, p . 439) , because of the phrase Ai]tfJETat rrapa Tou ci8avaTou 8Eou fld.O'TEL ya atwvtov: "Ce 'fouet eternel' rappelle le 'balai de fer' ou ' la faucille' des epitaphes juives d'Akmonia" (p. 438) . Ms Bij de Vaate kindly brought this inscription to my attention. See for further references the article by Dr J. H. M. Strubbe in the present volume (no. 4 in his Catalogue) , pp. 1 09f. .

=

A JEWISH EPITAPH IN A LITERARY TEXT: 4 MACC 1 7 :8- 1 0

55

coffin) .47 In some of these epitaphs the verb K118Evw occurs twice, the second time usually in connection with a ban to bury others at the burial place. One inscription is from Eumeneia and the others are from Hierapolis in Phrygia ( CIJ 775-780) ; all go back to the second or third century CE. 48 The structure of four of these inscriptions from Phrygia is very similar ( CIJ 775, 776, 778 and 779) , and the other three correspond to them to a certain extent. Let us have a look at one of the four inscriptions with a similar pattern and content ( CIJ775) :

fl aopbs Ka'L o rrEp'L m)Ti]v T6rros Aup(llA.tas) AuyouaTas lli ITELKou, lv 11 Kll&uefpETaL airril Kal 0 avf1p Tfls rA.vKWVLavos I 0 Kal "Arrpos Kal Ttl TEKva auTWV. d 8E ETL �TEpos K118EOOEL, 81c.OO'EL Tij KaTOLKL� TW v EV 'I Epa1TOAcL KaTOLKOUVTWV 'J ov8aU wv rrpoaTELj.J.OV (811VclpLa) < . > KaL T{il EK(llTipaVTL (8rwcipLa) (8LaxtA.La). avTLypaovl fL1TETEBT] EV T{il (:\ou f"TI(KAfT)v ' Acr?]acf> [}..a]ou ' I ouBa(wv lv � (K]T)8EU8(1l]crovTa(t] auTo( . . . ( "the coffin and the burial-ground under it, with the base and the burial-place around it belong to Aurelia Glykones, the daughter of Ammianus, and her husband Marcus Aurelius Alexander, the son of Theophilus, by surname Asaf, of the people of the Jews, in which [coffin] they will be buried") . Similar phrases in no. 775 ll. 1-3; 777 11. 1-3; 778 ll. 1-3; 779 ll. 1-4 and 780 ll. 1-5. See concerning :\a6s as designation of a Jewish community in a city Judeich (see footnote 46) 97. L. Robert, "Inscriptions d'Asie Mineure au Musee de Leyde, " Hellenica 1 1-1 2 ( 1 960) 214-262, esp. pp. 259-262. Trebilco (see footnote 39) 257 footnote 1 6. 48 See on the Jews at Hierapolis Judeich (see footnote 46) 46. A. T. Kraa bel, Judaism in Western Asia Minor under the Roman Empire with a Preliminary Study of the Jewish Community at Sardis, Lydia (Diss. Harvard; Cambridge, Mass. : 1 968) 1 25-1 35. E. Schiirer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (1 75 B. C. - A.D. 135). A New English Version Revised and Edited by G. Vermes, F. Millar & M. Goodman (3 vols. ; Edinburgh: 1 973-1 987) 3/ 1 .27f., 1 06. According to Millar o. c. p. 28 CIJ 779 and 780 "may perhaps be Jewish". Trebilco (see footnote 39) 30, 17lf., 1 78f., 1 99, 23lf. , 257 and 261 . 49 On KaTotK( a see Kraabel (see footnote 48) 1 30-1 34. Trebilco (see footnote 39) 1 7 1 . 5 0 'ApxE'lov means i n the plural especially 'archives' or 'public records' , while the singular could among other things also mean 'residency o f the magistrates' , see LSJ 251 s.v. 1, 1-2. At the end of CIJ 776 the plural is used.

56

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First the names of the owner of the place and her51 or his spouse are given, who will be buried there in the future with their children (absent in no. 776) .5 2 Then a sentence follows which expresses that anyone who would bury someone else at this place had to pay a severe penalty to the Jewish community.53 So an important purpose of these epitaphs is the protection of the burial place and the coffin against violation by others. The inscriptions end with the reference to a copy in the (Jewish) archive. The formula Ti aopos Kat 6 TTEpl auTI)v T6TTOS' ... EV � K118Eu81laETaL auTI) Kat 6 UV'll P auTilS'IauTOS' Kat Ti yuVJ1 aUTOU .. . Kat Tel TE"KVa auTwv illustrates besides other correspondences that formulae and patterns of composition in epitaphs can be specific for a certain region. The regional definition of certain formulae seems to be confirmed by non:Jewish epitaphs with KT)8Ei)(u and E'YKT)8Euw (see below) , which puts the phrase 'EvTauSa E'YKEKTJ8EUVTaL . . . in 4 Mace 1 7:9 in a specific light. There could be some connection between 4 Mace 1 7: 9- 1 0 and the Jewish epitaphs from Hierapolis and Eumeneia in Phrygia. Unfortunately the vocabulary in the remaining part of the fictitious epitaph shows no affinity at all with phrases in Jewish inscriptions. Nevertheless, one other detail of the epitaph deserves our attention in this paragraph. The fact that a political reason is given for the death of the deceased (8La Tupdvvou �(av TT,v 'E�pa(wv TIOALTdav KaTaAuaaL 8EAOVTOS') is peculiar in the light of Jewish epitaphs. It belongs more to the domain of honorary inscriptions, which could in some cases be funerary inscriptions all the same. People were often honoured for their political merit, as appears from many pagan inscriptions. In a decree from Attaleia (Pamphylia) of the imperial period for instance, Lucius Calpurnius Longus was honoured by the people of his home town, According to Millar (see footnote 48) 27, both instances refer to the same archive. Cf. Clj 778 sing. and 779 plur. and see Kraabel (see footnote 48) 127. 51 Women are the owners in nos. 775 and 776, see Kraemer ( see footnote 38) 194f. Trebilco (see footnote 39) 1 12 with footnote 44. 5 2 Cf. Clj 777 and 780 and the inscription from Eumeneia (see footnote

46) .

53 This is evident in nos. 775 (with a second penalty for the claimant) and 776. According to no. 778 a penalty of 500 denarii had to be paid to the most holy treasury; in no. 779 three fines are mentioned, one of 2500 denarii for the most holy treasury, one of 500 denarii for the most holy gerousia and one of 300 for the informer. In the case of the related Eumeneia-inscription a curse should hold back violators.

A JEWISH EPITAPH IN A LITERARY TEXT: 4 MACC 1 7 :8- 1 0

57

because of its gratitude to him: 6 8flj.!OS ETElj.!TJO"EV AEiJKLOV KaA. rrovpvwv A6yyov, ui.ov MapKOU KaA.rroupvtou 'Poucf>au, TOV miTpW vos Tfls rr6A.Ews YJj.l.WV, EuxapLaT(as E VEKa . 54 There are some in

stances of Jewish honorary inscriptions ( CIJ 73lf, 738, 766 and 1450 JIGRE 1 29, ]/GRE 18 IGRR 1 07755 and Liideritz nos. 70-71 from Berenice) . 56 CIJ 731f from Samos dates from the second half of the third century CE and informs the reader that the elders and the Jews of the synagogue of Samos honoured an elder, whose name is only partfally transmitted. 57 According to CIJ 738 from Phocaea (Ionia) �nd probably dating from the third century CE a woman Tation was given the privilege of the rrpoE8pta (i.e. having a seat of honour in the synagogue) and of a golden crown: =

=

Tation, daughter of Straton, son of E (m) pedon, having erected the assembly hall and the enclosure of the open courtyard with her own funds, gave them as a gift to the Jews. The synagogue of the Jews honoured Tation ( E[ TE4J.TJ ]crEV ) , daughter of Straton, son of E (m) pedon, with a golden crown and the privilege of sitting in the seat of honour. 58

54 E. Bosch & S. Atlan, "Antalya Kitabeleri," Belleten 1 1 ( 1 947) 87-1 25 no. 1 1 . Cf. also no. 12 and for other honorary inscriptions for instance P. Herrmann , Ergebnisse einer Reise in Nordostlydien (Denkschriften der Aka demie der Wissenschaften in Wien 80; Vienna: 1 962 ) nos. 7-1 4 (Saittai and Silandos, second/third century CE) . F. W. Danker, Benefactor: Epigraphic Study of a Graeco-Roman and New Testament Semantic Field (St. Louis, Missouri: 1 982) . According to Robert, ''T AXE l ON," Hellenica 1 1-12 ( 1 960) 20 formulae with TLjlciw or T( jlTJjla in honorary inscriptions from Phrygia and Lydia could also be connected with the giving of a gratuity. 55 See the commentary by Horbury & Noy (see footnote 39) 26-30. 56 See Lifshitz (see footnote 25) . G. Liideritz, Corpus judischer Zeugnisse aus der Cyrenaika (Beihefte zum Tiibinger Atlas des vorderen Orients Reihe B 53; Wiesbaden: 1 983) 1 48-1 55. See also SEC 32 809 and 8 1 0 , two Samaritan inscriptions from Delos. First edition by P. Bruneau, "'Les Israelites de Delos' et Ia juiverie delienne," Bulletin de correspondance hellenique 1 06 ( 1 982) 465-504. 57 [- - K ] at ol 1TpE<J�UTEpoL Kat - - I [- - Tw] v 'I ou8a(wv Tfls KaTci [�cijlov?] I [- -cru] vaywyfls ETLjlTJcrav AP - - I [- - 1TpEcr�u] TEpov... See for commentary Lifshitz "Prolegomenon " ( Clj2 ) 90 and G. Dunst, "Eine jiidische Inschrift aus Samos," Klio 52 ( 1 970) 73-78, who also gives a tentative reconstruction of the complete text. See also BE 1 971 508 and F. Millar (see footnote 48) 72 (read [ C-!J ] 731f in stead of [ C..!J ] 731e) . 58 CI] 738: Tcinov �TpciTwvos Tou 'Ev-I TI€8wvos Tov ol Kov Kat TOV TIE-l p(�oA.ov Tou ima(8pou KaTacrKEU- 1 cicracra EK Tw [v l8] ( wv l E-xap(craTo T [ots 'l o] u8al.OLs. l 'H auvayw'Y'l E [TELjlTJ ] crEv TWV 'l ou8aU wv Td.nov � [TpciT] wvos TOU 'EVTIE-1 8wvos xpucr4) O"TEcpcivc.v l Kat 1TpOE8p(q. . Translation Trebilco (see footnote 39) , who discusses this inscription on pp. 1 1 Of. See Lifshitz (see footnote 25) 21f.

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J. W. VAN HENTEN

The going hand in hand of remembrance and political honours appears from one of the metrical epitaphs from Leontopolis ( CIJ 1 530A JIGRE 39 11. 5-8) : =

For he (Abramos) was not without honour in the city, but wore the wreath of magistracy for the whole people in his wisdom, For you were honoured with the leadership of two places, generously performing a double duty.59

It is striking that the verb Tljl.UW, which is part of the customary formulations in honorary inscriptions (see the pagan inscription just mentioned, Cij 73 1f l. 3; 738 l. 6; 766 1. 1 1 ; SEC 32 8 1 0 l. 3; cf. CIJ 1 530A l. 7) , occurs somewhat further in 4 Mace 1 7 at the beginning of the famous passage on the effective meaning of the death of the martyrs in 1 7: 20-22, which can easily be read as a continuation of the epitaph in verses 9-1 0.60 The passage indicates the honours the martyrs deserve: their vindication by God in connection with a reference to Deut 33:3 in 1 7: 1 9 ( 'All the holy ones are under your hands' ) , and the honour of their glorious and saving death. The first part reads: "And these (the martyrs) were sanctified by God61 and not only honoured with this distinction

(Kat otJTm ovv ciyLaa8€vTES 8u1 Sd>V TETLJ.1llVTal, ou j.l.6vov TUVTlJ Tij TLJ.1ij ) , but also by the fact that through them our enemies did

not take possession of our people, and the tyrant was punished and our fatherland purified ( 1 7:20f. ) . "6 2 As a matter of fact even the intermediate part between the epitaph and 1 7 : 1 9-22 which is veiled in athletic metaphorical language ( 1 7 : 1 1-18) is connected with honorary inscriptions by the symbol of the crown of victory or glory (aTE cpavos ) . In 4 Mace 1 7: 1 5 it is said: "piety won the 59 OUK a:yE-pacJTOS £cpu 'YelP ava TIT6ALV, aAM Kat apxiJ ·

Tiav8'1lJ..L4l €9vu
John. Essays on Jesus and the New Testament Christology in Honour of Marinus de Jonge USNTSup 84; ed. M. C. de Boer; Sheffield: 1 993) 1 01-128.

A JEWISH EPITAPH IN A LITERARY TEXT: 4 MACC 1 7 :8- 1 0

59

victory and crowned (aTEavouaa) her own athletes".63 Crowns (of gold or olive) for honoured persons are mentioned in Clj 738 1. 8, 1450 1. 8, JIGRE 1 8 1. 1 4, Liideritz 70 1. 17 and 71 ll. 23-25.64 The crown of victory for the martyrs, which is often mentioned in Christian martyrological literature, is probably an adaptation of these honorary crowns, to which pagan inscriptions often refer. 65 The combination of a reference to a crown of honour and a formula with TLIJ.ci.w is attested in Clj 738, 1 450, 1 530A and a Samaritan honorary decree from Delos (SEC 32 8 1 0) . Here our list of correspondences between 4 Mace 1 7:8-1 0 and Jewish inscriptions ends. The result of our comparison is that there is an interface between the fictitious epitaph in 4 Maccabees and Jewish inscriptions formed by common vocabulary, but · only in 4 Mace 1 7 :8f. There is parallel terminology to E'YKEKi}8EUVTaL in Jewish epitaphs from Phrygia (but note the discussion of much closer non:J ewish parallels from several regions in Asia Minor in the next paragraph) . Nevertheless, the non-literary parallels show repeatedly that the epitaph in 4 Maccabees stands on its own., It even has features which run counter to the standards in Jewish epitaphs, such as the omission of the names of the deceased. From the perspective of the data in Jewish inscriptions, however, the pecularities of 4 Mace 1 7:8-10 stand out. The honours to the mar tyrs are not paid by the Jewish community, but come from the Lord. The group of persons, which should be commemorated, is very special, and the fact that they died because of a political conflict with the Seleucid king catches the eye too. Maybe pagan inscriptions can bring these aspects into relief.

63 This vocabulary does not occur elsewhere in 4 Maccabees. 64 Cf. O'TEav'll cJ>opos in CIJ 742 and 749; also CIJ 777, SEC 32 809 ll. 3f.

and 8 1 0 l. 7. See Trebilco (see footnote 39) 1 1 0f., 1 78. Horbury & Noy (see footnote 39) 30, 1 00. 65 See A. J. Brekelmans, Martyrerkranz. Eine symbolgeschichtliche Unter suchung im friihchristlichen Schrifttum (Analecta Gregoriana 1 50; Rome: 1 965) . Z. Stewart, "Greek Crowns and Christian Martyrs, " Antiquite pai'enne et chre tienne. Memorial Andre-Jean Festugiere (eds. E. Lucchesi & H. D. Saffrey; Geneve: 1 984) 1 1 9-1 24. On crowns of honor in epigraphic sources in general Danker (see footnote 54) 467f.

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J · W. VAN HENTEN

3. Possible connections with non-Jewish epitaphs and inscriptions of another kind Formulae indicating buried persons with KT)8ElJW occur regularly in pagan and Christian epitaphs and there are also instances of composita like EyKT)8Euw, ETILKT)8Euw ( 'bury' ) , npoKT)8Euw (see above) and npoEyKT)8Euw in funerary formulae. A search with the PHI CD ROM disk resulted in a total of 78 occurrences of forms with the simplex or composita in inscriptions, completions by the editors included. 66 Only eight of these are in inscriptions from outside Asia Minor (three from Attica, one from Macedonia, one from Bostra in Arabia, one from Palestine and two from Italy) , 35 instances are in inscriptions from Ionia (chiefly from Teos, but also from Ephesus and Smyrna) , the others are from Caria, Galatia, Lycaonia, Lycia, Lydia, Phrygia and Pisidia. 67 Of course, not all epigraphical material is included on the PHI compact disk, 68 but the evidence probably indicates the geographical dis tribution of funerary formulae with KT)8Euw and composita with this verb. This would mean that these formulae occur especially in Asia Minor. A surprisingly high concentration of epitaphs with KT)8Euw and E'YKT)8Euw from Lycia, not included on the PHI disk, seems to confirm this assumption. From Phrygia there are several Christian inscriptions with KT)8Euw which contain a formula to restrain others from burying someone at the place.69 A Christian epitaph from the third century CE (after 2 1 2 ) originating from Hierapolis in Phrygia corresponds. to the first part of the Jewish epitaphs from Hierapolis discussed above: ,; cr6pos Kal 6 TIEpl atJTTJV T6nos Mcip (Kou) Aup (T)A.(ou)

Aucrq1.axou Tou dtoKA.E-ous, E-v {1 KEKiJ8EuTm aiJT6s, KT)8Eu81laETaL 8E 66 PHI Demonstration CD ROM 6 (The Packard Humanities Institute: 1 991 ) . 67 See TAM 3 . 1 , indices, pp. 352f. s.v. EiTLK"f18El)(u and K"f18ElJW (Termessus

in Pisidia) . See also SEC 6 739 (near Trebenna in Lycia) . 68 Dr J. H. M. Strubbe, Leiden, kindly brought to my notice some occur rences which are not always included on the PHI disk. Formulae with K"f18EtJW, E 'YKTlBEliW etc. occur very frequently in funerary inscriptions from Olympus in Lycia, see TAM 2.3, pp. 364-407 and 425f. (see below) . See also SEC 35 1 084 (Aphrodisias, Caria) . 69 SEC 28 1 1 56 (ETEP� 8€ ouBEvl E�OV ECJTaL K"f18EUCJaL ElS' TOUTO TO T)p�ov) . See W. M. Ramsay, The Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia (2 vols; Oxford: 1 895-1 897) 2 . 5 1 9 no. 358. T. Drew-Bear, Nouvelles inscriptions de Phrygie (Zutphen: 1 978) 1 06f. no. 45. See also SEC 6 230; 15 8 1 1 b 11. 6-9. MAMA 4 355 and 358.

A JEWISH EPITAPH IN A LITERARY TEXT: 4 MACC 1 7 :8- 1 0

61

Aup (llA( a ) Map(a 11 Kal Tpa(a.7° However, one should not pre

conclude that formulae like these were specific to Phrygia. Pagan inscriptions from several regions in Asia Minor contain formulae with EYK118Euw or K118Euw plus preposition €v. 71 Ilasos 394 reads for example: To llVllllELOV ME [v] bnrou [Tou - -] I [-]avou, €v i[l K118Eu etlaETaL airras KUL (ll] I 'YUVJl IJ.OU KaL Tel lTaL8(a IJ.OU KUL Tel KOIJ.�La

IJ.Ou.72 'EYK118Euw is ust;d in three epitaphs from Teos in formulae to prevent others from burying at the place (for instance ll118Evos ETE [p] ou E xovTos' E�oua(av EVK118Euaa( n va ... ) , 73 which occur very 70 L. A. Pennacchietti, "Tre iscrizioni cristiane inedite di Hierapolis Frigia," Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 39 ( 1 963) 1 31-1 37, esp. pp. 1 36f. no. 3. Although there are a few other non:Jewish epitaphs from Asia Minor in which the combination of aop6s and KT)8Ev w is found, this Christian inscription from Hierapolis is a close parallel to the mentioned Jewish epitaphs from Phrygia. See for more related inscriptions from Hierapolis Judeich (see footnote 46) and L. A. Pennacchietti, "Nuove iscrizioni di Hiera polis Frigia, " Atti della reale accademia delle scienze di Torino, classe di scienze morali storiche e filologiche 1 01 ( 1966-1967) 287-328 no. 7, pp. 297f. 71 !Eph 2299C col. 2, !Smyrna [G. Petzl, Die lnschriften von Smyrna (2 vo'Is. ; IGSK 23-24; Bonn: 1982-1990) ] 195 11. 8f., 246 1 . 7 . Cf. also Ilasos [W. Bliimel, Die Inschriften von lasos (IGSK 28 1 /2; Bonn: 1 985) ] 394 1. 2 and 629 11. 3f. and an epitaph from Caria, see W. Bliimel, "Neue Inschriften aus Kuzyaka, " Ep aphica Anatolica 1 3 ( 1989) 1 0f.; SE C 3 9 1 1 14. See also footnotes 67-68. See further W. Bliimel, Die Inschriften von lasos (see footnote 7 1 ) 2 .86f. Ta KOjl�ta could be the grandchildren, see LSJ Suppl. 86 s.v. KOjl�(ov. 73 R. Demangel & A. Laumonier, "Inscriptions d'Ionie," BCH 46 ( 1 922) 307-355, esp. pp. 336f. no. 24 11. 4f. Full text of this epitaph by an unknown woman, for her husband Onesimos, her mother and herself, according to SEC 2 602 and the edition of D. F. McCabe & M. A. Plunkett, Teos Inscriptions. Texts and List (The Institute for Advanced Study; Princeton: 1 985 [corpus on computer] ) no. 197: [- - - TI]V K] ajldpav [Tau] I [TT)V?] KaTEO'KEuaaEv E-auTij Kat TQ d.v8p [t ] I [ 'OvT) ] O'Ljl4J �aTopvdvov Kat Tij rrpoEVKE [KTJ ] I [8] EUjlEVIJ jlT)Tpt MaP.�EjllJ . jlTJ8Evos ETE [p] I ou EXOVTOS €�oua(av EVKT)8E0aa( nva [ rr€ ] I pa Tfls auvx [wpija]EWS auTfls il TOU dv8po [s] l 'OVT)O'ljlOU" av 8€ TLS ETrLXELPTJO'lJ, 8 w a n I [E ] ls Tov i EpwTaTov (aKov 8T)vdptal rrEVTaK 6 a t a . If Wilhelm ' s reading o f the name o f the mother (Ma P. � E jlTJ . ) i s correct ( SEC 2 602; De mangel & Laumonier read Mal!�E jlTJ ) , we probably have to do with a variant of the Jewish name Mariamme/Mirjam (see G. Mussies in the present volume , pp. 25 1 ) , which means that the inscription could be Jewish or Christian. See also the epitaph by an unknown person for his nephew, children, descendants and wife Sabina (?) , Demangel & Laumonier no. 23; SEC 2 601 ; McCabe & Plunkett no. 248: [- - Kat ] Kaw [ . . ] TQ ToO d8 [E>..ou Ul4} Kat] I [TOLS T] EKVOLS aUTOU Kat T4) 'YE [VEL Kal. ] l [�a�?] ELVIJ Tij yuvatKt aUTOU, w [O'TE jlT)8Evt ] l [ET] Ep4J E�ELVat ds Tathas TCLS [Ka l jld pas ] E VKT)8Eu9flvav €av 8€ T [ts] I €mxnp]iJO'lJ, cirroTdan TQ l [Epw] I [TaT] 4J TajlEL4J (8T)vd pta ) , �' Kat T [ij lEpw] l [TUTlJ �o] uA.ij (8T)vd pta ) , a' · TauTT) [S Tfls] I [lmypa ] T]s d.vT(ypa [ov cirrE ] I [TEST) ds] Ta dpxE'La; and the epitaph by Paresia, for her son Alexandros, her husband Grap [tos] and herself,

i.ff!

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J. W. VAN HENTEN

frequently with the simplex KTJ8Evw in epitaphs from other regions too (see for instance /Smyrna 239: Kal ETEpov !J.TJ8lva KTJ8Eueflvat ) . They can be considered as parallels of the formulae in Jewish epitaphs from Hierapolis with a similar function, which shows that these formulae are not restricted to epitaphs from Phrygia. Lycia catches the eye with dozens of occurrences of E 'YKTJ8Ev w , mostly i n formulae which forbid the burial o f others than the persons mentioned in the epitaph. A funerary inscription from Olympus has €yKTJ8Euw at lines 3, 5 and 7.74 Lines 5 and 7 belong to the second part of the inscription with the prohibition concerning the burying of other persons than the ones for whom the grave was meant (Aurelius Diotimus, the owner of the grave, his wife, children, grandchildren and brother Bassus) : Aip(flA.tos ) ilt6TELIJ.OS li.uTELIJ.OV Tou Kal 'Apg(l-? T?] EIJ.nTos 'OA.viJ.lTTlVOs ov E-wVTJcraiJ.TlV n'J!l�ov l-vypaws ETTLTpE �W, f) b �Lacr
A similar use of E'YKTJ8Euw with an interdiction to bury someone else in the grave is found in a lot of other epitaphs from Olympus. 75 TAM 2.3 no. 949 from the third century CE reads for example:

Demangel & Laumonier no. 25; SEC 2 603; McCabe & Plunkett no. 1 99: IIapT]a(a 'Pouo [v KaTEO'KEu] I acrE 'riJv Ka1-ui [pav €avTij Kat T(\)] I 1TpOKTJ8EVJ..L [EVC¥ vl(\) 'A>..E �civ] I 8pC¥ Kat T(\) O'VJ.l. [�(4> rpa1TT(\) ' J..LT] 8] I EVt 8€ E�EO'TW [ETEPC¥. E1TEt o] l vl6s J.l.OV 'A>..€ � [av8pos Kat 0 O'UJ..L ] I �t6s J.l.OV rpa1T [TOS Kat E- yw EVKE ] I KTJ8EU I.l.E6a, € [vTaiJ6a E 'YKTJ8Ev6ij ] l vat · El BE ns [ 6 € >-.E L E1T�XEtpflcr] l at, ciTioTdcrE [t TiJ lEpwTciTlJ] I �ov>..ij 8T]v [cipta - -.-] . 4 TAM 2.3 no. 954. 75 TAM 2.3 nos. 949, 95 1 , 953, 954, 955, 960, 962, 963, 976, 979, 983, 989, 990, 998, 999, 1 00 1 , 1 002, 1 003, 1 005, 1 009, 1 0 1 2, 1 0 1 4, 1 0 1 7, 1 02 1 , 1 023, 1 03 1 , 1 03� 1 035, 1 036, 1 037, 1 04� 1 045, 1 04� 1 05� 1 06� 1 06 1 , 1 063, 1 07 1 , 1 07� 1 073, 1 074, 1 077, 1 083, 1 085, 1 094, l l OO, l l 03, l l 04, l l 07, l l 08, l l 09, l l l O, l l l l , l l l 8, l l 22, 1 1 23, l l24, 1 1 26, l l 27, l l 30, l l 3 1 , l l 32, l l 34, l l 35, l l 40, l l 4 1 , l l 52, l l 58, l l 63, l l 64, l l 67. See also no. 1 2 1 2 from Phaselis. 'EyKT]8Euw also occurs apart from the relevant formula, see nos. 1 000 1. 5, l O l l 11. 1 0-12, 1 033 ll. 3f., 1 042 11. 8f., 1 089 1. 1 3, l l 03 11. 1 6f., l l l 8 11. 4f., l l 30 1. 3 and l l 64 1. 5, all from Olympus.

A JEWISH EPITAPH IN A LITERARY TEXT: 4 MACC 1 7 :8- 1 0

63

Ai.p ( flA.LOS' ) MouKLavbs KaTEO'K�OOO'a Tov TV��ov €auTw Kat yuvaLKL �ou Ai.p(TJA.ta) ��(ta Kat TEKVOLS' f]�wv· ETEpw BE 5 oi&v't. €�€crTm EVKTJ8Eooat nva, ii o �Lami �EVOS' EKTELO'EL TW \EpwTchw Ta�Etw * ,[3cl>'. 1TpaLTWpLaVQs

Non-Jewish epitaphs from Asia Minor contain other formulae which are interesting with respect to 4 Mace 1 7:9. The formula of a few (largely) Ch�·istian epitaphs from Sengen (Galatia) or Egri bayat (Lycaonia) , resembles closely the beginning of our fictitious epitaph: . . . E-v8a8£ KEK'll 8 EuTaL. . . ( 4 Mace E-v8aiha) . MAMA 7 582 (Sengen) reads for instance: E-v8a8E KaLK'll 8EuTE . . . 'AA.lcav8pos .76 On a Christian epitaph from Eumeneia (Phrygia) , probably dating from the end of the third century CE, we find again a formula similar to 4 Mace 1 7:9. The epitaph reports that Aurelius Neikeros constructed the tomb for himself, his wife and their children, but granted the use of it to his friend Aurelius Mannus, who was a soldier attached to the officium of the provincial gover nor Castrius Constans. Ll. 5f. contain the formula E-v8a8E KEKll8EUTE Au p ( 11 A.ws ) Ma vvos aTpaTLWTTJS. 77 So the non:Jewish epitaphs confirm that the formula at the beginning of 4 Mace 1 7:9-1 0 with

76 Full text: E-v8a8E KatKT18EUTE cpLM-1 �poTos dy>..a61J.opcpos d-1 81J.TJTOS aKaV1TTOS �lTJ 8'1 at rravTas EVLKa TOUVOIJ.'I 'A>..€�av8pos O'UV KaAALO'TUS I c'ij..La TEKvus Aup1l>..LOs Ila0-1 >..os cruv KE 'Avn6xou KE ITav-1 KpaT(ou dvEcrT1lcraiJ.EV TO 8(8-1 AOV TW 1T08LVOTQTCJ.) KE 'YAUKU-1 TQTW UIJ.WV rraTpt IJ.VlliJ.TJ [s ] I xapLV. According to W. Calder, "Introduction " to MAMA 7 p. xl, "there is no evidence of either paganism or Christianity in no. 582 ... " See also MAMA 7 585 1. 1 E-ved8E K [EKll8EUTaL . . ; 8 326a, and the (completed) beginning of an epitaph from Teos (third century CE or later) , see Demangel & Laumonier (see footnote 73) no. 35; SEC 2 614; McCabe & Plunkett (see footnote 73) no. 240: [6 E-ved8E KTJ8Eu8Ets MEvEKpaTTJs 'AT] 1 [Ta>..ou . . . 77 Text published by W . M. Ramsay, "The Cities and Bishoprics o f Phry gia," JHS 4 ( 1 883) 370-426, esp. 401f. no. 20 and 436 (Ramsay suggests in this article a date from the fifth century CE and Sebaste as place of origin) and with slight alterations in Cities and Bishoprics (see footnote 69) 2.529 no. 373: Aup. NELKEpws B'. KaTEcr-1 KEuacrEv To lipQovl [f- ] auTQ Kat yuvm..o v. 'Ev8a8E I KEKll8EUTE Aup. l Mdvvos crTpanwTT)s l lrrrrds crayLTTapLS I 8paKwvapLS e-e ocpLK [(] I ou TOU Aaj..L1TpOTaToul TJ 'YE1J.6vos KacrTp(o [u] l KwvcrTaVTos · l <Js liv 8' E1TLTT)8Eu-l O'EL �TEpos, EO'TE au-1 [TQ rrpos TOV 8E6v?] . See further the new edition and commentary by L. Robert, Noms indigenes dans l 'Asie Mineure greco-romaine (Paris: 1 963) 361-363. Cf. another epitaph from Hierapolis: Judeich (see footnote 46) no. 278 [ Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics 1 . 1 1 6 no. 20] 11. 1-2: [E-ved8E 'Arro>..] AWVLOS (8ts) EuTuxous Mo>..u�a EVKEKT18EUTaL aUTOS, KT)8Eu81lcrETaL 8€ Kat l [Tel TEKVa au] TOU 'Arro>..Awvts Kat 'ArroAAWVLOS" d>..Acp 8€ E�ECJTaL ou8EvL Also an epitaph from Teos, see BCH 46 ( 1 922) 343f. no. 35. .

=

64

J· W. VAN HENTEN

E- v8auTa , the perfectum of E 'YKT18E1JW and an indication of the

deceased persons shows affinity with formulae in epitaphs from Asia Minor. Besides the Jewish parallels from Phrygia there are non:Jewish formulae which correspond to 4 Mace 1 7:9 (with EYKT18EiK.u or Kll8ElJW + E-v; E-v80.8E and KT�8EiJW perf.) 78 and are attested in Ionia, Galatia, Lycaonia, Lycia and Phrygia. Possibly these connections in the sphere of vocabulary are not really a coinci dence . 79 They could be an indication that 4 Maccabees originates from Asia Minor, if they would match with other evidence. The peculiarity that the fictitious epitaph mentions a political reason for the death of the martyrs ( 4 Mace 1 7:9) can be con nected with pagan conceptions, which in some cases are ex pressed in particular on inscriptions. The martyrs died because of the attempt of Antiochus IV to destroy the politeia of the Hebrews. The key words used in this connection are Tupavvos, 1TOAL TELa and KaTaA.uw. These phrases and a related context of the abolition of a political system by a tyrant appear in pagan literary sources. 80 But if we replace 1TOALTda by related words such as v61J.OL , 8i11J.OS (in the sense of rule by the people) or 8ll1J.OKpaT(a we find this vocabu lary also in non-literary pagan sources, such as Athenian decrees against tyranny and decrees with a treaty of alliance of Athens with other states. An inscription found at Athens near the agora contains a law concerning the overthrow of democracy, proposed by Eucrates two years after the battle of Chaeronea (338 BCE) . It is stated in this inscription among other things that the hands of the murderer of a person who intended to found a tyranny would be. clean: E-av ns ETiavacrTilL T6'>L 8fl1J.WL E1TL Tupavvl8L T1 TI)v Tupawl8a

cruvKaTacrTfl<Jll L T1 TOV 8i11J.OV Tov 'A8Tivalwv T1 TI)v 8ll1J.OK:paT(av TI)v 'A8flVll<JLV KaTaA.u<JllL, os dv Tov TouTwv TL TioflaavTa U1TOKTELVlll oaws E<JTW ( "If anyone rise up against the Demos for tyranny or

join in establishing the tyranny or overthrow the Demos of the Athenians or the democracy in Athens, whoever kills him who

78 The PHI disk gives one instance of €vTauea plus €yKT)8EiJw, but the text is not certain: . . rpaTI [Tos Kat €yw EvKE-] I KT)8EiJ!lE8a, € [vTauea €yKT)8Euef\-] I vaL . . , BCH 46 ( 1 922) 337f. no. 25 (Teos, Ionia) . 79 None of the eight inscriptions with KTI8E u w etc. from outside Asia Minor on the PHI disk has either the compositum E'YKTI8Euw or the com bination of KTI8Euw and the preposition €v. 8 0 Plato, Leg. 9 864d; !socrates, Pan. 1 48; Polybius 2.47.3; Dionysius of Halicarnassus 7.8.3; Pausanias 7.27.7; Libanius, Declam. 20. 1 4; Progymn. 7.4.1 . .

.

A JEWISH EPITAPH IN A LITERARY TEXT: 4 MACC 1 7 :8- 1 0

65

does any of these things shall be blameless"; trans!. Meritt) .8 1 This law had several predecessors, such as the laws of Draco and the decree of Demophantos (41 0-409 B.C. ) , which also contain phrases such as TupavvEw and KUTUAUW Ti)v 8TUlOKpaT(av. 8 2 The terminology is also found in the oration in which Lycurgus accused Leocrates. 83 This oration is connected with the Athenian funeral orations for the victims of war, because Lycurgus wanted to show that Leocr�tes, who fled from Athens after the battle of Chaeronea, was just the opposite of the famous national heroes, who died for the'ir country (cf. 83-1 01 ) .84 The related phrases in the Athenian laws against tyranny could imply that li 'E�pa(wv TTOAL TELa has a constitutional meaning, which in the context of 4 Maccabees comes close to 6 TTaTp(os VOIJ.OS ( ' the ancestral consti tution ' ) , which was identical to the law revealed by God in ancient times to Moses (cf. 4 Mace 3:20; 4: 19, 23; 5 : 1 6; 8:7 and 1 8:5; also 2 Mace 8: 1 7) .8 5 Other relevant pagan material concerns the liberation of a polis (or other state) from tyranny or the rescue of a state from a sevt;:re threat to its existence from outsiders or insiders. This liberation was sometimes commemorated during so-called �wTT1 pta-feasts. Amongst the most famous were the �WTTlPLU of Delphi during which the deliverance of the sanctuary from the threat of the Gauls in 279 BCE by Apollo Pythios, Zeus Eleutherios and of course some mortals was commemorated. They were organized on a bigger, pan-hellenic, scale by the Aetolians since about 250 8 1 B. D. Meritt, "Greek Inscriptions, " Hesperia 21 ( 1 952) 340-380 no. 5 11. 7-1 1 . See the commentary on pp. 357-359. Also C. Mosse, La fin de la democratie atheniene. Aspects sociaux et politiques du declin de la Cite grecque au IVe siecle avant J-C. (Paris: 1 962) 282 n. 3. 8 2 Andocides 1 . 96-98. See M. Ostwald, "The Athenian Legislation against Tyranny and Subversion, " TAPA 86 ( 1 955) 1 03-1 28. 83 Contra Leocr. 1 24-1 27: reference to the decree of Demophantos. See further E. Berneker, "Hochverrat und Landesverrat im griechischen Recht," Eos 48 ( 1 956) [ Symbolae Taubenschlag I] 1 05-1 3 7. 84 KaTaMw with TOV Bfj!J.OV as object occurs for instance in the decree on a treaty of alliance of Athens with Arcadia, Achaia, Elis and Phleius from 362 / 1 BCE ( IG 1 1 2 1 1 2 11. 26, 30-32) , see H. Bengtson, Die Vertriige der griechisch-romischen Welt von 700 his 338 v. Chr. (Die Staatsvertrage des Altertums 2; Munich-Berlin: 1962) 250-252. See for further references SEG 29 90. Also IG 11 2 236 fragm. a 11. 1 1-1 3; 687 11. 14-1�. 8 5 See H. G. Kippenberg, "Die jiidischen Uberlieferungen als rrd.Tptot v6jlot ," Die Restauration der Cotter. Antike Religion und Neo-Paganismus (R. Faber & R. Schlesier; Wiirzburg: 1 986) 45-60. =

66

J · W. VAN HENTEN

BCE. The decree with the institution of the �wTf}pta of Priene (297 BCE) commemorates the divine rescue from the tyranny of Hieron (ll. 1 1 and 20) , the abolishment of his tyranny and the return to liberty and autonomy of the polis (ll. 1 4f. , 1 7, 25) . 86 The removal of tyranny in Eretria in 308 BCE and the turning back to the laws of the ancestors and to democracy was recalled during a procession for Dionysus. 87 Of course the train of thought and the conceptual universe of 4 Maccabees differs from the content and purpose of these inscrip tions. But the meaning of the Jewish martyrs for the Jewish people can be understood as analogous to liberators of these poleis from tyranny. This appears from a short description by Plutarch of the deeds of Aratus of Sicyon, one of the most glorious liberators in the ancient world. Aratus participated in the rescue of several states. In his biography Plutarch mentions that the citizens of his home town Sicyon sacrificed to him once a year, on the day on which he liberated the city from the tyranny of Nicocles. These sacrifices were called hWT1l pLa .88 In his Precepts of Statecraft ( Mor. 804E-F) Plutarch writes: "In this way Aratus arrived at fame , beginning his public life with the destruction o f the tyrant Nicocles (ounu napflA.8Ev Els 86eav '"ApaTos, cipxi}v TIOLllcra!J.Evos noA.tTdas Ti}v NtKoKA.E-ous Tou Tupavvou KaTaA.ucrtv) ".89 Probably noA.t TELa means in this phrase 'political career' and not ' consti tution' or some related idea and it is the liberator who overcomes the tyrant and not the other way around, as one would think with regard to 4 Mace 1 7 :9-1 0 at first sight. But the vocabulary concerning the establishment of a tyranny or its abolishment is, of course, very much related as the above mentioned Athenian legislation against tyranny and Lycurgus's Contra Leocratem show. As a matter of fact, Plutarch ' s remark concerning Aratus corresponds very well to the appraisal of the Maccabean martyrs

86 F. Hiller von Gaertringen, Inschriften von Priene (Berlin: 1 906) no. 1 1 . Cf. L . Robert, "Hellenica," Revue de philologie 70 ( 1 944) 5-56, esp. pp. 5-9; re�rinted in Opera minora selecta (7 vols.; Amsterdam: 1 969-1990) 3 . 1 371-1 375. 7 W. Dittenberger (ed.) , Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum (Leipzig: 3 1 9 1 51924) no. 323. See for discussions of this text A.-F. Jaccottet, "Le lierre de la liberte , " ZPE 80 ( 1 990) 1 50-1 56. N. Lewis, "The 'Ivy of Liberation' Inscrip tion," Greek Roman and Byzantine Studies 31 ( 1 990) 1 97-202. 88 Plutarch, Arat. 53.3f. See FGrH 23 1 . B. Niese, "Aratos (2) , " PW 2.383390. 89 Transl. H. N. Fowler (Loeb) . ,

A JEWISH EPITAPH IN A LITERARY TEXT: 4 MACC 1 7 :8- 1 0

67

in 4 Mace. This appears for instance from the summary of their deeds in 4 Mace 1 : 1 1 , which is related to 1 7:9 in content and phrases: a'lTLOL KaTEO"Tllcrav TOU KaTaX.u8flvaL n1v KaTa Tou €8vous Tupavv( 8a ( "they became responsible for the downfall of the tyranny") . 9°

4. Conclusion In the line of the conventions of ancient rhetoric, the author of 4 Maccabees combines several topoi in his enumeration of the merits of the martyrs.91 The seven boys are the pillars of the house that endured the earthquake of the tortures of the tyrant and the mother its roof ( 1 7:3) . In 1 7:5 she and her sons are compared to the moon and the stars, probably a hint at their afterlife. The fictitious epitaph is situated between the reference to a picture in 1 7:7 and the athletic metaphor in 1 7 : 1 1-1 8. The content of the epitaph is in line with the train of thought in the rest of the book,9 2 and its vocabulary overlaps with that of other passages. The epithet yEpaui is also used for the mother in 8:3 and 1 6: 1 and Antiochus IV' is stereotypically depicted as a tyrant in 4 Maccabees. His defeat by the martyrs is hinted at several times ( 1 : 1 1 ; 8:2; 9:30; 1 6 : 1 4; 1 7:21 and 1 8:5; with the verb KaTaX.uw also at 8 : 1 5; 1 1 :24f. and 1 7:2) , and the perseverance of the martyrs is stressed repeatedly (particular ly in phrases with VlTOJ.LEVw/imoJ.LOVTJ ) ,93 Nevertheless, the epitaph in 4 Mace 17:8-10 also resembles authentic Jewish epitaphs. The comparison with non-literary Jewish epitaphs shows that the first part of v. 9 with the formula 'EvTavea . . . E'YKEKll8EuvTaL , which is virtually without parallels from literary sources, can be connected with Jewish funerary inscriptions from Phrygia, where K118Euw occurs in combination with the preposition €v .94 The assumption that this terminology could be specific to a certain region seems to be confirmed by 90 See further Van Henten (see footnote 4) 219-224. 91 Cf. J. Martin, Antike Rhetorik. Technik und Methode (Handbuch der Alter

tumswissenschaft 2/3; Miinchen: 1 974) 147-166. 9 2 Cf. the same categories of persons in 4 Mace 4:9: priests, women and c hildre n . 93 Cf. 4 Mace 1 6: 1 concerning the mother: imEIJ.ELVas Tas IJ.EXPL 6avchou �aacivous . See also 9:6. 94 On the Jewish communities in Phrygia see Kraabel (see footnote 48) 61-154 and Trebilco (see footnote 39) 5f., 85-1 03.

68

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non:Jewish evidence. However, one should not prejudge that the formula in 4 Mace 1 7:9 corresponds to phrases in Phrygian in scriptions only. The Jewish epitaphs from Hierapolis and Eume neia share phrases and conventions with non:Jewish epitaphs not only from Phrygia but also from other regions in Asia Minor. As a matter of fact, phrases with E'YK118EtJW or Kll8dJw and the preposi tion E-v appear in non:Jewish inscriptions from Ionia, Galatia, Lycaonia, Lycia and Phrygia. The greatest similarity to the for mula in 4 Mace 1 7:9 occurs in Christian epitaphs from Galatia, Lycaonia and Phrygia (beginning with €v8ci8E KEKi}8EuTaL etc., see above) . The compositum E'YK118Euw occurs several times in inscrip tions from Teos (Ionia) and very often in epitaphs from Olympus in Lycia.95 This evidence could point to Asia Minor as the place of origin of 4 Macc.96 In that case there would be a second literary Jewish writing from ancient Asia Minor, besides the Jewish substratum of the first two books of the Sibylline Oracles originat ing from Phrygia. 97 Another indication of a possible provenance from Asia Minor is the geographical information in 4 Mace 3:204:26 in comparison to the parallel material in 2 Mace 3:1-6: 1 1 , which unmistakably shows a shift in the direction of Asia Minor. In 4 Mace 4:2 Cilicia is added as one of the areas of the strategia of Apollonius and some details concerning the Seleucid kings are not congruent with the information in 2 Maccabees and could reflect a much later situation, during which the Seleucids hardly left the northern part of Syria and the South-east of Asia Minor ( particularly Cilicia) .98 However, these deviations from 2 Maccabees do not necessarily imply Asia Minor as place of origin and are also quite congruent with a provenance from Antioch.99 Therefore it may be safe to wait for further arguments and conclude at this moment that there are indications that 4 Maccabees could originate from some city in Asia Minor, but that Antioch in Syria as place of origin cannot be excluded. 95 See footnotes 73 and 75. 96 So already Norden (see footnote 4) 41 9f. , who points to the Asianic

style and suggests a city from Asia Minor as place of origin. 97 J. Geffcken, Komposition und Entstehungszeit der Oracula Sibyllina (TU NS 8 . 1 ; Leipzig: 1 902) 50. J. J. Collins, "Sibylline Oracles. A New Translation and Introduction," in Charlesworth (see footnote 4) 1 .332. 98 See further Van Henten (see footnote 5) 146-1 49. Campbell (see foot note 5) . 99 Cf. Klauck, "4. Makkabaerbuch" (see footnote 4) 666f.

,

A JEWISH EPITAPH IN A LITERARY TEXT: 4 MACC 1 7 :8- 1 0

69

Against the background of the pagan sources which were dis cussed in connection with the cause of the death of the martyrs, Eleazar and his companions somehow seem to be depicted as the glorious saviours of the Jewish nation from the tyranny of Antio chus IV. The pagan parallels1 00 show at the same time that the martyrs acted in a way which was very different from the deeds of non:Jewish liberators. They did not start a war of liberation, but simply refused to obey the tyrant and "endured the tortures unto death" ( 1 7 : 1 0; cf. f: 1 1 ; 9:6; 1 6: 1 ) , like Socrates and other philoso phers, who also �tood up to tyrants. The terminology in 4 Mace 1 : 1 1 and 1 7 :9, which can be related to Aratus of Sicyon and probably other liberators from tyranny, shows that the death of the martyrs had a political and patriotic significance. These hine persons, nota bene an old priest, a woman and her seven sons, did not fight, but nevertheless prevented the tyranny which would have ended the ancient Jewish way of life according to the law of the Lord. They were not even soldiers, but they defeated the great king of the Greeks. The triumphant martyrs show in an exem plary way that faithfulness to the Lord and His law should be seen as the basic principle of the life of Jews. Their death was exem plary and a token of the strength of the Jewish people at the same time, and they were deservedly commemorated as heroes of this people. They were evidence that the Jews had their own glorious heroes, who could measure up to the pagan liberators from tyranny or other illustrious persons who sacrificed their lives for their people.1 0 1

1 00 References from Asia Minor to tyrannies and their abolishment are frequent, see for instance F. Hiller von Gaertringen (see footnote 86) nos. 1 1 , 37f. H . Engelmann & R . Merkelbach, Die Inschriften von Erythrai und Klazomenai (2 vols.; IGSK 1-2; Bonn: 1972-1973) 503. BE 1950 1 83. BE 1 973 95. In general H. Berve, Die Tyrannis bei den Griechen (2 vols.; Darmstadt: 1 967) . C. Mosse, La tyrannie dans la Grece antique (Paris: 1 969) . J. Labarbe, "L'apparition de la notion de tyrannie dans la Grece archaique, " L 'antiquite classi?ue 40 ( 1 97 1 ) 471-504. 1 0 See further Van Henten (see footnote 4) and "The Martyrs as Heroes of the Christian People. Some Remarks on the Continuity between Jewish and Christian Martyrology, with Pagan Analogies" (forthcoming) .

CURSES AGAINST VIOLATION OF THE GRAVE IN JEWISH EPITAPHS OF ASIA MINOR JoHAN H. M. STRUBBE A small number of Jewish epitaphs contain a curse against viola tors of the grave. P. W. van der Horst has devoted a small chapter to these funerary maledictions in his recent book on Ancient Jewish Epitaphs. ! The subject deserves a lengthier treatment, because it raises several difficulties. First of all, it is very hard to distinguish between Jewish and non:Jewish curses because the use of male dictions to deter violators was common among pagans, Christians and Jews, who all used identical formulas. Secondly, there is the problem of the interpretation of the curses: it is not always exactly clear what the writers of the curses had in mind. Thirdly, there are some general problems: the background of the interdiction to violate the grave in Jewish circles, the relations between pagans and Jews, and the respect of the pagan Greeks for the Jewish curses. I will discuss several of these problems in this contribution which is limited to Asia Minor, where curses against violators of the grave were most common. I offer a collection of all funerary curses which may have been set up by Anatolian Jews ( the inscriptions are edited in the Catalogue at the end of this paper) , and I discuss carefully the Jewish or non:J ewish character of the texts. I will pay special attention to the question whether the fune.:. rary maledictions prove that the general population of the Anato lian cities had knowledge of the Jewish Law, reverence for the Jewish God and respect for the Jewish tradition. On this point I do not fully agree with P. Trebilco, who has drawn far-reaching posi tive conclusions in his book on Jewish Communities in Asia Minor. 2

1 . The background of the interdiction to violate the grave. Curses against eventual violators of graves are frequently found in the pagan epitaphs of Asia Minor.3 Violation could consist of two 1

P. W. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs (Kampen: 1 99 1 ) 54-60. P. Trebilco, Jewish Communities in Asia Minor (Cambridge: 1 99 1 ) . 3 ] . Strubbe, Lampas 16, 1983, 248-274; idem, in Magika Hiera. Ancient Greek magic and religion (edd. C. A. Faraone & D. Obbink; Oxford: 1 99 1 ) 33-59. I know of some 365 items.

2

CURSES AGAINST VIOLATION OF THE GRAVE

71

different acts, first offences against the grave monument itself; second, infringements of the property rights of the owner. Examples of the former are the destruction or damaging of the grave, the pillage of the tomb, the erasure of the inscription. Examples of the latter are the burial of the corpse of a stranger who does not belong to the family; the opening of the grave (for that same purpose) ; the throwing out of the bones; the alienation of the monument. I hold that all these offences were committed mainly by the poor and d�stitute, who had not the means to build a grave for their own departed relatives. Consequently they put the corpse in the grave of another family or dismantled an existing tomb to build a new one. The same acts of violation are found in the interdictions of the Jewish epitaphs. The interdiction to bury an unauthorized person is found most frequently (Catalogue Nos. 2-4, 5?, 6-1 2) ; the interdiction to damage the monument is rather rare (Catalogue Nos. 1 , 10, 1 2-13) . The use of interdictions by Jews is not surprising: the idea of death as a sleep, of the dead sleeping in the grave until resurrection, of the tomb as an "eternal home" was widespread among the Jews. In the Greek epitaphs of the Jewish necropolis at Beth She'arim one finds similar interdictions to open the grave, to remove the deceased.4 In these texts and in other epitaphs written in Aramaic, the interdiction is sanctioned with a threat or with a curse. So it is not quite i-ight, I think, to say that the Jews of Asia Minor have adopted the practice of using grave curses from their gentile environment. 5 But of course they may have been influenced by their pagan neighbours, just as they took over local funerary terms and formulas, shapes and decorations of the tomb stones. The wish to protect the grave from being damaged, and the bones from being disturbed, may have been much stronger if the Jews believed in a bodily resurrection of the dead, as some 4 Van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs, 59-60; see also a Hebrew epitaph from Jerusalem, cited by idem, 1 53-1 54 No. X. J. S. Creaghan, Violatio Sepul cri. An Epigraphical Study (Doct. Diss., microfilm; Princeton: 1 95 1 ) 8 1 argues that there is no interdiction of grave robbery in the Pentateuch, but that Eusebius (Praep. Evang. 8.7.7) reports such a regulation as part of the Mosaic Law: Jl'h Ehlx:a.c; Jl'h JlVllJl
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apparently did.6 That the Jews did not want strangers to be buried in their family tombs is evident on the basis of the property rights alone. But pagans, I think, objected to this also because rites were performed for the dead near the grave , and offerings were brought to the departed in accordance with the idea, which seems to have been very strong in Asia Minor, that the deceased enjoyed some kind of life after death and continued to need food and drink. A stranger laid down in the grave would illegally share these rites and offerings and usurp them. Were the Jews influenced by these pagan ideas and thus adopted the custom of the funerary curses? It seems possible : the Jews slowly developed various beliefs in afterlife, partly under Greek influence, ranging from nihilism to the resurrection of the body or the eternal dwelling of the soul among the heavenly planets; they may have adopted also the belief in a continued existence of the dead body in the grave . 7 In this context, there is an interesting grave inscription from the neighbourhood of Akmonia, which is most probably Jewish. It records that the owner of the grave, Aur. Aristeas, has given several tools (forks, shovel, spade) to the yEttoauvn 'tO>V 7tpro'to1tuAEt'trov (the neighbourhood of the inhabi tants of [the quarter near] the first city gate) on condition they bedeck the grave of his wife, Aurelia, with roses ( po�iaat) each year. 8 This is the well-known Roman ceremony of the rosalia, in 6 Van der Horst,

Ancient Jewish Epitaphs, 1 1 5-122. Van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs, 1 1 4-1 26, 1 37-1 39; idem, Het Nieuwe Testament en de Joodse wafinscripties uit de Hellenistisch-Romeinse tijd (Utrecht: 1 99 1 ) 1 9-22; Kant, ANRW II. 20. 2, 702-706; S. D . Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah (Philadelphia: 1 987) 91-92. 8 W. M. Ramsay, Revue des Etudes Grecques 2, 1 889, 23-26 No. 2; idem, The Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia /. 2. West and West-Central Phrygia (Oxford: 1 897; repr. New York: 1975) Nos. 455-457 (cf. L. Robert, Hellenica XI-XII, Paris 1 960, 409-41 2 , who discusses its Jewish character; A. R. R. Sheppard, A natolian Studies 29, 1 979, 1 75; Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 78-81 No. 6. 1 ) ; see also A. Th. Kraabel, Judaism in Western Asia Minor under the Roman Empire (Th. D . thesis; Harvard Univ., Cambridge Mass.: 1 968) 1 09-1 14. The text i s from Susuz; 3rd cent. AD. The inscription is probably Jewish because of the proper name Math (i) os, which is Semitic rather than indigenous. The argument that the writer uses the threat [£cr}tat a:\>'to'i� 1tpo[ � 't�]v OtKc:xtocr-6[VTtV] 'tOU 8Eou in case the neighbours do not bedeck the tomb with roses each year, is not decisive: the phrase may be Jewish or Christian. Robert and Trebilco adduced as a third argument the fact that we have only one Christian inscription from Akmonia; for this argument, see notes 6 1 , 9 1 . Trebilco added a fourth speculative argument: in the 3rd cent. AD a society ( the 7tpOO't01t'OAE'i-ta.t) which was legally able to own and inherit land, was much

7

CURSES AGAINST VIOLATION OF THE GRAVE

73

which not only the tomb was decorated with roses but also a banquet was held at the tomb and a sacrifice was offered. The sacrifice is not mentioned in the inscription; so scholars have emphasised that it did not take place. I would like to note that the inscription very generally speaks of po8il;etv , it does not specify certain parts of the ceremony to be performed or not. I think it possible that the rosalia here included a banquet together with an offering of food fo.r the deceased (presumably not a sacrifice because most Jews probably did not worship their dead) . If such ideas were not e'Xceptional, they may have contributed to the practice of the curses.9 Before discussing the funerary curses, it may be noticed that the Anatolian Jews, just like their pagan neighbours, also used other means to deter eventual violators, such as fines. For ex ample, there are some epitaphs from Nikomedeia in Bithynia in which the desecrator is threatened with a fine to be paid to the synagogue . I O 2 . The problem of the "children 's children " curse. Many authors assume that the curse ( d<;) 'tEKVa 'tEKvrov and its variations are Jewish. The curse is named "the children's chil dren curse" because it is considered to call down a curse upon the children of the children of the wrongdoer. As a starting point for the discussion of the Jewish character of the curse, I present a list of all attestations. l 1

more likely to be Jewish than Christian. 9 For the afterlife described in pagan terms at Leontopolis in Egypt, see Kant, ANRW II. 20. 2, 703; for the worship of the dead, see ibidem, 704, but see van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs, 42-43. In ancient Israel, offerings of food, generally bread and wine, were commonly brought to the grave, see E. J. Bickerman, The Jews in the Greek Age (Cambridge Mass. - London: 1 988) 271-272. 1 0 F. K. Doerner, Tituli Asiae Minoris IV. 1 (Wien: 1 978; further abbreviated as TAM) Nos. 376-377 (= Catalogue No. 1) and 319, for which see J. & L. Robert, Revue des Etudes Grecques 92, 1 979, 5 1 9 No. 557. Some other examples are given by van der Horst, Ancient jewish Epitaphs, 59-60. l l I list the editions as completely as possible. The commentaries cited are limited to those which deal with the meaning of the curse. As to the Greek texts, I only note diverging readings of the curse.

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1 . Akmonia (Ahat Kay; Phrygia) , late Antonine period:

'Apa OE I EO"'t
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75

4. Near Akmonia (U§ak; Phrygia) , probably second half of the 2nd cent. AD: Tt<; Be K
"But whoever will d o harm to this grave, he will have a curse (extending to) his children's children".15 5. Afyon (Phrygia) , probably Imperial period: "0<; &v Be 'toullnp vac ilpcpcp K
be cursed, (to) his children's children" . 1 7 7. Prymnessos (Siigliin; Phrygia) , AD 2 1 7-219:

Tlc; &v Be toutm• t& I J.LVTIJ.Ldm KaKov 1tpoo1totfl lloet 11 E't£pov 1t'tiDJ.La E7ttOKOJ.Ltloet il tfl � BouA.11<; �ou KoaJ.Liac;, I anotdoet tcp iepm�atcp taiJ.Ldcp B11vapta BtaxiA.ta 1t£VtaiK6ota Kat ainoc; £otm 'tEKVmv II 'tEKVOt<; unoKatapatoc;, "But whoever will do harm to this grave

or will place a corpse in it other than that of my slave Kosmia, he will pay 2.500 denaria to the most sacred treasury and he will be cursed, (to) his children's children".18 1 5 ]. Keil & A . von Premerstein, Bericht uber eine II. Reise i n Lydien (Wien: 1 9 1 1 ) No. 255 with short ·commentary ( Clj II, No. 767 with trans lation; cf. 0. Haas, Phryg. Sprachdenkm., 38 No. 37, who cites the curse of LL. 57; Waelkens, Tursteine, No. 41 1 with commentary; Trebilco, Jewish Commu nities, 70 No. 4. 2 with translation) . See W. M. Ramsay, The Expository Times 26, 1 9 1 4/ 1 5, 1 72 No. 8 and Bearing Recent Discovery, 364 No. 8 for a trans lation; Buckler & Calder, MAMA VI, 1 5 1 No. 227* and L. Robert, Hellenica XIII (Paris: 1965) 97 for the provenance. For comments on youV'tll in L. 6, see the bibliography given by Waelkens, loc. cit.; Trebilco, jewish Communities, 2 1 5 note 49. The word, like you'taptov i n text No. 2, seems to b e derived from the Latin guntha, gutus ( ''vase") and to in�icate the grave or part of it. LL. 5-7. 16 F. K. Doerner, jahreshefte des Osterreichischen Archaologischen Instituts 3 2 , 1 940, Beibl. 1 32 No. 1 2 (ph.) (Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 70-71 N o . 4. 4 with translation) . LL. 4-6. 1 7 W. H. Buckler, W. M. Calder & W. K. C. Guthrie, MAMA IV (Man chester 1 933) No. 28 (ph.) U· Krischan, Wiener Studien 70, 1957, 2 1 4) . LL. 4-7. In L. 7 one could also restore: i� 'tEKVa] 'tEKVro[v] . 18 W. ]. Hamilton, Researches II, 437 No. 1 75 in majuscles ( GIG III Add., No . 3882i with Hamilton ' s majuscle text; cf. Lafaye, IGR IV, No. 678, who cites L. 1 2 ) ; cf. W. M. Ramsay, Zeitschrift fur Vergleichende Sprachforschung 28 ( N.F. 8) , 1 887, 383-384: revision and publication of LL. 8-1 5; Buckler, Calder & Guthrie, MAMA IV, No. 27 (ph.) U· Krischan, Wiener Studien 70, 1 957, 2 1 32 1 4; Waelkens, Tursteine, No. 492 [ph. of MAMA] with commentary) . See L. =

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8. Eumeneia (l�ikli; Phrygia) , after AD 2 1 2:

E i OE nc; I E1tl.XEtpftcrEt ava[ (J] l hcEUcl(J(lt 'tOV 't01tOV' I E<J'tffi
body will attempt to demolish the plot, there will be a curse for him (extending to) his children 's children and for the man who has given advice" .1 9 9 . Near Kollyda (Kalin Harman; north-eastern Lydia) , AD 261/62: Et 'ttc; 9eA.ftcrn I crKU�aA.A.icrat 'tO !lYll!l
find enraged Apollo and Lady Anaeitis, to his children's chil dren and grandchildren's grandchildren". 20 10. Near Saittai (Icikler; north-eastern Lydia) , AD 108/09:

Ei oe nc; 7tpo[crajlap]l't'{l 't'ft cr'tftA.A.n, 'tov 'A�to't'tT\V[ov Ke ( ? )] I 'to eKEt Offi0EKU9T\V Ka9it!l[EVOV (? ) I a]vE�ElA
vac. , "But if someone does wrong to the stele, he will find (Men) Axiottenos and (?) the Group of Twelve Gods, which is residing there, implacable, (to) his children's children".21 Robert, CRAIBL 1978, 283 (= Opera Minora Selecta. Epigraphie et Antiquites grecques V, Amsterdam 1989, 739; further abbreviated as OMS) notes 55-56 for the meaning of the curse. LL. 8-15. 19 P. Paris, Bulletin de Correspondance Hellenique 8, 1 884, 233-234 No. 1 with a majuscle text; Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics I. 2, No. 231 ( CIJ II, No. 761 with majuscle text and translation; cf. Robert, Hellenica XI-XII, 390 note 6: restoration o f L. 1 ; cf. idem, CRAIBL 1978, 282 [= OMS V, 738] note 50: restoration o f L. 1 2; Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 70 N o . 4. 3 with trans..: lation) . See W. M. Calder, in Anatolian Studies presented to W H. Buckler (edd. W. M. Calder & J. Keil; Manchester: 1939) 18; Robert, Hellenica XI-XII, 390 note 8; A. Strobel, Das Heilige Land der Montanisten (Berlin 1980) 67 note 18, who all discuss the religious background of the text; see also note 70. LL. 81 4. In L. 12 Paris, Ramsay and Frey read 't EK [vot�] ; corrected by Robert

CRAIBL.

20 P. Herrmann, Ergebnisse einer Reise in Nordostlydien (Wien: 1962) 59 No. 54 (ph.) (1. Diakonoff, BABESCH: Bulletin Antieke Beschaving 54, 1979, 1 48 No. 22 [ph.] with commentary on 166; cf. Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 73, who cites LL. 7-1 1 with translation) ; P. Herrmann, TAM V. 1 (Wien: 198 1 ) No. 213 with short commentary. See L. Robert, Revue Numismatique 6e serie 18, 1 976, 48 note 1 07, who cites the curse of LL. 9-1 0 and makes some observa tions on the association of the two gods. LL. 7-1 1 . I think that oux in L. 1 0

does not mean "on account of' (so Trebilco) , but that i t has the same mean in as ei�. 1 Cf. G. Petzl, Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik 30, 1 978, 260, who publishes LL. 5-9; S. Bakir-Barthel & H. Miiller, Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik 36, 1979, 1 82-1 83 No. 36 (ph.) with translation of LL. 1-5 and short commen tary ( Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum XXIX, 1 979, No. 1 1 79

�

77

CURSES AGAINST VIOLATION OF THE GRAVE

1 1 . Neapolis (Inebolu; Carla) , probably Imperial period:

[--] I tvot� Kat E7tapa'to� ecr('t)a[t 'tEKVa 'tEKV]Iu� [-- ?] , "- and he will be cursed, (to) his children's children". 22 1 2 . In the valley of Acipayam (probably from Kilise; Pisidia) , Imperial period: E>uot 'EA.A.� { t } vrov I Kat llepcr&v, t n� I A.otJlavn, 'tEKVa I 'tEKVot� a'i Jlan Kat II Oava'tot� &7toOroO'O';>O'[t] , "If someone will damage (the tomb) , the gods 9f the Greeks and of the Persians will pay him back with blood 'and deaths, (to) his children's children". 2 3 1 3. Near OsmanK.alfalar (near the Sogiit Golii; Pisidia) , probably 3rd cent. AD: 'Eav n� e1ttXtp�crEt 11 'tft uKi� 11 'tip xiovt 11 'trov cruvyev£rov eKf3aA.TI I 11 AKE'ta� 11 &A.A.o� I n�, 't�O't Ka'ta 'to7tov I Jltcr[O]ro'tft *
* .] I Kat 'tql &otl�cravn I flTIOE yi1 Kapl7tov JlTIO[e] OllaA.acra, 'tE[K]va I vac 'tEKVu�, "If someone will

violate the grave house or the column, (or if someone) of the relatives or Aketas or another person (will try) to throw out (the [further abbreviated as SEC] ; E. N. Lane, The Second Century 1, 1981, 194-195 No. 1 [ non vidi] ; cf. Ch. R. Long, The Twelve Gods of Greece and Rome, Leiden 1987, 122 No. 47A, who cites LL. 5-9 with translation) . See L. Robert, Bulletin de Correspondance Rellenique 107, 1983, 520 (::;:: Documents d' Asie Mineure, Paris 1987, 364) and H. S. Versnel, Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik 58, 1985, 262 for the meaning of the curse. LL. 5-9. In LL. 6-7 Petzl gave 'A�to't't'TlV[ov . . . . ] ro ; Bakir - Barthel & Muller read ev] I 'tip, followed by all later editors; I see an omikron on the ph. in the place of an omega: 'tO orooex:a811v ( orooex:a8t(o)v , orooex:a8eov; this is grammatically much better than the reading of the editors EV] 'tip EK£t orooex:a.ellv. If, however, the reading of the editors is the correct one, one should translate: "Axiottenos, who is residing there in the Group of Twelve Gods". 22 G. Doublet & G. Deschamps, Bulletin de Correspondance Rellenique 24, 1 890, 630 No. 35 with a m
=

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bones) , he will pay 500 denaria to the contractor of the estate and [xxx] denaria to the Imperial treasury; and for the man who has done the wrong, the earth and the sea (will not bring) fruit, (to) his children's children". 2 4 14. Oinoanda (lncealiler; Pisidia) , undated: 'E'tEpq> o£ J.LllOEIVt E�OV dva.t E7ttaEIIVEVKE 7t'tOlJ.l<X. 11 £al'ta.t E7t<Xp<X.'t0<; 9eo'i<; I 7t&atv Kat 7tclaa.t<; I 'tEKVa. 'tEKVIDV, "It is not permitted to

anyone else to place a corpse in (the tomb) or he will be cursed with all the gods and goddesses, (to) his children's children". 2 5 1 5. At !sparta (Pisidia) , during the reign of the Emperors M. Aurelius and L. Verus or of Caracalla and Geta:

Ei o£ II 'tt<; E'tEpO<; I E7ttX[Etp]ilaEt I [EJ.L�a.A.]E'iv n[vci], 9i1aEt I 7t[poa] 'tElJ.LO[u] Ei<; I 'tov vac x:a.x:6v n 7tOtll
one else will try to lay another person in (the grave) , he will pay 1 . 500 denaria to the treasury of the Emperors and 1 .000 denaria to the city. If someone else should do any harm to the grave monument, may he find deaths for his family, to his children's children". 26 A closely related expression is found at 1 6. Synnada (�uhut; Phrygia) , probably Imperial period ( 1 st-2nd cent. AD ) : Tt<; o.Ov 7t [o]'tE 'tel oal'tE<X. a[a.AEUaE]t, K<X.'tclpa. I a.u['tip yevo]t'to Ei<; I ey[y6vro�] �yy6vou<;, "Whoever will thus m:ove (?) these bones,

may he have a curse extending to his grandchildren's grand- children". 2 7 2 4 R. Heberdey & E. Kalinka, Bericht uber zwei Reisen im sudwestlichen Kleinasien (Wien: 1897) 8 No. 22 (R. Cagnat & G. Lafaye, IGR III, Paris 1906, No. 478) . LL. 9-21 . 2 5 Heberdey & Kalinka, Bericht uber zwei Reisen, 5 3 No. 7 4 (cf. L . Robert, CRAIBL 1978, 283 [ OMS V, 739] , who cites the curse of LL. 1 0-1 3) . See J. Strubbe, in Magika Riera, 55 note 96 on the relation between A and B. B LL. 8-1 3. In L. 13 Robert put a full stop after micra.t� and considered TeKva. 'tEKVO>V =

as a separate (abbreviated) curse; I connect the words with emipa.'to�. 26 Th. Homolle, Bulletin de Correspondance Rellenique 18, 1 894, 199-200 in majuscles on the basis of a copy of G. Doublet ( cf. Cagnat & Lafaye, IGR III, No. 340, who cite LL. 9-18; cf. L. Robert, CRAIBL 1978, 283 [= OMS V, 739] , who cites LL. 19-22) . LL. 9-22. 2 7 Buckler, Calder & Guthrie, MAMA N, No. 84 (ph.) (cf. J. Strubbe, in Magika Riera, 33 with 4 7 note 2, who cites LL. 4-6 with translation and a new restoration of L. 5) . LL. 4-7.

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The full expression is de; 'tEKVa 'tEKVrov (once bta 'tEKVa 'tEKVrov in No. 9) . It is frequently abbreviated to 'tEKVa 'tElCVIDV (Nos. 4, 8, 10, 14, 1 5; the variant 'tEKVa 'tElCVOt� with dative in the place of genitive is found in Nos. 1 1 ?, 12, 1 3) ; abbreviations of curse formulas are well attested. 28 One finds 'tEKVmv 'tEKVotc; only once or twice (Nos. 6?, 7) ; probably the preposition cruv has dropped out here. The formula (de;) 'tEKVa 'tEKvrov is always added to a curse. Usually this is a very simple maledi�tion: (Ka't}apa Ecr'tat or &pav E�Et and E7tapa 'toc; Ecr'tat or i>7toKd'tapa'toc; ecr'tat, which all very generally mean that the wrongdoer will be cursed. I think this is the original context: the punishment of being cursed is extended to the children's children of the violator; it occurs in Phrygia, Caria and Pisidia. In some cases the phrase is added to other curses; these records come from Lydia and Pisidia (Nos. 9, 1 0, 1 2, 1 3, 15) and this use looks secondary. There is no certain case of the use of the phrase 'tEKVa 'tEKVIDV as a separate curse. 29 It is generally assumed that the phrase (de;) 'tEKVa 'tEKVrov is Jewish. This idea was proposed by W. M. Ramsay, and was adopted by e.g. W. H. Buckler & W. M. Calder (hesitatingly) , J.-B. Frey, A. Th. Kraabel, P. Trebilco.3 0 The main argument is that the words (de;) 'tEKVa 'tEKVrov quote the Septuagint. Buckler and Calder referred to Exod 34:7 and Prov 1 7:6. Trebilco pointed out that phrases such as 'tote; 'tEKVotc; 'trov 'tEKvrov are found in several passages in the Septuagint, but that the phrase is found only once in a context of judgment or cursing, in Exod 34:7: ou Ka9apu:t 'tOV £voxov, e1tayrov &voJltac; 7ta't£prov E7tt 'tEKVa Kat E7tt 'tEKVa 'tEKVrov e1tt 'tph11v Kat n:'tap'tllV "(EVEav , " (The Lord) will not clear the guilty,

28 See Robert, Hellenica XIII, 96-98. For the abbreviation 'tEKVa 'tEKVrov, see L. Robert, CRAIBL 1978, 282-283 (= OMS V, 738-739) . 2 9 See note 25. In an inscription from Kibyra (Horzum; Pisidia) , pub lished by G. E. Bean, Annual of the British School at Athens 5 1 , 1956, 1 36 No. 2; cf. J. & L. Robert, Revue des Etudes Grecques 72, 1959, 247 No. 41 1 on the basis of a copy of M. Holleaux; SEC XVII, No. 694, one finds in L. 5: -- Kat eautft l;rocrn te� a ['teKVrov] I -- (Bean copied TEKAIA; Holleaux copied l;rocrn 'tE Kat) . I think the restoration of Bean cannot be correct: 'tEKVa 'tEKvrov is never used as a separate curse; besides, there is no interdiction to violate the grave (the interdiction and a fine follow in LL. 6-7) . 3 0 See the references given by Waelkens, Tursteine, 1 66 ad No. 41 1 ; Kraabel, judaism, 82-86; Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 69-74 with bibliography on 2 1 6 note 56. The (Ei<;) teKVa 'tEKVrov inscriptions are not included among the Jewish testimonies collected by F. Millar, in The History of the jewish People in the Age ofjesus Christ (1 75 BC - AD 135) by Emil Schurer IlL 1 (edd. G. Vermes, F. Millar & M. Goodman; Edinburgh: 1986) 1 7-36. ·

·

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visiting lawless conduct of the fathers upon children and upon children's children until the third and fourth generation". The Jews identified the violator of the grave with the evoxo<; of this text, and asked the Lord to punish him as far as his grandchildren, in accordance with the character of Yahweh as revealed in this text.31 Trebilco was well aware of the fact that No. 9 clearly had a pagan origin, but he argued that the writers of this inscription borrowed the curse formula from Jewish epitaphs known to them or from their Jewish neighbours: the inscription happens to be later than the majority of the other texts, and it comes from an area of proved Jewish habitation. As to the Nos. 1 2-15 from Pisidia, Trebilco suggested that they were probably not related to the Phrygian texts. Nos. 12, 1 3, 1 5 do not refer to a curse, and the sites where they were found are very distant from Akmonia; they could be independent occurrences of the formula. 32 I do not agree with Trebilco for several reasons. Firstly, Trebil co, following Kraabel, seems to consider the words ( Ei<;) -reKVa -reKv rov in the curses in Phrygia as a specification of the contents of the malediction (Ka-r)apa, enapa-ro<;, imoKa-rapa-ro<;. Both authors speak of <>. Since this curse means little in itself, it must refer to a curse written down elsewhere, that is, in their opinion in Exodus. I think the phrase ( Ei<;) -reKVa -reKVrov is not a specification of the contents of the male dictions (Ka't)apa, enapa-ro<;, imoKa'tapa'tO<;. These maledictions did not need any specification; in many inscriptions they are not specified indeed.33 They are very frequently found in a pagan . context and what they meant was perfectly clear to everyone. It is recorded in many other sources that a cursed person was thought to get no mercy from the gods, that he became an enemy of the gods, that the gods became angry with him (all these related ideas are also expressed in the funerary maledictions; a very 3 1 The suggestion of Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 72 that the Jewish community of Akmonia (and other cities) adopted this passage as part of its worship and used it as part of the liturgy in the synagogue, is only a hypo thesis. Ms. A. Bij de Vaate has pointed out to me that it was not Exod 34:7 that was used in later OT passages, the Pseudepigrapha and thus eventually in liturgy, but Exod 34:6. 3 2 Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 73 and 217 note 68. 33 See for example a text from Synnada in Phrygia: eav Oe 'tt<; K
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81

common curse is for example 't'ouc; 9c.ouc; KEXOAOOJ..L EVouc; exot't'o , "May he find the gods enraged") . Punishments inflicted by the enraged gods were death, especially strange and cruel death like death by fire or lightning, and diseases, above all blindness, mental disorder and epidemics. All natural catastrophies, like drought and flood, infertility of women and abnormal births were also considered divine punishments. Moreover a cursed person was avoided by his. fellow citizens out of fear of being contami nated by the J..L t <Xcr J..L a , the pollution, and was banished from society.34 It is my opinion that the words (Ei<;) 't'EKV<X 't'EKVrov are only an extension of the range of the curse beyond the wrongdoer himself, as is common in (pagan) funerary maledictions, where the punishment is often extended to the family, the house, the children and the posterity of the wrongdoer.35 They do not refer to curses written down elsewhere, that is, in the Scriptures. Secondly, the words 't'EKV<X 't'EKvrov are frequently found in Greek literature and in Greek inscriptions; they constitute a normal expression used by the ancient Greeks to indicate the posterity.36 In the text of Exod 3 4 the words E7tt 't'EKV<X 't'EKVrov also 34 See for example W. Speyer, RAG VII ( 1 969) s.v. Fluch, 1 184-1 1 89; idem, RAG XI ( 1981 ) s.v. Gottesfeind, 1 0 1 7-1 020; idem, in Theologie und Religions wissenschaft (ed. U. Mann; Darmstadt: 1973) 124-143. One finds several illu

strations in the Lydian confession inscriptions. 35 J. Strubbe, in Magika Riera, 43. A nice example, very close to the phrase, is found in a funerary malediction at Cayirbasi (formerly Zemme) in the Upper Tembris valley in Phrygia: Tl<; 3£ 'taU't11 SaA.aJ.LEtv KaKov nocrnou1cret, Ka'tnpaJ.LEVO<; ll't
1).

3 6 A few epigraphical examples i n epitaphs: R. Merkelbach & J. Nolle, Die Inschriften von Ephesos VI. Nr. 2001-2958 (Repertorium) ( Bonn : 1980) No. 2507 at Ephesos: 'tOU'tO 'tO J.lVTIJ.lEtov [ £crnv ... Kat] 'tEKV
at Amaseia: ei J.lll EJ.lOt 11 yuvatKt J.LOU 11 'tEKVOt<; 11 'tEKV
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indicate the posterity; they have no particular Jewish signifi cance . 37 There is nothing specifically Jewish in it, so the words can hardly have generated a Jewish curse formula, the more so since the context in Exodus is not that of cursing (as Trebilco argues) but of punishment for sin, the breaking of the covenant. Thirdly, the argument of Trebilco, following again Kraabel, that the use of the phrase in the pagan text No. 9 from north eastern Lydia is due to Jewish influence, is untenable. It is refuted by the occurrence of the phrase in two other pagan texts from north-eastern Lydia: in the epitaph No. 10 (which Trebilco missed) , which dates from the beginning of the 2nd cent. AD and is thus earlier than all datable occurrences in Phrygia, and in an undoubtedly pagan confession inscription from the museum of U�ak (only recently published) , dating to 238/9 AD .38 These three texts prove that the formula was in use among pagans, even in an early period; its pagan use is corroborated by the occurrence of the phrase in the inscriptions from Pisidia (Nos. 1 2 , 1 4) . The suggestion of Trebilco that the Pisidian texts are probably not related to the Phrygian series, is unfounded: the text of Oinoanda (No. 1 4) is perfectly comparable to the Phrygian texts, and in all Pisidian texts the formula is abbreviated in the same way as in Phrygia. Therefore it seems more likely that all records from all Anatolian regions, including Phrygia, display a common Greek locution, and that this phrase did not have a Jewish origin. Of course it is not excluded that the phrase ( Eic;) 'teKva 'teKvcov was used by Jews, for example in Akmonia and Eumeneia, where an important Jewish community lived, and that the Jews favoured the expression because it echoed a Septuagint passage. But the phrase itself, without additional evidence, does not suffice to iden tify an inscription as Jewish. As to the Phrygian texts of the list, especially from the cities of Akmonia and Eumeneia with their Jewish communities, none of these has any distinctive Jewish 37 The same observation is valid for the other occurrences of the phrase in the LXX: Prov 17:6 (
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feature.39 So the wisest course is to consider these epitaphs pagan, together with the texts from outside Phrygia. My assessment of the phrase (eic;) 'tEKVa 'tEKVrov has some bearing upon the problem of the relations between Jews and pagans. Trebilco has argued that the writers of No. 9 borrowed the curse formula from Jews or from Jewish epitaphs. This implies, accord ing to him, a close connection between the Jews and their pagan neighbours; the writers must have considered the Jewish curse formula as a potent means to ward off grave violators. 40 In my view there was no borrowing: the writers used a Greek expression with the local variation ( ou:X 'tEKVa 'tEKVrov, £yova f.yovrov, as in the confession inscription) . The expression does not allow us to d�aw conclusions on the relations between pagans and Jews. 3 . Jewish curses.

Do the other Jewish curses against violators of the grave tell us anything about the interaction between Jews and pagans i,n Anatolia? My starting point is here again the collection of all relevant texts. I have compiled a catalogue of 1 3 Jewish (or probably Jewish) inscriptions with curses against violators of the grave, which is presented at the end of this paper. I have added one epitaph from Rome (No. 14) ; I will explain the reasons for this when I discuss Nos. 1 2-1 3. Curses can be divided into two groups, a "specific group", that means imprecations in which the punishment wished for is more or less clearly specified, and a "nonspecific group", in which there is only a vague threat. I have included in my cata logue all maledictions of the first group that are Jewish or are probably Jewish. Of the second group I have included only those 39 A15 to No. 8, the admission of a friend to the grave is not common in pagan epitaphs, but it is not unique (see Ramsay, ad locum) . It is not an indication of Christan or Jewish character. I would like to draw attention to the fact that none of the texts uses the word emK<Xtapa:toc;, which was used by Jews, see Catalogue No. 8. This word is commonly found in the LXX (see for example Deut 27:1 5-26) . But the word was also used by pagans and Christians, see L. Robert, Hellenica VII (Paris: 1 949) 66-67 and VIII (Paris: 1 950) 76, and the bibliography given by Herrmann, TAM V. 1, ad No. 20. The fact that a normal Greek word is found in the LXX is not a sufficient argument to declare an inscription containing that word Jewish. 'lO Trebilco, jewish Communities, 73.

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maledictions that are certainly Jewish (Nos. 1 and 2) .41 The reason for this is that the number of inscriptions belonging to the "nonspecific goup", which may be Jewish (or Christian) , is too large to be presented here. For example, the inscriptions contain ing the so-called Eumeneian formula ecr'tat au'tip 1tpoc; 'tOV E>Eov , "He will have to reckon with the God". This formula was fre quently used by Christians and Jews alike ( and perhaps even by pagans) . There are several variations of the formula; many of these use terms as easily Christian as Jewish; for example ecr'tat au'tcp 1tpoc; 'tllV xdpa 'tOU E>Eou ( "the hand of the God") , 7tpoc; 'tO OVOJl<X 'tOU E>EOU ("the name of the God") ' 1tpoc; 'tOV smv'ta E>EOV ("the living God") .42 There is no way to decide whether these threats were written by Jews or Christians; apart from Nos. 1 and 2, none of these contains any clear indication of Jewish origin. All inscriptions of the catalogue date from the Roman Imperial period, probably not before the 2nd century AD. I will first discuss the reasons why each inscription is generally accepted as Jewish. Two inscriptions from Nikomedeia in Bithynia threaten the violator of the grave with the final judgment. No. 1 is certainly Jewish because the violator is also threatened with a fine payable to the synagogue. The curse warns the wrongdoer that he will have to reckon with the judgment (of the Lord) . No. 2, the epitaph of Aur. Kyrion and his wife Aur. Ioulias, is certainly Jewish 41 I have not included in the catalogue the inscription CIJ II, No. 773 from Apameia in Phrygia, which contains the Eumeneian formula ecrta.t a.utip n po� t[ov] E>e6v , "He will have to reckon with the God". This text is considered Jewish because of the name of the owner of the grave, Aelius Pancharios (also named Zotikos) . Ramsay has observed that the name Pancharios occurs elsewhere only in a Jewish inscription in Rome ( Cities and Bishoprics I. 2, ad No. 385, referring to GIG Jv, No. 9904; now CIJ I, No. 509) . This argument is weak, though the name is now attested in two more Jewish inscriptions from Rome, CIJ I, Nos. 48 and 106. 42 See Kant, ANRW II. 20. 2, 686 with note 95; Robert, Hellenica XI-XII, 400, 408-409. Kraabel, judaism, 65-66 argued that the variation npo� 'tflV XEtpa. tou E>eou , which is on record in one inscription from Apameia in Phrygia (Buckler & Calder, MAMA VI, No. 231 , dated towards AD 250) is Jewish rather than Christian. His argument is that the phrase "the hand of God" is rare in the NT and the Apostolic Fathers, but exceedingly common in the OT and rabbinic literature (in the NT only three texts with similar expres sions refer to judgment, and even there the precise phrase xdp tou E>eou does not appear) ; the image of the divine hand is also frequent in Jewish art. But the OT was also a Christian book (see below) , so the curse may be Jewish as well as Christian (cf. also Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 219 note 95) .

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because of the concluding formula euA.oy{a 7t&crtv , "Blessing for all".43 Here it is said that the violator will undergo the judgment (of the Lord and will have to reckon) with the God. Belief in the post-mortal chastisement of the wrongdoer is an idea the Jews shared with several ancient people. It was thought that retribution would be meted out by the Lord after the advent of His kingdom.44 The threat of the final judgment is not found in other cities of Asia Minor, but it occurs at Beth She 'arim.45 Van der Horst has rightly observed that belief in a judgment and in posthumous punishment is expressed in Jewish epitaphs only in the context of tomb-violation . In pagan curses against violators of the grave, punishment in the afterlife is also attested. The idea of punish ment after death apparently arose in a natural way in the context of the protection of life after death. The kind of chastisement was, of course, well suited to punish an unknown desecrator.46 The curse of No . 3 from Apameia on the Maiandros in Phrygia has the character of a warning: "(the violator) knows the law ,of the Jews". This sentence proves Jewish ownership of the tomb. Since the discovery of Nos. 7 and 9 in nearby Akmonia, the law of the Jews is interpreted by all scholars as Deuteronomy, the threat referring to the section of curses in chapters 27-29 (see be low) .47 But I think it is not excluded that the law refers to the penal code of the Jews, which meted out the scourge as a punishment for offences (see the discussion of No. 4) . I will return to the Apa meian text when I discuss the relations between Jews and Greeks. In Phrygian Eumeneia, the malediction of No. 4 warns the violator that he will receive an eternal scourge from the immortal 43 44 45

See Robert, Hellenica XI-XII, 394-398. Bickerman, The Jews in the Greek Age, 274-275. M. Schwabe & B. Lifshitz, Beth She'arim II. The Greek Inscriptions Oerusalem: 1974) No. 162; cf. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs, 60, 1 1 9120: 0 ena.vytAUJ.lEVO� sronOtllO"E tOU� VEKpou�. a:\no� KptVE, "He who has promised to bring back to life the dead, will Himself judge him". 46 Van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs, 125; J. Strubbe, Lampas 16, 1983,

267.

47 Cf. two Jewish adjurations: Ka.ta tilv ocr{a.v, "In accordance with the holy (commandment) " at Beth She' arim (Schwabe & Lifshitz, Beth She'arim II, No. 1 34) ; per licem quem Dominus dedit ludeis, "By the law which God has given to the Jews" from Catane on Sicily ( Clj I, No. 650) , see van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs, 57, 59.

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God. 48 L. Robert, in 1 960, was the first to consider this inscription Jewish. He pointed out that a9avato� 9e6� ( "the immortal God") is said of the God of the Jews and of the God of the Christians and even of pagan gods; the use of o E>e6� makes the latter possibility rather improbable, according to Robert even impossible. Robert further emphasised that the inscription does not contain any of the usual Christian formulas, so he preferred to consider the owner of the grave, Aur. Gemellos, a Jew. B. Lifshitz objected that none of the (nine) names in the inscription is Jewish, and that a9avato�, though being an epithet of the God of Israel, is not found in the Septuagint. The first objection has no value since most Jews in Phrygia bore Greek names; the second objection is beside the point: what is relevant is the use of the epithet in the first centuries AD, which is firmly attested.49 One consideration may plead against the Jewish character of the curse: there are no certain signs of Judaism in Eumeneia, but there was an extensive Chris tian presence.50 This observation however is not sufficient to con sider the curse Christian. Robert further suggested that the eternal scourge might be the eschatological transposition of a reality of the Jewish community life, the punishment of scourging. It is well-known that several offences were punished with 39 strokes, administered in the synagogue, on different parts of the body. The fact that in Chris tian writings scourging appears rarely, generally as an action of persecutors, as was observed by Trebilco, might be an additional

48 I have translated the Greek word J.UX<J'tt� as "scourge". According to B. Lifshitz RB 72, 1965, 536-537 it should be translated as "fleau, peine" (punish ment, suffering) ; this is indeed one of the meanings of the word, also in the LXX (see C. Schneider, TWNT IV s.v. r.uicrn�, 524-525) . S. P. Ntantes,

'Ant:rA:1JnK'a{ eK'cppaat:r� t:i� ra� 'EM1JVlK'a� imropf3{ov� naA.awxpranavrK'a� imypacpa�

(Athens: 1 983) 99 interprets the curse as the wish for an everlasting disease of the body (in 2 Mace 9: 1 1 , Antiochos Epiphanes is described as being tortured with pain every moment, a 8eia J.Uicrn�) . 49 See Robert, Hellenica XI-XII, 437; J. Bonsirven, Le judai'sme palestinien au temps de jesus-Christ. Sa thiologie I (Paris: 1934) 1 40-1 41 , 1 60; Kant, ANRW II. 20. 2, 686 note 95, 699. 5 0 See F. Millar, in The History of the Jewish People III. 1, 32. The two in scriptions published by Robert, Hellenica XI-XII, 414-435 are Christian texts which apparently show Jewish influence (isopsephy, angelology) ; for CIJ II, No. 761 , see note 19. Christianity at Eumeneia is illustrated many times by the so-called Eumeneian formula, ecrtat autij} 1tpo� tov 8eov with its variations.

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argument in favour of the Jewish character of the text.5I I would like to add that in Jewish thought one of the forms of physical torture in Gehenna (for disbelievers) is being scourged with fire.5 2 Lifshitz rejected the interpretation of Robert on the basis of the observation that the punishment with the scourge does not occur in the Septuagint. This is not only irrelevant - relevant here again is the practice of scourging in the first centuries AD, which is well attested53 - but also mistaken, as can be proved from Deut 25:2-3. As to the origin of the curse, flogging was not only a Jewish punishme h t, but was also practiced by pagan Roman justice. Maan� or flagellum was a kind of torture reserved for slaves, but in later antiquity free persons of lower status were not exempt from it (see below) .54 In the Eumeneian curse the punishment is extended to eternity; the idea of eternal chastisement is common to Jews, Christians and pagans. 55 Several funerary maledictions, which may be Jewish, have been found in the Phrygian city of Akmonia and its territory. An important Jewish community lived in the town, being firmly attested since about the middle of the 1st cent. AD . The inscrip tions Nos. 5 and 6, which date to the 3rd cent. AD (probably to the second half of it) , use the same malediction, the sickle of curse which will enter into the house of the wrongdoer and will leave no one behind. Let us start with the discussion of No. 5 . The malediction is taken from the Septuagint version of Zech 5:2-4. The Septuagint was a Jewish as well as a Christian book (see below) ; consequently the malediction on its own does not prove Jewish ownership. The malediction with the sickle of curse is 5 1 Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 77-78. Trebilco, following Kraabel, Judaism, 69, also observed that Gemellos and his father were city-councillors

and members of · the gerousia; at that early date (3rd cent. AD) Jews were more likely to be in these positions than Christians. At Sardeis there were Jewish city-councillors even before AD 2 1 2 , see ]. Strubbe, Lampas 22, 1 989, 193. 5 2 Bonsirven, Le judaisme I, 537, referring to Midr. Tanhuma (B. ed. Buber)

pi�ude 3.

See J. Juster, Les juifs dans l'Empire romain II (Paris: 1 9 1 4) 1 61-1 62; Robert, Hellenica XI-XII, 439 with notes 1-2; Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 7778. For example Matt 1 0 : 1 7; the tractate m. Mak. 54 G. Fougeres, Dictionnaire des Antiquites grecques et romaines II s.v. Flagel lum, 1 1 54-1 155; Th. Mommsen, Romisches Strafrecht (Leipzig: 1 899; repr. Graz: 1955) 983-984. 55 In Jewish context for disbelievers, see Bonsirven, Le judaisme /, 5 38.

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J. H. M. STRUBBE

preceded by the threat EO''tat atl't<$ 1tpoc; 'tOV 8c6v 'tOV U'JftO''tOV . This formula, the so-called Eumeneian formula, was used by Jews and Christians alike (and perhaps by pagans ?) , as stated above. The expression "God most high " was used by Jews, sometimes by pagans but apparently not by Christians.5 6 The combination of these data strongly suggests that the anonymous deceased of No. 5 was a Jew. The LXX text of Zech 5: 1-4 is as follows: " And I (= Zechariah) turned and raised my eyes and saw and behold a flying sickle (
Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 127-144.

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flying scroll ( megilla) on which the curse is written. It is not im portant for our purpose here to discuss how this change occurred and why the image of a sickle was acceptable to the translators as an instrument of divine wrath. 57 A final point of interest to notice is the fact that the curse in the LXX is directed against every thief and perjurer, in the inscription against the violator of the grave. Trebilco has argued that a person who swears falsely does not respect the holiness of an oath, and is therefore comparable with someone who violates the sanctity of a grave: both crimes are religious offence � . I doubt whether these crimes were connected in the minds of the users. The suggestion of Kraabel that in the LXX the curse is directed against thieves, and that writers of many inscriptions had in mind future grave-robbers, sounds more probable.58 As a matter of fact, the looting of the grave is a form of tomb violation, though it is rarely mentioned in the inter dictions.59 But, as Kraabel himself objected, the inscription No. 6 (and 5?) does not contain that interdiction. So perhaps the curses were used without any concern for the original context. The inscriptions Nos. 7-8-9 all use the curses of Deuteronomy. No. 7 explicitly refers to the curses that are written in Deutero nomy. The reference to the Book of Deuteronomy is generally assumed to be a certain indication that the writers of the inscrip tion were Jews. But some scholars, such as J. S. Creaghan, G. H. R. Horsley and recently Trebilco, have warned that Christian authorship of epitaphs with references to the Old Testament ought not to be entirely ruled out. As a matter of fact, the Septuagint, including the Book of Deuteronomy, was available to Christians as well as Jews. 60 Therefore the inscriptions 7-8-9 may derive from 57

See the discussion of B. Lifshitz, RB 72, 1 965, 536; cf. Trebilco, Jewish

Communities, 2 1 8 note 74. 58 Judaism, 88.

,

59 A relatively small number of epitaphs has the interdiction to search the grave (avo pu·nro vel sim.) . One Christian epitaph from near Klaudiopolis in Bithynia explicitly mentions that there are no valuable objects in the grave: F. Becker-Bertau, Die Inschriften von Klaudiupolis (Bonn: 1 986) No. 1 77. 60 Creaghan, Violatio Sepulcri, 80; Horsley ad Catalogue No. 8; Trebilco ad Catalogue No. 4. For Biblical citations in early Christian texts, see the col lections of G. H. R. Horsley, New Documents illustrating early Christianity 1 and 2 (Macquarie: 1981 , 1 982) . Ms. A. Bij de Vaate has brought to my attention some Christian Coptic magical texts, in which "the sickle of Zechariah" and "the curse of Deuteronomy of Moses" and curses taken from Deut 28

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Christians. An argument in favour of their Christian character is the fact that, if we do not consider the texts Christian, we have only one single pre-Constantinian inscription from Akmonia that might be Christian. 6 1 This would be strange because in nearby cities such as Eumeneia and Apameia, Christian inscriptions are abundant. The argument, however, is not convincing; it can be turned around. One could argue that the inscriptions are probably Jewish because Christian inscriptions are exceedingly rare in Ak monia, whilst we have . a large series of Jewish inscriptions in that city. Another argument in favour of their Jewish character may be the fact that the writers of Nos. 7 and 9 are city magistrates; Jews were more likely to hold this position than Christians at that time . But we have some inscriptions showing that in several cities, for example in neighbouring Eumeneia, Christians held high positions such as that of city-councillor since about the middle of the 3rd century AD. 62 A final argument in favour of the Jewish character of the maledictions is the observation that the Law and the Book of Deuteronomy were more at the hart of Jewish religion than of Christianity. 63 None of these arguments is convincing but I think the last one has some weight, and there fore I prefer to consider the Deuteronomy inscriptions as probably written by Jews. occur, see A. Kropp, Ausgewiihlte Koptische Zaubertexte II (Bruxelles: 1 930-3 1 ) . There is also a late Roman or Byzantine inscription from the monastery of S. Johannes Kynegos in Moni Asteriou in Attika which contains a curse concerning the vineyard and has at the end the words llpoqnrr ucov op£1t<xvov ,' "the sickle of the prophet" (L. 8; the rest is lost) (P. Lazarides, Archaiologikon Deltion 1 6, 1 960 [ 1 962] , Chronika 68) . A Christian epitaph in Surrentum in S. Italy wishes: ebeniat ei cot est in psalmu CVIII, "May happen to him what is written in Psalm 1 08 " ( GIL X, No. 761 ; E. Diehl, Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres II, Berlin 1927, No. 3861 ) . 61 The Christian inscription is a grave inscription containing a threat against wrongdoers, the so-called Eumeneian formula, ea: (at autcp 7tpo<;] I tov 8 eov , "He will have to reckon with the God" (Buckler & Calder, MAMA VI, · No: 336) . Since this formula was not exclusively used by Christians but was also used by Jews (see No. 5; cf. note 42) , even this inscription may be Jewish. 62 J. Strubbe, Lampas 22, 1989, 1 98-1 99. As to the epitaph of Alexandros, magistrate and city-councillor of Akmonia ( 3rd cent. AD or somewhat later) , the only, albeit rather dubious, indication of Christianity is the surname Acholios. 63 For the importance of the Scriptures for the Jewish communities, see Trebilco, jewish Communities, 21 4-2 1 5 note 39. There are very few Christian inscriptions which include curses taken from the Scriptures, see note 60 (not in Asia Minor and all very late) . For curses in Christian epitaphs in general, see Ntantes, 'AnelA1JnKa{ eKq>paaeu;, 84-154.

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The OT-passage with the curses of Deuteronomy is too extended to be cited here. The maledictions are directed against those who do not obey the commands of the Lord. The first part (27: 1 5- end) announces that the people will be cursed if they do not obey the commands of the Lord. The second part (28: 1-14) contains the blessings which will come as the result of obedience to the Law. The third part ( 28 : 1 6- end) contains the curses for infidelity to the Law. Chapter 29 ( 1 8- end) is a description of the evils that have befallen the people when the covenant has been broken. It is inte testing to note that the writers of the inscriptions used the curses for other purposes than stated in Deuteronomy, that is, for the protection of their graves ( cf. the curse of the sickle) . Trebilco has argued that the Jews were acting in accordance with the intent of Deut 30:7, where it is said that, when the people have returned to . Yahweh, one of the blessings He will bestow on them is the transference of the curses "to your enemies, to those who hate you, to those who have persecuted you". The Akmonian writers, obedient to the Lord, were asking Him to apply the cur&es to their enemies, that is, to the violators of their graves. 64 I doubt this very much. Those who violated the graves were not neces sarily enemies or persecutors of the Jews; they did not desecrate the graves out of hate for the Jews, but usually because of poverty, as I have argued above. No. 9 does not explicitly mention Deuteronomy, but only refers to "curses that are written". That the written curses are those of Deuteronomy is beyond doubt because the wording of No. 9 is very similar to that of No. 8: OO'E avyEypaJ!JlEVCXt tO'tV versus oaat datv yEypaJ!JlEVat. The wording of the two inscriptions is almost identical with the text of Deuteronomy itself, for example 29: 1 9 or 26: 7tUO'Clt ai apat 'tTl� Ota9ft1C11 � au-rfl� ai YE'YPCXJlJlEVat EV -rip �t�A.{cp -rou-rcp. The writer of No. 9, T. Flavius Alexandros, has added some specifications concerning the area of the malediction: curses will befall the wrongdoer on his eye-sight and on his whole body and on his children and on his life. Curses regarding the body are mentioned at several places in Deut 28 (vss. 2 1 , 22, 27, 28, 35, 6061 ) . A curse on the eye-sight (o paat�) in 28:28: "May the Lord 6 4 66-68, against Kraabel, judaism, 8 1 -82, who assumed that the Jews attributed a general potency, and even a magical power to the Deuteronomy curses.

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smite you with madness, blindness (ao paai�) and astonishment of mind". A curse on the whole body (oA.ov 'tO a&J.ta) is uttered in 28:35: ''The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils from which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head ( U7tO 1xvou<; 'tOOV 1too&v aou em<; 'tll<; Kopuq>il<;) " (note that the expression oA.ov 'tO a&Jla is not used in Deuteronomy) . Curses extending to the children are also frequent in Deuteronomy (28:1 8, 32, 41 , 53 ff.) , for example 28:45-46: "All these curses shall come upon you, pursuing and overtaking you, until you are destroyed ( -) ; they shall be among you and your descendants as a sign and a portent forever". This text makes clear that the ultimate goal of all the curses is the utter destruction of life ( �io<;) . I wonder why Alexandros has chosen these specific areas of curse out of the mass of diseases, sufferings and disasters mentioned in Deuteronomy. They are not particularly prevalent nor are they the harshest. It strikes me that all these curses were also used by pagans to deter violators of the grave. Curses upon the eyes and the sight are found for example at Sardeis, 6 5 for the whole body (probably with the same words oA.ov 'tO a&Jla as in our text) at Iasos. 66 The combination of curses upon eye-sight, chil dren and life is found near Amorion 67 and has parallels in curses upon life, children (or house) and the body at Ephesos and Philo melion . 68 It looks as if Alexandros picked out of Deuteronomy some areas of curse that were common in pagan curses and would deter the gentiles. I will return to this point later. 6 5 W. H. Buckler & D. M. Robinson, Sardis. Publications by the American Society for the Excavations of Sardis VII. Greek and Latin Inscriptions. Part 1

(Leyden: 1 932) No. 152, LL. 7-8: J!Tt'tE OJ.lJ.lcX'trov I [opa

·

Ligatures: L. 1 TH, HK, HNE, HK, L. 2 NB, L. 3 TH, TH, TE , L. 5 ME , TE , L. 6 MH , L. 7 MH , L. 9 TH . L. 1 : ['t]'hv , Robert; rightly corrected by Doerner, as can be seen on the ph. (ligature of tau and eta). L. 4: upsilon at the end of the line is very small, as if omitted at first and added later. L. 6: MH�ENA , lapis.

"I have placed the grave and the altar for my very sweet mother Ulpia Kapitylla. And I want that no one else destroys it. If not, he will have to reckon with the judgment (of God) and he will pay 1 .000 denaria to the synagogue and 500 denaria to the treasury. Farewell . "

CURSES AGAINST VIOLATION OF THE GRAVE

107

The verb avamceuacrat in L. 6 is rare. It is found in Asia Minor in the Phrygian city of Eumeneia, in an inscription which is often (wrongly) considered Jewish or judaising ( CIJ II, No. 761 ) . 1 06 The interdiction is strange: £-n:pov is not in the right place. It looks as if there is confusion between two different interdictions, "I want that no one destroys it" and "I want that no one else will be buried in it". 2. Nikomedeia Izmit, built in a wall of the same house as No. 1 . White marble homos; H . 0.83, w. 0.26. Letters: H. not recorded; ligatures; plain letter-forms. Probably around the middle of the 3rd cent. AD (Robert, 398) . Ed. : L. Robert, Hellenica XI-XII, 392- 394 (ph.) with extensive commentary (F. K. Doerner, TAM IV. 1, No. 375) .

4

8

12

16

Aup. Kup{rov l;iiw EJ.LCXU'tql Ka-remceuacra 'tO J.lVTlJ.ltOV KClt 'tTI crUV�tq> J.LOU Aup. 'louA.taOt · Kat �ouAoJ.Lat J.LE-ra -ro EJ.LE -re9fl vat J.LTlOEva £-re pov -reSflvat ei J.lll 'tEKVOV J.LOU · o� o£ &v 1tapa -ra1na n 1totfl cret, E�1l KptcrtV 1tpo� -rov 8e6v. EuA.oyta 1tftcr[tv].

Ligatures: L. 7 ME, L. 10 HN . L . 13: "CCXU"Ca. 1tOt� -, Robert; rightly corrected by Doerner, as can be seen on the ph. L. 14: ESH , £9.1 or £Q1 ( e�Et ), Robert, 398. =

1 06

See notes 19, 70.

108

J. H. M. STRUBBE

"I, Aur ( elius) Kyrion, have made the grave, while alive, for myself and for my wife Aur (elia) Ioulias. And I want that no one else will be placed (in it) , after I will have been deposited, except my child. Whoever will do something against these (prescrip tions) , he will undergo the judgment ( and he will have to reckon) with the God. Blessing for all." According to L. Robert ( op. cit. , 408) the curse is a strange combination of two curse formulas, E�Et Kptcnv ("he will undergo the judgment") and E�Et 1tpo� -rov E>e6v ( "he will have to reckon with the God") . I0 7 3. Apameia on the Maiandros Dinar. Description and letter-forms not recorded; the division of the lines is not indicated. Mter AD 2 1 2 . Ed. : W . M. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics I. 2, No. 399 his (copy of D. G. Hogarth) with commentary (cf. idem, The Expository Times 26, 1 91 4/ 1 5, 1 72 No. IX, and Bearing Recent Discovery, 364-365 No. IX: translation and commentary; J. -B. Frey, CIJ II, No. 774 with translation; cf. P. W. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs, 57: translation of the curse formula and commentary; P. Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 99-101 with translation and commentary) . See A. Th. Kraabel, judaism, 1 24 for the curse. Au p. ' Pouq>O� 'IouA.uxvou w e1tO{[Tt Jl]Ou Aup. Tanavn . i� 0 E'tEpO� ou -re9n . d OE 'tt� e1tt'tT\0EUCJt, -rov VOJlOV otOev [-r]&v EiouOErov.

"I, Aur(elius) Rouphos, son of Ioulianos, son of Ioulianos, have made the heroon for myself and for my wife Aur(elia) Tatiane. No one else may be put in it. But if someone will bury (another corpse here) , he knows the law of the Jews."

107 Van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs, 1 2 5 translates: "he will under go judgment before God".

CURSES AGAINST VIOLATION OF THE GRAVE

109

4. Eumeneia I�ekli, in the "large Khan"; now in the depot of antiquities at Denizli. Marble homos with mouldings above and below; dim. unknown. The upper moulding consists of a row of palmettes, an egg-and dart moulding and a bead-and-reel moulding. Letters: H. not recorded; the letters of L. 5 are somewhat larger than the rest; LL. 2-4 and 6-9 are very densely written. Ligatures; alpha with broken cross-bar and elongated right leg, plain epsilon, square sigma, rounded omega, upsilon with cross-bar. Mter AD 212. Ed. : ]. Franz, GIG III, No. 3891 with a majuscle copy on the basis of an edition by V. Arundell and a copy of A. Delaborde; W. ]. Hamilton, Researches II, 470 No. 353 (majuscle copy) ; cf. G. Perrot, RArch 1 876, 281-282: reading of L. 6 on the basis of a copy of Choisy; W. M. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics I. 2, No. 361 with commentary (cf. S. P. Ntantes, 'A netA1J-rt7(a{ e7(cppaaet�, 99, who cites LL 1 9-22) ; L. Robert, Hellenica XI-XII, 436-439 (ph.) wfth ample commentary. See B . Lifshitz, RB 72, 1 965, 536-537; A. Th. Kraabel, Judaism, 68-69; A. R. R. Sheppard, Anatolian Studies 29, 1979, 1 75 with translation of LL. 1 7-22; P. W. van der Horst, AncientJewish Epitaphs, 58 note 72; P. Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 77-78, who all comment on the curse. See ]. Strubbe, Lampas 22, 1989, 193 for a discussion of this Jewish magistrate in the city. On the upper moulding vac "Epproa8E. vac On the shaft 4

8

Aup. fEJ.lEAAo� MTJva BouAEu't'h [�] 'tOt� yAUKU'tcX'tOt� yovEUatV AUpTJAtot� MTJV� w 'tOU tAt1t7tOU BouAEu'tn, yEpa{�, Kat 'Amp{� 'Ap't& 'tU nha EK 'tiDV i8irov · d� o 7tpoEKi18EuaEv 't[ov] a8EA<pov iAt1t1tOV Kat 'tllV 7ta'tpav KuptA.A.av Kat 'tllV £�a8£A
1 10 12

16

20

J· H. M. STRUBBE

cre'tat o£ ei� au'to Tl 'tE cruv'tpO<po� au'tou ct>tA:rrrrt Kat Et 'ttvt £'t£pcp �&v cruvxropftcret · o� 0 ' &v E7ttXEtpft cret E'tepov E7tEt crevevKetv, ATt'JfE'tat 1tapa 'tou &Sa va'tou 8eou J.Lacr 'tetya airovwv.

Ligatures: L. 2 ME, MHN, L. 4 HN . L. 1 : EPPQE>E (Arundell; omitted by Delaborde) , £ppro(cr)9E, Franz; [£p]procr9e, Ramsay; [£pp]rocr9E , Robert L. 2 : fENEAAOE, Arundell (who often copied E instead of l:) ; fEMEAAOl: , Delaborde; f EJlEAAo� , Franz; poul..eu-rll � , Robert, but the stone seems to be broken immediately after the eta. L. 4: NillllOY, Delaborde. L. 6: APTATAL1IA, not transcribed by Franz but by Perrot; EKT-- , ElC 't[&v] , Franz; EKT[.] , Hamilton. L. 7: I�IQNNEIE, UHrov · d� , Franz; ll P Ol: E K , Arundell; llPOEK HAEYLEN [ . . ], Hamilton; extr. ['tov] , Franz. L. 8: extr. KA : : : : : , Delaborde; KAI [ . . ], Hamilton. L. 1 1 : [ Jl]OU, Robert; on the ph. one sees a vertical basta, but there seems insufficient space for a m:u. L. 14: AYTOl: , Hamilton. L. 17/8: XEIPHil:EI, -XEtp�lcr(n) , Franz. L. 19: -EVEYKEtV , Robert incorrectly as can be seen on the ph.; AH'I'E , Hamilton. L. 21: omitted by Arundell. L. 22: TEITAAIQNIQN, Arundell.

"Greetings. Aur (elius) Gemellos, son of Menas, member of the city-council (has made this grave) for his very sweet parents Aur(elius) Menas, son of Menas, son of Philippos, member of the city-council and member of the group of elders, and Aur( elia) Apphion, daughter of Artas; (it is) his own property (made) out of his own money. He has already buried in it his brother Philippos and his aunt Kyrilla and his cousin german Ju (lia) Paula. His foster-sister, Philete, will also be buried in it, and (others too) , if he will grant the permission to someone else while alive. But the man who will attempt to place another (corpse) in it, will receive eternal scourge from the immortal God."

CURSES AGAINST VIOLATION OF THE GRAVE

111

5. Akmonia Venice (ca. 7 km. north of Ahat) . A description of the monument is not available. Letters: no information available; the division of the lines is unknown . Probably in the 2nd half of the 3rd cent. AD (on account of the formula Ecr't
"(But if anyone will introduce another body, ) he will have to reckon with the most high God, and may the sickle of curse (enter) into his house (and leave no one behind) . " 6 . Akmonia Susuz (ca. 6 km. west of Ahat) , in the wall of a house. Marble basis, broken above and below; H. 0.74, w. 0.40, th. 0.42. The inscription is on the front (A) and on the right side (B) . Letters: H. 0.02-0.035; ligatures; plain alpha and epsilon, square sigma, rounded omega. 2nd or 3rd cent. AD. 1 0 8 The Eumeneian formula EO"'ta.t a.u'ti!> 1tpoc; 'tov 8e6v dates at the earliest from ca. 200-225 AD, see M. Waelkens, Actes VII Congres epigr., 1 26-1 27.

1 12

J · H. M. STRUBBE

Ed. : cf. E. Legrand & ]. Chamonard, Bulletin de Correspondance Hellenique 1 7, 1 893, 271 No. 60 with a majuscle copy, who publish only A; W. M. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics /. 2, Nos. 465-466 with commentary (see No. 6 13 for the provenance) ; (J. -B. Frey, CIJ II, No. 768 with the majuscle text of Legrand & Chamonard, and with translation) ; W. H. Buckler & W. M. Calder, MAMA VI, No. 3 1 6 (ph.) on the basis of a copy of W. M. Calder, A. B. Birnie, ]. C. Watson, with short commentary (cf. S. P. Ntantes, 'A nelA1J'rlK:a { eK:cppaaez�, 95, who cites B LL. 5-12; P . Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 74-76 with translation and commentary) . See W. M. Ramsay, The Expository Times 26, 1 91 4/15, 1 71 No. III, and Bearing Recent Discovery, 363 No. III for a partial translation; G. Kittel, TLZ 69, 1 944, 15 and B. Lifshitz, RB 72, 1 965, 536 for the curse; L. Robert, Hellenica XI-XII, 400 note 1 for the interpretation of B LL. 1-2; A. Th. Kraabel, Judaism, 86-89 for the curse; P. W. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs, 57-58 with note 69, 1 24-1 25 for the Jewish curse. A. On the front side

4

8

12

16

20

[--- ea:U'tql] [Kat] -ril <JUV �{cp T p�

CURSES AGAINST VIOLATION OF THE GRAVE

1 13

B. On the right side

4

8

12

[Et 'ttc; n]va 8a\jiE'tO [XEt] [pt] ooA.i[a], A.af3ot-c[o cbt p] ocr061CJl"CO� o[not]ov Kat 0 aOEA<poc; a[1n] &v 'AJ.1EptJ.1Voc; · eav o£ nc; au-c&v llll <pof31len "COU"CCOV �rov Ka-cap&v, -co &'puc; op£ navov eitt£A.8ot-co de; -cac; oiK'ftcrtc; au -c&v Kat J.1110tvav evKa-caAEt\jiE'tO. leaf vac

Ligatures: A L. 9 HN, L. 10 NH , H N , L. 12 NE , L. 13 NME , L. 1 4 MN , NE , L. 15 MN, HM, L. 17 HNE, B L. 10 HI:, L. 1 1 MH , NE . A L. 0: not restored by Legrand & Chamonard, Ramsay, Frey. L. 1 : not read by Legrand & Chamonard, who restored [-- Kat 't'{l O'UJ..t]-; [Kat 't}fi cr[uv] -, Ramsay, Frey; [Kat] :1) '!'?'! - , Buckler & Calder, Trebilco. L. 3 (extr.) : Legrand & Chamonard gave Pt instead of the leaf; Ramsay did not note the leaf. L. 4: TITE.MOI: , not transcribed by Legrand & Chamonard; Tt'tEOto� , Ramsay, who added: "Probably it would be wrong to read Ti. T£oto� ; [ . .. ] Tt'tEOto� , Frey; Tt'tEOto�, Buckler & Calder, Trebilco; I prefer TL T£oto�, since Tedius is attested as a Roman nomen. LL. 5/6: Ellll:I:KEI[.]AI:AI:, £mcrcrKEI [u]acra�, Legrand & Chamo nard; £ntcr{ cr } KEI [u]acra�, Frey; E1ttO'KE[u]lacra� , Buckler & Calder, Trebilco, but the ph. clearly shows double sigma. L. 7: ainou, Legrand & Chamonard. L. 10: the leaf is not noted by Legrand & Chamonard, Ramsay, Frey. L. 13: EII1II:I:KEYANTA, E1ttO'O'KEUacraV'ta, Legrand & Chamonard (the reading of the majuscle copy must be an error) ; E7ttO'O'KEUUO'aV'ta, Ramsay; E1tt0' { cr } KEUacrav'ta, Frey; [ A]JlEpt Ramsay, Frey; a small alpha is written above ME (the ligature connects NME ) . L. 14: 'tE9J1v(at) , Frey. LL. 14/5: IlPITONIKO[.]TOY, 7tp[oly]ovtKo[v au]'tou , Legrand & Chamo nard, Frey; [a]U'tou , Buckler & Calder, Trebilco. LL. 1 5/6: JlVTJ JlEt l [ ov ] , Legrand & Chamonard, Frey; JlVTJJlEitov , Ramsay . LL . 16/7: E7ttXEt[pftlcr]Et, Legrand & Chamonard. L. 17: JlE['t]a , Buckler & Calder, Trebilco; 'tE911v[a]t, Ramsay; 'tE9ilv(at), Frey. L. 18: n u in 'tOV is written above the line; AMEPIMON , lapis; 'AJlEPtJlVOV , Legrand & Chamonard; 'AJlEPtJ..t [v]ov , Ramsay, Frey. L. 19: this line is omitted by Legrand & Chamonard, who restored "

.

'

-,

1 14

J. H. M. STRUBBE

(after £-n:pov I) [£J.L�aAEtV --] ; [n]va [ --] Et[v ] , Ramsay, Frey; Ramsay thought of [n]va [9avat --, but rejected this as too short; [n]va, Buckler & Calder, Trebilco. LL. 19/20: £cr['tat au'tcp 1tpo<; 'tOV 9E6v ( ?)] , Ramsay, Frey, but Ramsay had little confidence in the restoration and added that £cr['tat E7ttKa'ta pa'to<; would suit equally well. B L. 1 : [Et n<; at>'t&v n]va , Ramsay, Frey; 'tt]va , Buckler & Calder, Trebilco. LL. 1 /2: [aiA.]A.ov, A.a�ot't[o, Ramsay, Frey. LL. 3/4: 0 I Kat 0 ' Ramsay, Frey; o[1tot]lov' Buckler & Calder, Trebilco: ON is engraved above the kappa of Kat. L. 6: nu in au't&v is written above the line. L. 7: K[a]l, Buckler & Calder, Trebilco. L. 9: Eicr£A.9ot['to] , Buckler & Calder, Trebilco. L. 10: aul , Buckler & Calder, Trebilco. L. 1 1 : £v�[a]l , Buckler & Calder, Trebilco. ·

·

·

( made this tomb for himself) and for his wife Trophime. Ti (tus) Tedius Amerimnos, having restored the grave of his grandfather, buried (in it) his wife Aur( elia) Onesime, daughter of Euelpistos. It will be permitted also for Amerimnos, who has restored (the grave) , to be buried in his ancestral tomb. But if somebody will attempt to bury another (corpse) after Amerimnos has been deposited, he will pay (to the treasury - denaria) . If someone will bury somebody with malicious hand, may he receive (the same) unexpected (blow) , which their brother Ame rimnos (has received) . But if one of them is not deterred by these curses, may the sickle of curse enter into their houses and leave no one behind." "

-

Ti. Tedius Amerimnos was a Roman cttlzen; his Greek cog nomen indicates that he was a freedman or a descendant of a freedman of a Roman resident. Roman citizens and Ka'toucouvn:<; ' Pro�u:dot are well attested in and around Akmonia. I09 The inscrip tion on the right side of the grave was engraved after the death of Amerimn o s . B LL. 1-2: [xetl pt] � oA.i [�] i s connected by Buckler & Calder with the following words, so that they speak of the murder of Amerim nos (so also Trebilco) . Robert connects the two words with the preceding sentence; if this is correct, the death of Amerimnos was only unexpected and the curse wishes that the violator too may die a sudden death. 109 See note 79.

CURSES AGAINST VIOLATION OF THE GRAVE

1 15

7. Akmonia

Found at U�ak (ca. 30 km. west of Ahat) by Ramsay in 1 9 1 4, who was told that it had been brought from Blaundos. Transported to Izmir in 1 927 (depot of Alsancak) ; now in the Archaeological Museum at Izmir (Inv. No. 339) . The real provenance was esta blished by Buckler & Calder on the basis of the curse formula and the offices mentioned. This has been confirmed by Robert, who pointed out that the pine-cone on the top of the monument was typical of Akmortia. Bomos, with mouldings above and below; H. ca. 1 .50. It is sur mounted by a large pine-cone resting on a wreath (?) . The prin cipal face is decorated with a large wreath with fillets. On the right side, mirror, basket, spindle and distaff; below these objects a comb. Letters: H. not recorded; ligatures; principal face: plain alpha, cursive epsilon and sigma, rounded omega; left side : plain alpha, epsilon, sigma, rounded omega. Dated to the year 333 of the Sullan era, i.e. AD 248/9. Ed. : W. M. Ramsay, The Expository Times 26, 1914/ 1 5 , 1 75 No. IX; idem, Bearing Recent Discovery, 358 (-360) note 2 from the same copy and from a copy made by Mrs. Wingate, with translation and commentary on 358-361 (ph., fig.) ; W. H. Buckler & W. M. Calder, MAMA VI, No. 335A on the basis of a copy made by W. M. Calder Q. -B. Frey, CIJ II, No. 760 with a translation; Frey did not know the edition by Buckler & Calder and their attribution to Akmonia; see ]. & L. Robert, Revue des Etudes Grecques 67, 1954, No. 24) ; L. Robert, Hellenica X, 249-25 1 (ph.) with translation ( SEC XV, No. 807; cf. J. Strubbe, Epigraphica Anatolica 10, 1987, 70 No. 56, who cites B L. 2; P. Trebilco, jewish Communities, 61 No . 3. 1 with translation and commentary on 65-69) . See A. Th. Kraabel, Judaism, 81-82 for the curse; ]. Strubbe, Lampas 22, 1 989, 1 92 for a discussion of this magistrate and other Jewish officials in the city; P. W. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs, 56, who gives a translation of A and comments on the curse; ]. G. Gager, Curse Tablets, 191 No. 91 for a translation.

1 16

J · H. M. STRUBBE

A. On the front side On the upper moulding "E'tou� 'tAy '.

On the shaft 4

8

12

Aup. pouyuxvo� MTJVOKphou Kat Aup. 'Iou'Atav'h yuv'h au'tou MaKap{� J.LTJ'tpt Kat 'AAE�a vacat vop{� eu vac ya vac 'tpt y'Au vac KU't
On the lower moulding

ayopaa{a�, ea'tat au'tip ai &pat

16

ft yeypaJ.LJ.LEVat £v 'tql llEU'tEpoVOJ.LtfP . vac vac

B. On the left side

4

8

'AyopaVOJ.Lta, aetnovda, 7tapmpuAaKda, 1taaa� apxa� Kat AEt'toupy{ a� 'tEAEaa� Kat O''tpa'tTJ�O'aVvac vac 'ta.

Ligatures: A L. 3 MH, L. 4 NH (in 'IouA.uxvi't ) , L. 5 MH, L. 8 TH, L. 1 0 MH, L . 12 HN, B L. 7 TH . A L. 9: K:a'tECJl(EU- , Frey by error. L. 1 6/7: DEU'tEpoiVOJ..lq> , Ramsay, Frey; DEU'tEpq> I VOJ..Ltq> , Wingate. B LL. 1-3: 'AyopavoJ..Lt g., I crEt'trovdg., l napa
CURSES AGAINST VIOLATION OF THE GRAVE

1 17

"In the year 333. Aur(elius) Phrougianos, son of Menokritos, and his wife, Aur(elia) Iouliane, have built (this grave) while alive for his (or her ?) mother, Makaiia, and for their very sweet daughter, Alexandria, in remembrance. If anyone, after they have been buried, if anyone will bury another corpse or will commit injus tice (to the tomb) by way of purchasel l o , he will get the curses that are written in Deuteronomy. Office of clerk of .the market, of corn-purchaser, of commander of police; having fulfilled all magistracies and liturgies; and hav ing been strategos'. " L. 1 5/6: The curse formula mixes singular and plural forms ( £c:nat, apai; in the other words -at may be written for -Tl or -Tl· for -a t ) ; so one could also translate "the curse that is written in Deuteronomy". The translation given above is preferable since there is a whole set of curses in Deut 27-29. 8. Akmonia Imrez (5 km. east of Ahat) , in a stable. Marble homos, broken above; H. 0.94, w. 0.59 (shaft) - 0.78 (base) , th. 0.59 (shaft) - 0.76 (base) . The front side of the homos has lateral pilasters, decorated with a curved tendril. At the bottom a mould ing. The inscription is in the field between the pilasters. Letters: H. 0.02-0.0225; ligatures; plain alpha, epsilon, sigma, rounded omega above an horizontal bar. Probably 2nd or 3rd cent. AD. Ed. : W. H. Buckler & W. M. Calder, MAMA VI, No. 335 (ph.) on the basis of a copy of W. M. Calder, A. B. Birnie, J. C. Watson ( cf. G. H. R. Horsley, New Documents I, 101 , who cites LL. 1 4-20 with translation and some comments; P. Trebilco, jewish Communities, 62 No. 3. 2 with translation and commentary on 65-69) . See A. Th. Kraabel, judaism, 81-82 for the curse ; R. S. Kraemer, SBLSP 1 986, 195, who comments on the legal provisions; P. W. van der Horst, Ancient jewish Epitaphs, 56 for a partial translation of LL. 8-9, 14-20.

l l O J. G. Gager, loc. cit., translates: "or do harm on the pretext of (having made a) purchase".

1 18

J. H. M. STRUBBE .

[.

4

8

12

16

20

..

s . . . . ]tv

[£�]£cr

'ta.t hepq> &vu ��t 'to KU8E'tOV 11 J.l.OVOV EUV cruv �TI 'tOt<; 7ta.tOtot<; a.u 'tOU doJ.lvn Ke 'AA.e�a.vopi� · EUV o£ YUJ.1TI81lcrov'ta.t, £�ov ouK ecr'ta.t &vu�a.t · o<; o£ &v 'tOAJ.lilcret E'tE pov E7ttcrevevKa.t, Silcret 'tql lEpOl'tU'tq> 'tUJ.ltq> 'A't'ttKU<; a. ' KE ouoev EAU't'tOV ecr'ta.t 'tql rile; 'tUJ.l�ropuxia.c; EvKAilJ.la. 'tt uneu8uvoc; · £cr'ta.t o£ £ntKa.'tapa.'to<; o 'tuou'tO<; KE ocra.t apa.t EV 'tql dEU'tEpOVOJ.ltq> etcrtV yE ypUJ.lJ.lEVCX.t UU'tql 'tE KE 'tEKVOt<; KE E"fYOVot<; KE na.v'tt 'tcp yevet a.u'tou yevotv'to.

Ligatures: KE in L. 5, L. 1 1 , L. 1 6, L. 1 8, L. 19 (twice) .

"- it will (not) be permitted to another person to open the lair, except only when it happens for his children Domne and Alexandria. But if they will marry, it will not be permitted to open (the grave) . Who, however, will dare to put in it another (corpse) , will pay to the most sacred treasury 1 .000 Attic drachmae, and nonetheless he will be liable for the accusation of grave robbery. Such a man will be accursed and may as many curses as are written in Deuteronomy befall him and his children and his descendants and his whole family. " T o Ka8e'tov i n L. 3 i s a very rare word; the suggestion of edd. pr.

that it is perhaps Jewish, is unfounded. The term may indicate a lair beneath the surface, or the floor of a heroon.

CURSES AGAINST VIOLATION OF THE GRAVE

1 19

9 . Akmonia Found at U�ak (see No. 7) by edd. pr., but reported to have been brought from Ahat (Akmonia) . Bomos; dim. unknown. On the back and on the lateral sides a wreath. Letters: H. unknown; one ligature; plain alpha and omega, cursive epsilon and sigma. Dated to the year 328 qf the Sullan era, i.e. AD 243/4. Ed. : E. Legrand & J. Chamonard, Bulletin de Correspondance Helle nique 1 7, 1 893, 263-264 No. 48 with a majuscle copy (cf. W. M. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics I. 2, 653 No. 564 , who cites A LL. 1-1 8 and B-C-D; cf. G. Lafaye, IGR IV, No. 658, who cites A LL. 1 8-2.Q and B-C-D; ]. -B. Frey, CIJ II, No. 770 with the majuscle copy of Legrand & Chamonard and with a translation; L. Robert, Hellenica X, 253; cf. L. Robert, CRAIBL 1978, 288 note 9, who cites A LL. 1 31 8; cf. ]. Strubbe, Epigraphica Anatolica 10, 1987, 69-70 No. 5, who cites B LL. 3-4 and D LL. 3-4; cf. P. W. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs, 56-57 with note 66, who cites A LL. 2-18 with a translation and with commentary on the curse; P. Trebilco, Jewish Commu nities, 62-63 with a translation and with commentary on 65-69) . See A. Th. Kraabei, Judaism, 81-82 for the curse; ]. Strubbe, Lampas 22, 1 989, 1 92 for a discussion of this magistrate and other Jewish officials in the city. A. On the front side

4

8

12

'EyEYE'tO ihouc;; 'tKll '. T. A . 'AA,e�aYOpoc;; s&Y £au'tcp Kat fataYft yuYatKt 'tO JlYllflEtOY Ka'tE<JKEUa<JEY JlYllflll <;; xaptY, J3ouAEuaac;; , &p�ac;;, s'll aac;; KaAwc;;, Jlllo£ya A-om'llaac;; · flE'ta o£ 'tE9i1Yat EflE 'toY 'AA-e�aY OpoY Kat 'tllY <JUYJ3t6Y JlOU fataYllY, Et nc;; aYu�n 'tO JlY11fltoY, eaoY'tat ainip Ka'tapat O<JE clYYE-

120 16

20

J. H. M. STRUBBE

ypaJ.LJlEVa(t i)crtv Ei� opacrtv Kat i� OAOV 'tO crroJla aU'tql, Kat Ei� 'tEKVa Kat Ei� �iov · Et 'tt� OE E7ttXtPitcrn &vu�at, Sit crt i� 'tO 'taJltOV 7tpOcr'tiJ.LOU *

B-D. On the other sides B. E ip11 4 c.

4 D. 4

vapxia, cret'trovia.

BouA.apxia, ayopaVOJ.Lia. L'tpa'tT\yia, cret'trovia.

Ligature: A L. 13 MNH . A L. 9: Oe ('to) 'tE8ilvat , Legrand & Chamonard; corrected by Ramsay. LL. 15/6: o<; ECJ..V y£1-ypa��Eva(t Et)cnv ' Frey L. 1 6: NATICIN , Legrand & Chamonard; -ypa��£vat icnv, Ramsay, incorrectly. L. 17 (init.) : E� , Ramsay, by error.

"Made in the year 328. T (itus) Fl (avius) Alexandros built this tomb while alive for himself and for his wife Gaiane in remem brance. He has been a member of the city-council, an archon; he has lived nicely without causing grief to anybody. Mter I, Alex andros, and my wife Gaiane have been deposited, if someone opens the tomb, the curses, as many as are written, will befall him on his sight and on his whole body and on his children and on his life . If someone attempts to open (the grave) , he will pay to the treasury as a fine 500 denaria. Office of warden of the peace, office of corn-purchaser. Presidency of the city-council, office of controller of the market. Office of strategos, office of com-purchaser."

CURSES AGAINST VIOLATION OF THE GRAVE

121

10. Akmonia Susuz (see No. 6) , built in a wall of the mosque; later transported to Izmir (by K. Kourouniotes) ; now in the Basmahane depot (Inv. No. 80) . White marble doorstone; H. 1 .41 , w. 1.20 (above) - 1 . 1 0 (below) , th. 0.035 - 0.026. The lower left corner is broken away. In a sunken panel between two pilasters, a door with three wings. The pilasters are richly decorate � with tendrils and flowers. They support a roughly rectanguhtr gable which is decorated with a tabula ansata (containing the inscription) in the middle, a mirror, basket with fruit, and comb at the left (above the 1. pilaster) , stylus case, stylus, and diptych at the right (above the r. pilaster) . The mouldings of the gable have been cut away. The upper panels of the door are decorated (from 1. to r.) with a four-petalled flower, a round un identified object, a rosette; the lower panels with a curled rosette, a knocker encircling a rosette, a curled rosette. The small panels above, between and below the door-panels show a vegetal dec � ration. Letters: H. 0.01 7; ligatures; plain alpha, epsilon, sigma, rounded omega above an horizontal bar. Ca. AD 1 50-1 75 (Waelkens, on stylistic grounds) . Ed. : W. ]. Hamilton, Researches II, 405 No. 27 (majuscle copy) (J. Franz, CIG III, Add. , No. 3861 B with Hamilton's majuscle copy) ; W. M. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics I. 2, No. 567 (J. Zingerle,

Anzeiger der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Philos. -Hist. Klasse 60, 1 923, 63-65 No. 3 with restoration of L. 4, mentioned in SEC VI, No. 1 71 ; cf. R. Lattimore, Themes, 1 1 5, who cites LL. 3-4 with a translation; ]. -B. Frey, CIJ II, No. 762 with Hamilton's majuscle copy and a translation) ; M. Waelkens, A ctes VII Congres epigr., 121 notes 79-80; idem, Tursteine, No. 435 (ph.) ; (P. Trebilco, jewish Communities, 76 No. 5 . 3, who cites the text of

Ramsay with a translation) . See W. M. Ramsay, The Expository Times 26, 1 914/ 1 5, 1 72 No. VII, and Bearing Recent Discovery, 364 No. VII for a translation; L. Robert, Hellenica XI-XII, 438-439; B. Lifshitz, RB 72, 1965, 536 and A. Th. Kraabel, Judaism, 89-9 1 for the curse; B. Haarl0v, The Half-open Door, fig. 6, for a photograph.

122

4

J · H. M. STRUBBE

'AJ..LJ..Lia. ra.icp OUt�icp Kpicr1tcp 1ea.l Tuxn 9pe'Jia. crt s&crt J..LVflJ..Lll c; xaptv · J..LE'ta 'tO 'touc; ouo 'te9fl va.t, oc; &v avopucret, crapov crtOa.pouv 'tOV [.]IKQNA crava.t'tO lCUt 'tql O'UJ..l�OUAEUO'UV'tt.

Ligatures: L. 2 MNHMH, TE , L. 4 NT. L. 1 : [ .]YIBIQ , Hamilton, [Ol\>t�icp, Franz. L. 2: Ramsay abbreviated Jl.X· ; this is rendered by Trebilco as Jl(VTII.lTI�) x(aptv) ; METAT[.]Yl:AY8E8H , Hamilton, JlE'ta -c[o a.]U(-co)u(c; -c)E8ft- , Franz; JlE'ta -c[o -couc;] (b)uo (-c)ESil- , Frey ( sic) ; METAT[.]T[ .. ]l:AYOTE8H-, Waelkens. L. 3: ANOPYS E I , Hamilton, avo pu�n , Franz; avo pu �tt , Ramsay, Trebilco; avopu�(U) , Frey. L. 4: [.]uc&va., Ramsay; Zingerle suggested [o]h:&va., an hapax, or (preferably) [�](Ev)&va. ; -cov I ilc&va. , Lattimore (it would have been more correct to write [E] h:&va.) , but see note 84; Frey and Trebilco accepted [o] h:&va.; Waelkens saw only the last nu: [�] Ev &va.; in the text on p. 97 I suggest a new restoration, -cov I [a]yK&va; -l:ANITO, Hamilton, [-ccp not�]cra.v(n) , Franz; �ava.t-co , Ramsay, Trebilco; �av(a.t)'to , Frey; l:ANAIT[.]KAI, Waelkens; KAI I Q , Hamilton, KAI[.] Q , Ka.t -ccp, Frey ( sic) ; BOYAEYl:ANI, Hamilton, -�ouA.Eucra.v(n), Franz; BOYAEYl:AN[ . . ], -�ouA.Eucra.v[n] , Frey ( sic) . -

-

"Ammia (made this tomb) for Gaius Vibius Krispos and for Tyche, her foster-parents, while they were alive, in remem brance. After the two have been buried, whoever will disturb (the tomb) , may an iron broom mangle his house (?) and (the same) for the man who has given advice." There is a strong suspicion that the inscription i s pagan. 1 1 . Akmonia U�ak (see No. 7) , built in a wall; reported to have been brought from Ahat (Akmonia) . Marble doorstone; H. 0.50, w. 1 .65, th. 0.62. The monument is richly decorated with palmettes, egg-and-dart moulding and a bead-and-reel moulding. Letters: H. not recorded; plain letter-forms. Probably 2nd cent. AD (Waelkens on stylistic grounds) . Ed. : G. Weber, AM 25, 1 900, 467 (cf. J. Zingerle, Anzeiger der

Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Philos. -Hist. Klasse 60, 1923, 63 note 1 , and 64: corrections of L. 2, mentioned in SEC VI, No. 1 72; M. Waelkens, Tursteine, No. 425; P. Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 76-77 No. 5. 4 with translation) .

CURSES AGAINST VIOLATION OF THE GRAVE

123

See L. Robert, Hellenica X, 252 note 1 1 for the provenance; idem, Hellenica XI-XII, 400 and A. Th. Kraabel, Judaism, 89-91 for the malediction. 4>A.. TeuSpaV'rt<; l;&cra eau-rih Kat 'EpJ!OYEVEt 'EpJ!OYEVOU<; 'tql avOpt 'tO JlVllJlEtOV KCX'tEO'KEUCXO'EV · JlE'ta o£ 'tO 'tOU<; Ouo 'tEHilvat, Et n<; cXVOtO'Et 11 E1tt�OUAEUO'Et, cr�(p)ov cr�Oapouv dcreA.Sov 'tOV oiKov . L. 1: flV'Tlf..l1l Etov , Waelkens, by error. L. 2: ANOil:EI, &vo{(�)Et , Weber; corrected by Zingerle; l:"ON, Weber, who did not transcribe; restored by Zingerle; EiaeA.9ov, Waelkens (a participle instead of an imperative) .

"Fl (avia) Teuthrantis built this tomb for herself, while alive, and for her husband Hermogenes, son of Hermogenes. But after the two have been buried, if anyone will open (the grave) or will plot (to do so) , an iron broom must go into his house." The inscription, like No. 1 1 , may be pagan. 1 2 . Akmonia Banaz (ca. 1 4 km. north of Ahat) ; in the mosque veranda, supporting a pillar. White marble homos; H. 0.81 , w. 0.38 (top) - 0.32 (shaft) - 0.42 (base) , th. 0.30 (shaft) . The left and back sides are concealed. On the right side, spindle and distaff in a tabula. The top and the base are decorated with mouldings; on top a wreath (?) . Letters: H. 0.015-0.01 75; ligatures; alpha with broken cross-bar, cursive epsilon, plain sigma, rounded omega above an horizontal bar. Dated to the year 339 of the Sullan era, i.e. AD 225/6. Ed. : cf. E. Legrand & J. Chamonard, Bulletin de Correspondance Heltenique 1 7, 1 893, 273 No. 63 with a majuscle copy, who publish only LL. 1-8 (W. M. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics I. 2, No. 526 ) ; W. H. Buckler & W. M. Calder, MAMA VI, No. 325 (ph.) with short commentary (cf. L. Robert, Hellenica XI-XII, 407, who cites LL. 1419; cf. S. P. Ntantes, 'ArcezA:1JnTCa{ bappaaeu;, 1 1 4, who cites LL. 1 81 9; P. Trebilco, Jewish Communities, 77 No. 5. 5 with translation and commentary) .

124

J. H. M. STRUBBE

See A. Th. Kraabel, Judaism, 91 for the curse; P. W. van der Horst, AncientJewish Epitaphs, 58 for a partial translation of LL. 1 3-19. On the upper moulding

"E'tOU<; 'tA9 '. Aupfl'Ato<; 'Pou<po<; 'EpJ.Lft a

On the shaft above the tabula 4

oe'A
On the shaft in the tabula 8

12

Aupfl'Aw<; 'Pou<po<; Eau'tip Kat yuvatKt Eue'A1ttO'tTI Kat cXVE'I't ql I1ap9ev{cp E au'tot<; �&v'tE<; Ka'tEOKEUaoav · J.LE'ta 'tO 9e9fl vat au'to(u)<;, o<; l:X.v cXVOpU��t Kat �a'At &'A'Aov veKpov

16 On the shaft below the tabula

11 'tUV�OV 1tpta'tE 11 YPUJ.LJ.La j: '\ J.LtaVt, E"='OA.EOt EKtVO'U O'UV1taV YEVO<; ll 8EOU op'Yil. I

7

I

7

I

I

On the lower mouldings 20 ':fuv�ot<; yap Ouo 'tOU'tO 'tO ofl vac J.La E1ttKt'tat. vac Ligatures: L. 3 NH, L. 4 NH , L. 9 TH , L. 17 MM. L 2: AYPIAIO'L , Au piA.to<;, Legrand & Chamonard, Ramsay; EPMH'L, 'Ep!-.tll (t) , Legrand & Chamonard; ' E p JJ.fl <; , Ramsay, who added: "Probably we should alter the text to 'EpJJ.ft , with the editors". L. 3: A.1EAQ, aOEA
"In the year 339. Aurelius Rouphos for his brother Hermes and for his niece Rouphina, who died untimely, in remembrance. Aurelius Rouphos for himself and for his wife Euelpiste and for

CURSES AGAINST VIOLATION OF THE GRAVE

125

his nephew Parthenios; they built (this tomb) for themselves while alive. Mter they have been deposited, whoever breaks open (this grave) and puts in another corpse, or purchases the grave or defiles the inscription, the wrath of God will destroy his whole family. For this sign is placed on two graves." 13. Laodikeia Katakekaumene Kadinhani (probably the ancient village Pit(h) I Ia, ca. 1 5 km. north-west of Ladik) , in the central cemetery. Rectangular stele of light-blue limestone; H. 1.20, w. 0.57, th. 0.36. Letters: H. 0.02-0.035; alpha with broken cross-bar, cursive epsilon, sigma and omega, square omega. Mter AD 2 1 2 . Ed. : W . M. Calder, Revue de Philologie 1 922, 1 2 1 N o . 5, on the basis of a copy of W. M. Calder and W. M. Ramsay ( SEG I, No. 452) ; W. M . Calder, MAMA I, No. 267 (ph.) (cf. S. P . Ntantes, 'Anez.Arrnx:a{ bapparreu;, 1 14, who cites LL. 13-1 6) . See L. Robert, Hellenica XI-XII, 437-438 for the possibly Jewish character of the text.

4

8

12

16

AupilA.to<; tA.6n ano<; 'trp U Otcp 1tCX 'tpt yAuKtl'tU'tql Aup . I:tcr{vvcp av Ecr'tll cra JlVllJlll<; xaptv · na'tpl £fil
L. 6: qn[A] -, Calder Revue de Philologie, but in MAMA he gave qn(A) -; the ph. is unclear.

1 26

J · H. M. STRUBBE

LL. 6/8: t[A.]I6{ crOEtoA.o }mxmtlo� , Cronert in SEG. L. 1 1 : Cronert noted in SEG: "voluerat poeta oA�tO� �EV " . LL. 1 2/3: "On peut lire aussi t�vOIE tO pua Ev " , Calder Revue de Philologie. L. 15: MHNrMA , lapis. "1 , Aurelius Philopapos, have erected ( this stele) for my very sweet father Aur(elius) Sisinnos, in remembrance. He was for his father a friend and even a whole grandfather (?) , for the very famous Sisinnos, thrice most blessed and four times happy. He has erected this stele upon the tomb. If someone will harm this (stele) , may he obtain the wrath of the immortal God."

The inscription may be Christian. 14. A Phrygian (?) in Rome Found at the Jewish cemetery of the vigna Randanini at Rome; now at the Museo Nazionale Romano at Rome (Inv. No. 72932) . Marble tablet, broken at the upper left corner; H. 0.32, w. 0.345, th. 0.0 1 . The tablet was later reused for a Latin grave inscription. Letters: H . 0 . 0 1 7-0.014; alpha with elongated right leg, cursive epsilon, sigma and omega. Probably 3rd cent. AD (ed. pr.: letter-forms) . Ed. : L. Moretti, Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 50, 1 974, 2 1 5-21 8 No. 2 (ph.) with translation and commentary (cf. P. W. van der Horst, Ancient jewish Epitaphs, 58, who translates LL. 1 2-14) . [------- K]anA.ia Eu'tuxt [----- -- f.]n{rrl cr<X evnpo[a8Ev ? ---]J..Luc; · •EpJ..ltOVllV ('tpo]Eou vac opY'Il. vac -

4

8

,

12

CURSES AGAINST VIOLATION OF THE GRAVE

127

lL.

1/2: Eu'tuxtl[a or Eu'tuxtl[av� or Eu'tuxil[�] , Moretti. L. 7: Ev1to po� , Moretti, but the ph. shows that sigma is not engraved. L. 9: AN Z H av(u�)n, Moretti; but Z (= Z ) is not � but xi. The form is not rare in the Imperial period. L. 12: OYKIN , lapis ·

·

,

·

·

" . . . Catilia Eutychi . . . I have made before . . . . This sarcophagus contains Hermione, the beloved foster-child of Hermias, 4 years old. I, Publi(u) s Catili (u) s Hermias, a trader, 35 years old, lie here. But if someone w!It open this sarcophagus and will bury another (deceased) , he wi11 pay to the treasury 5.000 denaria. But if some one either buys this grave or erases the inscription, the wrath of God will destroy his whole family. " Moretti suggested that Catilius Hermias, a Jewish trader, came from Asia Minor. l l i

I l l I would like to thank Ms. Bij de Vaate, Dr. J. W. van Henten, Prof. Dr. P. W. van der Horst and Dr. Ch. Safrai for their advice and most valuable help. Of course I am alone responsible for the views expressed here and for the remaining errors. I am grateful to Dr. P. Staples who corrected my English.

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J. H. M. STRUBBE

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE CATALOGUE Actes VIle Congres epigr. = Actes du VIle Congres international d'epigraphie grecque et latine, Constantza 1977 (ed. Pippidi D. M.; Bucarest - Paris: 1979) Buckler W. H. & Calder W. M., MAMA VI = Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua VI. Monuments and Documents from Phrygia and Caria (Manchester: 1939) Calder W. M., MAMA I= Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua I. Eastern Phrygia

(Manchester: 1928) Doerner F. K. , TAM N. 1 = Tituli Asiae Minoris N. Tituli Bithyniae linguis Graeca et Latina conscripti. Fasc. 1. Paeninsula Bithynica praeter Chalcedonem (Wien: 1 978) Franz J., GIG Ill = Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum III (Berlin: 1 853) Frey J. -B., CIJ II = Corpus Inscriptionum ludaicarum II. Asie, Afrique (Citta del Vaticano: 1 952) Gager J. G., Curse Tablets = Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World (New York - Oxford: 1 992) Haarl0v B., The Half-open Door = The Half-open Door. A Common Symbolic Motif, within Roman Sepulchral Sculpture (Odense: 1977) Hamilton W. ]., Researches II = Researr:hes in Asia Minor, Pontus and Armenia II (London: 1 842; repr. Hildesheim: 1 984) Horsley G. H. R., New Documents I= New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity I (Macquarie: 1 98 1 ) Horst P. W . van der, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs = Ancient Jewish Epitaphs. An Introductory Survey of a Millennium of Jewish Funerary Epigraphy (300 BCE700 CE) (Kampen: 199 1 ) Kraabel A . Th., Judaism =judaism in Western Asia Minor under the Roman Empire (Th. D . Harvard Univ.; Cambridge Mass.: 1 968) Lafaye G., IGR N = Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas Pertinentes N (Paris: 1927) Lattimore R., Themes = Themes in Greek and Latin Epitaphs (Urbana Ill.: 1 942) Ntantes S. P., 'AnetA..ry·mca{ bappaaet� = 'AnetA7Jn1Ca{ e1Ccppaaet� ei� -ra� 'EA..A.ry . vuca� emroJl{J{ov� naA..awxptanaVtlCa� emypacpa� (Athens: 1983) Ramsay W. M., Beari!tg Recent Discovery = The Bearing Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament (London: 1920 ) Ramsay W. M . , Cities and Bishoprics I. 2 = The Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia I. 2. West and West-Central Phrygia (Oxford: 1897; repr. New York: 1975) Robert L., Hellenica X = Hellenica. Recueil d' epigraphie, de numismatique et d' antiquite grecques X (Paris: 1955) Robert L., Hellenica XI-XII = Hellenica. Recueil d' epigraphie, de numismatique et d' antiquite grecques XI-XII (Paris: 1960) SEG I = Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum I ( ed. Hondius I. I. E; Leiden: 1923) SEG VI = Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum VI ( ed. Hondius I. I. E; Leiden: 1932) Trebilco P., Jewish Communities = Jewish Communities in Asia Minor (Cambridge: 1991) Waelkens M., Tursteine = Die kleinasiatischen Tursteine. Typologische und epigra phische Untersuchungen der kleinasiatischen Grabreliefs mit Scheintur (Mainz am Rhein: 1 986)

oj

JEWISH POETICAL TOMB INSCRIPTIONS P IETER W. VAN DER H ORST

The total number of ancient Jewish inscriptions that have been preserved is approximately 2.000. Some 1600 of them are epitaphs. No less than ca. 70% of these tomb inscriptions is in Greek; only some 18% in Hebrew or Aramaic; and about 12% in Latin. Slight ly more than 1 % of them, namely 19, are in metrical form: two from Rome (the only one in Latin, CIJ 476, and IGUR III 1 231 IG XIV 1 648) ;1 one f:r;:om Lorium near Rome (CIL XI 3758 CIG 9852) ; one from Larissa in Thessaly (CIJ 701 ) ; two from Beth She'arim in Palestine (BS II 127 and 1 83) ; 2 twelve from Leontopolis in Egypt (CIJ 1 45 1 , 1 489, 1 490, 1508-1 5 1 3, 1 522, 1 530 and 1 530A) and_ one from Schedia, also in Egypt (SEG VIII 469) .3 All of them can be dated to the four centuries between the second haif of the second century BCE and the second half of the third century CE. If we leave out of account the Larissa inscription, which contains only one metrical line (XUlpOLS" av8pW1TWV 1TE1TVUIJ.EVE OUTLS" lJTIUPXEL ) , 4 we are left with the striking observation that twelve out of eighteen of these poetical epitaphs are from Egypt, or rather from one place in Egypt, Leontopolis on the eastern side of the Delta, the city =

=

1 Number without further indication is a reference to J. B. Frey's Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum [= CIJ] (2 vols.; Rome: 1 936-1 952) ; reprint of vol. I with a Prolegomenon by B. Lifshitz (New York: 1 975) . For necessary addenda et corrigenda to Frey's volumes see my Ancient Jewish Epitaphs. An introductory survey of a millennium ofJewish funerary epigraphy (300 BCE - 700 CE) (Kampen:

1991 ) ch. 1 . For IGUR III 1 2 3 1 see now also the re-edition by G. H. R. Horsley, New Documents fllustrating Early Christianity IV ( 1 987) no. 1 1 4. 2 BS II refers to M. Schwabe - B. Lifshitz, Beth She'arim II: The Greek Inscriptions (Jerusalem: 1974) . 3 Most inscriptions from Egypt were republished in an improved edition by D. M. Lewis in V. Tcherikover - A. Fuks, Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum [ CPJ] (3 vols.; Cambridge MA: 1 957-1964) III 1 38-166, and now quite recently in a superb new edition by W. Horbury & D. Noy, Jewish Inscriptions of Graeco Roman Egypt (Cambridge: 1 992) . CPJ no. 1 539 is not mentioned here (al though it has been included in the Appendix, see note 40) since it seems to contain only a small number of metrical elements. The Schedia inscrip tion has also been republished by E. Bernand, Inscriptions metriques de l 'Egypte greco-romaine (Paris: 1969) 1 85-90 (no. 37) . 4 Note the Homeric flavour created by TTETTVUj.lEVE , a well-known tag often found in the Iliad and Odyssee; see LSJ 1 363b. On CPJ 1 539 see the previous note. =

130

P. W.

VAN DER HORST

where a rival Jewish temple was established in the second century BCE by the high-priest Onias after a conflict in Jerusalem over the highpriesthood (today the place is still called Tell el Yehudieh) . 5 This is a striking observation, but completely in agree ment with the fact that in other aspects as well the Jewish epitaphs from Leontopolis are much more heavily influenced by Hellenis tic conventions than those elsewhere.6 It need not be repeated here that metrical epitaphs were a very common genre in Greek and Roman antiquity from the sixth century BCE till the sixth century CE. The very large collections both in W. Peek's Griechische Versinschriften (henceforth GV) 7 and in P. A. Hansen's Carmina epigraphica graeca ( CEG) ,s and also the seventh book of the Anthologia Palatina amply testify to that. Thou sands of pagan and Christian examples are known to us, and, in comparison, the modest number of 19 Jewish instances of metri cal funerary epigraphy is a very small harvest. Nonetheless, they well illustrate the influence of Greek literary language, motifs and forms on Jewish culture.9 As we shall see, not only do these inscriptions often use Homeric language and metre, but they also employ several motifs from Greek mythology. Also literary sources make abundantly clear that in educated Jewish circles Greek poetry in many of its forms and genres was known, adopted and adapted, and put into the service of Jewish ideas. We have, for instance, the (iambic) drama on the exodus, Exagoge, by Ezekiel; the hexametric epic poem about the history of Shechem by Theodotus (almost certainly a Samaritan Hellenist) ; the poem about Jerusalem in utterly obscure hexametric Greek by a certain Philo; the many metrical so-called 'forged quotations' from Hesiod, Sophocles, Euripides, Menander, etc. voicing Jewish doctrines; the dactylic didactic wisdom poem by Pseudo-Phocy lides; the lofty hexameters of the Jewish parts of the Sibylline Oracles; etc.IO And we should bear in mind that the greatest part of 5 See R. Hayward, "The Jewish Temple of Leontopolis", Journal ofJewish Studies 33 ( 1 982) 429-443. A. Kasher, The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt

(TSAJ 7; Tiibingen 1 985) 1 19-1 35. 6 See my Ancient Jewish Epitaphs (n. 1 ) , esp. ch. 3. 7 Berlin: 1 956. 8 Berlin: 1 983-1989, 2 vols. (more volumes are to follow) . 9 See my Ancient Jewish Epitaphs (n. 1 ) , passim. 1 0 See my The Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides (Leiden: 1 978) ; Joods-hellenis tische poiizie (Kampen: 1 987) ; "The Interpretation of the Bible by the Minor

JEWISH POETICAL TOMB INSCRIPTIONS

131

this literature has not been preserved at all.11 All these writings date from the second century BCE to the second century CE, i.e . : approximately the same period as our epitaphs. It is now time to examine in more detail some of these tomb inscriptions and to discuss a few of their interesting features. No. 1 530 ( GV 1 861 ) from Leontopolis, is a unique epitaph in that it is the only ] ewish instanC;e of the well-known Greek genre of the dialogue between the 'deceased and the passer-by (Peek has 58 instances, GV 1 831-1 888) . It is written in disticha, i.e . : alternating dactylic hexameters and pentameters (as is usual in epigrams) , and it dates from the beginning of the first century C£ . 12 =

The speaking tombstone: 'Who are you who lie i n the dark tomb? Tell me your country and birth . ' - 'Arsinoe, daughter of Aline and Theodosius. The famous land of Onias reared me.' - 'How old were you when you slipped down the dark slope of Lethe? ' 'At twenty I went to the sad place of the dead. ' - 'Were you married? ' - 'I was. ' - 'Did you leave him a child? ' - ' Childless I went to the house of Hades. ' - 'May earth, the guardian of the dead, be light on you. ' - 'And for you, stranger, may she bear fruitful crops' .

Actually it is only the expression "the famous land of Onias" and the fact that the stone itself was found in Tell el-Yehudieh that make it virtually certain that it is indeed a Jewish epitaph. The content of the poem otherwise seems completely pagan. We have here not only Hades, which had by the Hellenistic period Hellenistic Jewish Authors", in M. J. Mulder (ed. ) , Mikra. Text, Translation, Reading and Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity (Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum II 1 ; Assen - Philadelphia: 1 988) 5 1 9-546. V. Nikiprowetzky, L a troisieme Sibylle (Paris-The Hague: 1 970) . E. Schiirer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ ( 3 vols.; rev. ed. by G. Vermes, F. Millar and M. Goodman; Edinburgh: 1973-1987) III 557-567, 61 8-654, 656-671 , 688-693. 1 1 See, e.g., the case of the 'Jewish Homer' , Sosates: S. J. D. Cohen , "Sosates, the Jewish Homer,"Harvard Theological Review 74 ( 1 981) 391-396. 12 For the text the reader is referred to the Appendix where all the metrical epitaphs are printed in their original language. The best edition and most extensive discussion of this epitaph is by E. Bernand, Inscriptions metriques (see n. 3) 1 99-203. See also A. Momigliano, "Un documento della spiritualita dei Giudei Leontopolitani," Aegyptus 12 ( 1 932) 1 7 1-172 . D. C. Kurtz and J. Boardman, Greek Burial Customs (London: 1971) 266, quote the following nice pagan (literary) example: "Chariton, how are things below? - All dark. - And what about the way up? - A lie. - And Pluto? - A myth. Then we are done for" (Callimachus, Epigr. 3 1 ) .

132

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VAN DER HORST

become so much of a cliche metaphor that the LXX translators used it freely to render the Hebrew she 'ol, but we also meet Lethe, the personified Oblivion, who gave her name to one of the rivers in the netherworld. Also the names of the dead person and her parents are far from typically Jewish. MavuTELpa (fern. of �T)VUTi}p ) in the first line reminds one of the frequent use of �T)VUW in metri cal epitaphs. 13 Its Dorian form highlights right from the start the artificiality of the language, which is also reflected in hapax legomena such as a�LaSci ( 4) , most probably the feminine of the non-attested adjective T)�LUTOS', 'famous' . 14 On the other hand, the typically Kaine ending -as in the second-aorist wA.LaSas ( 5 ) betrays the author's incomplete mastery of the classical language. The KAL�a AciSas, the region of Lethe, is identical to the yoEpos xwpos VEKUWV in the next line. Here, it would seem that there is no more hope or expectation of an afterlife than was the case in the traditional and gloomy ancient Hebrew conception of she 'ol. As will be seen, there is a great variety in this respect even in the few inscriptions discussed in this short paper. Finally, it should be no ticed here that the motif of dying aTEKVOS', like the one of dying as an dya�os , is in ancient epitaphs one of the most frequent expres sions of sorrow over those who had died as d.wpoL , the untimely dead being in the ideas of most ancients highly lamentable per sons.15 Ateknos and agamos are the expressions par excellence to de note the incompleteness of the lives of the deceased. One can find innumerable instances in Richmond Lattimore's classic study Themes in Greek and Latin Epitaphs, that appeared exactly 50 years ago. l 6 (Other instances from Leontopolis are nos. 1461, 1500, 1 5 1 1 .) Line 9 is one of the few Jewish instances of the s(it) t(ibi) t(erra) l(evis) motif in Jewish epitaphs; it is found only in five instances, four of which are from Leontopolis (in nos. 1 484, 1 488, 1 530, 1 530A) and one from Beth She'arim (BS II 1 67) _17 I give here the 13 14

See, e.g., Peek's GV 1 622, 1 624, 1630, 1632. For the interchange of T and e see F. T. Gignac, A Grammar of the Greek Pa ri of the Roman and Byzantine Periods (2 vols.; Milano: 1976-198 1 ) I 1 34-1 38. E. Griessmair, Das Motiv der Mors Immatura in den griechischen metrischen Grabinschriften (Innsbruck: 1 966) ; A. M. Verilhac, I1a'L8Es dwpot . Poesie fune raire (2 vols. ; Athens: 1 978-1 982) , publishes and discusses some 200 Greek metrical epitaphs with this theme. 16 Urbana: 1942, 1 84-1 95; cf. also Griessmair, Das Motiv 63-77. 17 For this theme see R. Lattimore, Themes in Greek and Latin Epitaphs 6570.

lfl

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Latin wording because in Latin epitaphs the formula in this (metrical) form has become so common that it is very frequently abbreviated to s. t. t. l. In Greek epitaphs it never became such a fixed formula, even though the source of the expression is a passage from Euripides' Alcestis 463-4 Koucpa O"Ol xewv E-ncivw8E lTEO"Ol ( cf. Meleager in Anthologia Palatina VII 461 ) , a phrase that underwent all kinds of variations especially in Latin poets like Propertius, Ovid, and Martial. It is noteworthy that of the extremely popular Latin formula no Jewish instances have been recovered and also that the Greek for'mulae are again found only in Leontopolis and Beth She'arim. A second example from Leontopolis is 1490 ( GV 700, from 1 1 7 BCE) :ls =

Here under the shelter of this stone, stranger, lies . . . Demas, deserting the old age of his very pitiable mother and his pitiable little children and his mourning wife. He helped many men by his skill. Weep for the man who has left the most honourable . . . [gap] and his city, and the abodes and friendship of men. Demas, about 38 years old, in the 54th year, the third of (the month) Hathyr. You too, Alexander, friend of all and without reproach, excellent one, farewell.

This epitaph consists of 3 disticha in poetic vocabulary and a prose ending. The restorations at the end of lines 1-5 are far from being certain. In line 1 it is possible to read KEL iJ.UL instead of KELTaL, which would imply that Demas himself is the speaker. AuaTT)p6s (3) usually means 'harsh, bitter, severe' , but here an unattested sense such as 'bitterly grieving' would seem to be required. The fact that �OT)86s ( 4) was pronounced as �ot86s enabled the poet to use it in this pentameter. Some of the commentators assume that Demas had been a doctor, but 'helping many men by his skill' (if that is the correct reading; some read auv€an ) may also refer to another profession. The n6A.ts of line 6 must be Onias' temple-city, Leontopolis. Again, there is no mention of any expectation of life after death whatsoever. Lines 9-1 1 are a prose inscription added later by another hand. 1 8 See the edit! on and discussion of this epitaph in E. Bernand, Inscrip tions metriques de l'Egypte greco-romaine (n. 3) 89-92, on the basis of whose treat

ment I have slightly corrected D. M. Lewis' translation in CPJ (n. 3) III 153.

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A third example from Leontopolis is no. 1 5 1 1 ( century CE) :

=

GV 808, first

I am Jesus, my father was Phameis, passer-by, I went to Hades when I was sixty years old. Weep all together for the one who has suddenly gone to the secret place of eternity to dwell in darkness. And you too, Dositheus, weep for me, for it is your duty to pour libations of bitterest tears on my tomb. You are my child, for I have departed childless. All weep together for Jesus, the lifeless.

Some remarks may suffice . 1 9 Line 1 : Jesus was a very common name among Jews in the Hellenistic and Roman periods as, for instance, A. Schalit's Namenworterbuch zu Flavius Josephus (Leiden: Brill, 1 968) immediately makes apparent. The father (cpus cpv aas ) of Jesus has an Egyptian name (elsewhere spelled as Ila�f)s ) . Line 2: the age of the deceased is indicated not by words but by the Greek figure for 60, although it functions metrically. Line 3: TiavTas stands for TIUVTES (see line 8) , a vulgarism caused by the fact that the endings of the nominative and the accusative plural tended to merge in Kaine Greek. In other epitaphs from Leontopolis as well, the wayfarer is often called upon to weep, a frequent motif in ancient epitaphs. Line 4 again makes clear that the expectation of post-mortal existence scarcely differs here from the Old Testament view of the gloomy she 'ol. Lines 5-7 probably address Jesus' foster child, whom he, a childless man, regards as his own child. �ucr�EVTlS in line 8 is difficult. It usually means 'hostile' , which seems to be impossible here. Possibly it means 'without �E vos ' in the sense of 'vital force, vitality' ; hence the translation 'lifeless' or 'strengthless' , cf. d.�EVllVOS (Frey's render ing 'malheureux' seems inadequate) . =

As a final example from Leontopolis we quote 1 530a ( probably first century CE) :

=

GV 850,

When he had already achieved the span of 53 years, he who tames all himself snatched him off to Hades. 0 sandy earth, what a body you hide of the soul of the most blessed Abramos. For he was not without honour in the city, but wore the wreath

19 See the notes by Bernand, Inscriptions metriques de l Eg;ypte greco-romaine (n. 3) 92-95.

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of magistracy for the whole people in his wisdom. For you were honoured with the leadership of two places, generously performing the double duty. And everything which was fitting to you, soul, before you hid yourself, we, your family of good children, are increasing. But you, passer-by, seeing the grave of a good man, say these fair words to him and depart: 'May the earth be light on you for ever'.

Lewis accepts Louis Robert's suggestion 20 that Abramos had been the head of two local Jewish communities. Notable again is the absence of any expression of belief in life after death, even in the case of an honoured community leader. In line 1 TTE"VTi}KoTa is an indication of the dropping of the n u n in vulgar pronunciati6n. Line 2: TTav8ajlciTwp is often used as an epithet of time (or the perso nified Xpovos ) . Line 3: UIJ.IJ.O<j>avi}s is a hapax but well-chosen in view of the bright yellow sand in the Egyptian desert. Line 4: IJ.aKcip and !J.UKapLaTOS' are very frequently used of the dead. Lines 5-6: cipxiJ depends on E UTE <j>E"TO, he was honoured (lit. 'crowned, with a wreath ' ) with a magistracy over the whole community (cipxi} TTciv8T)!J.OS' f:8vLKi} belonging together; £8vos is frequently used to designate a Jewish community, cf. ethnarch) . Line 7: TTOAL Tapxwv means that Abraham was the head of the TTOAL TE"UIJ.a of the Jews in Leontopolis. Lines 9-1 0 are very hard to translate; Bernand renders: "Tu as eu tous les honneurs convenables, chere arne, avant d' etre enfoui, et, lignee de bons enfants, nous y ajoutons". 21 Lewis' translation, "everything which was fitting to your spirit", ignores the vocative character of t/Juxi} , which is very often used as a term of affection for the deceased.22 Line 1 3 is odd because the addition of this verse containing the well-known wish sit tibi terra levis makes the poem end with two pentameters, which is very unusua1.23 Let us now look briefly at the two examples from Palestine, from the catacombs of Beth She 'arim, both dating from the third century CE. First BS II 1 27: 20 Lewis i n CPJ ( n . 3 ) III 1 62; L. Robert, Hellenica ( 1 3 vols.; Paris: 1 9401 965) I 1 8-24, XI-XII 384-385. 21 Bernand, Inscriptions metriques (n. 3) 96. 22 Bernand, Inscriptions metriques (n. 3) 99 n. 8. 2 3 For a somewhat different interpretation see the contribution by G. Liideritz elsewhere in this volume.

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I, the son of Leontius, lie dead, Justus, the son of Sappho, who, having plucked the fruit of all (kinds of) wisdom, left the light, (and left) my poor parents in endless mourning, and my brothers too, alas, in my Beth She' arim. And having gone to Hades, I, Justus, lie here with many of my own kindred, since mighty Fate so willed. Be of good courage, Justus, no one is immortal.

This poetic inscription, written in disticha, is a clear demonstra tion that (some) Palestinian Jews were not only familiar with the Greek language but also with Greek literature, for the poem is full of Homeric phraseology and diction (although from a metrical point of view the poem is far from faultless) . In line 1 AEoVTE.L8TJS is already an imitation of Homeric patronymics (cf. 'ATpEL8TJS for 'son of Atreus') . In line 2 the emphatical nciaTJs aoLTJS - to be translated as 'all kinds of wisdom' - seems to indicate that it was not only Jewish wisdom ( i. e. Torah study) but also Greek learning that Justus had been involved in . Lifshitz remarks: "The Jew Justus, a citizen of that town which was for many decades a center of Jewish scholarship, and apparently also the author of the in scription, used this expression in the sense accepted in his Helle nized environment". 2 4 Sirach 6:19-20 also speaks of the 'fruits' of wisdom. AL TIELV cios in line 3 is a Homeric expression ( Od. XI 93) , as is aKUXTJIJ.EVous ( Od. IX 62, 105, 565, etc.; on the faulty pro sody here see Schwabe-Lifshitz 1 02) . AuToKaa( 'YVTJTOS for 'brother' in line 4 is very common in Homer. Blaapa (line 4) for Beth She'arim occurs also in Josephus. 'To go to Hades' in line 5 in the sense of 'to die' is common both in Homer and in funerary epi graphy. In Jewish writings 'Hades' had lost its religious-mytho logical meaning (God of the underworld) , as has already been remarked above. But Mo'lpa KpaTaLTJ in line 6 (a typically Homeric verse ending) seems to be more difficult to reconcile with Jewish conceptions. Moira was the Greek goddess of fate, but apparently Justus sees no problem in using the term, in the tradition of Greek epigrams, to say that it was his destiny to die young. The final prose expression, ecipaEL, ou8Ets ciecivaTOS, occurs very often in pagan epitaphs and its sense is much debated.25 This 2 4 Schwabe-Lifshitz (n.2) ad Zoe., p. 1 00; on p. 1 0 1 they rightly emphasize that "in this one hexameter [read: pentameter] concepts from two different worlds meh and are combined." 25 E.g. G. Delling, "Speranda Futura," in his Studien zum Neuen Testament und zum hellenistischen judentum (Gottingen: 1 970) 39-44, and M. Simon,

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expression 26 has been explained in very diverging ways ranging from 'banale, trostlose Wendung' to an expression of 'courage et confiance ' with respect to eternal life.27 It is very difficult to say what in each individual case may have been the associations this formula evoked. At first sight it may seem to be an expression of resignation: no one is immortal, death is common to all people, so try to be courageous in the face of the inevitable. It cannot be ruled out that such sentiments existed among Jews, who definitely did not all believe in im mortality of the soul or resurrection of the body. 28 That belief in afterlife was not part and parcel of every body's Judaism is clearly evidenced by the slightly cynical epi taph of a Roman Jew called Leo (CIJ 32*) , which reads "Friends, I await you here ! " ( amici, ego vos hie exspecto) and by two Jerus al� m inscriptions one of which calls upon the survivors to enjoy themselves by eating and drinking (Eupa(vEa8E oi. (wvTES', To 8£ Am nov [ ... ] 1TELV OJla [ ciJla] ayE1v) , 29 whereas the other simply says, "No one can go up [from the grave] ".3 o There is, however, some evidence that 8apaEL, OU8ELS' ' a8avaTOS' was also used by Jews who did believe in a blessed afterlife. In one of the Beth She'arim catacombs we find two inscriptions by one and the same hand, BS II 1 93 and 1 94.31 The first runs eapaELTE, 1TaTEPES' OULOL , ou8Els aecivaTOS'' and the second EUTUXWS' Tfj VjlWV avaaTcian. This seems to indicate that the use of the Scipan formula could well be con gruent with belief in the resurrection. Moreover, SappE'lv /8apaE1v was already used by Plato in the context of a discussion of afterlife =

8cipan, ou8ELS ciecivaTOS, in his Le christianisme antique et son contexte religieux I

(Tiibingen: 198 1 ) 63-8 1 . 26 With its variants (often ou8ELS ciecivaTOS i s omitted) . 2 7 Delling, "Speranda futura" (n. 25) 39, takes it to be an expression of gloomy resignation without any hope of afterlife; the more optimistic inter pretation is advocated by Simon, 8cipan (n. 25) 65. 28 Think, for example, of the Sadducees; see J. le Moyne, Les Sadduceens (Paris: 1972) 1 67-1 75. 29 Published by B. Lifshitz, "Notes d'epigraphie palestinienne," Revue Biblique 73 ( 1 966) 248-257, where he also refers to the many pagan parallels, e.g. in Peek, GV 716, 72 1 , 905, 1 1 1 2, 1 21 8, 1 30 1 , 1 333, 1925, 1978, 1 987, 2029, etc. Cf. Luke 1 2 : 1 9 and 1 Cor 15:32. It should be added that the frequently occurring nihilistic pagan formula non fui, fui, non sum, non curo ( ofte n abbreviated as n.ff n.s. n. c. ) has no Jewish parallels. 3 0 F. M. Cross, "A Note on a Burial Inscription from Mount Scopus, " Israel Exploration]ournal 33 ( 1 983) 245-246. 3 1 B. Lifshitz, "Beitrage zur palastinischen Epigraphik, " Zeitschrift des Deutschen Paliistina-Vereins 78 ( 1 962) 73-74.

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and immortality (Phaedo 63e, 78b, 87e, 95c) . And in the famous Codex Bezae (D) , at Luke 23:43, Jesus' answer to the repentant criminal's request, 'jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom", significantly is: "Keep courage (Sci pan ) , today you will be with me in Paradise". Also in 4 Mace 1 7:4 the context leaves us in no doubt that SappEL is used there with regard to the expectation of a glorious afterlife. So there certainly was a use of SappELV /SapaELV in connection with the afterlife with very positive overtones. The exhortation SapaEL, ou8Ets aeavaTOS' and certainly Supan alone (which is frequent in Beth She'arim) was probably meant "to encourage the deceased to meet the dangers involved in the passage to the next world courageously".3 2 (The use of SappEL V in several passages in the New Testament demonstrates that it is employed most often in situations of real and dangerous tests which can be passed or afflictions which can be borne . ) 3 3 The passage to the next world is beset with dangers, according to ancient conceptions, because inimical powers or demons will try to bar the deceased from entry into a new and blessed existence.34 Not only pagan Greeks and Romans but also Jews and Christians knew the notion of a dangerous heavenly ascent of the dead. 8apan wishes the dead the courage they need to be able to bring this journey to a successful conclusion. So there is good reason to connect this phrase with a positive belief in a blessed afterlife, even though that need not be the case in every instance.35 Let us look briefly at the second Palestinian instance, BS II 1 83: 32 33

Lifshitz, Beth She'arim I I ( n . 2) 224. See the fine study of the word by C. Spicq, Notes de lexicographic neo testamentaire I (Fribourg - Gottingen: 1978) 367-371 . 3 4 See e.g. F . Cumont, After Life in Roman Paganism (New Haven: 1 922) 1 481 69, and his Recherches sur le symbolisme funeraire des Romains (Paris: 1 942; repr. New York: 1 975) 1 04-176. 35 Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum 22, 1, quotes the famous exclamation in the (Osiris?) mysteries, aappELTE llUO'TaL TOU 6EOU O'EO'WO'I!Evou, lcrTm yap TJI!LV EK TI6vwv crwTllp(a. This formula indicates that in mystery religions as well 6appE'lv was used in connection with ' salvation from pains' , probably referring to afterlife; see R. Joly, "L'exhortation au courage (9APPE I N ) dans les mysteres," Revue des Etudes Grecques 68 ( 1 955) 1 641 70. My colleague Dr. Jan Willem van Henten suggests that 6cipcr€l m ay also imply that, although it is very painful (especially for martyrs: see 4 Mace 1 7:4) that we all have to die, the reward that is awaiting the righteous or the initiated after death is so great that we should remain courageous in view of that. This seems very plausible.

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This tomb contains the dwindling remains of Karteria, preserving forever the illustrious memory of a noble woman. Zenobia brought her here for burial, fulfilling thus her mother's request. For you, most blessed of women, your offspring, whom you bore from your gentle womb, your pious daughter - for she always does actions praiseworthy in the eyes of mortals built this monument, so that even after the end of life's term both of you may enjoy again new and indestructible riches.

This epitaph is metrically even more deficient than the previous one (there is an: intermingling of dactyls and trochees and the length of syllables is often ignored) , but the spelling is correct apart from thrice L instead of EL. Lines 1-4 contain a statement about mother and daughter, lines 5-7 address the mother, lines 8-9 address both mother and daughter. Again there is much Homeric phraseology and diction (d.cp8LTOS, li€, TLW, €6s, p€(w, KAUTa £pya, o cppa, etc.36 Here Zenobia is called 'pious' because she always performs 'praiseworthy deeds', in this case especially the proper burial of her mother in the way this woman had asked her daughter to do it. The editors take the 'new and indestructible riches' to be the splendid tomb of Karteria, but it seems much more probable to see this as a reference to the 'treasure in heaven' that 'neither moth nor rust' can destroy and no thieves can steal (Matt 6:20) , that is, eternal life. Finally, the most famous ancient Jewish funerary epigram, the only Latin one preserved, Corpus Inscriptionum judaicarum 4 7 6 (Rome, second to third century CE) : Here lies Regina, covered by such a tomb, which her husband set up as fitting to his love. After twice ten years she spent with him one year, four months and eight days more. She will live again, return to the light again, for she can hope that she will rise to the life promised, as a real assurance, to the worthy and the pious, in that she has deserved to possess an abode in the hallowed land. This your piety has assured you, this your chaste life, this your love for your people, this your observance of the Law, your devotion to your wedlock, the glory of which was dear to you. For all these deeds your hope of the future is assured. In this your sorrowing husband seeks his comfort.

36

For details see Schwabe-Lifshitz (n. 2) ad Zoe., pp. 1 57-1 67.

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This beautiful epitaph37 deserves to be dealt with at length but space prohibits this. It is unique not only in being our only Latin example but also in its unequivocal expression of central Jewish ideas and values. Regina's husband glorifies her faithfulness, her piety, her love of the Jewish people and her observance of the commandments of the Torah; and he also seeks comfort in his expectation of Regina's resurrection from the dead. This is one of the very few epitaphs that give such an unambiguous statement about the importance of Torah and piety and faith in the resurrec tion of the body. (I have to leave aside here the debated question of whether the phrase meruit sedem venerandi ruris habere in line 8 is a reference to Paradise or to resurrection in the Holy Land.) 38 The Latin and the prosody are relatively faultless. We have now briefly looked at 7 ancient Jewish metrical epi taphs. The material discussed is much too limited a sample too base any general conclusions upon. Let me therefore close with some modest observations that our scanty sources do seem to permit us to make. We have seen a relatively good knowledge of the Greek (and Latin) language and literature in its archaic and classical forms, and also, albeit it to a lesser extent, of its prosody, among educated Jews in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. We also saw a restrained use of Greek mythological motifs, or at least terms, like Hades, Lethe and Moira. We could observe a variety of ideas about life after death, ranging from a gloomy pessimism to 37 The translation is by H. J. Leon ( The jews of Ancient Rome [Phila delphia: 1 960] 335) , but slightly corrected on the basis of the critical remarks by Lifshitz (Prolegomenon to CIJ I 38) , who also convindngly refutes Ferrua's thesis that the poem is Christian . Lifshitz' claim that amor generis (in line 1 0) does not mean ' love of the Gewish) people' but ' love of (her) family' seems unfounded; cf. the frequent cptMA.aos in the meaning of ' loving the Uewish] community' . 38 Leon, Jews (n. 36) 249, takes it to mean Paradise; so does Frey (n. 1) ad Zoe. But H. C. C. Cavallin, Life after Death I (Lund: 1 974) 1 68, U. Fischer, Eschatologie und jenseitserwartung im hellenistischen Diasporajudentum ( Berlin: 1 978) 235, and Delling, "Speranda futura" (n. 25) 42, take it to mean that by her resurrection Regina will have a place in the Holy Land, referring to [H. L. Strack -] P. Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch III (Miinchen: 1926) 828-9 and IV ( 1 928) 1 1 98. There Billerbeck quotes some later rabbinic testimonies to the effect that the resurrection will take place in the land of Israel. This does not imply that our inscription should be interpreted as sharing this notion, but it has to be conceded that venerandum rus is an odd expression for Paradise. The question must remain open.

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a lofty expectation of bodily resurrection or immortality of the soul. There certainly was no unanimity in this matter. We should, however, be careful in the use of the argumentum e silentio in this respect. It cannot be said that the writers of the vast majority of epitaphs in which there is no (clear) sign of belief in afterlife were non-believers in this respect. For, in spite of the fact that belief in the resurrection of the body was a much more central tenet in Christianity from the beginning than in Judaism, in ancient Christ� an epitaphs, too, this belief finds expression only rarely.39 Perhaps the most interesting and puzzling aspect of our topic is the uneven distribution of the material. Why only one metrical epitaph from Rome, the city from which we have more anCient Jewish epitaphs than from any other place (even Jerusalem) , no less than some 600? Why are there no metrical epitaphs from Asia Minor, where Jews had lived for so long and were integrated so much more into society than in many other areas of the ancient world that it is only in Asia Minor that we find Jews in the highest echelons of society and politics? Why are 80% of our metrical epitaphs from Leontopolis, a very important religious centre for Egyptian Jewry? And why two metrical epitaphs in Homeric Greek in the necropolis of Beth She'arim which was the burial-place of Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi, the codifier of the Mishnah, and of other rabbis and their families? Tertullian's phrase Quid Hierosolymis cum Athenis could be rephrased here as Quid Mishnae cum Homero? These are important and fascinating questions the answers to which either cannot (or not yet) be given at all or would require a much wider and more detailed treatment of all aspects than has been possible in this short paper.40

39 See I. Kajanto, "The Hereafter in Ancient Christian Epigraphy and Poetry," Arctos 12 ( 1 978) 27-53. 4 0 For further discussion I have to refer the reader to my book Ancient Jewish Epitaphs (n. 1 ) .

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APPENDIX: CORPUS OF JEWISH METRICAL EPITAPHS4I CIJ 476 (Rome) 1 . Hie Regina sita est tali contecta sepulcro quod coniunx statuit respondens eius amori. 3. haec post his denos secum transsegerat annum et quartum mensem restantibus octo diebus. 5. rursum victura, reditura ad lumina rursum, nam sperare potest ideo quod surgat in aevom 7. promissum quae vera fides dignisque piisque. quae meruit sedem venerandi ruris habere. 9. hoc tibi praestiterat pietas, hoc vita pudica, hoc et amor generis, hoc observantia legis. 1 1. coniugii meritum cuius tibi gloria curae. horum Jactorum tibi sunt speranda Jutura, 1 3. de quibus et coniunx maestus solacia quaerit. /CUR III 1 231

1. 3. 5. 41

IG XIV 1648 (Rome) [ETwv 8 ]ExoKTW IJ.ovoyEvf) Kat 1Tap8E-vov [E>Eo8o ] atav f:SmjJE 8wp6eEos Tia-nlp, [flv 1J.]EAA.6vu!J.cpov Tu�t IJ.llVOs ElKa8L [ELAES, 1T ]OVllPE 8a11J.OV, 0s Tov EIJ.1TUALV [ot v6a]Tov ouK EKAwaas, Wa1TEp TlA1TLaE. [oKTw] KaL8EXETllS. f:n TiapeE-vos oloyE-vELa =

T h e reader will find here the texts o f all Jewish metrical tomb inscrip tions. The first one from Rome according to the edition of Leon (n. 3 7) , the second one according to the re-edition of Horsley (n. 1; note the repetition of its contents in another meter after verse 5 and the final Latin line in 1 0) ; the one from Lorium according to CIL; the one from Larissa according to the edition of Frey (n. 1 ) ; those from Leontopolis and Schedia according to the new edition of Horbury and Noy (n. 3) , with only slight modifications; those from Beth She'arim according to the edition of Schwabe-Lifshitz (n. 2) . As is the case with CIJ 701 from Larissa, CPJ 1 539 from Leontopolis (?) is not a metrical epitaph in the strict sense of the word. Only the phrases dx961J.EVOS' IJ.O'YEPWS' (7-9) and If> mipo8ot 8aKpucmTE ( 9-1 0 ) are in metrical form (resp. hexametric and iambic) ; see Bernand, Inscriptions metriques (n. 3) 373. Nevertheless it has been included here for the sake of completeness. The inclusion of the second inscription from Rome (IGUR III 1 23 1 ) is based solely upon the fact that the names Theodosia and Dorotheus sound very Jewish, but there is no absolute certainty about their Jewishness. The author owes thanks to Cambridge University Press for their permis sion to reprint the metrical epitaphs from the recent edition by W. Horbury and D. Noy (= ]IGRE) .

JEWISH POETICAL TOMB INSCRIPTIONS

7. 9.

[8Eo ] 8oa(a KE1Tat, 6.wpo8£ou SvyaTT)p. [ciAA.' til v ]TJA.E6eu1J.E Xapov, TL aE T6aaov EVTJTJS [TE]
tjJE A.trroooa rraTpt rr£v8os arrELpE"awv. [ Theodosia quae et] Kalypso ann. XVIII.

CIL XI 3758 CIG 9852 (Lorium) 1 . E-v8a8E E-v dpi}V1J KELTE 'PoucpE1vos ciiJ.UIJ.WV 8EOO'Ef3TJS cl'YlWV TE V6jJ.WV O'OcplT}S TE O'UVlO'TWp. 3. ETWV Ka' il!J.(EpWV) 11' wp [w]v t'. =

CIJ 701 (Larissa, Thessaly) Map(a 'I oooa, AEOVTlO'KOU 8€ yuvi}, A.acf> xatpELV. [xa]tpms civ8pwrrwv rrErr [vv!J.EV ]E &nts imapxEL. CPJ 1451 (Leontopolis) JIGRE 29 1. . . ................ ....................... ] IJ.E KUL vw 3. [til rr] �P,0&-1Ta, b yEvvi}aas yap 1J. [E-y] a rrEvS€1 TT)K6jJ.EVOS tiJuxfl [ L a] VV 'YEVEL i}8E cplAOLS. 5. El 8E SE-� [t]s, yvwvm 8waam rrooO'T} rrta [T]ts i}8E- xapts, KUL 1TWs 1TclVTES . 68upjJ.Os EXEL. 7. 8Eup' 'LSt Kal E-pwTT)aov �o1J.6TJ(Alov vi.ov 6-wpuTos · [Tl ]S 1JQTU1T6;- [ .... =

..........

..

....................................

CPJ 1 489 (Leontopolis/Demerdash) JIGRE 1 1 4 1. ................................... ]T�S Ev qxpqJ! [lJn 3. .. ... ] l:lQ l). 1TE] ��J:U,J.EvoV Ev (3t&rr, [1t ......................... ]ws -TotUjJ.OV lixos cpEpE [ ... 5. IJ.VTJ0'8E'ts TfJs [ ...................... ...... .. IJ.Tl rrapt8us [ .............. ] ov oiJ.ocppoaUVT}s. 7. Ws- Kayw cf>tA.a8EA.cf>os E-wv Kat rraat rroA.dTats XPTJO'TOs EKOLIJ.#hlV rrA.i}awv ciM..oyEvwv. 9. ELIJ.L E>E-wv 6 IIaoliTos, [o]s E-v [f3ouA.]a1crtv liptcrTos E-vea& IJ.VTJIJ.-rl

............................................................

CPJ 1 490 (Leontopolis) ]IGRE 30 1 . WB' imo TO 0'1TtA.cl8os IJ.EAa8pov, eE-vE, K{ [iTat? ... ] 6-T}jJ.US, yf)pas acf>Ets jJ.T}TpOs EAELVOTcl [TTJS] =

143

144

P.

W. VAN DER HORST

3.

KUL TEKVa VllTTL ' EAELVa Kal aooTllpav TTa [paKOLTLV]' TTOAAWV av8pclmwv �OL8Qs EWV aqcp [tq.?] 5. KAauaaTE Tov TTPOALTT6VTa To crE1J.V6Ta [Tov ..... ] Kal TTOALV av8p£Imwv 8' T;8Ea Kal cl>LMav. ' 7. � [ll] I)Qs 4l [s] (hGv) All', (ETOlJS') v8', 'A� [u] p y'. 9. KcA @, 'AAE�av8pE, TTaatcpLAE KUL avE-y1 1 . ��llTE, XprJ [aT ]E, x [a1pc ] .

CPJ 1 508 (Leontopolis) JIGRE 3 1 1 . n1v TO TTplV EV � [Eya]AOLULV ayaAAOIJ.EVllV IJ.EAa [S] pmm TTap8 [E- ] vov UKIJ.aL11v, �E1VE, MKpuaov EIJ.E · 3. v [u] IJ.cpOKOIJ.OLS' aTOAL8Eam awoLKos [E-] o [v] yap dwpos VUIJ.cp [wv] QS' aTU"(EpoU TOU& A [E] AOYX [a] T [act>] ou· 5. T,vtKa [yap] KW [IJ.]wv TTaTayo [s TTp] bs E-11a1s 8[ ........ ] ii [IJ.EA]AEv IJ.EATTLV m;t [Tp]o[s] �llQV [1J.]EAa8P, [ov] 7. Ws- poo [o] v [E-] v KJlTTWL [v] OTLaLV 8poaE pa1m TE811A6s [al ]cpvL8'LWS' IJ.E Xa�f3w}v 4lXET' 'LWv '�81] [S' ] 9. '(�Q [aL, �E1]VE, 8' EyW Er�4l[V KlKAOUS TE'J..Eaaaa ?] . =

CPJ 1 509 (Leontopolis) JIGRE 32 1 . 'Opatas Tacpos otrros, oomTT6pE · 8aKpua AE [i�E] . :N [L]�QAclOU [8uy]aTllp, 11 KUTcl TTclVT [a UTU]xfp, 3. TpE1 [S' &K] Qfus TTAip"aa' ET [E-wv. T] pELS' W8 [E TT] cl.pEcriJ.EV, 0 avf)p Kal · [il Suya]TllP Kal 11� [TT ]ETTVpWKUV E-yw. ............ ] E-aTLV (TpLT1J), ElTa 8 [€ TTEIJ.TT]TlJ 5. ElpfJVll SuyaTllp , fl ya11os ouK E8691l. 7. [ K] ayw 8-f} r, aKAllpos, avEucppaVTos IJ.ETa ToUTous E-�8oll'fl Tou Xotax W8 ' E-TE-811v imo rflv. 9. ciAA' UTTEXELS', til �ELVE, aact>Gls Tel aTTaVTa TTap' illlWV ayyE"AAELV TTnaw Tou SavaTou To Taxos. 1 1 . (ETous) L ', Xotax C. =

.

CPJ 1 5 1 0 (Leontopolis) JIGRE 33 1 . 'ApaLVOllS' Tacpos otrros, o80LTTOpE · KAUOOOV ETTLUTUS' -nlv KaTa TTavTa aTuxflv, 8oo1J.opov, alv611opov. 3. 6pcpavLKT} AEt811v yap E-yw{L} IJ.ELKpa TTEp E-oooa llll{L}Tp6s· ETTEL 8E- 11' a�E1TL TTaTf]p, W&1vL 8E Mo1pa =

JEWISH POETICAL TOMB INSCRIPTIONS

npwToT6Kou 11-E TEKvou npos Tf.A.os �YE �lou. 7. Kal j.1ELKpov j.1EV £yw{L} T ' EA.axov KUKAOV, aA.A.a xapLS j.10L nA.ElaTT) (L) £nf.v8T)LaEv KaAA.oauVT}{L} npanl8wv. 9. Kat Taos £v K6A.nms KpVnTEL To £11-ov 8f.11-as ol'rros ayvoTpaf.s, tJ;ux.Tl 8 ' ELS oolous ETTETE. 1 1 . 'ApaLv611s ETTLK1l8nos (ETOUS) KE ', MEXELp w.

CPJ 151 1 (Leontopolis) ]IGRE 34 1 . Elj.1EL £yw 'I �aoDs, b OS . KA.aooaTE naVTES Oj.10V 'I 11aov 8uaj.1EVEa. =

CPJ 1 5 1 2 (Leontopolis) JIGRE 35 1 . i}TWV 8EKa'llxs. IIawL EVclTlJ ELKa8L a�l18aVT). E'laL8E j.10U aT'llA.llV, napo&Ta, KA.aooov a8A.1laas, 3. aa1s XEpalV KQtJ;aL TTEVTclKL (TTEVTaETT)V). apTL yap oU8€ yaj.10U j.1ETOXOS Klj.1aL EV Tlxj.1>�WL, 5. Kal yovf.{a}ES naaxova ' ixf.A.ws ETTl ULOV apEaTOV, o'( TE LA.ot (llTOOOLV Ol.l-llALKa Kat avvf.Tmpov · 7. awj.1a 8 ' Ej.10V KLTaL xopov ls fLS} EOOE�Ea. �qooas (El)nf.· liwpE, navW8u{8u}pE, Kat navapLaTE{a}, 9. 0s TTcl�S {llS} aperfJs TTclVTOTE KU8aALj.1W (S) =

CPJ 1 513 (Leontopolis) JIGRE 36 1 . aaTEOL Kal �EVOL, KaTaKA.aooaTE TTclVTES ' PaxfJA.LV, awpova, naaLLAllV, Ws (TpLaKOVTaETT)V). 3. 11-ll j.1E j.1clTT)V TTEvffi.TE KEVclS [ ..... El 8 ' oyov (fJaa XPOVOV KEplj.1EVOV, 5. aAA.a EAEOUS EATTL8a ayaa,v £yw npoa8f.xoj.1aL. Kat 'Aya8oKA.ils Ws- (£Twv) A.ll '· =

CPJ 1522 (Leontopolis) JIGRE 37 1 . Ilannlwva 11-ELKpov KA.aooov €nLaTas. =

145

146 3. 5.

P. W. VAN DER HORST

KMiE- IJ.E 1J.'frn1p, T, iT [ ETIU] pWIJ.EVll ElK [OULE ]TITaETT'lV. KAaU [craTE] iTCIVTES.

CPJ 1 530 (Leontopolis) JIGRE 38 1 . hTciAa IJ.aVUTELpa. -TLS E-v KuavauyE't TUIJ.�4l KE1crm ; Kat TiciTpav Kat yEVETT'lV EVETIE. 3. 'ApcrLV6a, Koupa 8' 'AAI.v6T)s Kat f>r18ocrtmo· a!J.Lcr8a 8' 'Ovtou ya TpoOs- ciiJ.ETEpa. 5. TiocrcraE-,.,s 8' wA.Lcr8as imo crKoT6Ev KALIJ.a AaSas; lKOUETT'lS yoEpov xwpov E�T)V VEKUwV. 7. (EuytcrST)s 8€ ya!J.ous; -(EuxSTJv. -KaTEA.tvTiavEs airr4) TEKvov; -a xSwv a 8LjJ.EVOLO uA.ciKTWp. Kat crol, �E1VE, E-pm KapTiov ciTio aTaxiJwv. 1 1 . (ETOUS) LS' TlaUvl Ka'. =

CPJ 1 530a (Leontopolis) JIGRE 39 1 . TlEvn1KoTa TpLwv ETE-wv KuKA.ov 118' civooavTa airras 0 TiaV8a!J.ciTWp TlPTiacrEV Els 'At811v. 3. iil xSwv UIJ.IJ.Oavf)s, ol.ov 8Ej.las UIJ.LKaAVTITlS 'A�pciiJ.OU tl;uxfls' Tou IJ.aKapLcrToTaTou. 5. ouK ciyE-pacrTos €u yap civa TIT6A.LV, ciAA.a Kat cipxiJ Tiav8il!J.£P E-SvuET' E-v aoLQ.. 7. 8Lcrcrwv yap TE ToTiwv TIOALTapxwv airrOs- ETELIJ.W TI)v 8L!J.EPTJ 8aiTciV11V E�aviJaas xaplcrlv. 9. iTclVTa BE crOL, EiTEOLX ' ooa TOl, tiJuxil, iTplV EKEu8ES, Kat TEKVwv ciya8wv a�OIJ.EV yEvEil. 1 1 . UAAU au, ifl Tiapo8EtTa, l8wv ciya8ou TclOV civ8p0s OV TE KaTEUT)IJ.WV TOta pacras aTIL8l· 13. ya1av EXOLS E-A.apav Els TOV aTiavTa XPOVOV. =

CPJ 1 539 (Leontopolis?) JIGRE 40 1 . El11-t Maxawv Tou ha��a3. Tatou, TEAEUTW ETWV 5. iTEVTE · Lk OUIJ.EVll =

JEWISH POETICAL TOMB INSCRIPTIONS

7.

llTtTTJP ciK86IJ.EVOS IJ.O'YE9. pws TOLVUV, c1 napo8m, 8aKpUaUTE. 1 1 . (ETous) A( KaLaap(os), cf>qiJ.(EvW8) Lll '· ·

SEC VIII 469 (Schedia) 1. Ila18a IJ.E �w
3. 5. 7.

KE11J.m AEoVTEt811s vE-Kus [h]acpo [Ds utas 'I ou]O"TOS Os iTclO"llS crocpLllS 8pEtiJUIJ.EVOS � [apno ]v A.E1tJ;a cpaos, 8ELA.[oiJs y]ovE-as aKa [XlliJ.EV]ous alE [L] , airroKamyviFOVS [T]E, o'tiJ.OL, E: [v ois B]Ecrap [ms] KUL y ' E:A.S [wv E]ls "A811v 'I oooTo [s ... airr ] 6eL KE11J.q [L] , aw iTOAAOlO"LV E-o1s, EiTL i)8EAE Mo1pa KpUTULll. 8apcrEL, 'I oooTE, OOOELS aeavaTOS.

BS II 183 (Beth She'arim)

1. 3. 5. 7. 9.

KapTEPLllS T6&
147

ALPHABET-INSCRIPTIONS FROM JEWISH GRAVES* ALICE BIJ DE vAATE

Most Jewish epitaphs from the Graeco-Roman world are only short texts, consisting of the name of the deceased to which addi tions such as age, occupation, laudatory epithets, and greetings or a wish to the departed may have been placed. There are, however, inscriptions which stand out from this pattern. Remarkable are some which consist of several letters of the alphabet in successive order, or of the complete alphabet. This kind of inscription is commonly designated by the term abecedarium. To avoid con fusion, however, the term alphabet-inscription is to be preferred, since abecedarium is the usual name for poetic texts, consisting of several lines, the first of which starts with the first letter of the alphabet, the second with the second letter, etc. Familiar examples of such alphabetical acrostics are Psalms 1 1 1 , 1 1 2 and 1 45. The inscriptions which are the subject of this paper, on the other hand, offer no regular text. All they consist of, are just several successive letters of the alphabet. Although they were discovered in graves, the alphabet-inscriptions seem to have nothing in common with what is regularly considered to be an epitaph. No personal name is included, so obviously they were not meant to commemorate a deceased. So what did they mean? Why should one write down the alphabet in a grave? Or, as A. Dieterich put it: "Freilich bilden diese Zeichenreihen kein Wort, aber doch eine Formel, die keinen Sinn haben mag, aber in irgendeinen Sinne zu irgen deimen Zwecke verwendet sein muB". l 1 . Description of the alphabet-inscriptions from Jewish graves Until now three alphabet-inscriptions from Jewish graves have been published. One of them was found in Jericho and is dated in the first century CE, ante 68.2 The inscription consists of the first * I would like to thank Dr ]. W. van Henten and L. Cozijnsen for their helpful remarks. 1 A. Dieterich, "ABC-Denkmaler," Kleine Schriften (Leipzig and Berlin : 191 1 ) 202 ( Rheinisches Museum fur Philologie 56 [ 190 1 ] 77) . 2 R. Hachlili, "The Goliath Family in Jericho: Funerary Inscriptions =

ALPHABET- INSCRIPTIONS FROM JEWISH GRAVES

149

eight or nine letters of the Greek alphabet. It is written in charcoal on the inside of the lid of an ossuary, a bone-receptacle. Clearly visible are alpha to theta; they may have been followed by an iota. Separated by a horizontal line over the width of the lid may have followed phi. Two of the letters have an unusual form: the bar of the theta is missing and the zeta is slightly turned so that it looks like a nu. ABrll 1 EZ 1 He 1 I (?) 1 - 1 R. Hachlili adds tlie following remarks to the description: "The lid was found startding in the northwest corner of the pit, with the inscription facing the tomb's entrance. During the time of the tomb's use, it seems that the lid was lifted from the ossuary, the letters were written, and then the lid was purposely placed fating the en trance." The second alphabet-inscription comes from the Jewish burial place of Beth She 'arim in Galilee .3 This cemetery consists of several catacombs, which, in their turn, consist of several halls of burial chambers. The burial chambers of each hall are connect�d by means of passages. Usually in each of those chambers, several persons were buried in separate niches ( loculi or arcosolia) which have been cut into the wall of the chambers. The alphabet-inscrip tion was discovered in one of the halls of catacomb 1 , where it is carved on the arch of a passage between two burial chambers. It consists of the first nine letters of the Greek alphabet (alpha up to iota) in one row. The editors notice some distance between theta and iota, which is due to the unevenness of the stone. ABf!lEZH8 I The cemetery of Beth She' arim has been used particularly from the early third century CE till the destruction of the place by an earthquake in 363.4 The alphabet-inscription was found in one of from a First Century AD Jewish Monumental Tomb," BASOR 235 ( 1 979) 4748. For the dating see pp. 60 and 62. 3 M. Schwabe and B. Lifshitz, Beth She'arim II: The Greek Inscriptions (New Brunswick NY: 1974) 46-47 no. 73 ( CIJ 1 092) . 4 See P. Schafer, "Der Aufstand gegen Gallus Caesar," Tradition and Re Interpretation in Jewish and Early Christian Literature, Essays in Honour ofJurgen C. H. Lebram (eds. J. W. van Henten, H. J. de Jonge, P. T. van Rooden and J. W. Wesselius; Leiden: 1 986) 199-200, against the assumption that the destruction of Beth She 'arim was the result of the revolt under Gallus in 352, as proposed by B. Mazar, Beth She 'arim I: Catacombs 1-4 (New Brunswick NY: 1 973) 6. I thank Dr H.-W. Bloedhorn for this reference. =

150

A. J. BIJ DE VAATE

the earliest halls of catacomb 1 , and dates from the beginning of the third century. s The provenance of the third and last of the published alphabet inscriptions from Jewish graves is Khirbet 'Eitun in the southern coastal plain of Judea. 6 On the wall of the passage between two burial chambers, the complete Hebrew alphabet is engraved in one row. Of the letters which have a final form, only the nun is presented with its two forms. The letters pe and �ade seem to be written in ligature. n rv i p �/El JJ o 1 J � ' :::> ' C!l n r , ii i ) :J � The inscription dates from the third or fourth century CE. In addition to these three published alphabet-inscriptions from Jewish graves, there are some unpublished ones. In Beth She' a rim several alphabet-inscriptions seem to have been discovered, which up till now have not been published. 7 The only thing known, is that they are in the Hebrew script. For the time being, nothing can be said about their number, nor about the exact place where they are written . Nevertheless, some observations can be made on the grounds of the little evidence we have on alphabet inscriptions from Jewish graves. All the inscriptions were found in Palestine: in Beth She' arim, Jericho and Khirbet 'Eitun. As far as I know, there is not one instance from the Diaspora. They date from the first century CE till the middle of the fourth. The script is Hebrew or Greek, which is no surprise in view of the bi- or even trilinguism in the Palestine of that period. 8 The alphabets in Hebrew script, insofar as they have been published, are complete; 5 6

B. Mazar, Beth She'arim I 1 39-140. A. Kloner, "ABCDerian Inscriptions in Jewish Rock-Cut Tombs, " Proceedings of the ninth World Congress of Jewish Studies, jerusalem, August 4-12, 1 985 Qerusalem: 1986) Division A, 1 25-1 32 [Hebr.] . 7 M . Schwabe mentions an inscription which consists of the complete alphabet in Hebrew script from catacomb 25 ( Yediot 21 [ 1 957] 1 63) ; it is not included in one of the volumes of Beth She 'arim. J. Patrich annotates that "dans la necropole de Beth She'arim, de nombreux abecedaires hebreux ont ete decouverts, et qui sont restes inedits" ( "Inscriptions arameennes juives dans les grottes d'El-'Aleiliyat," RB 92 [ 1 985] 270 n. 12) . 8 For the use of Aramaic, Greek and possibly Hebrew in Graeco-Roman Palestine, see: Ch. Rabin, "Hebrew and Aramaic in the First Century" and G. Mussies, "Greek in Palestine and the Diaspora," The jewish People in the First Century (CRINT; Assen and Amsterdam: 1 976) 1.2 1 007-1 039, 1 040-1 064. M. Hengel notes that a third of the first century epitaphs from Jerusalem was written in Greek ( The 'Hellenization ' of judaea in the First Century after Christ [London and Philadelphia: 1989] 9) .

ALPHABET- INSCRIPTIONS FROM JEWISH GRAVES

151

the Greek ones consist of only a part of the alphabet, eight or nine successive letters. Remarkable are the places where the inscrip tions have been written . The published inscriptions from Beth She 'arim and Khirbet 'Eitun stand on the wall of the passage between two burial chambers. Apart from their content, this placing of the inscriptions marks a difference from the regular epitaphs which we find in the direct vicinity of the niches where the deceased were l�id down. This unusual place of the alphabet inscriptions, as CO!fipared with other epitaphs, applies also to the inscription from Jericho. It is written on the inside of the lid of an ossuary. Though rare, there are some other instances of this phenomenon. An ossuary from a tomb in the Kidron Valley, for instance, has hapas, 'from Sara', incised on the inside of the lid.9 The alphabet-inscription from Jericho however, differs in two respects from other inscriptions on the inside of an ossuary. The alphabet can hardly have functioned as a means of identification, as is the case with the inscription just mentioned. Besides, accord ing to R. Hachlili, it was probably written only some time after the reburial of the bones in the ossuary had taken place. The lid was not subsequently replaced on the receptacle. Instead it was placed facing the entrance. Therefore, neither the inscriptions from Beth She'arim and Khirbet 'Eitun, nor the one from Jericho have been written immediately near the place where a person is buried. This observation indicates at all events that, whatever the meaning of the inscriptions may be, they were not meant to mark a grave, or to be a last farewell or suchlike to the departed. 2 . Epigraphic parallels The alphabet-inscriptions from Jewish graves are by no means unique. The phenomenon of writing down the alphabet is not restricted to burial-places, nor to Jewish practice . From pre Hellenistic till far after Roman times we know of dozens of alphabet-inscriptions - for the most part non:Jewish - in a variety of scripts and on a variety of objects. IO Writing down the alphabet, 9 N. Avigad, "A Depository of Inscribed O ssuaries in the Kidron Valley, " IE] 12 ( 1 962) 8 no. 7c. 1 0 Greek, Latin and Etruscan alphabet-inscriptions, in : A. Dieterich, "ABC-Denkmaler," 202-2 1 1 (see n . I above) , and F. Dornseiff, "Corpus der ABC-Denkmaler, " Das Alphabet in Mystik und Magie ( Leipzig and Berlin:

152

A. J. BIJ DE VAATE

or part of it, appears to have been an intercultural phenomenon. To mention but a few examples of non:Jewish alphabet-inscrip tions from the Graeco-Roman period: a dedication to Jupiter Doli chenus, from Naples, has an inscription in three lines; in the first two lines we find the complete Greek alphabet, and in the third line: KEAElJO"UVTOS Tau 8Eou, 'the god ordered (this) ' . 11 A fragmen tary inscription from North-Mrican Lambaesis has the Latin text: aa bb cc dd I gh kl mn, followed by some incomprehensible words: rivirs Jmim ep sib, in mirror-writing. 12 On the wall of a private house in Dura-Europos is written: 1J.V(T)a8fj) LA.E'Lvos · (i}(crTJs?) I IJ.V(T)a8fj) A.aouws LAIE'Lvos] I ABr�EZH8[ . . . , 'may Phileinos be remembered, may you live (?) , may Flavius the son of Phileinos be remembered, ABf�EZH8[ ... ' . 1 3 An alphabet in Samaritan script stands on the base of a Palestinian lamp; the letters, alef to nun, are in mirror-writing. I 4 On a funeral urn from Mainz, we find the complete Latin alphabet.I5 In a cave in Latmos, Caria, a part of the Greek alphabet was written, namely alpha up to eta, including the numeral sti; since several Christian inscriptions were found in the same cave, the alphabet-inscription is considered to be Chris tian as well. 16 Apart from the grave-inscriptions described above, we know of a dozen other Jewish alphabets from the Graeco-Roman period. Like the grave-inscriptions they all come from Palestine . Ten alphabets were written on ostraca, one on parchment and one on the wall of a cave. Only two instances are in the Greek script; _the 2 1 925; first edition 1 922) 1 58-168. Semitic alphabet-inscriptions, in: A. Dem sky, "A Prato-Canaanite Abecedary Dating from the Period of the Judges and its Implications for the History of the Alphabet," Tel-Aviv 4 ( 1 977) 14-27 and A. Lemaire, "Abecedaires et exercices d'ecolier en epigraphie nord ouest semitique," ]A 266 ( 1 978) 221-235. 1 1 P. Merlat, Repertoire des inscriptions et monuments figures du culte de jupiter Dolichenus (Paris and Rennes: 1 95 1 ) 252 no. 253. It has been denied by F. Dornseiff that the inscription has anything to do with the cult of Dolichenus (Das Alphabet . , 1 62 no. 1 0) , but according to Merlat, the attribution seems certain. 12 F. Dornseiff, Das Alphabet , 164 no. 24. 13 F. Cumont, Fouilles de Doura-Europos (1922-1923) (Paris: 1926) 449 no. 131. 14 J. Naveh, "Lamp Inscriptions and Inverted Writing," IE] 3 8 ( 1 988) 39 no. 5 . 15 F. Dornseiff, Das Alphabet , 1 60 n o . 1 4 . 16 H . Gregoire, Recueil des inscriptions grecques chretiennes d 'Asie Mineure I (Paris: 1 922; reprinted, Amsterdam: 1 968) no. 227. .

.

...

...

ALPHABET- INSCRIPTIONS FROM JEWISH GRAVES

153

others are in Hebrew. Both Greek alphabets-both on damaged ostraca-were found in Masada. They date from before 73 or 74 CE . 1 7 To the ones in the Hebrew script belongs an ostracon from Qumran, probably from the first century BCE, on which the alphabet is written in three lines, starting with alef in the right corner at the bottom; some letters are repeated below and next to the lines.IB In Murabba'at six instances of alphabet-inscriptions in Hebrew script were found, most of them fragmentary. 19 Two of them, both on yah, 'Asayah". 20 From Herodion we know another instance. On an ostracon which has been moulded into a round shape before the text was written down, we read on the one side a part of the alphabet ( alef to samek) and on the other side twice the complete alphabet, followed by the personal name Ahyahu. 21 Finally, on the wall of a cave in Napal Michmas two 17 H. M. Cotton - J. Geiger, Masada II. The Yigael Yadin Excavations 1 9631 965 Final Reports: The Latin and Greek Documents (Jerusalem: 1 989) nos. 782

and 783. Too fragmentary are nos. 935 and 942 Fragm. (e) ; no. 935 may or may not be Jewish. A doubtful instance is an inscription from Gezer, which might have the beginnings of the Greek and Hebrew alphabets; see J. T. Milik, Les Grottes de Murabba 'at, DJD II (eds. P. Benoit, ]. T. Milik and R. de Vaux; Oxford: 1 961 ) 9 1 , with reference to R. A. S. Macalistar, The Excavations at Gezer II (London: 1912) 277. 18 R. de Vaux, "Fouilles au Khirbet Qumran, " RB 61 ( 1 954) 229. 19 DJD II nos. l Ob, 1 1 , 73, 78, 79 and 80. 20 E. Puech, "Abecedaire et liste alphabetique de noms hebreux du debut du lie s. A.D.," RB 87 ( 1 980) 1 1 8-1 26. 21 E. Testa, I graffiti e gli ostraka, Herodion IV (Jerusalem: 1 972) 77-78 and 80, no. 53. The reading of the name is Puech's correction of Testa's reading

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alphabets were found, the one right below the other, in two lines; the last line is complete, while the first line is preserved only to mem. The cave was used as a hiding place for Jewish refugees during the First Jewish War (66-73 CE) , as is concluded by ]. Patrich on the basis of the palaeography and another inscription which was found there: lit!! r:l (m) ,'?l7 ip»n� itl',' , interpreted by Patrich as: 'J oezer has been taken, the guards have entered' . 22 3. Interpretation To the question how to explain the phenomenon that people in antiquity wrote down the alphabet on a variety of objects, two different answers, broadly speaking, are given. The first, and most obvious one, is that alphabet-inscriptions are writing exer cises. The alphabets on ostraca are supposed to be the work of schoolchildren; for the alphabets on stone, seals etc., mason 's apprentices are held responsible . With respect to the Jewish alphabet-inscriptions, R. de Vaux remarks on the inscription on an ostracon from Qumran: "On notera la maladresse de la gra phic: c'est l'exercice d'un scribe debutant".23 E. Puech labels the inscription that probably comes from Herodion as an "exercice d' apprenti-scribe". 24 For some alphabet-inscriptions, this might be a plausible explanation. However, this explanation can hardly be applicable to all inscriptions. For instance, it is not very likely to apply to the ones from the Jewish graves. A grave is an odd place in which to do one's homework. The other possible explanation is that the alphabet-inscriptions have a magical meaning. With regard to the Jewish inscriptions, M. Schwabe and B. Lifshitz maintain, that the alphabet-inscription from Beth She'arim "is intended as a spell against the evil spirits, liable to disturb the peaceful repose of the deceased". 25 R. Hachlili too assumes that the inscriptions have a magical significance . 26 (RB 8 7 [ 1 980] 1 22) .

22 J. Patrich, "Inscriptions arameennes juives . . . ," RB 92 ( 1 985) 265-273, and from the same author: "Caves of Refuge and Jewish Inscriptions on the Cliffs of NaP,al Michmas," Erlsr 18 ( 1 985) 1 53-166 [Hebr.] . 23 "Fouilles . . ., " RB 6 1 ( 1 954) 229. 24 "Abecedaire ... " RB 87 ( 1 980) 1 22. 25 Beth She'arim II 46-47. 26 'The Goliath Family . . . ," BASOR 235 ( 1 979) 48, and "Did the Alphabet Have a Magical Meaning in the First Century C.E.? , " Cathedra 31 ( 1 984) 2730 [Hebr.] . ,

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This assumption is based mainly on the work of A. Dieterich, who edited a corpus of Greek, Etruscan and Latin alphabet-inscrip tions. 2 7 Dieterich observed that their archaeological context in most cases is a funereal one. In view of this context, a prosaic explanation of the alphabet-inscriptions as writing exercises has to be excluded. Instead, Dieterich argues that the alphabet-inscrip tions have a magical meaning, and serve as a protection against evil demons. He ba�ed this view on the Leyden Magical P apyrus. In this papyrus from an Egyptian grave, we find that magical words are formed' on the basis of the fixed sequence of letters of the alphabet. For instance, a long list of syllables is created by placing one of the seven vowels to every successive consonant of the alphabet (for example o �o yo Bo (o) . The Leyden Papyrus cannot have been anything else, according to Dieterich, than a uA.aKTrl pLov, an amulet, which was put in the grave with the deceased, as a protection-most likely-against evil demons who threaten the voyage of the soul to the hereafter. Since the Leyden Papyrus had an apotropaic function, obviously the alphabet in th,is papyrus must have served this function. Dieterich argues that the magical significance of the alphabet in the Leyden Papyrus offers the proper explanation for the inscriptions. A magical signifi cance has to be awarded to them as well. In addition to the Leyden Magical Papyrus there are other magical texts, not mentioned by Dieterich, which even more clearly show the magical significance of the alphabet. 28 In a magical recipe we find the following advice in order to stay unharmed on the battlefield: El 8€ �ovAn EV 1TOAEJ.l4> ci�Aa�'lls Elvm, vflcrTEucrov llJlEpas y'· ElTa ypa�ov TO aov OVOJla Kat TOV aov 1TaTpOS' Kal JlllTPOS' JlETa �S' a�. JlES' a'(JlaTQS' 1TEpL U')'EtnlT4>' Kat <J>6pEL airro &rav Ct1TEPXEL E:v 1TOAEJl4> ayvWS"· Kat ou Jlll crE lf7TT Tll aL KaKOV. 29 ' If you want to stay unharmed on the battlefield: fast three days, then write your name, your father's and your mother's name and

27 28 29

See above n. 1 0. The following references I owe to L. Cozijnsen, Utrecht. A. Delatte, Anecdota Atheniensia I (Bibliotheque de la Faculte de Philo sophie et Lettres de l' Universite de Liege, Fascicule 36; Liege and Paris: 1927) 634 11. 5-9. It is to be noted that LSJ records d.>..ci�TJTOS only as mascu line (s. v., 74) , though it does occur also in the feminine (see for examples Thesaurus Graecae Lin!fUa [eds. H. Stephanus and C. B. Hase; Paris 1 831 ] 1 . 1 599 s. v.

).

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the alphabet with the blood of an unblemished white dove and of a calf on an [lit.] unborn piece of paper and carry it with you when you go to war, being chaste; no harm will befall you. '

Almost identical is the recipe to ward off an enemy: El 8€ �OUAEl 'tva �i) crot atJnlTat E-x8p6s 1TOTE �l)TE E-vaVTlOV crot 1TotflcraL, ypcit/JOV TO ovo�a aov Kat TWV yov€-wv aov Kat TO ovo�av [ sic] TOU apxovTos MLXallA �€Tel Tfls a� Els xapTt 1Tap8E-vov �€8' a'l�aTOS UAEKTOpos cicr1TLAOU AEUKfls · xwcrov EV yfj Els Supav 1r6A£ws .30 ' If you want an enemy never to attack you or to do anything against you: write your name, your parents' names and the name of the archon Michael and the alphabet on [lit.] virginal paper with the blood of an unblemished white cock: bury (it) in the earth near the city-gate. '

The writing of the alphabet served other purposes as well besides warding off evil on the battlefield and warding off enemies. The alphabet is also recommended in a recipe for becoming rich and in a recipe for success in business.31 The objective of these recipes could be attained, in combination with other magical practices, by merely writing down the alphabet. In addition to these recipes, there is an amulet to be mentioned which equally clearly sup ports the view that the alphabet could have a magical significance. On the obverse of this amulet the complete Greek alphabet is engraved. The reverse has in the centre only nine successive 3 0 Anecdota Atheniensia I, 634 11. 1 3-1 7. The fact that the archangel Michael is mentioned, does not necessarily mean that this recipe is Jewish or Christian; the world of magic is a syncretistic one. Interestingly, we may have a parallel of the expression IJ.ETa Tfls a�, 'with the alphabet' , in the Babylonian Talmud. In b. Gittin 60a is referred to the dedication of a golden plaque to the temple by queen Helena of Adiabene. The plaque had the text of Num 5 : 1 1ff. engraved on it, "n':J �?�:J . In his English translation of b. Gittin, Maurice Simon interprets n':J �?�:J as expressing that only the initial letters of Num 5 : 1 l ff. were written on the plaque ( The Babylonian Talmud, Seder Nashim N [ed. I. Epstein; London: 1936] 282) . In F. Dornseiffs opinion, cryptography is at stake: every alef is replaced by beth, every beth by gimel, etc. (Das Alphabet , 71 ) . Most likely however, is that the expression n':J �?�:J is the equivalent of IJ.ETa TflS a�, 'with the alphabet' , from the magical recipes. Votive tablets with the alphabet are well-known. In b. Gittin 60a we might have a literary example of a Jewish dedication with the alphabet. The correspondence of the two expressions need not imply that queen Helena's dedication-whe ther historical or fictitious-had some magical signifi cance. Not all alphabet-inscriptions need have had a magical function . Dependant on the archaeological context and on the genre of inscription, the meaning of the alphabet may have differed. 31 Anecdota Atheniensia I, 634 11. 18 - 635, l. 1 0. "

...

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letters, including the numeral sti: a�y I 8Ec; I (TJ8; on the rim are the magical letters par excellence, namely the seven vowels UETJLOVW. 32 It is clear from those instances that in the ancient world magical value was attached to the alphabet. The question is, with regard to the alphabet-inscriptions from Jewish graves, whether Jews shared this view. It is likely that they did. In the first place, the fact that the inscriptions are Jewish does not exclude .the possibility that they were meant to be magical. During the last decades there is a growing awareness that, on the one ·hand, Judaism in the Graeco-Roman period was not an 'orthodox' self-contained monolith, and that, on the other hand, the borderline between religion and magic was a faint one.33 G. Luck states that "one cannot really understand the world of the ancient Greeks and Romans without some knowledge of what is today called 'folklore'-what used to be called, in a dero gatory sense, 'superstition ' . . . Magic and witchcraft, the fear of demons and ghosts, the wish to manipulate invisible powers-all were very much a part of life in the ancient world".34 To the �e words might immediately be added that the Jews lived in that magical world too, or even, that Jews also contributed to that magical world. Many magical papyri bear the stamp of Jewish tradition. According to ancient authors such as Juvenal, Celsus and Lucian of Samosata, Jews, among others, had a reputation for their magical practices.35 Archaeological proof for the spread of magic within Judaism has been found in some ancient Palestinian synagogues, where amulets have been discovered. At the synagogue of ancient Maon, in the north-western Negev, nineteen amulets were unearthed in the apse, which would mean that they were placed in the immediate vicinity of the 3 2 Ph. Derchain , "ln tailles magiques du Musee de Numismatique d'Athenes," Chronique d'Egypte 39 ( 1 964) 193 no. 23. 33 As for the first statement, see A. T. Kraabel, "The Roman Diaspora: Six Questionable Assumptions , " JJS 33 ( 1 982) 445-464; L. V. Rutgers, "Archaeological Evidence for the Interaction of Jews and Non:Jews in Late Antiquity, " AJA 96 ( 1 992) 1 0 1-1 1 8. As for the second: H. S. Versnel, "Some Reflections on the Relationship Magic - Religion," Numen 38 ( 1 991 ) 1 77-1 97. 34 Arcana Mundi, Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds, A Collection of Ancient Texts Translated, Annotated, and Introduced by Georg Luck (Baltimore and London: 1 985) xiii. 35 See M. Stern, Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism Qerusalem: 1974) nos. 299, 374 and 375.

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Torah shrine.3 6 In the second place, especially concerning the alphabet, we have some evidence that Jews too considered the alphabet to possess magical power. This appears from The Testa ment of Solomon, a writing from the first century CE. In chapter 1 8 of the Testament, the appearance of demons before King Solomon is described. The demons make themselves known by mention ing their name, they name their activity as well as the means by which they can be warded off. One of the demons introduces himself as follows (v. 38) : 'Eyw' P� AuTw8 KaX.ouiJ.aL. <1>86vous t'Awv Kat IJ.axas rrmw. KaTap yE1 IJ.€ 8€ TO a' Kat �· ypa61J.EVOV. 37 ' I am called Rhyx Autoth. I cause jealousies and squabbles between those who love each other. But the alphabet, written down, thwarts me' .38

There is therefore reason to accept the view that the alphabet inscriptions from the ] ewish graves were presumed to have had magical power. Less clear, however, is the objective at which the inscriptions were aimed. In the magical recipes as well as in the Testament of Salomon, the objective of writing down the alphabet is clearly indicated. In the recipes, the aim is to ward off evil, enemies, or the obtainment of some good; in the Testament of Solomon it is to ward off a demon. The magical power exerted by the alphabet is therefore related to different objectives: protection against evil (whether persons or demons) or the obtainment of prosperity. Exactly what objective the authors of the alphabets from the Jewish graves had in mind, is not easy to determine. Considering that the inscriptions do not relate directly to the deceased, as was concluded above, it is less likely that the alpha bets were written in order to bring prosperity or luck to the departed. Probably they were intended as a means of protection against any disturbance of the grave, whether by persons or by 3 6 J. Naveh, "Lamp Inscriptions . . ," IE] 38 ( 1 988) 42; J. Naveh and S. Shaked, Amulets and Magic Bowls-Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity Qerusalem 2 1 987; first edition 1985) 16. 37 Ed. C . C . McCown, The Testament of Solomon (Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, Heft 9; Leipzig: 1922) . 38 The translation is from D. C. Duling, OTP I, 981 , except for the expres sion a' Kat W. where the interpretation of L. Cozijnsen is to be preferred ( Het Testament van Salomo, Een document van joodse magie uit de eerste eeuwen van onze jaartelling [Na de Schriften 6; Kampen: 1 990] 1 2 1 ) . Duling translates literally: ' the letters Alpha and Beta ' . .

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demons. As appears from several Jewish Palestinian epitaphs, the desecration of a grave was treated as a serious danger. What seem to have been viewed as appropriate measures were taken to protect the graves from this threat. An inscription from Beth She'arim for instance states: TTUS TOAIJ.WV civv�E E' [i}]IJ.as, 11-TJ EX'J IJ.Epos Els Tov [�(ov] ci6vLO[v], 'may anyone who dares to open (the grave) upon us not have a portion in the eternal life ' . 39 Other inscriptions from Beth She'arim thre.aten an eventual desecrator with tD':l =']10, 'an evil end' .4 0 The alphabet may have fulfilled a similar function as those curses. Equally likely though is that the alphabet was meant to ward off evil spirits, because belief in the presence of demons, especially in places such as on doorsteps, crossings and ceme teries, was widespread, also among Jews.4 I It has been noted above that the number of letters may differ. The Greek alphabet-inscriptions from Beth She'arim and Jericho contain respectively nine and eight or nine successive letters; the one in Hebrew script from Khirbet 'Eitun counts twenty two. It does not seem likely, however, that the number of letters gives �s any indication about the objective . The alphabet-inscriptions collected by Dieterich and Dornseiff show that the variation in the number of letters is great, and seems to be quite random. Illuminating in this respect is the above-mentioned amulet with the complete alphabet on the one side, and the seven vowels as well as only part of the alphabet on the other. The latter includes the numeral sti, which is unlikely to have had any numerical significance here. As appears from other alphabet-inscriptions, numerals may occasionally find their place in the sequence of letters. The same also applies to the final letters in the Hebrew alphabets. The number of letters seems therefore to be irrelevant. The alphabet exerts its magical power, irrespective of the number of letters. Though the exact objective which the authors had in mind, can only be surmised, it can be concluded that Jews shared with their contemporaries the belief that the alphabet could be used as 39 Beth She'arim II no. 1 29. Read d vot �aL for d v u � E , and aL W V LOV for ci6vw[v]. 4 0 N. Avi gad, Beth She 'arim Ill: Catacombs 12-23 (New Brunswick NY: 1 976) nos. 1 and 2. 41 See J. Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition (New York: 1 939; reprinted, New York: 1970) esp. 1 76-1 79.

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an apotropaic means. It is to be noted that the Jews who made use of this magical practice need not have stood at the edge of main stream Judaism. The catacomb of the necropolis of Beth She'arim, where one of the Greek alphabet-inscriptions was found, shows the opposite. According to B. Mazar, in this catacomb Jewish motives are emphasized, and the Hebrew and Greek inscriptions from the catacomb also indicate that the families, whose mem bers were buried there, were "steeped in Jewish lore".42 Obvious ly, the modern Western distinction between religion and magic was not felt. The conclusion that Jews ascribed magical power to the alphabet, leads us to have a new look at the other Jewish alphabet-inscrip tions, i.e. those on ostraca, parchment and the one from a cave in N apal Michmas. As far as they are commented upon with regard to their function, all but one are considered to be writing exercises. The one exception is the inscription from a cave in N apal Mich mas. The cave served as a place of refuge during the first Jewish War. Because of its archaeological context, the editor J. Patrich treats the inscription as magical.43 Interpretation of the others as writing exercises has a good deal of probability, considering that ostraca are cheap and ready at hand. On the other hand, the use of ostraca in magic is attested and even recommended in several recipes.44 Therefore one could ask with J. Naveh whether "at least some of them could have a magical connotation"?45 Though virtually nothing is known about their archaeological context, there is reason to suppose that some of them do indeed have a magical connotation. On the ostracon published by E. Puech, which probably comes from Herodion, the alphabet is followed by an alphabetical list of names, all but two ending with iod-he, which is the shortened form of the name of the God of Israel.46 This might-tentatively-be compared to the alphabetical lists of names in the magical papyri, where the names have a comparable ending, namely the grecized form of Semitic "� ( -TJA) , 42 Beth She'arim I 1 37. 43 See above (p. 153-1 54) and n. 22. 44 See S. Eitrem, Papyri Osloenses 1 ( 1 925) 1 1 , 1. 1 89 and 1 3, 1. 256; J. and S. Shaked, Amulets and Magic Bowls ... , 88-89. 45 J. Naveh, "Graffiti and Dedications," BASOR 235 ( 1979) 30 n. 1 3 . 46 See above ( p . 1 54) and n. 20.

Naveh

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' God' .47 Another example is the ostracon from Herodion which has been published by Testa.48 It is notable because of its form. Before the alphabet was written down, it had been stylized into a regular round shape. This concern seems to point to more than just a potsherd for a writing exercise. A third ostracon which deserves comment is one from Murabba' at.49 On this fragment, (part of) the alphabet is followed by two or three personal names. This reminds us of the advice given in the magical recipes to write down one's rtame and the names of one 's parents together with the alphabet: Now it was concluded above, with respect to the alphabet-inscriptions from the Jewish graves, that Jews regarded the alphabet as apotropaic, just as their contemporaries did. Therefore, at least the possibility should be borne in mind -that these ostraca may have served as amulets instead of being simply material on which to exercise one's writing skills.

47 48 49

A. M. Kropp, Ausgewiihlte koptische Zaubertexte III (Bruxelles: 1 930) 1 3 1 . See above (p. 153) an d n. 2 1 . See above (p. 1 53) ; DJD I I no. 73.

THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES OF LEONTOPOLIS AND VENOSA I DAVID Nov Few Diaspora Jewish communities of the ancient world have left inscriptions in significant numbers. The city of Rome is the obvious exception, with over 500 epitaphs. The two biggest collec tions after that are 77 epitaphs and one dedication from Leonto polis (now Tell el-Yehoudieh) on the edge of the Nile Delta2 and 76 epitaphs from Venosa (ancient Venusia) in southern Italy.3 The two sites differ substantially in date as well as in location, but there are still interesting similarities and contrasts to be found between them. Further light is shed on them by comparison with other groups of contemporary non:Jewish inscriptions from the �arne areas. The evidence is not sufficient to produce a full picture of the communities, but it is the best material available for under standing some of the ideas and idiosyncracies of Diaspora Jews in and around the Roman Empire. 1 . Leontopolis The beginning and end of the history of the Jewish temple at Leontopolis are known from Josephus. There is some contra1 This paper was written as part of my work as research assistant for the Jewish Inscriptions Project at the University of Cambridge and for Dr Tessa Rajak at the University of Reading (both posts funded by the British Academy) . I am very grateful to Dr Rajak and to Dr William Horbury for their co-operation and encouragement. 2 W. Horbury & D. Noy, The jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-Roman Egypt (Cambridge: 1 992; henceforth JIGRE) nos. 29-1 05, with the addition of the inscription published by P. J. Sijpesteijn, "Inscriptions from Egypt, " Chro nique d 'Egypte 65 ( 1 990) 122-5 no. 1 , which appeared too late for inclusion but is almost certainly from the same group. 3 CIJ nos. 569-619; B. Lifshitz, revised edition of CIJ (New York: 1 975) nos. 61 9a-e. Other inscriptions have been published in a series of articles by C. Colafemmina: "Nova e vetera nella catacomba ebraica di Venosa," Studi storici (Bari: 1 974) 87-95; "Nuove iscrizioni ebraiche a Venosa, " Studi in memoria di P. Adiuto Putignani (Taranto: 1 975) 41-6; "Nuove scoperte nella catacomba ebraica di Venosa," Vetera Christianorum 15 ( 1 978) 369-381 ; "Tre iscrizioni ebraiche inedite , " Vetera Christianorum 20 ( 1 983) 443-7. A new edition of all the Jewish inscriptions of Western Europe up to AD 700 is currently being prepared by the Jewish Inscriptions Project.

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diction between his versions of the temple's foundation, but it is probable that permission to build was granted by Ptolemy VI Philometor to Onias IV in the 1 50s BC.4 Onias had failed to become High Priest at Jerusalem, and took over the derelict site of an Egyptian temple on the eastern edge of the southern part of the Nile delta. His Jewish temple was closed by Vespasian in AD 73/4. It is not certain that the· existence of the Jewish community at Leontopolis was· exactly co-terminous with the temple, since Jews could have , s � ttled there earlier (as Josephus perhaps im plies) , and would not necessarily have left immediately after the temple was closed. However, it is unlikely that they were there before the first half of the 2nd century BC, or that the community survived the revolt of AD 1 1 5-7. The site known in Arabic as Tell el-Yehoudieh was first excavated by Naville and Griffith for the Egypt Exploration Fund in the 1 880s. There were further excavations by Flinders Petrie ( 1 890s) , du Mesnil du Buisson ( 1 929) and Adam ( 1 95 1 ) .5 The main interest was in finding the site of the temple, which Naville and Flinders Petrie claimed to have done, although their inter pretation of the remains they found has been regarded by some as rather imaginative. Du Mesnil du Buisson ( "Le temple d'Onias" 64) referred to the so-called remains of the temple as "Mr Petrie's miserable building", and Petrie 's understanding of the site seems to have been influenced more by Josephus's description than by the archaeological remains which were actually found. However, the identification of the settlement as Leontopolis has been univer sally accepted. Tell el-Yehoudieh matches the geographical de tails given by Josephus. There was a temple of Bast there, which also matches what Josephus says. The tombstones show a high proportion of biblical or Hebrew-derived names (including many 4 Josephus, ]. W 7 §426-436; Ant. 12 §387-8, 13 §62-73. The evidence about the foundation is discussed by M. Delcor, "Le temple d' Onias en Egypte," RB 75 (1 968) 1 88-205. 5 E. Naville, "The Mound of the Jew and the City of Onias," Egyp t Exploration Fund, 7th Memoir (extra volume for 1888-9, London: 1 890) 3-30; F. Ll . Griffith, "The Antiquities of Tell el-Yahoudieh, " ibid. 33-76; W. M. Flinders Petrie, Hyksos and Israelite Cities (London: 1 906) ; R. du Mesnil du Buisson, "Compte rendue sommaire d'une mission a Tell el-Yahoudiye ," BIFAO 29 ( 1 929) 1 55-1 77; R. du Mesnil du Buisson, "Le temple d'Onias et le camp Hyksos a Tell el Yahoudiye," BIFAO 35 ( 1 935) 59-7 1 ; S. Adam, "Recent Discoveries in the Eastern Delta, " Annales du Seroice des Antiquites de l 'Egypte 55 (1958) 301-324.

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variations of "Sabbath") , completely unparallelled anywhere else in Egypt, and one of the epitaphs (JIGRE no. 38) says that the dead woman was raised in "the land of Onias". The tombstones which Naville found came from what he regarded as a late Ptolemaic or early Roman necropolis: it was an area of tombs cut in the rock on the fringe of the desert. 6 Much damage had already been done to it by people looking for lime stone and (presumably) grave-goods. The standard form of tomb was a slope or a flight of three or four steps down to a doorway sealed with a limestone slab, leading to an excavated chamber with a number of horizontal niches (loculi) for bodies cut into the walls. The bodies were placed with a brick under the head. Some tombs contained stelae with inscriptions which Naville published. Presumably they were fixed to the walls by the openings of the loculi, but this is not usually made clear in the reports. In one case two names were painted on plaster on the wall. Most of the stelae eventually found their way to the Cairo and Alexandria Museums. There is also a substantial collection in the National Museum at Warsaw, but it is unclear how these stones were originally acquired.7 Naville removed the stelae he found, but he did not publish an adequate plan of the necropolis or any systematic record of where in it they came from. It is therefore impossible to put any of them in context, or to establish any connection between people buried near to each other. Du Mesnil du Buisson ( 1 929) recorded having found further grave stelae in the necropolis, but only published one. A number of other stelae were bought by the Egyptian Antiquities Service in nearby villages. Their form and in some cases content support the attribution to Leontopolis which is suggested by their proximity. A few more stones which have appeared on the Egyptian antiquities market can be attributed to Leontopolis with reasonable confi dence because they contain Jewish names and have the other main characteristics of the site. 6 A. Kasher, The jews in Hellenistic and Roman Eg;ypt (Tiibingen: 1 985) 1 1 91 35, discusses the site but claims to be able to distinguish between Ptolemaic and Roman tombs in a way which the excavators even at their most optimis tic did not attempt. 7 Before being moved to Warsaw they were in the archaeological collec tion assembled by W. Weissbrodt at the Lyceum Hosianum in Braunsberg, East Prussia (now Braniewo) ; see further JIGRE no. 59.

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The commonest form of stele at Leontopolis was a rectangular piece of limestone into which was carved a field for the inscrip tion . A raised frame was left around the field, with a carved decoration in the shape of a pediment (sometimes with acroteria) above it. There was usually no other ornamentation. This type of tombstone is not unique to Leontopolis, but is unusual elsewhere in Egypt; it is, however, similar to the shape of the frames carved into the rock-face for many Jewish epitaphs in Cyrenaica. There is a small collection of nine Jewish tombstones (JIGRE nos. 1061 14) from Demerdash, further south on the fringes of Heliopolis, and the standard form there was rather different, without the pediment. Most of the inscriptions from Leontopolis have a date including a regnal year. In some cases this is explicitly from the reign of Augustus, but usually it is merely in the form "Year 1 1 ". Many scholars have attributed the whole necropolis to the time of Augustus, but without satisfactory grounds. People must have been buried at Leontopolis over a period of at least two centuries. One inscription recording three deaths (JIGRE no. 96) seems to come from 58/57 BC, and another from the "54th year" (no. 30) has to be attributed to 1 1 7 BC in the reign of Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II (unless it is using the Actian era rather than a regnal year) . If the unidentified regnal years were really mainly Augustan, they ought to be distributed across the range of Year 1 to Year 44. In fact, 26 or 27 come from Years 1-1 1 , 12 from Years 1 2-22, 1 1 from Years 23-33 and 3 from Years 34-44. This suggests strongly that a number of shorter reigns than Augustus's are included. If it was known which part of the necropolis the stones with clearly Augustan dates came from, there would be some chance of esta blishing a relative chronology, but the lack of adequate records rules this out. The epitaphs with firm dates do not show any development in letter-forms or formulae which would help to date the others, and some stones whose (Augustan) dates are only two or three years apart use completely different letter-forms. The language of the community, at least for the purposes of writing, was Greek. Many people had biblical or Hebrew names, often in a hellenized form, and others had Greek theophoric names like Dositheus and Theodosius, but there is no convincing evidence from the inscriptions that anyone at Leontopolis knew Aramaic or Hebrew. Nor did they use any Jewish symbols: there

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is no sign of a menorah or lulab on any of the stones. The one possible indication of the use of Hebrew is that Lanzoni, an early investigator of the site, claimed to have found a Hebrew inscrip tion on part of a column, but it was lost when his boat capsized, and no copy had been made. Sayee discovered a fragment of stone covered with stucco with two letters scratched on it which he thought were old Hebrew characters, but the published fac simile shows that the "letters" could just as well be the remains of a decoration, or accidental marks.s Josephus implies that the settlement originally had a military or partly military character which it retained until at least the time of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. Some Mishnaic references seem to indicate that the temple was not actively opposed by the authorities at Jerusalem, but neither was it recognized as a sub stitute for the Jerusalem Temple.9 Apart from this, knowledge of how the community was made up and organised is limited entirely to what can be deduced from the inscriptions. Most of the epitaphs amount to no more than the name of the deceased per son, patronymic, age, date, and a few laudatory epithets. Twelve of them are in verse, and some of these are rather more informa tive about the social position of the deceased or about the commu nity. The style of the prose epitaphs and the tendency to use verse quite frequently (or at least to try to use it) are both characteristic of late Ptolemaic and early Roman Egypt in general. The inhabitants of Leontopolis are addressed as "citizens" or "fellow-townsmen" ( asteoi in contrast to xenoi, JIGRE no. 36) and the city is described as polis (no. 39) . Demas, aged 38, who "helped many people by his wisdom" (no. 30) may have been a councillor, but could also have been a doctor or scribe. Abramos, aged 53 (no. 39) "was crowned in his wisdom with a communal magistracy ( arche) over all the people" and was "honoured by holding a city magistracy (politarchon) in two places, fulfilling the double expense with gracious liberality". All these references come from verse epitaphs, where considerations of metre are 8 T. Hayter Lewis, "Tel-el-Yahoudeh (The Mound of the Jew) , " Trans actions of the Society of Biblical Archeology 7 ( 1 881 ) 1 77-1 92; G. J. Chester, "A Journey to the Biblical Sites in Lower Egypt, etc.," PEFQS ( 1 880) 1 36-8. 9 Josephus, Ant. 14 § 1 3 1 . On the Mishnaic sources, see Delcor, "Le temple d' Onias" 202-3; R. Hayward, "The Jewish temple at Leontopolis: a reconside ration," JJS 33 ( 1 982) 429.

THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES OF LEONTOPOLIS AND VENOSA 167

probably more important than accurate terminology, and do not really indicate more than that the community identified itself as a city and had some sort of civic magistracy which was expensive for its holders. 10 Abramos's other magistracy may have been held in a nearby Jewish settlement, but could have been further afield and need not have been in a purely Jewish community. A very fragmentary epitaph (no. 44) designates someone as pater, which might be an office rather than a relationship . There is no reference to the t� mple, although a fragmentary inscription (no. I 05) which appears to be a dedication to Theos Hypsistos might have come from there. One woman is described as hierisa (no. 84) which should probably be translated as "of priestly descent", although Brooten's alternative explanation that she could hc:tVe had a function in the temple is just conceivable. I 1 Many of the inhabitants of Leontopolis had Hebrew o r biblical names or were the children of people with such names. Others had Greek names which were popular among Jews, e.g. Aristo boulos (no. 45) , Eirene (no. 67) . However, a proportion of the stones contain only Greek names with no particular Jewish connections, e.g. Hilarion daughter of Philip (no. 70) . If this came from Alexandria, there would be no suggestion that it was Jewish. However, at Leontopolis it is clear that Greek and Hebrew names were used in the same family, e.g. Machaon son of Sabbataios (no. 40) , Jesus son of Phameis (no. 34) . If people with purely Greek names were buried in the same way and in the same cemetery as obvious Jews, they evidently did not wish to be distinguished from Jews. The likelihood is that they were Jews themselves: there was a non:Jewish cemetery from Pharaonic times at the site, and if there was a later non:Jewish population, it would probably have had its own cemetery. Most of the people recorded in the epitaphs have a patronymic, so it is possible to see if naming practices indicate either growing or declining hellenization . Apart from Greek and Hebrew derived names, there are a few Egyptian and Latin ones. In most cases, fathers with Greek names had children with Greek names 10 The attempt of Kasher, Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt 1 2 3-7, to reconstruct some of the civic organization from this evidence, partly follow in� L. Robert, Hellenica vol. l ( 1940) 1 8-24, seems to press the material too far. 1 B. J. Brooten, Women Leaders in the Ancient Synagogue (Atlanta: 1 982) 7395.

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( 1 5) and fathers with Hebrew names had children with Hebrew names ( 1 2) . 6 fathers with Greek names had children with Hebrew names, and 5 fathers with Hebrew names had children with Greek names (2 more had children with Latin names, and 1 father with a Latin name had a child with a Hebrew name) . Of 6 fathers with Egyptian names, 1 had a child with an Egyptian name, 2 had children with Greek names and 3 had children with Hebrew names. The figures do not show any real trend towards either the hellenization or hebraization of names; they do however show a clear trend away from Egyptian names. The high proportion of metrical epitaphs at Leontopolis ( 1 2 out of 77) is quite striking. They range from poorly executed collec tions of standard metrical phrases to some highly literate compo sitions, including one in Doric dialect. Some inhabitants of the city composed, or had access to others who could compose, elaborate epigrams with Homeric vocabulary and mythological allusions. They were willing to accept epitaphs beginning with stock phrases like "Look on my gravestone, passer-by" for stones which apparently could only be seen by someone who went down a flight of steps into an underground chamber, so it seems that the appropriateness of the epitaph to the Leontopolis context was not always a priority. A number of the sentiments they express can be given a Jewish interpretation, like "My soul has flown to the holy ones" (JIGRE no. 33. 1 0) , but only one contains anything more than a name which might be regarded as dis tinctively Jewish (no. 36) : Fellow-townsmen and strangers, all weep for Rachelis, chaste, friend to all, about thirty years old. Do not mourn me in vain , [?uttering] empty [?groans] . I f i t was decreed that I should live but a short time, yet I look for a good hope of mercy.

The first two sentences are standard metrical phrases. The last sentence is in very faulty metre (if it is metrical at all) , and presumably indicates a special composition in biblical language to suit the views of Rachelis's pious relatives. Metrical epitaphs are common in Egypt but unusual among Jews elsewhere: apart from the twelve from Leontopolis, there is another Jewish one from Demerdash (JIGRE no. 1 1 4) , one from Schedia (no. 23, Jewishness questionable) and a probably Egyp tian:Jewish one from Rome (no. 141 ) . E. Bernand's collection of

THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES OF LEONTOPOLIS AND VENOSA 169

all the metrical epitaphs from Egypt contains over 200, mostly pagan but with a few Christian as well as the Jewish ones.l2 There are only four other Jewish metrical epitaphs known: two from Beth She'arim and one each from Thessaly and Rome. 1 3 This is one of the best indications of how the Leontopolis epitaphs are more "Egyptian" than 'Jewish". Most of the prose epitaphs give little information when looked at individually. They produce the occasional oddity, like the married man aged 'eighteen (JIGRE no. 78) and the three-year-old who was probably' murdered (no. 93) . It is rare for the commemo rator to be named, and only one epitaph (no. 98) gives the deceased man's place of origin - unfortunately the place-name, Teberkythis, is otherwise unknown . The favourite formula'- was ' chreste chaire ( "excellent one, farewell") , and that was equ ally popular among non:Jews in Egypt. The other commonest epithets are aoros ( "untimely dead") for people aged up to 35 (also in general Egyptian use) and pasiphilos ( "friend of all") , which was very unusual elsewhere. Alypos ( "having done no harm") , atekn,os ("childless", used rather strangely for people of 1 9 and 20) and mikros ("little", used for people aged up to 35) were also popular: the first two were used elsewhere in Egypt, but mikros was not. 1 4 Philoteknos ( "loving his/her children") was very popular at Terenuthis, but occurs only once at Leontopolis. The epithets cannot be used as evidence that the Jews loved their friends more and their children less than other Egyptians, but they show how, for reasons which are now irrecoverable, local preferences could develop within a standard range of ways of describing the deceased. Four Leontopolis epitaphs record a woman' s death in childbirth, which is seldom mentioned elsewhere in Egypt. It is possible to use the Leontopolis epitaphs for rudimentary statistics, and to compare them with the only larger collections of Egyptian gravestones, from Terenuthis (modern Kom-Abu-Billou, 2nd-3rd century AD) and Akoris (modern Tehneh, Roman and 12 13

E. Bernand, Inscriptions metriques de l'Egypte greco-romaine (Paris: 1 969) . M . Schwabe & B . Lifshitz, Beth She 'arim II: the Greek Inscriptions Qerusalem: 1 974) nos. 1 27, 1 83; CIJ nos. 70 1 , 476. [See the appendix to van der Horst's contribution in this volume.] 1 4 The use of epithets at various Egyptian sites is examined by B. Boyaval, "Quelques remarques sur les epithetes funeraires grecques d' Egypte , " Zeitschrift fur Papyrolog;ie und Epigraphik 23 ( 1 976) 225-230.

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Christian period) . This was done by Boyaval, 1 5 but the corpus of Leontopolis inscriptions is now rather larger than the one he worked with. These groups can also be compared with the Jewish epitaphs of Cyrenaica, which come mainly from one site (Teu cheira) and can be dated in a majority of cases to the 1 st century AD . 16 Of the people commemorated at Leontopolis, about 40% are women. This proportion holds for all age-groups, and is much the same as at the other Egyptian sites, in Cyrenaica and among Jewish epitaphs in general. 1 7 Most of the Leontopolis deceased have their age recorded, a practice which seems to have been commoner in Egypt than anywhere else in the Graeco-Roman world. There is evidence for a tendency to round off ages to numbers ending in 0 or 5, which is also found at the other sites. 1 8 A large majority of the Leontopolis epitaphs prefix the age with the word hos, which is usually translated as "about". It does not seem to be associated with age-rounding, however, and probably means only that the dead person lived some months more (or less) than the age given in years. Only 25% of epitaphs at Tere nuthis and 4% at Akoris use hos; it does not occur among the Jews in Cyrenaica.

1 5 B . Boyaval, "�emarques sur les indications d ' ages de l ' epigraphie funeraire grecque d'Egypte," Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik 21 ( 1976) 2 1 7-241 . 16 The inscriptions are collected by G . Liideritz & J . M . Reynolds, Corpus jildischer Zeugnisse aus der Cyrenaika (Wiesbaden: 1983) . 1 7 P. W. van der Horst, Ancient jewish Epitaphs (Kampen: 1 99 1 ) 1 02; he notes that in general women are commemorated more often among Jews than among pagans. 1 8 According to R. Duncan:Jones, "Age-rounding in Egypt," Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik 33 ( 1979) 1 69-1 77, the tendency is less marked in Egypt than elsewhere in the Roman Empire.

THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES OF LEONTOPOLIS AND VENOSA 171

50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

Table 1: Ages at Death 42

41

49

• Leontopolis

C Terenuthis II Akoris

39

E:J Cyrenaica

31 23

0-9

1 0-19

20-29

30-39

40-49

50-50

21

60 +

no age

recorded

The table shows the relative frequency of various ages at death at the three Egyptian sites and among the Jews of Cyrenaica. At Leontopolis, as at Akoris, the age-group recorded most often is 2029; at Terenuthis and in Cyrenaica it is 0-9. This has nothing to do with the ages at which people actually died, as it is clear that anywhere in the ancient world a mortality table would show deaths at 0-9 far outnumbering any other age-group. 19 Leontopolis is not unusual in the under-representation of children, but it differs markedly from the other sites in the lack of epitaphs for people aged 50 or more. Perhaps older people at Leontopolis were more likely to be recorded without an age, or perhaps they were more likely not to be recorded at all. The clearest conclusion to be drawn from the Leontopolis epitaphs is that, at least in their practices of commemorating the dead, the people of the city were Ptolemaic or Roman Egyptians first and Jews second. Many of them kept to Hebrew names, and in a few cases Hebrew names were introduced to families which had previously used Greek or Egyptian ones. At the same time they followed standard non:J ewish commemoration practices. Each major collection of Egyptian epitaphs has its own peculia rities. At Leontopoli s, the main ones are the shape of the stelae l9

Cf. van der Horst, Epitaphs 73-84.

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used, the fondness for the epithets pasiphilos and mikros and of the word hos before an age, the tendency to mention death in child birth, and the lack of records of people aged over 50. There is no obvious 'Jewish" explanation for any of these phenomena, and (with the exception of the last one; see below) they are not parallelled among Jews elsewhere. 2 . Venosa The Roman colony of Venusia stood on the Appian Way at the boundary of Lucania and Apulia. Its modern equivalent, Venosa, is at the northern edge of the province of Basilicata. The Roman city's main claim to fame is as the birthplace of Horace . There have been some imaginative attempts to find Jewish influences on Horace, but the only real literary evidence for Jews at Venosa comes from the Hebrew Chronicle of Ahimaaz and refers to the 9th century. Jews in other parts of southern Italy are mentioned in 6th century literature, e.g. Procopius' history of the wars between the Byzantines and Goths, and the letters of Pope Gregory the Great. There is also an intriguing legal text from the emperors Arcadius and Honorius, dated to 398 ( Codex Theodosianus 1 2 . 1 . 1 58) : We have found out that throughout Apulia and Calabria many of the governing classes of the cities are in confusion because they are of the Jewish superstition and think that by a law which has been passed in the East they are defended from having to under take municipal duties.

The emperors point out that there is no such exemption in the West. The significance of this for Venosa is indicated below. The catacombs on the Maddalena hill just outside Venosa were first brought to the attention of the scholarly world in 1 853. Two separate investigations were made, one on behalf of the Naples Museum and one by two local notables who had a detailed plan drawn up. Thanks to them, Venosa is a much better recorded site than Leontopolis. A number of roughly parallel galleries were discovered cut into the tufa of the hill, some with interconnecting passages. The best preserved gallery has most of its burials in arched recesses cut into the walls (arcosolia) , in which the graves were dug into the floor. Some go far enough into the wall to make room for ten or more graves; in one or two cases the arcosolium was extended until it accidentally joined up with another gallery.

THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES OF LEONTOPOLIS AND VENOSA 173

There are also burials in loculi, as at Leontopolis but cut into the wall of an arcosolium or of the gallery itself. The Venosa loculi sometimes occupy an entire stretch of wall from floor to ceiling. The floors of some of the galleries are lined with graves, pre sumably dug when all other space was used up. The inscriptions were written either on tiles which were used to seal the graves or on the wall or arched ceiling above the graves. Copies of. many were made in the 1 850s, but they remained unpublished until 1 878, when Ascoli reported to the IV Congresso Intemazionale di Orientalisti, and then published his own monograph. 20 Ascoli's publication was the basis of most subse quent studies of the catacombs, although a number of other dis tinguished scholars visited the site. The texts which were -pub lished by Frey in CIJ were based on the copies made in the 1 850s, and on another anonymous manuscript which appears to have been drawn up at the same time and later came into the hands of the great Christian archaeologist de Rossi. Since Frey's work a number of other scholars have re examined the inscriptions to produce improved readings. C � la femmina discovered a number of texts overlooked by the 1 9th century investigators, and in 1 974 he found a new gallery with the first dated inscription, from the year 521 .21 In the same gallery he discovered the first surviving painted tomb: a frescoed arcoso lium decorated with the full range of Jewish symbols (menorah, ethrog, lulab, shofar, amphora) in gold and blue. The state of many of the inscriptions has deteriorated conside rably since the 1 9th century. They were all painted or scratched on plaster, which has in some cases fallen from the wall or be come damp; incursions by humans and livestock have done fur ther damage; and landslides and earthquakes, which had already blocked a number of galleries in the 1 850s, have continued to make parts of the catacombs inaccessible, including the gallery discovered in 1974. However, substantial restoration work is now being undertaken. 22 A small, apparently separate hypogeum came to light in the 1930s, but has also been made inaccessible by 20 21 22

G. I. Ascoli, Iscrizioni inedite o mal note (Florence: 1 880) . Colafemmina, "Nova e vetera" 88-9. I am very grateful to Dr Antonio Capano and his colleagues of the Soprintendenza Archeologica for their co-operation and kindness when I visited Venosa in September 1992.

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landslides. Excavations in 1 98 1 found a whole new level of catacombs beneath the known ones, but completely devoid of inscriptions. Christian catacombs have been found too, within a few metres of the Jewish ones, and there is a Christian inscription dated to 503. 23 The dating of the Jewish catacombs at Venosa has been much discussed, and the general consensus of 5th-6th century was sup ported by the discovery of the inscription of 521 . Paleography is of limited help at Venosa because almost all other southern Italian inscriptions of a similar period are inscribed on marble or lime stone, whereas the Venosan inscriptions are painted or scratched on plaster in characters which are often of a considerably more "cursive" nature. The inscription of 521 seems to be one of the latest, and to be roughly contemporary (judging by formulae and letter-forms) with the latest epitaphs from the main gallery. The latest inscription there is probably from the middle of the 6th century, although the burials in the floors of the galleries are presumably later. The earliest inscriptions from the main cata comb are likely to be from the late 4th or early 5th century, but they are some way from the entrance and are probably con siderably later than the first use of the catacomb. The separate hypogeum, where the inscriptions were on marble, is probably 5th-century but could be slightly earlier. The dating suggested above would make the inscriptions of Venosa contemporary with two smaller collections of Latin Chris tian inscriptions: one from Aeclanum to the west, which runs from 399 to 546 by consular dates, and one from Tropea to the south, which runs from (probably) the mid-5th century to 535. 2 4 The area of Venosa suffered heavily in the fighting between the Goths and Byzantines in the 540s and early 550s, and if the Jews of Venosa supported the Goths as the Jews of Naples did, they were probably in some trouble after the Byzantine victory in 553. It seems likely that there are no inscriptions after that date. There are many Hebrew epitaphs from the early 9th century, but there 2 3 L. Levi, "Le iscrizioni della catacomba nuova di Venosa," Rassegna Men site di Israel 3 1 ( 1 965) 356-64; E. M. Meyers, "Report on the Excavations at the Venosa Catacombs, 1 98 1 , " Vetera Christianorum 20 ( 1 983) 445-460; C. Cola femmina, Apulia cristiana. Venosa (Bari: 1 973) 56; C. Colafemmina, "Scoperte archeologiche in Venosa paleocristiana," Vetera Christianorum 13 ( 1 976) 26-8. 24 Aeclanum: GIL 9 . 1 363-1397. Tropea: M. Buonocore, Inscriptiones Christia nae Italiae 5 . 1 0-35.

THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES OF LEONTOPOLIS AND VENOSA 175

is apparently a gap of more than two centuries. It may be that the burials of the intervening period have not yet been discovered, or that the Jewish community of Venosa was temporarily displaced, but it is more likely that the remaining spaces in the floors of the catacombs were being used up by people who were no longer able to leave inscriptions. At Leontopolis the inscriptions were all in Greek, but at Venosa the catacombs were .in use at a time of linguistic change or at least confusion. Adjacerlt inscriptions can be in Greek and Hebrew, Latin and Hebrew, or all three languages. All the 1st-2nd century pagan inscriptions of Venosa are in Latin, but there is a pair of inscriptions probably from the early 3rd century in which the same dedicant honoured Mithras in Greek and Mercury in Latin . 2 5 Greek was certainly still being used (at least occasiona1ly) in epitaphs from predominantly Latin-speaking parts of southern Italy up to the time of the Byzantine conquest. 26 The layout of the Venosa catacombs makes it appear that the Latin inscriptions are generally later than the Greek ones, ar;t d several Greek epitaphs seem to have been written by people who were thinking in Latin, with Latin case-endings for Greek words and sometimes with Latin words transliterated into the Greek alphabet. The early users of the catacombs were apparently Greek speakers, but they were not necessarily newcomers to southern Italy. Latin eventually replaced Greek as the language of com memoration, perhaps some time after it became the everyday language. There are four epitaphs which record the successive generations of a family: the first uses Greek and Hebrew, the second Hebrew, the third and fourth Latin and Hebrew ( CIJ nos. 599, 27 569, 613, 61 1 ) . Hebrew i s scattered throughout the catacombs, usually as "shalom" formulae attached to Greek or Latin inscriptions. It must have been a conscious decision to write shalom rather than eirene or pax, words which had probably acquired Christian associations. Every arcosolium with at least two inscriptions has some Hebrew, but there is only one surviving inscription of any length which is in Hebrew alone (no. 569; it may have been accompanied by a 25 /nscriptiones Graecae 1 4.688; Colafemmina, Apulia cristiana 1 2 . 26 /ncriptiones Christianae ltaliae 5 . 1 , from Reggio d i Calabria, dated t o 530. 2 7 No. 612 in Latin probably refers to the same man.

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D. NOY

Latin text which is now lost) , and one in Greek written in Hebrew characters (no. 595) . The collection of dated 9th-century tombstones from Venosa is entirely in Hebrew, and commemorates people with mainly Hebrew names. The catacombs, however, show no real increase in the use of Hebrew over time. This is to some extent confirmed by naming practices. Latin names occur in 35 inscriptions, Hebrew names in 18 and Greek names in 9 (leaving out dubious cases) . Many of the inscriptions provide the names of parents, and some mention grandparents and even great-grandparents. Where parents and children are both named, there are 12 cases of parents and children both with Latin names and 2 of both with Hebrew names. 7 parents with Latin names have children with Hebrew names, and 8 parents with Hebrew names have children with Latin names. There are at least 3 married couples where one spouse has a Hebrew name and the other has a Latin one. It looks as if the exclusive use of the Hebrew language and the predomi nantly Hebrew naming system of the 9th century are something new, not a continuation of any 6th-century development. The gender division of the Venosa epitaphs corresponds exact ly to Leontopolis: 40% of those commemorated are women. The same division applies at Aeclanum; at Tropea women account for 50 % , but the total number of inscriptions is smaller. The Chris tians at Aeclanum and Tropea made considerable use of symbols: crosses and chi-rhos. The Jews of Venosa had the menoral?- as their standard symbol, although even that is less common than the Christian symbols: it occurs in about one-third of the inscrip tions. Apart from the painted tomb, which has every available symbol, there are three lulabs, two shofars and one possible ethrog. Like the Hebrew, the symbols are scattered throughout the catacombs, and do not appear to become more or less common over time. One notable difference between Venosa and the Christian sites is in the use of dates. As stated above, only one inscription from Venosa has a date. That may be the result of an external influence, because the woman commemorated, Augusta the wife of Bonus, is the daughter of a man from Anchiasmon (modern Saranda in southern Albania) , and granddaughter of a man from Lypiae (modern Leece, in the south-east corner of Italy) . She is the only person of explicitly non-Venosan ancestry, although it is

THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES OF LEONTOPOLIS AND VENOSA 1 77

very likely that other leading Jews of Venosa would have inter married with their equivalents elsewhere in southern Italy or even further afield. Whereas the Jews of Venosa apparently took no interest in recording the day, month or year, the Christians of Aeclanum were careful to mention all three, using the traditional Roman system, and at Tropea, although the year was rarely men tioned, the day and month usually were, again by the Roman system .

35

31

30

Table 2: Ages at Death

25

m Venosa [J Tropea & Aeclanum

20 15 10 5 0

0-9

10-19

20-29

30-39

40-49

50-50

60 +

no age

recorded

Perhaps connected with the lack of interest in the date at Venosa is a low level of interest in the deceased's age , as shown in the table.28 Fewer than half the inscriptions mention an age, although there may be some cases where it has been lost at the end of a badly preserved inscription. When an age is given, it is most like ly to be for a young child. Three children under one year old are commemorated, something which does not happen at Leontopolis or in Cyrenaica. There are occasional attempts at greater accuracy 28 In the Venosa diagram, four people described only as "child" have been included in the 0-9 age-group. The figures for Tropea and Aeclanum have been combined because of the relatively small numbers involved. The representation of the different age-groups is very similar at the two sites, except that Tropea ( 1 2 out of 26) has relatively more ages of 50 or more than Aeclanum ( 1 1 out of 37) . For Venosa, the numerous inscriptions which consist of only an isolated "shalOm" or a few unintelligible letters have been omitted from the "no age recorded" total.

1 78

D. NOY

than just an age in years: there are epitaphs for people aged 1 4 years 5 months and 2 0 years 3 months. As people grew older, vagueness increased. Only five people over 44 have ages given: one is 50, two are 60, one is 70 and one is 8 0 . There was clearly a considerable amount of guesswork. The contrast with Aeclanum and Tropea is striking. At both Christian sites, almost every epitaph gives an age, and it appears that chances of being commemorated increased rather than decreased with age. Despite the interest in dates, guesswork was still prevalent: virtually everyone over 40 has an age ending in 0 or 5. It is clear that at least in southern Italy Jews were more likely than others to commemorate the very young, and it also becomes apparent that in both southern Italy and Egypt they were less likely to commemorate the old. 29 At Venosa, epithets were almost never used to describe the deceased. Epithets are less rare at the Christian sites: dulcissimus occurs four times at Aeclanum and fidelis ten times at Tropea. Commemorators are also named very seldom in the Venosan inscriptions ( explicitly only in CII no. 61 1 ) but slightly more often among the Christians. The formulae used at Venosa mainly concern the deceased "resting" in the grave: hie requiescit, hie pausat, in Greek hode keitai. At Aeclanum, there was a preference for hie requiescit in somno pacis, and at Tropea recessit in pace. The formulae from Venosa were common elsewhere among Jews and Christians, but a number of Greek epitaphs at Venosa begin with taphos ( "tomb") , followed by the deceased's name in the genitive or nominative . This expression is very unusual any where else, and seems be concentrated in the earlier Venosan inscriptions. 3 0 The epitaphs show that the Jews of Venosa had a considerable variety of titles. There are four archisynagogoi in three epitaphs: a father and son both named Joseph, a man of 50 and a child of 3 ( CIJ nos. 584, 596, 587) . They come from three different arcosolia, and there is no indication of any family connection between them. One man in a Greek epitaph has the title of dia biou ("officer 29 30

Cf. van der Horst, Epitaphs 8 1 . G . P. Bognetti, "Les inscriptions juives d e Venosa et l a probleme des rapports entre les Lombards et l'Orient," CRAIBL ( 1 954) 1 95, argued that it was a sign of Egyptian influence, but could produce only two examples of the expression being used in Egypt.

THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES OF LEONTOPOLIS AND VENOSA 179

for life"; no. 575) , and this may occur in two other places where the reading is doubtful. There are two gerusiarchs, one in Greek and one (the father of the deceased) in Latin (nos. 600, 613) . There is also one didaskalos, mentioned as a father (no. 594) . The man whose Greek epitaph is written in Hebrew characters, the 80-year-old Secundinus, is described as a presbyter (no. 595) . Three women are described as presbytera: one aged 38 and two with no age (nos. 590, 581 , 597) . Two of them are in almost adja cent graves, and 'may well be from the same extended family. There is also a Christian presbytera from Tropea, and in 494 Pope Gelasius complained about women being allowed to "minister at the sacred altars" in southern Italy.31 A habit of giving places of honour to women seems to have been shared by Christian's and ]ews in the area. The commonest title at Venosa is pater. It is mentioned four times in Greek and five times in Latin (some of these inscriptions refer to the same person) . It sometimes ran in families: the presbytera Mannine (no. 590) had a father and grandfather who were both entitled pater, and the pater Faustinus was the son of a gerusiarch and grandson of a pater (no. 613) . Three Latin inscrip tions use the abbreviation PP (nos. 607, 610, 614) . There was much debate about the meaning of this until the discovery of the separate hypogeum produced the Greek epitaph of a pater pateron (no. 619b) . This title is known mainly from the cult of Mithras, but according to the Letter of Severus which describes the con version of the Jews of Minorca to Christianity in 418 (PL 20.731 ) , the leading Jew of the island was "the teacher of the law and, if I may use their own word, pater patrum". It is fairly certain that the Latin PP stands for pater patrum, and designates someone who, for a limited period or for life, was ranked above the ordinary patres. One pater had a wife who is described in Greek as meter (no. 61 9d) , which might be her title as his wife or something she held in her own right. A woman named Alexandra, who has no male relative mentioned, is called pateressa ( "fatheress"; no. 606) . This word could surely have been coined only by someone deter mined not to use mater/ meter, and seems to imply a woman who in her own right was equated with the patres. ··

3l See the discussion by G. Otranto, "Note sul sacerdozio femminile nell' antichita," Vetera Christianorum 19 ( 1 982) 341-60.

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The epitaphs show that titles proliferated at Venosa, but they do not show how they were acquired or what responsibilities (if any) went with them. The titles do not necessarily indicate a rigidly hierarchical organization for the community; they may demon strate only how the community honoured its most important members. The recurrence of titles within families may show not that the titles were hereditary but that the positions of influence (presumably accompanied by wealth and benefaction to the com munity) which the titles recognized tended to concentrate in a few families. 3 2 The inscription which appears from its position to be the latest (no. 614) commemorates a husband and wife, Gesua and Agnella, who each had a grandfather described as pater patrum; Gesua and Agnella and their parents had no titles. This may indicate that the communal structures which produced the titles had broken down by the mid-6th century, a predictable consequence of the wars of that time. The best-known epitaph from Venosa (no. 61 1 ) illustrates the concentration of titles within a family, and represents the fullest development of the fondness for lists of ancestors which many of the epitaphs show. The length of the genealogical list seems to be unparallelled anywhere in Italy at this period, and it includes maternal as well as paternal ancestors. The text is bilingual, and reads: Latin: "Here rests Faustina, daughter of Faustinus the pater, aged 1 4 years 5 months. She was her parents' only child. Two apostles and two rabbis spoke the dirges for her, and she made great enough grief for her parents and tears for the community. " Hebrew: "Resting-place of Faustina. May her soul rest! Peace. " Latin: "She was the great-granddaughter of Faustinus the pater, granddaughter of Bitus and Asellus who were leaders of the community. "

The epitaphs of a number of Faustina's relatives can be identified in the same arcosolium and the adjacent one. The "apostles" provide further evidence of links between Venosa and the wider Jewish world. The inscription is too late for them to be emissaries of the Patriarch, but they may well have come from other communities in Palestine, perhaps (as has been suggested) the 3 2 The significance of Jewish titles is discussed in a forthcoming paper: T. Raj ak & D. Noy, "Archisynagogoi: Office, Title and Social Status in the Greco:Jewish Synagogue", Journal of Roman Studies ( 1 993) .

THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES OF LEONTOPOLIS AND VENOSA 181

academy of Tiberias. Legislation of 429 (after the abolition of the Patriarchate) had prohibited the Iudaeorum primates of Palestine from collecting money in other provinces, but it is unlikely to have been enforced in Gothic Italy.33 On the boundaries of the Jewish community are a man who seems to be described as a proselyte and another described as teuseves ( CIJ nos. 576, 619a) : that would be the transcription, according to normCJ.l Venosan practice, of theosebes, "godfearer", the term best attested at Aphrodisias. He is buried in the same hypogeum as pe b ple with Jewish titles, although in a different part of it. Several Venosan Jews also had a role outside the Jewish com munity. Another Faustinus, who secured the burial place af the end of the main gallery for himself and his wife and son, was both gerusiarch and archiatros, "chief doctor" (no. 600) . This title could apply to someone who worked at the imperial court or to a doctor employed by a city; it is extremely unlikely that he would acquire it by working only for the Jews of Venosa. Faustina in n,o . 61 1 caused "tears for the community" by her death. Her grand fathers were both maiores civitatis, leaders of the community, which seems to be an indication of general honour rather than a specific office. The community in question must be the city of Venosa and not just the Jewish community, because civitas was the standard Latin word for "city" or "municipality" at this time. In the dated inscription, Augusta's husband Bonus has the title vir laudabilis, a distinguishing mark of the holders of municipal offices. Greek epitaphs mention two men described as patron tes poleos, "patron of the city" (nos. 61 9b-c) . This was originally a title bestowed on provincial governors or members of the imperial family who protected a city's interests, but came increasingly to be given to the most important residents of the city. Nothing is known about the members of the ruling class at Venosa in the 5th and 6th centuries apart from the information from the Jewish catacombs, so claims that the city was entirely run by Jews are unsubstantiated. However, it is clear that Jews could hold leading positions in the civic structure as well as places 33 Codex Theodosianus 1 6.8.29. According to Chronicle of Ahimaaz 4b (tr. M. Salzman) , there was at Venosa in the 9th century "a man who had come from the land of Israel, profoundly learned in the law of God, a master of wisdom . "

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of honour in their own community. The order which the empe rors issued in 398 had its effect in making the Jews of Venosa take up their municipal burdens. 3. Conclusion In one rather negative way, the communities of Leontopolis and Venosa have something in common. Neither of them shows the signs of cultural change which have been ascribed to them: there is no evidence of any trend of hellenization at Leontopolis, or of any hebraization at Venosa up to the mid-6th century. At Leontopolis, the similarities with non:Jewish Egypt are very strong. The Jews there apparently had little conscious need to differentiate themselves from other inhabitants of Egypt in their epitaphs. The ways in which their epitaphs do differ seem to have little to do with any statement of Jewish identity. At Venosa, the Jewish epitaphs show some signs of the influence of their non Jewish surroundings. 34 They differ in small and perhaps subcon scious ways from some of the expressions used by their Christian contemporaries, and at the same time they use Hebrew formulae and Jewish symbols in what must be a deliberate statement of their own identity. The difference may be one of place: Leon topolis was a largely or even entirely Jewish city, whereas Venosa was a mixed one in which the Jews were important but not necessarily predominant. The more significant difference could be one of time. In Egypt (or at least at Leontopolis) in the 1st century BC and AD, religious identity was perhaps not a major problem. In 5th and 6th century AD southern Italy, the "market place of religions"35 was at the height of its business, and the Jews of Venosa, however well integrated into city life they were, felt obliged to use their own trademark wherever they could.

34 L. V. Rutgers, "Archaeological Evidence for the Interaction of Jews and Non:Jews in Late Antiquity, " A]A 96 ( 1 992) 1 0 1-1 1 8, discusses mutual influences in such areas as art, architecture and magic. 35 ]. North, "The Development of Religious Pluralism," The jews among Pagans and Christians (ed. J. Lieu, ]. North & T. Rajak; London: 1 992) 1 78-9.

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA? GERT LUDERITZ

Much confusion has reigned in modern historiography regard ing the constitution of the different bodies of people denoted by the term rroM TEU�a . Th ough the word is not rare and has a rather broad variety of .meanings (e.g. 'political action' , 1 'civic right', 'state ', 'government' ) , it has also been used as a technical term to denote groups of people with various forms of organisation. As a terminus technicus, however, rroA.( TEU�a is not very common, and that is what has made the task of understanding its specific character more difficult. It can stand for an institution within the political organisation of a Greek polis as well as for other groups of people - for example an organisation of aliens residing in a foreign city. The present article is a survey of the types of organi sations which called themselves 'politeuma' , in an effort to readh a more precise definition of its various technical usages. Two inscriptions from Berenice in Cyrenaica published in the eighteenth century are among the first instances known in which 'politeuma' occurs as a technical term. They consist of decrees which had been promulgated by a Jewish organisation called 'The Politeuma of the Jews in Berenice' . Another poli teuma is mentioned in the so called 'Letter of Aristeas' (in § 310) ; since the publication of the Berenice inscriptions it has been taken by most scholars to refer to an Alexandrian Jewish organisation of the same kind as the one in Berenice. The term 'politeuma' is usually thought to stand here for the Jewish 'community' . Referring to Alexandria, for example, it has been maintained that Ot cim) Tou TTOALTEu�aTOS signifies the entire Jewish population in Alexandria, and is synonymous with TO rrA.f1 8os . 2 The politeumata are also supposed to have enjoyed certain privileges distinguishing them from other communities. This assumption applies not only to Jewish politeumata, but also to 1 Cp. Cicero Epistulae ad Atticum 1 74 (9.7) .3 " . . . me 1TOA( TEU�a de pace suscipere", which is taken up in 1 76 (9.9) .2 as "actio de pace sublata est, quam quidem ego meditabar". 2 Schiirer 1 973ff., 3:88 (with further literature) . For different interpre tations of the politeuma in Alexandria see below.

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several non-Jewish organisations calling themselves by this term. 3 Authors who made similar assertions are cited in support. 4 An article by Ruppel published in 1927 is often referred to in this respect. Ruppel's article is a useful collection of texts in which the word rroA.( TEUIJ.a occurs, though his interpretations can be vague or even confusing at times.5 This is not to discount Ruppel's con tribution altogether - he did not pretend that his results were always reliable . 6 His conclusions, however, could hardly be used to support the one view that the term stood for a public body 3 See for example Applebaum 1979, 1 60: " . . . of the Jewish archontes ( d p xovTE S ) and the politeuma (iToAhEUIJ.a) of the city - meaning, of the wardens of the organized community, and <_?f the community itself' ; Roux & Roux 1 949, 288: "Les Juifs jouerent dans l'Egypte alexandrine et romaine un role considerable . . . Groupes au sein de leurs politeumata, communautes a la fois politiques et religieuses, ils vivaient aux cotes de la cite paienne . . . " ; Smallwood 1 976, 225: " . . . a quasi-autonomous civic unit, generally known as a politeuma by modern, if not always by ancient writers. A politeuma was a recognized, formally constituted corporation of aliens enjoying the right of domicile in a foreign city and forming a separate, semiautonomous civic body, a city within the city; . . . It had to be officially authorized by the local ruler or civic body, presumably by a written charter setting out its rights and constitution, though no example of such a document survives. " 4 A perhaps extreme example is Kasher who wrote a book "to try to demonstrate that the equality which the Jews strove to obtain is to be conceived as an equality between two separate political bodies, the Jewish community (iTOAL TEUIJ.a) and the Greek polis", but who when dealing with the question what a politeuma is confines himself to cite some "accepted definitions of the term politeuma" (Kasher 1985, IX, 30) . 5 Examples: referring to the inscription OG/ 1 .332: "Unter iT. ist natiir lich die Stadtgemeinde von Elea zu verstehen, neben den Bezeichnungen 8ii' IJ.OS, iT
WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

185

enjoying the kind of privileges which distinguished it from other communities. 7 The only exception to the general view on poli teumata is a review article by C. Zuckerman who attacks this "historiographic legend" and argues that there is no reason to think that politeumata differed from other clubs. According to him these were in fact private, voluntary associations.s If one confines oneself to the cases where 'politeuma' is used as a technical term, it. is possible, as already mentioned, to make a distinction betweeri two categories of politeumata. The term can either represent i political body which is part of the administra tive organisation of a Greek polis, or it can stand for other orga nised groups of people. Formally a Jewish politeuma - as an alien body in a Greek city - should of course be included within- the second category, but, as I hope to show, in some respects the Jewish politeuma could have borne a closer resemblance to the politeumata of the first category. This essay is then divided into three parts. The first concerns itself with the 'politeuma' within the structure of the Greek sta,te apparatus. The second is a general survey - and I hope more systematic than has been attempted up to now - of the varied forms of non-state organisations also covered by this term. In the final section the Jewish politeuma is treated in some detail. Here I hope to suggest an entirely different interpretation of the function of this body. 1 . IloA.[ TEVJla as a body with political power within a Greek polis a) The politeuma in an oligarchy According to a decree in which Ptolemy I reformulated the con stitution of the Cyrenaeans in 321 B . C . 9 the politeuma of Cyrene was a group of several thousand men (I. 6: IIoA.L TEUIJ.U 8 ' E UTW ol IJ.UpLOL - "the Ten Thousand shall be the politeuma") , mainly

7 There is also an article by Engers ( 1 926) entitled 'IloA( TEUIJ.a ' , dealing mainly with the legal status of the Jews in Alexandria. More recent articles about 'politeuma' with different focal points are Levi 1 963 and Biscardi 1984. 8 Zuckerman 1 988 (review of Kasher 1985) , see e.g. pp. 1 80, 1 84; as to Zuckerman' s theories see below. I am grateful to Hanswulf Bloedhorn for drawing my attention to this article. 9 A considerable part of the decree is preserved on stone; for the text see SEC 9. 1 and SEC 18.726 (corrections to the text in SEC 9) ; for the date of the inscription see now Laronde 1 987, 85-128.

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those who owned 2000 drachmae, the estates of their wives included (there are a number of special regulations - outstanding debts could be put to the creditors account under certain con ditions) . The estates were estimated according to written laws by sixty 'estimators' , who had been elected from the members of the politeuma by the 'gerontes' ( ' the elders', a body of 1 0 1 men) and had to be at least 30 years old (11. 1 2-1 5) . The politeuma had the power to grant citizenship and to elect the gerontes. In case of war the politeuma acknowledged the strategoi (chief magistrates and commanders) or elected new ones out of its own circle; whilst in cases involving capital punishment judgement was passed by the gerontes, the boule (a council of 500 men appointed by lot, they should be at least 50 years old and acted for two years) and 1 500 members of the politeuma chosen by lot.1 o Probably the politeuma (o't. IJ.UpLOL - 'ten thousand' ) was enlarged by Ptolemy - the same functions had been exercised earlier ( 'before the war') by the XLALOL ( ' thousand' ) .n This may have been the result of a deliberate policy to broaden and thereby strengthen the basis of the Cyre nean government - it remained aristocratic or timocratic, but more persons now belonged to the ruling class. It had been the struggles between aristocrats and democrats that had led to a war and ultimately to the intervention of Ptolemy. What the politeuma in Cyrene was is made rather clear by these regulations. It is not identical with the body of 'citizens' ; this body was larger, and citizenship was acquired differently normally by descent.12 Citizens had certain rights, but according 10 Ll. 6, 2 l f. , 28-31 , 35-37. There were additional regulations: the newly installed gerontes in 321 B .C . had been appointed by Ptolemy; members of the politeuma were also the aristocrats who had fled to Egypt (and had instigated Ptolemy to intervene in Cyrenaica) ; citizenship and membership of the politeuma could also be granted by Ptolemy. l l Ll. 34f.: IIpaaaOVTWO'aV BE: ol llE 'Y 'YE POVTES' a ol y€ poVTES' E lT ' E PTlVTJS' l!upaaaov, hi ] �ouA.T] a Tj �ouA.Tl , ol 8€ lluptot a ol xLA.t ot 12 SEC 1 8.726.2-5 (corrected from SEC 9.1 ) : [IloA.li:Tat €aovTat ol 4J?I>[pE]S' E-� [d.v8pos KupfJv]a(ou Kat yuvatKOS' KupfJva( as Kat o[l EK T]wv At �uaawv Twv E- vTos Toil KaTa�ae11oiJ Kat Auealld AaKos Kat ol EK Twv E- [uo( K]wv Twv EK Twv lTO AEwv Twv E lT E KE tva Tfj S' 9w( n os, ous KupTJV'i: ot d.uwtKtaav K[at ous d ]v IhoAE!la'los KaTaO'TTlO'TJl Kat ous dv To uoA.( TEUila B€�Tat. - "Citizens will be Cyrenean men born from a Cyrenean man and a Cyrenean woman or from a Libyan woman from the region between Catabathmus and Automalax, and also the descendants of the colonists from the cities beyond the Thinitis founded by Cyreneans, and those appointed by Ptolemy and those admitted by the politeuma." For the Thinitis, the region of Thin tis .

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

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to the constitution of Cyrene not all of them partook in the administration of the city. Political power lay with the politeuma; membership thereof was based on a timocratic principle. b) The politeuma in a democracy Probably in the second half of the year 332 B . C . , during his campaign in Asia Minor, Alexander the Great wrote to the ' people of the island of Chios; he ruled that the exiled should return, and he settled the co�stitution:13 'ETIR aeun8E"o[u] TipuTCivEos Tiapd �aatAEWS 'AA�[cav8p]ou Xtw[v TW!.] 8fj!J.1wv ToiJs cpuya8as Tous EK Xtou KanE-vat TIEpEaBat Tipos 'AAE'cav8pov. ( "In the time of the prytanis Deisitheos, from king Alexander to the people of the Chians: The exiled from Chios shall all return. The politeuma in Chios shall be the people. Lawgivers shall be elected, who will write and correct the laws, so that nothing should obstruct the democracy or the return of the exiled. Whatever is corrected or written shall be referred to Alexander . . . ) "

Thus Alexander established a d emocracy in Chios, as he did also in Ephesus and elsewhere. 1 4 The constitution became demo cratic because of the ruling that the people would constitute the politeuma. Here, 8fll.l-OS and 'TTOALTEUI.l-a, 'people' or 'body of citizens' and 'politeuma' , are clearly not synonymous - otherwise the ruling would be a tautology. The politeuma then consists of those exercising political power, and in this case, thus the ruling, all citizens are to be included in this group. Conclusion : What the public institution called 'TTOAL TEUI.l-a was, can be specified rather clearly: Politeuma as a technical term for an institution within a polis stands for the ruling class as a sovereign body with

(Tert) , see Laronde 1987, 349. 1 3 Tod 1 948, no. 192, 11. 1-7 (also SIC 1 .283; Guarducci 1967ff., 2:78f. ) . 1 4 Arrianus Anabasis 1 . 1 7. 10: f S "E4>Eaov d4>tK61..LEVOS Tous TE 4>uyci8as, ocrOL 8 t ' atho v E �E 7TE<JOV TTl S 7T6AEWS , KaTri yayE Kat TTJ V oA.vyapx( av KaTaA.u cras 8111-LOKpaT( av KaTE<JTll<JE . 1 . 1 8 . 2 : Kat T
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specific rights, voting procedures, etc.15 Whether all or only some of the citizens belong to the politeuma is regulated by the con stitution which obtains in a particular place - in a democracy the politeuma consists of all the citizens (normally adult men) , in an aristocracy it consists of only a part of the citizens. This accords with the way Aristotle (Politica 1 278b8-14) uses the term, though he uses the word perhaps in a slightly less technical way; 'poli teuma' as 'governing class' might here include bodies of govern ment which could - though consisting of people normally chosen from out of a politeuma (like e.g. the body of the 'strategoi' in Cyrene, etc.) - be distinguished from the politeuma proper: E-crn 8€ lTOALTda 1r6A.Ews Taets Twv TE d.AA.wv tipxwv Kat ,..ufucrTa Tfls Kuptas mivTwv. KVptov JlEV yap lTavTaxou To lTO ALTEUJla Ti)s 1r6A.Ews, lTOALTEUJla 8' E-crTtv ll lTOAL TELa. >J.yw 8' ot ov E-v JlEv Ta1s 8T)JlOKpaTtms KVptos b 8f)JlOS, o'L 8' 6A.tyot TovvavTtov E-v Ta'ls 6A.tyapxtms, . . . ( "A polity is an arrangement of the state in respect to the different offices and especially the most important [or powerful] of all. Most important [powerful] is everywhere the govern ment [politeuma] of the state, and the government [poli teuma] represents the polity. I would say thus: in a democracy the people are most important [have the power] , the few on the other hand in an oligarchy . . . ) "

The politeuma is KUplov (it has power) , and Aristotle comments that in a democracy the people and in an oligarchy only few have the power. This is perhaps further clarified if read in combination with 1 293a 1 5f. : if in a certain form of oligarchy many are owners of a fortune, then many participate in the politeuma. How large the different politeumata of the respective cities were and how they were composed is a question belonging to the history of constitutions. Mter the end of the third century A . D . related terms like Ot lTOAl TEUO IJ.EVOl , TO KOlVOV TWV lTOAl TEUOIJ.E VWV seem to have been virtually synonymous with �ouA.EUTal ( alder men) . 16

15 In 2 Mace 1 2.3-7 is written, that, when in Joppe all the Jews of the city had been killed on the strength of a decree (KaTd. 8€ TO Kotvov Tfl s TIOAEWS t/J'rl tcr!J.a ) , Judas wanted to exterminate the whole ' politeuma' of Joppe. Probably by this the ruling class is meant - the ones responsible for the decree (t/J'rlw!J.a) . Often TioX.( TEUIJ.a is here understood as 'body of citizens', which could be inaccurate. 16 Bowman 1 97 1 , 26-3 1 , with literature.

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

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2 . Other groups calling themselves 1TOAL T€VJlaTa The designation 'politeuma' can also be applied to festival asso ciations of women, a cult society, a club of soldiers, associations of citizens from the same city living abroad, and ethnic commu nities. a) The politeum� of the women In the temple complex of Zeus Panamaros, about 10 km southeast of Stratonicaea i:n the hills of Caria, more than 400 inscriptions from the period between 200 B.C. to 300 A.D . have been found. 17 A considerable number of them contain information about the generosity of the priests who acted during the feasts. Every se'c ond year the 'Heraia' was celebrated (the Hera festival) , which was a festival of the women . Free and slave women were "called" by the priests into the temple, the 'Heraion' and received wine and money. In this context there are formulations like Kat ts TO 'Hpa1ov KaA.lcravTES micras Tas TE E"A.Eu8l pas Kat 8ouA.as otvov TE naplcrxov auTa'i: s ds Euwx( av a cpeovov Kat E: Boaav E KclO"TlJ 8pax�J.as y ' . Or: iEpaTEUcravTos Tou L\(ou Tou Ilava�J.cipou [E"v] 'Hpa(OLS, KaKEL IJ.EV Tas yuva1Kas KllPU'YIJ.aTt imo8E�aiJ.EVo[u] ncicras . 18 Instead of expressions like "all the women" (Tas yuva1Kas ncicras) three texts mention that 'the politeuma of the women' had been called or received:19 ( 1 ) 'I EpEUS EV 'Hp[a(OLs] ME VllTlTOS AE OVTOS [Ka8 ' u ]o8Ecr(av 8E EiEpOKAEO[us (Kwpa(Eus)] 'I E-p11a Ilantatva MEvEaSE-ws [ . . . . ] E"KaA.EcrEv BE Kat To noNEUTEUIJ.a Twv yuva[tliKwv. (2) un[Etcr]8E�cl!J.EVOS 8€- Kat To noA.d TEUIJ.a Twv yuvatKWV E-v To'ls 'HpalOLS .. . ( 3) [ . . . ] [To "H]patov noA.u[TEA.ws K]aA.l cras To noA.d [TEU]IJ.a Twv yuvatKwv, [8ous BE-] E KacrTlJ IJ.ETa Twv A.[otn]wv Twv E- � E: eous [ci]va (81lvap(ous) a OIJ.OlWS Kat T[a1s] avv av8paatv av[a�aatv Els n1lv n[6A.]tv (?) E-v TonLo[ts . . . Mter having read all the texts from the sanctuary of Zeus I '

1 7 Deschamps & Cousin 1 887ff.; Oppermann 1 924; for the dating see Op� ermann 4, 31-33. 1 Deschamps & Cousin 1 887ff. , 2:375, no. 1 ; also in Oppermann 1 924, 75f. 19 Deschamps & Cousin 1 887ff., 6: 181f., no. 1 23 ; 6:204-6, no. 145, 1. 3f. ; 7:40, no. 23.

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Panamaros, this is less enigmatic than might seem at first glance. Other inscriptions specify that 'all the women' - free women and slaves, citizens of Stratonicaea and pilgrims (amongst whom were apparently also Roman women) - took part in the Heraia. 2o The 'politeuma of the women' in the three inscriptions cited probably stands for exactly that ( ' all the women' ) , because, if 'politeuma' had meant a special group, the other women should have been also mentioned. 21 Most likely the women formed an association during the feast; the men were excluded from participating in the Heraion itself, they remained in the precincts (nEp( �oA.os) . If this is right, the politeuma of the women was probably a temporary association lasting only for the time of the feast; a continuous union of pilgrims would be rather hard to imagine. Festive asso ciations of this type are not unknown, thus in Thera the members of an association of pilgrims to the 'Zeus of the rain' called them selves the Kotvov Twv cruJlnopEuov€vwv napa d[(a !]€nov . This Kotv6v (a common designation for all kinds of associations) was probably not a permanent one, but it was organised well enough to be able to publish a decree in honour of the leaders of the feast and to arrange for the payment of wreaths and the inscription. 22 b) Politeuma of the supreme goddess Sachypsis The politeuma is known through a stele from Philadelphia in the Faiyum. The inscription is dated 7th April 93: 2 3 20 Cp. Deschamps & Cousin 1 887ff. , 7:23; the text does not relate to the Heraia but to the Comyria, the feast of the men, celebrated in honour of Zeus Panamaros every second year alternating with the Hera festival of the women. Both feasts were similar in many respects. Here Tou s 'TT O AE L Tas 'TTCI VTaS Kat 'PwJ-laL OUS Kat �E VOUS Kat 'TT a po( KOUS Kat 8oUAOUS 'TT AE L O'TOUS are mentioned, they were accompanied by the corresponding women ('TTO AE V T( Bas , etc.) , who did not participate in the celebrations within the temple however (the temple in this case was the 'Comyrion' ) , but remained outside in the temple precincts. For the pilgrims see Oppermann 1924, 59f.: Tot s E'TTl 8T)J-lTJ[O"a]atv [E-v Tij 'TTa]VT)'YUPl e€vots o p E-m8T)J-lla TOU 8EOU.

2 l The texts tend to list all deeds of generosity of the priests whether summarizing or enumerating. The women mentioned separately at the end of text ( 3) may have been some of the 'politeuma', who recieved gifts a second time; this part of the text does not refer to the celebrations in the Heraion the men are also present. 22 SIC 3. 1 1 07; Nilsson 1 906, 4, comments: "Kotv6v bezeichnet somit hier keinen Verein, sondern die Festversammlung, die die Festleiter ehrt"; for festive associations and associations of women in connection with official feasts see also Poland 1909, 70-73, 29 lf. 2 3 Bernand 1 975ff., 2: no. 1 2 1 (with bibliography, commentary and

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191

'YTTE-p AirroKpaTopos Katcrapos [ilq.J.LTtavou] .U�aaTov fEpj.!aVtKou ToTTos TToA.t TEUj.laTos 'Ap8uhou j.!Eyapj..LoOOt tl3' . ( "For the Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus Germanicus, the area of the politeuma of the blessed Harthotes the Great of the supreme goddess Sachypsis has been rebuilt in the time of the praefectus Aegypti Petronius Secundus by Abdon, chairman . Written by Protarchos. Fortune, year 12, 1 2th Pharmuthi. ")

The Torros (area) of the politeuma might stand for the whole temple of Sachypsis (thus Bernand 1975ff., 67) or for just a part of it reserved more or less for the politeuma. 2 4 The politeuma was named on the one hand after the late Harthotes the Great - he may have been the founder of the politeuma - and on the other hand after the goddess Sachypsis - a surname of Isis which is difficult to explain. The language of the inscription is a bit queer (there is not a single article ) but there is hardly another explanation of . . . lTOAL TEUIJ.UTOS 'Ap9wTou IJ.EyaA.ou IJ.UKap(Tou 9Ens IJ.EYL O"TTJS L;axv t/JEWS . 2 5 The priests of the same temple called themselves with a similar double genitive construction ol lEpELS "I aL8os L;axutJ;Los, SEas IJ.Ey(aTTJs, Tfls rrpwTTJs E-rrLcpavda11s. lEpou ToD ovTos E-v 8Ea8E A.cpdaL . . . ( "the priests of Isis Sachypsis the supreme

photograph on table 27) ; Sammelb. 1 .5739. 2 4 Likewise there was - also in Philadelphia - in the temple of Pnephe ros a T<SiTOS' of the union of the gooseherds (T61TOS' cruv68ou XllVO�oaKw v ) ; because of the place where the inscription was found and because there are other dedicatory inscriptions in the same temple complex (the propylon, a wooden door and the paved path had been dedicated by a cavalry officer) it seems unlikely that the area of the union comprised the whole temple of Pnepheros (Pnepheros was originally a surname of several gods, the form Nepheros also occurs - from nefer - hor, 'with beautiful countenance'; the p in Pnepheros is the Egyptian article) . The dedicatory inscriptions of this temple are to be found in Bernand 1 975ff., 2: no. 107-9 ( 1 09 is the one of the gooseherds; for the locations of the inscriptions see the plan of the temple in Bernand, pl. 2) . 25 Bernand 1975ff., 2:67f. As to corporations called after a person (founder or chairman) see San Nicolo 1 972, 2:7 (cruvo8oS' Lla!J.d , cruvo8oS' Lln8po8L T11 S' , etc. ) ; cp. also CJG 1 . 1 24 (vauKAll POL Kat E IJ.1TOpOL ot € poVTES' Tft V av vo8ov Toil LlLOS' Toil :Ei:Ev ( ou ) ; there were also associations named after a deity and additionally after a person; see e.g. the examples from Kos in Ziebarth 1896, 44 (6 ( acr o5,' 'Apo8LcrLaTdV TWV avv Ethuxcv - here the name is not formed with genitives but in the usual form for Kos and Rhodos with cruv, for these formations see Poland 1909, 76f.) .

192

G. LlJDERITZ

goddess the first arisen, of the sanctuary in Theadelphia . . . ") . 26 Thus the politeuma may have been founded by Harthotes (perhaps through a testamentary act of donation) , 2 7 and it was presided by a npocrniTTJs - in Egypt the most common expression for the chairmen of all kinds of associations and clubs.28 The politeuma had a TOTTOS in the temple of Sachypsis and was also named after the goddess. All these details would lead to the conclusion that this 'politeuma' was a club of the type otherwise often called cru vo8os or KoLv6 v , commonly termed ' cult asso ciation' . 29 This is also the opinion of all scholars commenting on this inscription. c) Politeuma of soldiers (without reference to the place of origin) A dedicatory inscription written probably in 1 1 2/ 1 1 or 76/5 B . C . mentions a politeuma of the soldiers stationed in Alexandria:3 0 Ll.t'L LulTfj pL Kat ''Hpm TO ELaL To TToA( TEu�a Twv € v 'AAE-eav8pe-lm Epo�Evwv a"TpanwTwv, iliv TTpoaTCiTTJs Ll.LovuaLOs Kd.A.A.wvos 'Ypa�a TEUs BE (ALTTTTOS LALTTTTOU KTLO'TaL, Euxflv. L c . ( "To Zeus Soter and Hera Teleia, the politeuma of the soldiers brought to Alexandria, their chairman Dionysios of Calion and secretary Philippos of Philippos, the founders, ex voto, year 6") ..

'

The politeuma of the soldiers had a chairman and a secretary - both common posts in antique corporations. Attached to these is the designation KT(crTaL . A KT( crTllS in such context is a founder either of a building (e.g. a temple) or of an association. Since no building is mentioned that would have been dedicated to Zeus Soter and Hera Teleia, and since the word ElJXr1v occurs ( the common formula for a simple votive offering) , it seems that only 26 Bernand 1 975ff., 2: nos. 1 1 2 and 1 1 3, 11. 4-7. 27 Cp. Poland 1 909, 271-74; in some associations the founders are

ex�licitly referred to as KT(crTTJS. 8 San Nicolo 1 972, 2:58-60. Zuckerman 1988, 1 78, thought that the Pro tarchos in the end of the inscription was the ypa��aTEUS of the politeuma (writer or secretary, a common title in associations) , but Protarchos may also have been the stonemason who made the inscription. 29 It is open to question whether the main reason for the foundation was always a common cult; the shipowners and merchants cited in note 25 above, who founded the association 'of Zeus Xenios' , for example may have had mainly other - social or economic - common interests. 3 0 Fraser 1 960, 147-52; SEG 20.499; Sammelb. 8.9812; dating according to Fraser.

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

193

the votive stele with the inscription has been dedicated. Thus KTLaTaL should refer to the two persons mentioned (rather than to the whole politeuma) , and the two in all likelihood had founded the politeuma. 3 1 d) Politeumata of citizens of one city living abroad Near Sidon several painted stelae with grave inscriptions have been found, whicl1 · are probably from the early second century B . C .32 The paint�ngs on the stelae, in most cases painted on a ground of stucco, represent soldiers in armour. In eight cases those who provided for the inscriptions have been mentioned; and amongst these eight four stelae had been provided for by four dif ferent politeumata. Three examples (the forth is badly preserve p) : ( 1 ) Kauv(wv TO TTOAL TEUIJ.a 'I TT[ . . . . . . ] Kat 'ATToAAwv(8rJV 'Ep1J.a[y6pa], Z"Tlvwva Z"Tlvwvos, [ . . ] Z"Tlvwvos, 'I a(8wpov 'Ae[ . . . . . . ] , 'E piJ.wVaKTa 'ApTE1J.t8[wpoul, Toils avTwv [TTo]MT[asl. (2) �aETTas TpoK6v8ou TEPIJ.llcraE-wv Twv TTPOs Olvoav8ms IIt < al>811s UUIJ.IJ.UXOS TEPIJ.llUUEWV TWV TTpos Olvoav8ots IIta(8wv TO TTOALTEUIJ.a mv EUUTWV TTOAELTllV, XPllUTE xa1pE. (3) IItvapE-wv To TTOALTEUIJ.a KapTa8tv 'EpiJ.aKTL�LAou AuKtov XPllUTE KaL aAUTTE xa1pE. ( 1 . "The politeuma of the Caunians to Hip . . . and Apollonides (sons) of Hermagoras, to . . . , their fellow-citizens." 2. "Saettas . . . .

31 For 1TpoaTCtTT}S see note 28, for ypaJlJlaTEUS in corporations of Egypt and for KT(aTT}s as usual designation for the founder of a club see San Nicolo 1 972, 2:7, 73-75 (KTL aTas Toll KOlvou , KTL UTTlS ELEpEwv JlUaTwv) . Fraser 1 960, 150, note 20, has noted the difficulty which arises if KTL aTal is understood here as 'founders of a building' , but seems not to have known the meaning 'founder of a club': "The addition of EUXrJ V at the end of the inscription would normally (but not invariably) indicate that it was the plaque itself which was dedicated, and not a mentioned, or unmentioned, building or object . . . Evidently, however, some foundation was involved . . . " Fraser cites two parallels ( 1 50, note 1 18, citing Sammelb. 1 .4206; 5.8066) but in this respect these two inscriptions are not similar; the KTL aTal mentioned there had built a lEpov Kat Tov lTEp( �oX.ov Kat Ta auVKupovTa mfvTa. 32 Macridy 1904, 547-56 (with photographs) . Some of the inscriptions have been published more than once about the same time in different places (see the comment by Macridy 1904, 571 ) . Seven of the stele which were brought to Constantinople, have been published also by Mendel 1 9 1 2ff., 1 : no. 1 02-8, with a better description of the paintings and substantiated datings. The text here is corrected in a few places (aiJTWV instead of auTwv, Til < a( > 8TlS instead of Tit8Tls ) and some uncertain completions of lacunae have been replaced by dots. The three stele cited here have the numbers A, 2 and 3 in Macridy; the first is also printed in OGI 2.592.

194

G. LUDERITZ

(son) of Trocondas, Pisidian of the Termessans from near Oenoanda, fellow soldier. The politeuma of the Pisidians of the Termessans from near Oenoanda to their fellow-citizen. Valiant one, farewell." 3. "The politeuma of the Pinarers to the Lycian Cartadis (son) of Hermactibiles. Valiant and griefless one, farewell. ") In ( 1) and in (2) the deceased are citizens from the cities Caunus and Termessus, who got funerary stelae from the politeumata of their fellow-citizens (in the second inscription they are termed ' Pisidians from Termessus' ; to distinguish this Termessus from another one also in Pisidia a remark is added: from near 'Oenoanda') . In (3) a Lycian obtained a stele from the citizens of Pinara, which is also in Lycia; he was perhaps not from Pinara itself (otherwise this would probably have been noted) but associated with the politeuma. In ( 1 ) and (2) - but not in the third inscription where the dead person was probably not from Pinara ( ! ) - the deceased are designated as noA.L TaL aiJTwv. It has been assumed that this implies that the members are called 'citizens' of the politeumata,33 but there are strong arguments against this interpretation: noA.L TllS as a noun has two meanings, first 'citizen' (e.g. no A( TllS TIOAEC.us ) and secondly 'fellow-citizen' (e.g. TIOA(TllS Uf..LW V) .34 The plurals avTwv an d E' avTw v must refer to the communities of citizens from Caunus and Termessus; so they cannot refer to the respective politeumata as institutions - the deceased were ' their fellow citizens' (of the other citizens living in Sidon and belonging to the politeuma) and not ' its citizens' (of the politeuma) . Thus, the fact that the deceased are here called noA(Tal can easily be understood as referring to them as fellow-citizens of Caunus and Termessus respectively.35 In this sense - 'fellow-citizen of the city of origin' 33 E.g. Schiirer 1 973ff. , 3:89, note

4: "The members call themselves

rro.X.( Tal . "

3 4 Examples can easily be found in Liddell & Scott 1 968. 35 This is also the interpretation of Zuckerman 1 988 (reviewing Kasher

1 985) , 1 75, note 6: "Contrary to ethnic politeumata which we will encounter in Egypt, each of the Sidonian associations was established by Soldiers from one single polis, and in calling the deceased Tous a\JTwv rroAC Tas or n) v auTwv rroAC TllV the surviving members were evidently referring to their common citizenship of the city of origin; . . . Kasher, without considering this interpretation, takes the epitaph's wording for an indication that polites was the "legal and political" status of a member of any politeuma (p. 30) and does not hesitate to apply his conclusion to the situation in Alexandria . . . "

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

195

- the term TToAC TllS is also used for members of a club ( 'colle gium' ) formed by citizens of Nysa in Rome (Clerc 1 885, face B) . This collegium is known through an honorary decree passed by the city of Nysa for a fellow-citizen, Titus Aelius Alcibiades, who did so much good that, "if one wanted to enumerate everything, his whole life wouldn' t be long enough" (ll. 29-33) ; among other things he had also founded the aforesaid collegium. Some lines may be cited, becau1>e they refer - although a little exuberantly to the emotions involved in founding such corporations of fellow citizens abroad: . . . n) TE KOAA:r) yLov KaAOlJ j.l.EVOV E K TWV ai nov TTOAEL Twv E-v TiJ �acrLAEUOUOlJ 'Pw!J.atwv TTOAEL cruO"TllcrciiJ.EVOS Ka't. XPlliJ.aTa Kmva Trap ' aiJTou Ka8LEpooas . . . '(v' WcrTTEp aTTmKta ns {1 8fJ!J.os lliJ.ETEpos ou �EVOS ou8E ciAA.6TplOS ciAA.a E-yxwpws TTapa 'Pwj.laLOLS 8LaTEA'fj . . :-36 It would of course have been possible for the 'collegium' organized by Alcibiades EK TWV auTou TTOAE L Twv to put up epitaphs for its members and write TOV €avTwv TTOAL TllV , and no ancient reader of the inscriptions would have concluded that TToA.( TllS was the common term for the members of a collegium. That TTOAL TllS w51s a term for the members of an association (or a politeuma) is nowhere attested and seems improbable. The epitaphs from Sidon do not tell us much about the politeu mata of the different cities. The members must have been soldiers (but it is possible that there were civilian members as well) , and the politeumata may have been rather small. The same function of putting up a funerary stele was, according to four other epitaphs from the same site, also performed by a brother (KEpatas 6 ci8EA.cpos EO"TT)O"E), by comrades (ol ETa(pm or ol cp(A.m Kat crucrKllVOL ) or by a widow ( . . . TW L E- auT'fl S dv8p( ) . 37 Conversely, an association of Sidonians in Piraeus honoured a deceased member in a similar way : TO Kmvo v TWV LL8wv( wv �LoTTd 8(1l)v hL8wvLov . There are a number of other associations formed by persons from a common city of origin which did not term themselves politeuma; thus for example in Lindos [To K]mvov To AaTTll8LacrT
3 6 Clerc 1 885, face B, 11. 35-44. The decree has been written in the time of Antoninus ( 1 38 - 61 A .D . ) ; see face A, 11. 36f. Translation: " . . . and he founded the so-called 'collegium' out of his fellow-citizens in the imperial city of the Romans and he dedicated a common property from his own means, . . . so that, as if there would be a colony, our people should remain not foreign or alien but indigenous with the Romans . . . 37 There is in Macridy 1 904, 555f., a small synopsis of the names of the deceased, of the ethnica and of those who provided for the stelae. "

196

G. LUDERITZ

Cyprus) or in Magnesia the avvo8os �J.lUpVaELTWv.38 In Pergamon there was a club (auJ.L�(wals) of men from Dioscurias (in Colchis) ; it had - like the politeuma of the soldiers in Alexandria - a chairman and a secretary: Kal TflL 8LoaKoup( Twv ITUJ.l�u!lan dv8pwv, rrpoEITTWTOS TEA.Eacf>op(wvos, ypaJ.LJ.LaTEUOVTOS 'AaKAT}1TLci[8]ou.39 e) Ethnic politeumata This type of politeumata is compared with the other types slightly more common and is attested from the third or second century B.C. up to the second century A.D . ( 1 ) Inscription; 3 rd or 2nd century B . C . ; Fayum: 'AP. pE v ( 8T}s Ko8€p8Qu �up�Ev8Eus Twv (rrpu'nwv) cf>(>..wv Kal x(LA.L)ci(pxwv) Kal rrEpl Tous �aaLA.E1s J.Laxalpocf>6P.wv T[o]v rruhlw]va Kat Tel €v auTWL 1JciVT� 8Lt Kat 'AST}vq Kat TWL 1TOALTE U I-J. aTL TWV }\: LAL Kwv · L L ' , MEaopTj K ' . ( "Arrenides son of Coderdos from Syrbenda, from the 'first friends' and the 'chiliarchoi' and the 'swordsmen near the kings', [dedicates] the pylon and everything in it to Zeus and Athene and the politeuma of the Cilicians. Year 1 0, 20 th Mesore . ") 40 ( 2 ) Inscription; between about 1 65 and 145 B.C.; from Xois, the capital of the 6 th district of Lower Egypt. : ·r lT E P � a u L AE w s TlToAE J.La ( o[u] Kat �aaLA.( aaT}s KA.Eorrd Tpas Tfl s d 8EA.cf>fl s 8[E]w v ci>LAOJ.lT}T6pwv Kal Twv [TE]Kvwv avTwv, 8Ll BaaLAE1 Kal [To1s] a>..>.O. Ls rraTpL OLS 8Eo1s K� cp La<;S8wpos Kacf>Lao8wpou BOLWTLOS 6 d pxLawJ.La Tocf>u>..a� Kal aTpaTT}'YOS Tov :B:o'L Tou Kal LEpEUS TofJ rro>..L TEUJ.laTos Kal ol TOU Tou ul ol MT}Tpocf>d VT}S K[at TlT]Q[A.]E J.La'l os ol 8L a86 xol Kat d. aayyE �� Kat oL E 1TL ITUVT}'YJ.lE voL E v :B:6 El B o L W T O L [Kat o L auJ.L]rro>..LTEUOJ.lEVOL, &v Tel 6v6J.L[aTa] € v TflL ITTTJAT}l dvay€yparrTal, To TE J.lEVOS Kat Tel auvKup[ovTal. ( "For king Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra, his sister, gods Philometores, and their children, to

38 In order of citation: IG 2 (5) . 1 335b; IG 1 2 ( 1 ) .867; GIG 2.3408. For the inscription of the Sidonians (on the same stone is also a text in Phoenician) see the literature cited in Schiirer 1973ff., 3:109. 39 GIG 2.3540. Further examples can be found in Ziebarth 1 896, 121-23 ( "Landsmannschaften") and in Poland 1 909, 78-84. 40 Sammelb. 4.7270; SEC 8.573; Bernand 1975ff., 1 : no. 15; the text is Ber nand's (dots under letters have been omitted, if according to the facsimile in Bernand, pl. 1 3, mutilated letters could still be unequivocally identified) . For a commentary to the abbreviations used and to the titles of Arrenides see Bernand. The site Syrbenda is otherwise unknown, it may therefore have been in Cilicia.

197

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

Zeus Basileus and the other ancestral gods, Caphisodoros of Caphisodoros, Boeotian, ' chief of the body-guard' and governor of the Xoitian district and priest of the politeuma, and his sons Metrophanes and Ptolemaios, the 'diadochoi' and 'ushers' and the Boeotians gathered in Xois and the attached [O'UIJ.lTOAt TEUOIJ.EVOt ] , whose names have been written down on the stele, the precinct and the appurtenances. ") 41 (3) Papyrus; pro'Qably 1 45 B . C . ; Faiylim; 11. Sf. : [ . . . . . . t ] Tfls Tiapa l;wcrou K[al] �[t1y[tmhou Twv � . [ . ] . [ . . . . . . . Jv[ . . . . . . . . . . . . ] XEtptcr8€vTwv imo T1olv TioX.t T�VIJ.aT[os Twv KpllTwv] [yeypa�J.IJ.EVllSl il�J.1v ElTlO'TOAflS . . . 11. 1 5-17: [ETI]EcrTaAKE IJ.Ol 'ATioX.X.68wpos [Tw]v TipwT[w]v cp(X.wv [6 E ]TidcrT]q Tll� [Kall 'YPUIJ.IJ.UTEUS TWV KUTOl KWV lTITIE WV alTO TWV .E lTl KEXWPlliJ.EVW[v] TWt TIOAt TEUIJ.UTL Twv KpllTWV dv8pwv cp ' 'Ao"KA1lTita811v TlToAEIJ.a(ou MaKE86va Twv KaTa IJ.Ep(8a €cp68wv . . . (" . . . sent to me Apollodoros, from the 'first friends', the commander and secre tary of the colonizing cavalrymen from the 500 men allocated [ ? ElTtKEXWPlliJ.EVwv] to the politeuma of the Cretans, Asclepiades [sol}] of Ptolemaios, Macedonian, of the regional ' ephodoi' [approxi mately 'inspectors' ] . . ") 42 •

.

41 Sammelb. 2.6664; SEC 2.871 ; Philometor reigned from 1 8 1 to 1 45 B.C . , but Cleopatra I I probably did not have children before about 1 65 B.C . The politeuma was most likely a politeuma of the Boeotians; here the politeuma is just referred to as To TioA.( TEUIJ.a without an appended TWV BotulTWV. This is an exception and may be due to the fact that the politeuma here is mentioned in the context of a title ('priest of the politeuma') - within the politeuma it would of course not be necessary to specify a title as ' priest of the politeuma of the Boeotians' . Otherwise a mere TO TioA.( TEUIJ.a is normally used for a politeuma which is part of the political structure of a city (like in the case of Cyrene ; cp. also note 46 below) , whereas other politeumata are generally characterized with more precision ( ' of the Cilicians', ' of the Caunians', 'of the women' , of the soldiers' , etc.) ; this is understandable because for persons who were not members of such politeumata it would not have been clear which politeuma was meant. But here it is unlikely that a hypothetical politeuma of the city could be meant, because in city-politeumata there was probably no such title as 'priest of the politeuma' (the eponymous priest in Cyrene for example was responsible for the whole polis and was called 'priest of Apollo') . And the O'UIJ.1TOAL TEUOIJ.EVOL at the end of the inscrip tion are obviously persons attached to the 'Boeotians gathered in Xois' just mentioned before - this also points to the fact that the ' politeuma' seems to have been a 'politeuma of the Boeotians gathered in Xois' . 42 PTeb. 1 .32; Mitteis & Wilcken 1 9 1 2, 1 (2) : no. 448. This i s a letter from one Aristippos to one Eumelos which mainly consists of a copy of a letter he (Aristippos) recieved from Pancrates, who was responsible for the assign ments of land to the ' colonizing' cavalrymen (6 1Tpo s TlJ cruvTd �n TW V

198

G. LUDERITZ

( 4 ) Inscription; end of March or April, 2 B . C . ; found in the

Jupiter temple in Pompeii: rch os 'I OU ALOS 'HaLcrT( wvos ut o s 'HaLcrT(wv LEpaTEucras Tou TIOAL TEUIJ.aTos TWV puywv civ€811KE d(a puywv. L K( ' Ka(crap(os), ap!J.ouS(t) �E�acrTij . ( "C. Julius Hephais tion, son of Hephaistion, former priest of the politeuma of the Phrygians, erected it for the Phrygian Zeus; year 2 7 , Pharmuthi, the day of Augustus. ") 43 ( 5) Inscription from Alexandria; copy from the records of the head of the royal special account (6 npos n.\) t8(� A.6y� ) , 24t h September, 1 20 A.D . : 'Aya8ij TUXllL. [ 'A]vT(ypaov VTIOIJ.VlliJ.aTLcriJ.WV MapK(ou MmcrLaKoD Tou npos T£{) t8(c.p A.6yc.p. LE ' 'A8pLavou Ka(crapo[s TOU K]up(ou, ewe K( ' . OuA.n(ou TloTU IJ.WVOS Kat TWV avv avTc.\) q[TIO TI O Al T k u IJ.a T O S A l) K( wv E TIL n a p o V T L d L O V u cr ( £Y 'Y pa IJ. IJ. a TE r KWIJ.oypa!J.[IJ.aTE ( as Tou M]apEw Tou d n6 vnuv IJ.Vll iJ.aTouA.aK( av Tipom1Koucrav avr[o1s . . . . . . . KaR ou 8E6VTWS VlTO dwvucr(ou TOU nap6v' TOS ypaj.!j.laTEWS TWV [ ] . 9 . [ . au]To1s . . . . craL Kat [ . . . . ] . . . . 9� � TI . . . . T'QS r� [ . . . ( "With good luck. Copy of the records of Marcus Moisiacos, head of the special account: Year 5 of Hadrian Caesar, the Lord, 2 7th Thoth. Ulpius [son] of Potamon and those with him from the politeuma of the Lycians say, in the presence of the KaTo( Kwv t mr£ wv) . The copy of this letter (of Pancrates) again contains the copy of a letter this Pancrates had written to the royal secretary (�a
Sosos and Aigyptos. The correspondence was provoked by the transfer of Asclepiades son of Ptolemaios from the ephodoi to the colonizing cavalry men. The official proceedings are complicated (PTeb. 1 . 3 0 and 1 . 3 1 are similar) , and a number of details remain obscure because of considerable lacunae. Among the obscure points is also the function of the politeuma of the Cretans. The editors (of PTeb. ) have proposed . . . 1T polXE l p L cr8€ vTwv ( ' chosen' , 'assigned' by the politeuma) in 1. Sf. (see above) thinking that it refers to Sosos and Aigyptos. This doesn't seem unlikely; then the politeuma would have cooperated somehow with the authorities (but perhaps l.l.ETa- or KaTalxnpLcr8£ vTwv might also be possible supplements since it is completely unknown what was written in the large lacuna before that) . There is no hint in the text that the Macedonian Asclepiades had somehow become a Cretan (this was the assumption of the editors of the papyrus) . Concerning the politeuma of the Cretans the only information to be inferred with certainty from the mutilated text is that it existed and that 500 men were attached to it in some way (but they need not to have been members) . 43 GIG 2.5866 c (Addenda, p. 1 260) ; IGRom. 1 .458; OGI 658; Sammelb. 5.7875 . The date is given according to the Egyptian way; one can infer that either the politeuma of the Phrygians emigrated from Egypt to Pompeii or just C. Iulius Hephaistion (perhaps he had practised his 'former' priesthood in Egypt) , or that the stone was brought from Egypt to Campania before 79 A.D. (the date of the eruption of the Vesuvius) .

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

199

secretary Dionysios from the village secretariat of the Marea district, that the guardianship of cemeteries belongs to them . . . . . . and not as it ought; from Dionysios, the secretary present . . . . . . ")44 Sometimes the inscription OG/ 2.737 (Sammelb. 5.8929) is cited as evidence for another politeuma of the ethnic type, a politeuma of Idumaeans in Memphis.45 But it seems that this politeuma in Memphis must rather have been the politeuma of the city of Memphis, which together with the ' Idumaeans of the city' honoured a certain norion.46 All the texts are fr� m Egypt (as to no. 4 see note 43) . Whether all the Cilicians, Phrygians, Lycians, e tc. living in one place belonged to the politeumata or whether the respective politeumata were smaller groups, cannot be deduced from the texts with any 44 Sammelb. 3.6025; IGRom. 1 . 1 078; SEC 2.848; Sammelb. 5.8757 (improved

text) .

45 Thus, for example, Schiirer 1 973ff., 3:45; Thompson Crawford 1 984; Zuckerman 1 988, 1 75f., 178. 46 OG/ 2.737 is an honorary decree passed at a meeting (CJuvaywyrl ) Toil lTOAL TElJ IJ.aTOS' Kat n3v dm) Tf) S' m) A.EWS' '1 8ou!J.a( wv . This alone might be considered ambiguous ( ' the politeuma of the Idumaeans together with the Idumaeans of the city' or ' the politeuma of the city together with the Idumaeans of the city' ) ; but it becomes definite through 11. 23f. : the honoured person shall get a copy of this decree, so that he may see how grateful the city is to him ((v ' d8fjL i;v �CJXTJKEV 1rpos mhov ,; lTOALS' EuxcipLCJTov d 1rci VTTJ CJ L V ) . T] m5 ALS' may easily refer to the politeuma of Memphis in combination with the ldumaeans d1ro Tf) S' lTO AEWS' but hardly just to the assembled Idumaeans. (Otherwise T] lTOALS' would stand here for an organisation of ldumaeans consisting on the one hand of the politeuma of the ldumaeans and on the other hand of other Idumaeans not belonging to the politeuma. These other Idumaeans would be characterized as 'from the lTOALS' ' to distinguish them from the Idumaeans of the politeuma, who however would also belong to the lTOALS' honouring Dorion. And this lTOALS' would be an ldumaean city within the city of Memphis. This would be the assumption of Thompson Crawford 1 984, 1 072f. if one draws out the consequences of her interpretation. As one sees, one gets entangled in contradictions concerning the interpretation of d1ro TTlS' lTOAEWS' if the politeuma is understood as referring to an ldumaean one, and also the term lTOALS' for a group of Idumaeans seems unlikely. Apart from Thompson Crawford authors thinking that a politeuma of Idumaeans is meant here do not enter into a discussion of the crucial clause (in 11. 23f.) , or the meaning of the term politeuma as denoting a public institution of the city administration is unknown; thus as it seems in Schiirer 1 973ff. , 3:45:"The politeuma is certainly not that of the city of Memphis (which would be referred to as polis or demos) ." Here, the misunderstanding is that it is precisely this which happens: an honorary decree is passed at a meeting of the politeuma of the city, and since the politeuma represents the decision taking body of the city, the honours bestowed are referred to as ' by the polis' . )

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finality.47 Two inscriptions (2, 4) mention 'priests' of the poli teuma. I E pE1JS is besides Tipocrni TllS a common title in all sorts of clubs and corporations, and not only in the so called cult asso ciations. Thus there were in Egypt priests of a company of durra millers (o A.upoKo Tiot ; o A.upa is a kind of grain) or of a soldiers' club.48 In three cases, in the documents from Ptolemaic times, there seem to have been soldiers in the politeumata: in ( 1 ) and (2) persons with military ranks dedicate a pylon (a monumental gateway) and precincts; in (3) - though the circumstances remain unclear - the politeuma of the Cretans is obviously connected to the cavalry stationed at Cerceosiris in the district of Arsinoe (the site is mentioned in l. 19 of the papyrus) . Whether these politeumata consisted exclusively of members of the mili tary profession or whether also other Boeotians, Cilicians, Cretans belonged to these politeumata one cannot say. It is no surprise that in the Ptolemaic kingdom groups of persons of the same ethnic origin were frequently groups of soldiers. Military units often consisted of soldiers of the same origin, and especially in the Ptolemaic kingdom several clubs of soldiers of a common £ 8vos are known, which did not call themselves 'politeuma' (see below) . Apart from the references to priests in two inscriptions, there is no information about the internal organisation of the politeumata or about their legal position versus city or state. There are several associations formed by people of the same ethnic origin; examples have been collected by Ziebarth ( 1 � 96, '

47 In (2) one can ask what the relationship between the politeuma (of the Boeotians) and the 'Boeotians gathered in Xois' was, but the wording does not allow for a viable decision: The 'gathered Boeotians' could theoretically have included Boeotians who were not members of the politeuma (which would explain why it is expressed in this way) . Moreover it is possible that not all the Boeotians in Xois are meant (and also not the whole politeuma) but only those "whose names have been written down on the stele " (probably this relative clause does not refer only to the O'UIJ.iTOALTEU61J.EVot, it seems likely that the names of all the persons who had dedicated the pre cincts should be mentioned on the stele) . This 'stele' doesn't exist any more; the stele and the number of persons listed will not have been too large - if one may judge from similar inscriptions. 48 O GI 2. 729 (dedicatory inscription; end of the 3rd century B .C . ) : . . 'Avm)�n o\. iTpEO'�UTEpot TWV 6>..upoK6iTwv. \.Epd1s 'AIJ.IJ.EVVEUS . ; Sammelb. 1 .623 (between 80 and 69 B.C .) : . . . ol To TETa'YIJ.E Vov [l! xovTES lv T]wt 'ApatvoL TTJL l iTiTEL S [wv d px t auva]ywyo s �q:' d pxtEpEiiS [ . . . ; further examples in San Nicolo 1 972, 2:67-70; Poland 1 909, 339-51 (also from other regions of the Greek world) . .

. .

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

201

1 2 1-23) and Poland ( 1 909, 81-83) . Here only some associations in Cyprus may be mentioned, interesting in this context because they are also from the Ptolemaic kingdom and they consist partly of people from the same £ 8v11 that constituted also politeumata; some can be dated to Ptolemy VIII: O G/ 1 . 1 48 is an honorary inscription by a Kmvov TWV EV Tfl l vi]awL TaaaOIJ.E VWV KLAL KWV , the same holds true for no. 1 57: 8Eo8wpov �EAElJKou TOV avyyEvi) ToiJ �UO'lAEWS TOV O'TPUTll'Y,OV KUL vav[apxov K]at ci[pXLEpE-al TO KOLVOV TWV EV TflL vi]awL Taaao�J.E-vwv KLA.(Kwv EUEpyEa(as EVEKEV Tfls Ets E[au]To . In OGI 1 . 1 46 (as wel( as in 147) a 'koinon' of the Lycians is attested: To Kmvov Twv Ev Tf)L vi]awL Taaao�J.E-vwv AuK(wv �Laa8E-v11 Tov auyyEvfl TOiJ �UO'LAE WS <J>LA.aya8 ( as E VEKEV. Besides there were KOLVa o f Thracians and Ionians (see below) . Apart from the names, one cannot perceive any differences between these Kmvtf and the TIOALTEUIJ.UTa, the information, to be sure, is meagre. Now, if such associations in the Ptolemaic kingdom are called KOL vov or by similar terms, then they are treated in books on antique clubs and associations and they a:r;e supposed to have been free to constitute themselves without super vision by the state,49 whereas associations with the designation 'politeuma' are seen as something legally quite different. The term 'politeuma' is seen as a term pertaining to the domain of constitutional law;SO the politeumata of the Cilicians, Lycians, Boeotians are supposed to have been - in modern terms -public institutions not private ones. The very clear definition of Small wood ( 1 976, 225) may be recalled: "A politeuma was a recognized, formally constituted corporation of aliens enjoying the right of domicile in a foreign city and forming a separate, semiauto nomous civic body, a city within the city; . . . It had to be officially authorized by the local ruler or civic body, presumably by a writ ten charter setting out its rights and constitution . . . " This is not evident from the texts cited, and it moreover seems improbable that there should have been in the same state two kinds of associations of e .g. Cilicians serving in the army, which would have had enjoyed completely different legal status. Obviously it was the word 'politeuma' and not some other indication in the

49 San Nicolo 1972, 2:10. 5 0 Thus for example Ruppel 1927 already in the title of his work ( "Poli

teuma: Bedeutungsgeschichte eines staatsrechtlichen Terminus") ; likewise Ziebarth in Pauly & Wissowa 1 894ff., 2 1 :140lf.

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few texts that gave rise to the assumption that the politeumata should be differentiated from other associations. But the fact that 'politeuma' could be used to denote the association of the goddess Sachypsis or the association of the women during the Heraia should have cautioned against this assumption.51 Furthermore, it seems that the usage of the words 'koinon' and 'politeuma' may not have been so radically different: There are some inscriptions from Cyprus where in a 'koinon' beside the ethnically defined group there were also others who participated; this participation was described by a verb related with noM TEUiJ.a, i.e. they were persons who were - to coin a new term - 'politeuizing along' : TO KoLvov Twv lv KunpwL TaaaoiJ.l vwv 8paL Kwv Kat Twv cruiJ.noA.L TEuo iJ.Evwv .52 Or in OG/ 1 . 1 45 : To Kmvov TWV lv Tfll vftcrwL [T]acrcroiJ.EVWV 'I wvwv Kat TWV cruvnoA.LTEUOiJ.EVWV. Attached participants in a KOLv6v can thus be called O'UiJ.lTOAL TEUO iJ.EVO L . The same expression occurred in the same way in connection with the politeuma of the Boeotians in text no. 2 above (oi. ElTLO'UVT)'YiJ.EVOL lv :E:6EL BmwTot [Kal Ol O'Ujl]lTOAlTEU6jlEVOl) . In conclusion Corresponding to all the categories of politeumata in this section (festival association, cult society, group of soldiers, association of compatriots) there existed corresponding associations which called themselves KOLv6v , avvo8os or suchlike; sometimes as in the case of the organisations of Cilicians in the Ptolemaic army the correspondence seems to be very close, and participation in a: Kmv6v can be termed O'UiJ.lTOAL TEUEcr8aL . The politeumata had func tionaries with the same titles as other associations. They could 51 One may question the method if in an investigation of the meaning of the term 'politeuma' the starting point is a preconceived assumption and the 'politeuma of the women' is then interpreted accordingly; thus Ruppel 1 927, 450 : " Es gibt gelegentliche Frauenversammlungen zu religiosen Zwecken; doch erscheint es ausgeschlossen, daB eine derartig lose Kult vereinigung 1T. genannt wiirde. " Ruppel then interprets: "Die Frauen in Stratonikeia scheinen mir also eine Mittelstellung zwischen Biirger gemeinde und Landsmannschaft einzunehmen" ( 452) . Cp. also Ditten berger's comment in O GJ 2 . 592: "Alia, sed item non propria vi nomen TioA.(TEUIJ.a usurpatur in titulis Stratonicensibus TioAlUTEUIJ.a TWV yuva[(]Kwv. " 52 OGI 1 . 1 43; shortly before 1 2 1 B.C . , the whole text runs: IlToAE IJ.af ov . . .

�acnA.Ews ut6v , TOV O'TpaTfl'YOV Kat vauapxov Kat d pXLEpEa Kat dpXLKUVTJ'YOV TO KoLvov Twv E-v Ku1rpwL Tacrcro!J.€vwv 9paLKwv Kat Twv crUIJ.1TOALTEU61J.EVwv ; see the

commentary in OGJ.

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

203

apparently be founded by individuals who enjoyed a certain prestige in the politeuma (which does not exactly support the view that the constitution of a politeuma would have been determined by the local authorities) . There is thus no reason discernible in the above cited texts which would justify the view of any really fundamental difference between politeumata and other associa tions. If one tries to argue for a different legal position of the politeumata versus other associations, one either has to ignore one or several of the � ategories of politeumata listed above (e.g. the politeuma of the' women) , or somewhat strange interpretations have to be resorted to (cp. note 51 ) . But this statement can only be formulated in negative way: a dogmatic differentiation of politeu . mata on the one hand and other associations on the other is 'not possible on the basis of the few surviving texts. This does not necessarily imply that all politeumata or other associations always had the same legal position. For example, though Caesar dissolved all newer societies by order, the Jewish 'collegia' were exempted.53 They obviously enjoyed a special legal status. It seems that the idea to separate the politeumata (as public institutions) from the (privately constituted) associations origi nated in a paragraph written by Perdrizet in his publication of the Sidonian inscription in which the politeuma of the Caunians honoured Tovs avTwv rroA.( TUS .54 The key for Perdrizet's interpre tation of the word 'politeuma' was the politeuma of the Jews in Berenice. Perdrizet thought that the Jews in Cyrenaica had the same rights as the Greek citizens, and this, for him, determined the meaning of 'politeuma' in contrast to the 'koinon' : "Le Kmv6v est une association religieuse formee d'etrangers, qui n'ont rien a voir dans les affaires de la cite, n ' ayant point l' isonomie. Le rroA.( TEUj.la est forme aussi de gens de sang etranger, mais iso nomes, c' est-a-dire citoyens, rroA.1Tat " (Perdrizet 1 899, 47; cp. 45) . Consequently he also thought that such a privileged position must have been granted by a sovereign : "c'est parce que les Juifs de Ia 53 Suetonius Caes. 42: "cuncta collegia praeter antiquitus constituta dis traxit"; similarly Suetonius Aug. 32; commentary in Liebenam 1 890, 27-33; for the Jewish associations in Rome see below, note 8 1 . 54 Perdrizet 1 899, 42-48; for text and interpretation (especially o f the meaning of 1ro>.J TT)S in this context) see above. Perdrizet's article is e.g. cited by Lesquier 1 91 1 , 1 44, and by Dittenberger in his commentary to OGI 2.592 ("Caunios qui Sidone consedissent corpus quoddam quod suis legibus uteretur effecisse observavit Perdr. ) "

.

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G. LUDERITZ

Diaspora entendirent garder leur loi que Ptolemee et Seleucos leur

donneren t cette organisation politique speciale, le noA.t TEU!J.a " ( 47) . Mter Perdrizet, the assumption that Jews had normally possessed citizenship of the respective cities was dropped,55 but the inference Perdrizet had derived from this was retained -for all politeumata. The irony then is, that whereas scholars dealing with the history of the Jews usually point to the non:Jewish politeumata in order to substantiate the cause of a special legal position of these institu tions, this very idea - that politeumata were sort of public institu tions with special rights - was originally deduced from a mis conception of the legal position of the Jews. 3 . The Politeuma of the Jews

a) A Jewish politeuma in Alexandria? When, according to Pseudo-Aristeas, the translation of the Torah into Greek had been completed, Demetrius the librarian gathered the multitude of the Jews in Alexandria (§ 308: avvayaywv 6 �ll!J.llTPLOS TO nA.flSos TWV 'I ou8atwv) , and the scrolls were read out solemnly.5 6 In this context Pseudo-Aristeas uses the word poli teuma (§ 3 1 0) : KaSws 8€ civEyvwcrell Ta TEUXll, crTCivTES oi. i.EpE1s Kat Twv E P!J.llVEWV oi. npEcr�uTEpOL Kat Twv cino Tou noA.L TEU!J.aTos oY. TE T,youj.!EVOL Tou nA.T)Sous dnov . . . ( ''When the rolls had been read out, the priests and the elders of the translators and of those belonging to the 'politeuma' and the leaders of the multitude rose and said . . . ") . In this sentence four groups are listed: 'The priests', ' the elders of the translators' , ' the elders of those from the politeuma', and 'the leaders of the multitude' .57 As to the meaning 55 Strabo, for example, in referring to the situation in Cyrenaica (cited in Josephus A] 14. 1 1 5) makes a clear distinction between Jews and citizens, and the same holds true for the inscriptions set up by the politeuma of the Jews in Berenice. 5 6 Pseudo-Aristeas may have been inspired (as he seems in other parts of his booklet; see Murray 1975, 1 26f.) by 1 Esdr (cp. 9.38ff.: Kat cruviJxSTJ rrav To rr X.fi 8os . . . Kal. E O'TTJ E cr8 pas o L E pdJs Kal. d vayvw crTTJS' ToiJ VO J.l.OV . . . Kal. civaX.a�wv Ecr8pas To �t�Atov Tou v6J..Lou E-vwmov Tou rrX,iJ8ous ... Kat E-v Tci) X.ucrat TOV VO J.l.OV trd VTES' o peol. E O'TTJO'aV . In another context trpEO'�U T E pot T W V ' I ov8a( w v o r simply trpEcr�u TEpot a s representatives o f the people are

mentioned ( 1 Esdr 6.5; 2 Esdr 5.9; 6.7, 14; 10.8) . 57 IlpEcr�UTEpot are not necessarily older people; like 'senators', 'elders' often stands for members of a council. In the gospels trpEcr�uTEpot ( members of the Sanhedrin) are often mentioned along with d pX t E p E L' s a n d

ypaJ..LJ..LaTELS.

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

205

of ' politeuma' then, four possible interpretations could be considered: ( 1 ) 'Politeuma' stands for a politeuma of the Jews in Alexandria, comparable to the 'Politeuma of the Jews in Berenice' . In this case the alTo Tou lTOAl TEUIJ.UTOS can hardly be identical with TO TIA.fl8os, otherwise it would be difficult to understand how the ' elders from the politeuma' could be a different group from the 'leaders of the multitude' . The poUteuma then might have been a smaller circle of Jews, distinguishable somehow from the other Jews of Alexandria - fo r example persons with some property, who had organised themselves in a politeuma and were mentioned here separately because of their importance . If one tries - as is frequently done - to interpret 'politeuma' here as meaning the Jewish 'community' (in the sense of an organisation comprising all the Jews in Alexandria) , then - if one does not simply ignore the difficulties involved - either the text has to be altered, 58 or a complicated difference between the TipEa�uTEpot TWV alTo ToD lTOAl TEU IJ.UTOS and the i) you!J.EVOl has to be constructed, whi� h would require considerable effort. 59 (2) According to an interpretation of Zuckerman ( 1 988, 181-84) 'politeuma' here means the Jewish state in Palestine, the choice of the term being influenced, according to him, by the usage of ' politeuma' or related words for an idealized Jewish state in Hellenistic Jewish literature.60 Zuckerman pointed to the fact that 58 There are rather strong arguments against an alteration; see Schiirer 1 973ff., 3:88, note 2. 59 Ol T) you !J.EVOL Tou TTAfj 8ous does not seem to be a technical term; the wording in the paragraphs before § 3 1 0 is rather loose: Demetrius gathers n) TTAfj 8os T w v 'I ouBa( wv (which Josephus A] 1 2 . 1 07 renders as Tou s 'I ou8a( ous aTTavTas) , reads the translation to all (mien) 'in the presence of the translators' , and they (the multitude) ask that a copy be given Tot s TJYOUIJ.EVOLS mhwv. For a critique of Wendland's ( 1900, 1 28) attempt to solve the problem see Ruppel 1 927, 281 (Wendland thought, the TTpEa�un poL 'of the politeuma' were presbyters of the synagogue, as such no civil servants, and therefore distinguishable from the 'leaders of the multitude' ) . 60 "Pseudo-Aristeas' concept of Palestine, the idealized country the translators came from, provides the necessary clue. In his heavily Helle nized description, Jerusalem turns into a perfectly situated polis surrounded by abundant chora; the High Priest Eleazar . . . convokes the "citizens" (politai) on all important occasions. The divine law is the perfect constitution of the country; those who live according to it are described as T w v KaT ' au Td TTETTOALTEUIJ.E VWV Kat TTOALTEUOIJ.E VWV dv8pwv [§ 31 ] . This terminology, which is not without parallels in the Hellenistic Jewish literature, explains the choice of the term politeuma, in its most common meaning of a city-state-

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the translators hardly travelled alone from Palestine to Alexan dria - in § 1 72 they were sent J.lETa"Adas lTOAATlS , which has been rendered by Pelletier ( 1 962) as "avec une nombreuse escorte"; and the journey to Egypt was a visit on governmental level. If 'politeuma' signifies here the Jewish state, this would explain why the elders of the translators and the elders of the politeuma are so closely linked in Aristeas' sentence. Both groups would be representatives of Palestinian Jewry in contrast to the 'leaders' of the Jews living in Alexandria. It is true that 'politeuma' can signify 'state' or 'government' (One might add that 'politeuma' would also be an appropriate designation for the Sanhedrin, the sovereign body of the aristo cratic Jewish polity, whose members were frequently called lTpEcr�UTEpOL [ 'elders' ; see note 57] . That would be congruent with the somewhat complicated expression TWV dm) TOU lTOAL TEUJ.laTos the elders present would of course be only a small part of the elders, who constituted the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem) . However, it is doubtful whether a reader in antiquity could have easily under stood that 'the elders of those from the politeuma' should refer to representatives of the Jewish state in Palestine, who had not been mentioned anywhere else in the narrative. The fact that 'politeuma' often means 'state' or 'government' 61 suggests two other possible interpretations, which have not, as it seems, been proposed hitherto: ( 3) 'Politeuma' stands here for the Ptolemaic state, and the lTpEcr�UTEpOL were some dignitaries of the Ptolemaic court, like the librarian Demetrius, who was no Jew but was present, according to Pseudo-Aristeas, at the solemn reading of the translation. That would fit the context, since the matter is reported later to the king, who was not present himself at the occasion (§ 312) . ( 4) In a more technical sense 'politeuma' could refer to the politeuma of the city of Alexandria; the 'presbyteroi' would then be representatives of the polis Alexandria, who were present at the like, constitutional state formation, for the designation of Eleazar's Pale stine" (Zuckerman 1988, 182f. ) . 6 l Just one example for this meaning (Polybius 2 1 . 1 7. 1 2) : lTpE<J�EuTat . . . Kat 1rapd 'Po8 ( wv Kat 1rapd L!J.Vpva( wv Kat axEBov Twv € 1rt Td8E Tou Tau pou lTdVTWV TWV KaTOLKOUVTwv €9vwv Kat lTOALTEU!J.dTwv ("ambassadors . . . also from

the Rhodians and from the Smyrnans and almost all the peoples and states [or governments] living on this side of the Taurus mountains") .

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

207

reading. The rroA.( TEV!J.a Twv 'AA.E�av8pdwv is attested in another place as well: it is mentioned in the so-called Boule-papyrus (dated to either the first half of the first century A.D . or the last quarter of the first century B.C.) . 62 The proposition at stake in this document is that a city council (�ouA."Tl ) would see to it that "men who are uneducated and unlearned should not defile the presently pure politeuma of the Alexandrians" ( . . . TO rrA.( TEUIJ.U Twv 'AA.E�av8pdwv q[K]tpq�91! UTT(ipxov a8pETTTOL KUL avaywym 'YE'YOVOTES av8pWTTOL IJ.OA.uvwaL) . By the 'uncultured men' the Jews must be meant in the first place, and ihe 'politeuma' here is most probably identical with the citizen body - in a city founded by the promoter of democracy, Alexander. Thus according to interpretations (2) to ( 4) , a somewhat free translation would be "the priests and the representatives of the translators and of the state and the leaders of the multitude", leaving it open which state is meant. In all three cases there would be no problem in differentiating the ' elders of the poli teuma' from the leaders of the Jews in Alexandria. There is �n other argument for these interpretations: If 'politeuma' designates the sovereign body of a city or a state or government, there is usually no further determiner;63 if on the other hand it stands for a group of aliens or some other association, it is normally explicit ly said which association is meant. 64 This is however not a strict rule, if it is clear which politeuma is meant - as in the Jewish inscription for D. Valerius at the end6 5 - a simple TO rroM TEUIJ.U without a determiner may suffice; but in the passage of Pseudo Aristeas it would be very unclear if a politeuma of Jews should be referred to - especially if a politeuma of the Alexandrians existed in Alexandria also . Though the Boule-papyrus is a little later, it 62 Musurillo 1 954, no. 1, with bibliographical remarks and commentary on �P· 83-92; the text is also to be found in Sammelb. 4.7448 and in CPJ 2 . 1 50. 6 In the above cited sentence from the Boule-papyrus TWV 'AX.E�avBpE(wv is perhaps added to emphasize the contrast between the 'pure politeuma of the Alexandrian citizens' and the intruding 'uncultured' Jews (and possibly E�tians) , who were obviously not considered to be Alexandrian citizens. Thus, for example, in the inscription for M. Tittius ( cited below) TO rroX.( TEu�a Twv €v BEpEVLKTJ 'I ou8a(wv or To rroX.( TEu�a T)�wv , see the examples in this article and note 4 1 . 6 5 The other honorary decree passed by th� politeuma o f the Jews in Berenice ( SEG 1 6.93 1 ; Liideritz 1 983, no. 70, with bibliography) , where , after the politeuma had been specified in l. 1 3, it is a little further below just referred to as To rroX.I.TEU�a .

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does not seem probable that the politeuma mentioned there was a new phenomenon in Alexandria. And if it was possible at the time of Pseudo-Aristeas to talk of a ' Politeuma of the city of Alexandria' (which is to be assumed) , then he would have had to specify whether he meant a Jewish politeuma; otherwise the wording would not have been understandable, also in his time. 66 But, if he thought of the politeuma of the city of Alexandria, and if perhaps a 'politeuma of the Jews' didn' t exist at all, then the text makes sense the way it is formulated. One may add that it is rather doubtful whether a Jewish politeuma did exist in Alexan dria: if it was not only a private club of some Jews but exercised some administrative function in Alexandrian Jewry, the poli teuma (or the elders of the politeuma) would have represented something like a yEpoua(a (senate) . But it seems that the Jewry of Alexandria actually had a monarchic tradition; at the head was an 'ethnarch' (also called 'genarch' ) - at least at the time of Strabo. 6 7 A yEpoua( a which was to look after the interests of the Jews of Alexandria was first introduced by Augustus - possibly to assimilate the structure of the Jewish population in Alexandria to that in other cities. 68 Though the several possible interpretations discussed above cannot be discounted, the interpretation that the politeuma of the city of Alexandria was meant remains the most likely. At all events, the existence of a Jewish politeuma in Alexandria is very uncertain. b) Jewish politeumata in and around Leontopolis? There is, in the Archaeological Institute of the University of Gottingen, an epitaph of a man with the Jewish name 'A�pa�os dating from around the first century A.D . The stone was bought in Cairo but probably comes from the area of Leontopolis in the district of Heliopolis (there are similar inscriptions from this 66 This also holds true for 'politeuma' in the free rendering of the same story of the translation of the Torah by Josephus A] 1 2 . 1 08: Kat TWV E PJ.l.T)VEWV ol 1TpEal3uTEpot Kat Tou 1TOALTEUJ.laTos ol 1TpOEO'TTJK6TES .

6 7 Josephus A] 14.1 1 7; as to ethnarch as a title of the Hasmonaean princes see Schiirer 1973ff., 1 :333f., note 12. 68 Philo in Flaccum 74: Tij s yd p TJ J.l.ETE pas yE poua( as, 1\v 6 aWTft P Kal.

E li E P'YE TTJS LE I3aaTo s E 1TLJ.l.EATJO'OJ.l.E VTJV TWV 'I ou8a't KWV EL AETO J.l.ETd Tft V TOU yEvci pxou TE AEUTft V 8td Twv 1rpos Mdytov Mci � qw v i vTo>..w v . . . For a short

discussion and bibliography see Schiirer 1973ff., 3:92-94.

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

209

region) . Abramos exercised in two places the office of a rroA.L Tcl PXllS (or -os ) , and this has been interpreted by Louis Robert ( 1 940ff., 1 :2 1 ) to signify that Abramos stood at the head of two Jewish politeumata in two neighbouring places. The important lines of the epigram in this context are: 69 (5)

Oil< ciyE-pa.crTos Ecf>u yap civa TITOALV, ciAAa Ka't. apx1J Tiav8iJ!l£P €8vtKt] EcrTEcf>ET' €v crocf>tg.· 8tcrcrwv yap TE. T6m.uv TIOALTapxwv airr&s ETELIJ.W TJ1v 8t!J.E� 8amivrw €eav(xms xaptmv.

In E . Bernand's translation, who follows the interpretation of L. Robert: "En effet, il ne fut pas sans recevoir des honneurs dans sa ville, mais il a porte la couronne d'une magistrature de commu naute s' exen;ant sur tout le peuple, dans sa sagesse. A la tete, des citoyens de deux localites tu t' es vu a l'honneur, et tu as avec liberalite pourvu a la double depense."70 The crucial features of this interpretation are: E- SvLKij is (as rrav8il!J.4>) combined with apxiJ and not with aocf>(q. (Robert 1 940ff., 1 :20f.: 'Je crois qu'il ne faut pas rattacher E-SvLKlJ a crocf>(q., comme ont fait les divers editeurs et commentateurs, car, quelque sens que l'on veuille donner a aocf>( a, E-SvLKll ne donne pas un sens appro prie. ") ; and the term refers, according to Robert, to the Jewish people (20: "Quant a E8VLKT, , ce terme ne peut surprendre. Dans 1' epitaphe d'un Juif, ESvos ne peut etre la province d' Egypte, mais le peuple juif. ") . Then Abramos would have been 'crowned' with an cipxiJ rrav81l!J.4> E-SvLKlJ (Robert, 2 1 : "Abraham a rempli une magi strature sur tout 1' ethnos des Juifs dans sa ville") . Correspondingly Robert did not take the verb rroA.L TapxE-w to mean 'hold office of a rroA.LT
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«politarche» . Le Pseudo-Aristeas nous parle du rroA.( TEUjl.a des Juifs d 'Alexandrie, et nous avons des inscriptions emanant du 'ITOAl TEUjl.a TWV EV BEpEVlKlJ 'I ou8a(wv. Abraham a du etre, en deux localites, sans doute voisines, a Ia tete du rroA.LTEUjl.a des Juifs" (21 ) . But there are some problems: Robert seems not to have noticed that the title 'politarches' does occur in Egypt; in POxy. 745.4 (from about 1 A.D . ) an official with this title is mentioned, the context to be sure gives no information about his function: . . . ws Kal im€crxou 8L<1 Tou rroA.EL Tcipxou 8EocfJ(A.ou. Otherwise the title is common in Macedonia, where it designates city prefects. 71 If the title did exist in Egypt, however, a reader of the inscription would probably not have associated rroA.L Tapx€w with a Jewish politeuma - for gram matical reasons alone: rroA.L Tapx€ w can hardly be a compound formed from rroA.( TEUjl.a - for we would expect that to be rroA.L TEUjl.apx€ w . Moreover, the phrase E-OvLKfj E-v aocp[q. does make sense; for E- OvLKOS may in contrast to 'Jewish' denote something 'pagan': El au 'I ou8a1os imapxwv E-8vLKWs Kat OUK 'I ou8d(KWs (iJs, 'ITWs Tel E0V11 avayKci(ELS tou8at(nv (Ep. Gal. 2.14) . Then, also the following interpretation is possible: Abramos would have held in two places a civic magistrature (that of a 'politarch') ; this was an apxl) rrciv8lljl.OS - that is, over the whole population, Jews and non:Jews. This office was bestowed upon him through the 'wisdom of the gentiles' . That would fit the clause OUK d y€ pacrTOS £ cpu yd p avd 'ITTOALV - he was honoured throughout the town (thus by the Jews and the others) . The poetical wording of the epigram makes it difficult to say what exactly is meant - at least until we know of more politarchs from Egypt and understand their function better. It is, however, very uncertain whether the existence of two Jewish politeumata in neighbouring places should be assumed on the strength of this inscription. c) The Politeuma of the Jews in Berenice The city of Berenice in Cyrenaica is the only known site where a Jewish organisation with the designation 'politeuma' is really attested. Two inscriptions of this politeuma have survived; they are both honorary decrees. The interpretation of these has had a de71 Gschnitzer in Pauly & Wissowa 1894ff., Suppl. 1 4:483-500; see also Act.Ap. 1 7.6, 8.

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cisive influence on the understanding of all sorts of politeumata. O n e 7 2 is for a certain Decimus Valerius Dionysios, who had had the floor of the building called ' amphitheatron' stuccoed and the walls of the same building stuccoed and decorated with paintings. This was a benevolent contribution for the politeuma (11. 25f. : £ n ( 8o 1J.a TWL TIOALTEUIJ.UTL ) . He must have been a Jew, since the politeuma freed him from public services and only Jews could have been held liable for the performance of liturgies about which the politeuma of the Jews could decide (II. 1 4f. : . . . �q� Et E v d.A.n TOUP'YllTo[v trdJa11s [A.E ] LT oup[ ylJas ) . Besides h e i s crowned 'by name' with a crown of olive-branches and ribbon at every gather ing and new moon, and the archons were to write the decree on a stele of Parian marble and put it up in the most prominent pla� e in the 'amphitheatron' . The decree ends with the outcome of the ballot: "All (pebbles) white" (1. 2 1 : AEUKal. naaat) . Parts of the stone are badly preserved and some details of the decree remain obscure, including the exact date, but one may guess that the inscription is probably from the first century B . C . The other, better preserved of the two decrees runs as follows:73

5

10

15

[ "E hous vE' cf.>a.GxJ> KE' hrt cruA>.6you Tf)s crKTJvolTll'YLas ETTL apx6VTWV KAe-av8pou TOU �TpaTovtKou Eupavopos Tov 'AptcrTwvos �wcrt yE:vovs Tov llicrtmrou 'Av8poJ..Laxou Tou 'Av8poJ..Laxou M.wvtou tAU>vt8ou Tou 'Ayfr J..Lovos AiJToKAE-ous Tou Zflvwvos �wvtKou Tov 9Eo86Tou 'I wcrilrrou Tou �TpaTwvos ETTEL MCipKos TtTTlOS :ueTOU ui.Os- AlJ..LtALa civilp KaAbs Kat ciyaeas rrapayEVTJ8E'Ls Els TI]v mapxdav ETTL 8T!J..LOOLWV rrpayJ..LaTWV Tflv TE rrpooTacrtav aiJTwv E-rrot'flcraTo cptA.av8pw rrws Ka't KaNJJs Ev TE 1f]t avacrTpofl llaUXlOV �8os EV8tKvUJlEVQS act 8taTEAWV TU'YXaVEl ou 116vov BE €v TOUTOtS 6(3apT) €auTov rrapE-cr XllTaL OJVJJ. Kdt To1s KaT' l8tav €vTuyxavoucrt

72 Roux & Roux 1949; SEC 1 6.931; Reynolds 1 977, no. 1 8; Liideritz 1983, no. 70. 73 Some of the numerous publications: GIG 3.5361 (with bibliography) ; IGRom. 1 . 1 024; Roux & Roux. 1949, 283-85, 294-96 (with bibliography and photograph) ; Reynolds 1 977, no. 1 7; Liideritz 1983, no. 71 ; Schiirer 1 973ff., 3:94, note 20.

212

20

25

G. LUDERITZ TWV iTOALTwv ETL BE Ka't TOtS EK TOU iTOALTdr tJ.aTOS ipGv 'I ou&i'LOLS Kru KOlvTJ Kru KaT' 't8tav ElJxpTJOTOV iTpoocrTacrtav iTOLOUfJ.EVOS OU 8taA.EtTIEL Tf)s 'tB'tas KaA.oKaya8tas �ta Tipaacrwv if>v xaptv €�E Tots lipxooot Kill TGx. TioA.tTEu tJ.aTl TWV Ev &pcVLKIJ 'I ou8atwv EiTaLVEcrat 1C au TOV Kill aTEavow 6votJ.acrTt KaB' El<�v avvo8ov Kru VOUfJ.TJVLav crTEqxlVWl EAalVWl KaL ATJfJ.VlcrKWl TOUs BE tlpXOVTas avaypat]Jat TO tfdWtcrtJ.a e'ts crTI]A.TJV A.t8ou Ilaptou Kru 8Etvm c'ts Tov EiTLOTJfJ.OTaTOV TOiTOV Tou Ctf.lt8Echpou AEu Kat iTa crm

( ''Year 55, 25 th Phaoph, at the gathering of the feast of tabernacles, at the time of the archons Cleandros of Stratonicos, Euphranor of Ariston, Sosigenes of Sosippos, Andromachos (5) of Androma chos, Marcus Laelius Onasion of Apollonios, Philonides of Hage mon, Autocles of Zenon, Sonicos of Theodotos, Josepos of Straton: Seeing that Marcus Tittius, son of Sextus, (from the tribus) Aemilia, ( 1 0) a fine and good man, since he came to the prefec ture over 'public affairs' has been exercising their governorship humanely and rightly and has always displayed a calm charac ter in his behaviour, ( 1 5) and has not only been showing himself in these things not burdensome but also for the citizens meeting with him privately, and besides, in exercising a useful governor ship also for the Jews of our politeuma collectively and privately, has not (20) ceased to act worthy of his own nobility - therefore the archons and the politeuma of the Jews in Berenice decided to commend him and crown him 'by name' at every gathering and new moon with a crown of olive-branches and (25) ribbon, and that the archons have the decree written on a stele of Parian stone and have it set up in the most prominent place in the ' amphi theatron' . All white.") The date corresponds most likely to the 2 7th October 43 B . C . This is not the place t o go into the details of translation, to comment upon the person and function of the person honoured, the honours conferred, or the historical context of this document.74 74 The dating mentioned here has not been proposed hitherto. The reasons will be given in my forthcoming book "Die Juden der Cyrenaika: Zeugnisse zur Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte einer religiosen Minderheit in der Antike". There, also a discussion of the other points mentioned will be found and a review of the history of the discovery of the two inscriptions.

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

213

Just one point may be mentioned because it has some bearing on the question of what the politeuma was: The ' amphitheatron ' cannot have been a public amphitheatre for games with wild animals and gladiators. Such amphitheatres had no stuccoed floor, a permanent amphitheatre made of stone would be ana chronistic at that time in Cyrenaica, and it would be improbable that the Jewish politeuma had a right to put up inscriptions in a public place.75 The .word df.L
7S Caputo 1955, 283-85, and Gabba 1958, 64f. argued for the possibility of a stuccoed floor in public amphitheatres, but their arguments depend on misunderstandings; the whole question of this 'amphitheatron' and amphi theatres will be discussed in my book (see previous note) . 76 The so-�alled dictionary of Suidas has (s.v. d.!J.cpL8EaTpov) : 'AIJ.cpL8EaTpov· ,

TOiTOS iTUVTUX08EV iTEpLUK:OiTOUIJ.EVOS.

77 Dionysius of Halicarnassus calls the old Circus maximus in Rome, which he describes as a building in U form, an d. !J.cpL8€ aTpov l TITI6 8po!J.ov (4.44. 1 ) or (3.68.3) aToav d.!J.cpL8€aTpov. 78 Vitruvius De architectura 5.2: " . . . curia in primis est facienda ad digni tatem municipii sive civitatis. Et si quadrata erit, quantum habuerit latitu dinis dimidia addita constituatur altitudo; sin autem oblonga fuerit, longi tudo et latitudo componantur, et, summa composita, eius dimidia pars sub lacunariis altitudini detur." Smaller cities could have bouleuteria of about 26 x 20 m; see McDonald 1943, 254, ground plans after p. 308. 79 Libanius (Descriptiones 2 and 4) tells of landscape-paintings in a bouleuterion - with a town and people having gone in spring into the fields, relaxing under trees, also a horse was painted, etc. (Descr. 4) . 80 McDonald 1943, 272-76. -

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for meetings, probably the one where the politeuma and the archons met regularly. The question what the politeuma of the Jews in Berenice was may be subdivided into three questions: What was its legal position versus the city of Berenice and versus the Jews? Of whom did it consist - all the Jews of Berenice or a smaller group? What can we know about its internal organisation? . The legal position of the politeuma. In some documents cited by Josephus, Jewish organisations in other parts of the world are termed avvoBos- or elaaos- - both terms are typical for associations or clubs. �u vo8os- is a very general designation for all sorts of associations, whereas the term 8( aaos- normally stresses the reli gious aspect of an association; in the passage cited by Josephus though, 8 ( aaos- is used in a juridical context referring to asso ciations in Rome and stands for 'collegium' . 8 1 The term rroA(TEu�a does not speak against a privately constituted association, and there is no indication in the inscriptions from Berenice that the politeuma differed in terms of rights or duties vis-a-vis the polis from other Jewish organisations elsewhere. It should be noted however that the Jewish organisations seem to be at variance in some respects with the common types of clubs or associations known otherwise: for Josephus the very existence of the Jewish 'collegia' or avvo80L is closely linked with the fact that Jews could live according to their traditional laws, that they had their own jurisdiction, where they could conclude contracts or settle dis putes among each other (see the texts in note 8 1 ) . Strabo attests a similar partial autonomy in legal matters for the Jews of Cyre naica, 82 and this would also in Cyrenaica presuppose among other things some administrative organisation, probably also an archive of their own . It is likely that the politeuma of the Jews in

81 A] 1 4. 2 1 5f. : Kat yap fd.LOS' Ka'lcrap . . . E"v T4) 8taTd.y!J.aTL KwMwv Std.crous cruvE pE L V OUTE O'UV8E LTTVa TTOLEL V, O IJ.Ol WS' 8€ Kd.yw TOUS' a A.A.ous S t d. O'OUS' KwMwv TOlJTOLS' 1J.6VOLS' E"mTp€rrw KaTa Ta rrd.Tpta €9'rl Kat v61J.LIJ.a cruv
WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

215

Berenice was such an administrative organisation. Some features of the politeuma seem to substantiate this assumption: the number of archons (seven in the inscription for D. Valerius, nine in the decree for M. Tittius) seems too large for a smaller club consisting of some Jews,83 and the voting procedure is rather complicated and untypical for private voluntary associations.84 Thus one may conclude: there is no information about the legal position of tqe Jewish corporation 'politeuma' vis-a-vis the city of Berenice. Jn this respect the politeuma might not have , differed substantially from other privately constituted corpora tions. But actually, for the Jews of Berenice the politeuma might have exercised governmental functions -judicial, admini�tra tive, notarial, etc. The members of the politeuma - all the Jews of Berenice or a smaller circle ? The Jewish population of Cyrenaica consisted of men,

women and children, and they were either free or slaves. How many (all or a smaller body and from which of these groups) belonged in Berenice to the politeuma, and had therefore e.g. the right to vote concerning the ratification of decrees involving expenses for the politeuma? If we go by the rather generally accepted view, that 'politeuma' stands for the Jewish community (see above note 3) , then every Jew and Jewess of Berenice would have had the right to vote - this would imply a radically democratic tradition, which is surely rather unusual. We do not know how large the Jewish population of Berenice was, but it must have been considerable - not just a few hundred Jews.85 If one looks in the two inscriptions - for D. Valerius and 8 3 Zuckerman 1 988, 1 79f., thought that the politeuma of the Jews in Berenice may have been a small private voluntary association of only some of the Jews of Berenice - those with a special interest in Greek democratic traditions. 84 As to archons in associations - often there is only one archon - see for example Poland 1 909, 362f. Normally in private associations every member could propose a decree, and usually there are no records of the ballot result (an exception though is the association of the �WTTJpLacrTa( in Athens) ; see Ziebarth 1 896, 1 44-46. The formula expressing that the decree was sanc tioned runs simply € 8o�Ev nl} KOLV� or Tots ewcruhaLs, etc. (Larfeld 1 907, 542 ) , and not € 8o�E TOL S" a pxoucrL Kat . . . as here. For the parliamentary procedures of the Jewish politeuma on the other hand see below. 85 Strabo (cited by Josephus A] 1 4. 1 14-18, where he refers to the year 87/86 B . C . ) writes that the Jewish population in Cyrenaica was generally large. Later, during the communal riots between Jews and Greeks, the popu lation around Berenice and Teucheira suffered severely :- Hadrian founded a

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M. Tittius - for hints giving some information about the size of the politeuma, one comes across the voting procedure. According to the formula £ 8o�E TOL S a pxouaL Kat TW L TTOAL TEU j.laTL TWV E V BEpEVLKlJ 'I ou8atwv a draft of the decree was probably worked out by the archons (most likely a proposal drafted by one or more of the archons) , then approved by them, and later at the next meeting submitted to the politeuma for balloting. 86 The politeuma voted with pebbles ( �f)cpOL ) , those representing positive votes were white ( A.E u KaL n a a a L ) . 8 7 If there had been any negative votes in connection with the two surviving decrees, the numbers of posi tive and negative votes would have been given, and we would know rather precisely how big the politeuma was. But it can hardly have been very large: if the politeuma had consisted of the whole Jewish population of Berenice (or also of just all the Jewish men) - that is, if the politeuma had been something like a Jewish popular assembly -, they would probably have voted by a show of hands (xnpoTov(a) . That was for example the normal procedure in Athenian popular assemblies (Aristotle Atheniensum respublica 42. 1 , 61 . 1-7) . I t is not very likely that huge numbers of pebbles were counted. For comparison: in two other decrees from Cyrenaica, where there was a voting procedure with pebbles, the numbers of votes recorded were 109 and 53 (see below) . A resolution from 1 58/59 A.D . from Macedonia (Vatin 1 962) has the closest parallel to the formula AEUKat nuaaL outside Cyre naica, and it shows how the voting proceeded if a plebiscite was involved: this is a decree which had to be ratified both by the council (�ouA.il) and by the people (8f)jJ.OS ; ll. 7-9: 6.6yj.la TO Kupw8Ev im6 TE Tf)s �ouA.f)s Kat Tou 81l ll-ou dnEaTaA.KaiJ.EV npos aE Ka8cinEp 6 VO IJ.OS avvTaaan ) . Mter deliberation (ll. 1 5f. : TOL S �ouA.E uTa'L s �ouA.EuaajJ.EVOLS) the council voted -with pebbles (those for positive new city between these two cities to repopulate the area. Such a large number of victims in this part of Cyrenaica would hardly be understandable if the Jewish population of Berenice and Teucheira had been of a comparatively moderate size. 86 For the interpretation of such formulas (one of the most important sources for types of constitution and parliamentary conduct in Greek cities) see Larfeld 1 902, 644-46, 661-67; Guarducci 1967ff., 2:13-18, 41-47, 51f. 87 They need not necessarily have been of stone. In Athens they were made of bronze having the words \II H O� 8HMO�I A inscribed (Aristotle A theniensum respublica 6; Boegehold 1 963, with picture) ; the white colour suggests that the !J;fl ot were of stone, shells or similar material.

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

217

votes were white) ; after that the decree was ratified by the popular a s s e m b ly - by a show of hands : KUL lTEpL TOU TOU t/J-rl cfJou 8LEVEX8da11s E'YEVETO m1aaL A.EuKaL 'ErrEXELpOTOVllUEV 6 8flflOS ("And when there was a ballot about this pro and con, the result was: All white . The people confirmed by a show of hands. ") . That (certain) decrees had to be confirmed by plebiscite was common practice. In Attica, for example, any recording on stone - which involved costs for the public treasury - had to be authorized by the people and the re�pective resolution had to be included in the text of the decree.88 · The cities of Cyrenaica on the other hand had a less demo cratic tradition . Here costly honours could be passed witho ,u t a plebiscite just by the council (on a proposal of and after apprqval by the gerontes) . Thus in a decree for a certain Aleximachos from Teucheira/ Arsinoe which had been decided by the gerontes and the boule: 89 8E86x8aL TOLS y£ pmaL Kq� TCh [�)W�UL (11. 61f.) . This was explicitly an honour bestowed by the 'polis' : orrws Kal OL AOllTOL [8)H[)pEVTES TclV TUS lTOALOS avurr6[ahoA.ov EUXUPLUTlUV . . . 9 0 The gerontes and the boule decided "that the city shall erect for him a bronze statue" (ll. 66f. : av8Ef.LEV UUTWL TclV lTOALV av8pLciVTU xaA.�lj LQV) . The costs incurred were to be paid from the public treasury (ll. 76ff. : EK 8af.Loa( wv) . And the decree ends with the result of the ballot: AEUKal pe' ( "109 white") . Decrees which could be passed just by a boule (more exact: first by a smaller circle and then by the boule) are otherwise rare,9 1 and this seems to b e a peculiarity of Cyrenaica. This may also explain why the formula AEUKal rraaaL (or with a number instead of rraaaL ) is uncommon elsewhere: voting with pebbles is a procedure occurring in a boule or a court of justice, in popular assemblies voting is done differently. It is important to note the difference from the above mentioned decree from Macedonia: there the boule decided on a motion, which was then submitted to the popular assembly; only the result of the ballot in the boule was reported with the formula rruaaL A.EuKaL In Teucheira/Arsinoe it is the finally ratified decree which was passed by the boule -with a 88 Larfeld 1902, 601 . 89 Reynolds 1975; Laronde 1 987, 472-78. Citations follow Laronde's text. 90 L� . 56fr,. : " . . . so that the remaining who see the unconcealed gratitude

of the ctty . . . 9 1 Larfeld 1 907, 474.

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similar formula, but this formula has another significance, because here it records the final resolution. There is another inscription from Cyrenaica where something similar is likely to have happened. It is a decree from Mgernes probably also from the first century B.c.92 The beginning of the inscription, where the body deciding upon the resolution must have been mentioned, is lost, but the decree ends with the note that 53 persons voted positively (again with white pebbles) . These 53 persons can hardly have been the whole 'people' of Mgernes, but must have been a smaller body. This body, representing the 'village' , decided upon honours, which were 'a gratitude of the village' , and the person thus honoured was exempted from all taxes which were 'due to the village' . Again, the decree was probably passed just by a kind of boule without plebiscite. This seems to have been an old tradition in Cyrenaica. The earliest decree from this region ratified by the boule without approval by a popular assembly - according to the editor from the fourth century B . C . - is a decree conferring the status of rrpo �Evos ;93 the decree is from Euhesperides, the city in whose location Berenice was later founded: 'EOpwv Kat yEp6vnuv € rray6vnuv 'Eft T ci l �wA.Civ Eil � L ov Eu�L6Tw, 'AyE-OTpaTov Moaxl.wvos, �upaKoal.os, EuarrEpLT
Fraser, in his edition of the inscription, thought that a plebiscite was still pending.95 A decree which could be passed just by the boule (upon a motion of the ephori and the gerontes) must have looked very unusual to him (in 1 951 he could not have known the decree from Arsinoe mentioned above) ; but on the other hand it is obviously unlikely that a decree which had not yet been ratified should be inscribed on stone. 92 SEG 9.354; Laronde 1987, 334-36 (with commentary and bibliography) . 93 A rrpo�Evos is a foreign 'public friend' or 'guest' of a state, often one

who represented the interests of the state or its citizens in his own community. 94 Fraser 1 95 1 ; SEG 18.772. "Upon motion of the ephors and the gerontes the council decided (av8avw) that Eubios, son of Eubiotos, (and) Hagestratos, son of Moschion,, (both) Syracusians, shall be proxenoi of Euhesperides, they and their descendants." 95 Fraser 1 95 1 , 1 37: "The decree was presumably probouleutic, that is to say, it was probably ratified in some way, perhaps as part of a comprehensive decree conferring proxeny on several persons, by the popular assembly."

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

219

Thus, that honorary decrees could be passed by just a small body (such as a yEpoucr(a) and the boule seems to be specific for Cyrenaica. Probably connected with this is the occurrence of the formulae AEUKal p8 or similar as referring to the final ratification of the decrees - these formulae are in this form typical of Cyrenaica too. The connection between these two features would be the fact that a voting procedure involving the counting of pebbles is only usual in a body such as a boule. In the two Jewish decrees, the ' archons' and the 'politeuma' exercised the san'le functions as the 'gerontes' and the 'boule' in the decree from Arsinoe; in all these cases the honours thus accorded imply costs. And obviously the voting procedure was the same. Joyce M. Reynolds had already pointed to the fact that the formula A.EuKal m1craL in the two Jewish inscriptions seems to be derived from Cyrenaican practice, 9 6 but perhaps one may go a little further : not only the formula, but also the parliamentary procedure in the passing of decrees, and thereby probably also the 'constitution ' of the Jews in Berenice, seems to be modelled -,at least in some points - after the parliamentary practice and constitutions of Cyrenaica. Thus one may conclude from the voting procedure that: ( 1 ) The politeuma is likely not to have consisted of the whole Jewish community of Berenice - a count ing of pebbles (in a probably secret ballot) rather seems to be typical for smaller bodies; ( 2 ) The politeuma might have functioned as something like a boule, at least in so far as the competences, powers and the structures, that this body had, are concerned. Apart from the mode of voting, the nature of the meeting place might give some indication as to the probable size of the politeuma. It has been mentioned above that the 'amphitheatron' appears to have been a building where the politeuma met, and that it might have been constructed like a 'bouleuterion' - a city hall. It will rather have been smaller than the bouleuterion of a city; but, even if it was a large building, it could at the most have accommodated a few hundred people. If the assumption is correct, i.e. that the 'amphitheatron' was something like a bouleuterion, it '

96 Reynolds 1 977, 245, commenting upon the inscription for M. Tittius: "the description of the favourable votes in 1. 28 appears to be lifted from local Greek practice."

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would be congruent with the theory proposed here: that is, that the politeuma was modelled on the councils in the cities of Cyre naica.97 The internal organisation of the politeuma. At the head of the Jew ish politeuma in Berenice were archons whose number varied to some extent in the course of time. Whether there were other functionaries as well is not evident from the two decrees. "Apxwv is a very common designation for officials in all sorts of organi sations. There are archons at the head of cities (as in Athens) and also in clubs or associations, but there they are not frequent in pre Christian times.98 The different Jewish kinds of archons in the diverse countries of the antique world should probably not simply be equated. The archons of the politeuma in Berenice may have had different positions and functions than e.g. in later times the 'archons' in Jewish communities of Rome or the archons of the synagogue (lTpoaEVXll ) of the Theban Jews in Arsinoe/Crocodilo polis.99 "Apxwv denotes persons at the head of corporations, and the nature of the post depends on the character of the respective organisation. The archons of the Jewish politeuma in Berenice 97 There is perhaps some difficulty with ll. 1 7-19 of the decree for M. Tittius, where it is written that - as he did for the citizens of Berenice meeting with him privately - M. Tittius has exercised "a useful governor ship also for the Jews of our politeuma collectively and privately." If the politeuma was an administrative body for all the Jews, one might rather expect that M. Tittius should be lauded for his administration vis-a-vis the jews (and not only vis-a-vis the Jews of the politeuma) . That the politeuma seems to express its thanks only for the useful administration versus its own members would fit better, if the politeuma was only a private club (which would speak for its members only) , or if the politeuma was an organisation comprising all the Jews. But perhaps one should not overinterpret the politeuma's use of formulas of speech, and perhaps M. Tittius had only been dealing with members of the politeuma. At any rate, if one takes the politeuma to have been a private club of only some Jews, one would have to accept that this club had a very unusual mode of taking decisions, and if one thinks that all the Jews of Berenice were members of this politeuma, it would follow that the Jewish population of Berenice was either quite insignificant or that a large politeuma had a ridiculously complicated voting system for decrees. 98 Poland 1 909, 362f.; San Nicolo 1972, 2:62. 99 dpxovTwv 'I [ou]8�(wv rrpoaEuxfis 9T]�a( wv in an account of receipts and expenditures on the water-supply from Arsinoe/Crocodilopolis ( CPJ 2.432.57) ; as to the archons of several Jewish communities in Rome cp. CIJ 1 , pp. LXXXVII - XCI. Here the title occurs also with children: CIJ 1 .88 - an apxwv [vfJ]mos at the age of eight years and two months; CI] 1 .402 - ht KouA.os '};a�E1vos �EAA.cipxwv [archon designatus] BoA.ov�VT]aLwv ETWV � �TJVWV l 1

I .

221

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

held office for one year - the decrees are dated after them (in a similar way the city of Berenice dated officially after the annual priest of Apollo) . 1oo Part of their business was to decide on decrees which were then submitted to the politeuma for ratification. Besides they were - if this was decided - responsible for the publication of the decrees; this is noted at the ends of the two surviving documents. The politeuma Q'ad funds at its disposal. With this money, for example, inscrip�ions could be financed; and it probably had a building, the 'amphitheatron' . How the funds were obtained is not. quite clear, but it seems that at least wealthier persons were under obligation to perform liturgies, from which obligation they c.�uld occasionally be freed by the politeuma. Meetings were probably held regularly - as it seems on Jewish holidays. 1o1 Conclusion: It is, of course, difficult to arrive at reliable conclusions from a few facts like the voting procedure, the name of a probably Jewi �h building and the assumed rather large size of the Jewish popula tion - all this amounts at the most to something like circum stantial evidence. But if one accepts a certain probability that the politeuma of the Jews in Berenice may have been a kind of council - comparable in some respects to the 'boule' in the cities and perhaps also villages of Cyrenaica -, then the question arises which social group did the politeuma consist of. It is possible that the use of the term 'politeuma' does not so much derive from the usage of the word for all sorts of associations (politeuma of 100 Cp. Reynolds 1977, no. 3, 1. 1: L A.B ' E-TTt lcp€ws Tou 'ATT6A.A.wvos Avaws ( "year 34, at the time of the priest of Apollo, Lysios ) ; and no. 1 3: E TT ' 'ApLcrTo8
E TL BE: Kat E TTt Twv ToiJ TTOALTE U JlaTos n i wx u.3 v aTEavoiJ a6aL 8La TTavTo s ECaV4J ) .

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soldiers, of the goddess Sachypsis, of the Boeotians, etc.) ; the usage of 'politeuma' for the ruling class in the cities (as for example in Cyrene) may also have been a major source; the title 'archon' is at that time more characteristic of cities than of associations. 1 o 2 Cyrenaican cities obviously had oligarchic constitutions, and the Jews had an aristocratic tradition too. Josephus, referring to the Sanhedrin and the high priests, sometimes talks of the 'boule' and the ' archons' in Jerusalem; 10 3 and some Jewish cities outside of Jerusalem were also administered by a boule . 104 Sometimes a council of 70 (or 71 ) men is attested.1 05 It is possible that in the Jewish diaspora of Cyrenaica a special form of political institution developed, which originated from a mutual influence of Jewish and (a specific Cyrenaican) Hellenistic practice. That means, one has to reckon with the possibility that the Jewish politeuma in the two inscriptions from Berenice is a local peculiarity of the Jewish diaspora in Cyrenaica. This might explain why the term is not really attested outside of Cyrenaica, and why it is not mentioned in Josephus or other antique authors in connection with the Jewish diaspora - in contrast with the considerable career the term ' politeuma' has had in the modern historiography of the diaspora.

102 That the functions of 'politeuma' and 'council' could merge is perhaps not without parallel. In some cities after the end of the third century terms like ol 1TOAL TEUO J.l.EVOL or To Kotvov Twv 1TOAL TEVOJ.l.E VWV seem to stand for �ouA.EuTa( (see note 1 6 above and the text referred to) . 103 For example B] 2.331 : J.l.ETaTIE J.l.t/Jd J.l.EVOS" Tous TE d pxtEpE'ls Kat TTt V �ouA.r1v; 2.405: ol. TE dpxovTES" Kat �ouA.EuTaL 104 Schiirer 1 973ff., 2:1 84f. (with literature) . 105 Examples from Batanaea, Galilee, Alexandria in Schiirer 1 973ff., 2:210f. ' Seventy' is a number which might seem possible also for the poli teuma in Berenice - it lies between 1 08 (the majority in a vote in Arsinoe, a city) and 53 ( the number of positive votes in a village) ; but of course this is not more than mere speculation.

WHAT IS THE POLITEUMA?

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ABBREVIATED LITERATURE Abbreviations of classical works, epigraphical and papyrological publications are as in Liddell & Scott 1 968, with two exceptions: CPJ : Tcherikover, Victor A., Alexander Fuks & Menahem Stern, eds. 1 95764. Corpus Papyrorum judaicarum, vol. 1-3. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Univ. Press. For the Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum the more common abbreviation SEC is used here . . Applebaum, Shim'.( m. 1 979. jews and Greeks in ancient Cyrene. Transl. S. Apple�aum. Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity, �ol. 28. Leiden: Brill. Bernand, Etienne. 1 969. Inscriptions metriques de l 'Egypte, greco - romaine: Recherches sur la poesie epigrammatique des Crees en Egypte. Annales litteraires de l'Universite de Besan�on, no. 98. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. Bernand, E tienne. 1 975-8 1 . Recueil des inscriptions grecques du Fayoum. Vol. 1 , L a <<meris» d 'Herakleides. Vol. 2 , La <<meris» de Themistos. Vol. 3 , L a <<meris» de Polemon. Leiden: Brill (vol. 1 ) ; Institut Fran�ais d'Archeo logie Orientale du Caire, Bibliotheque d'etude, vols. 79, 80 (vols. 2, 3) . Biscardi, Arnaldo. 1 984. Polis politeia politeuma. In Atti del XVII congresso internazionale di papirologia, vol. 3, 1 201-15. Napoli: Centro Internazionale per lo Studio dei Papiri Ercolanesi. Boegehold, Alan L. 1 963. Toward a study of Athenian voting procedure. Hesperia 32:366-74. Bowman, Alan K. 1 97 1 . The town councils of Roman Eg;ypt. American Studies in Papyrology, vol. 1 1 . Toronto: Hakkert. Caputo, Giacomo. 1 955. Note sugli edifici teatrali della Cirenaica. In Anthemon: Scritti di archeologia e di antichita classiche in onore di Carlo Anti, 28 1-9 1 . Firenze: G. C. Sansoni. Clerc, Michel. 1 885. Inscription de Nysa. Bulletin de correspondance hellenique 9:124-31. Deschamps, Gaston, & Georges Cousin. 1887-1904. Inscriptions du sanctuaire de Zeus Panamaros. Parts 1-9. Bulletin de correspondance hellenique 1 1 :22538, 373-9 1 ; 1 2:82-104, 249-73, 479-90; 15:1 69-209; 28:20-53, 238-62, 34552. Engers, M. 1 926. Politeuma. Mnemosyne, n.s., 54: 154-61 . Fraser, P. M. 1 95 1 . An inscription from Euesperides. Societe Royale d ' Archeologie d 'Alexandrie, Bulletin 39: 1 32-43. Fraser, P. M. 1 960. Inscriptions from Ptolemaic Egypt. Berytus 1 3 ( 1 959/60) : 1 23-61. Gabba, Emilio. 1 958. Iscrizioni greche e latine per lo studio della Bibbia. Sintesi dell' oriente e della Bibbia, no. 3. [Torino] : Marietti. Guarducci, Margherita. 1 967-78. Epigrafia Greca. Vols. 1-4. Roma: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato. Kasher, Aryeh. 1 985. The jews in Hellenistic and Roman Eg;ypt: The struggle for equal rights. Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum, no. 7. Tiibingen: Mohr. Larfeld, Wilhelm. 1 902. Handbuch der griechischen Epigraphik. Vol. 2, Die attischen Inschriften. Leipzig: 0 . R. Reisland. Larfeld, Wilhelm. 1 907. Handbuch der griechischen Epigraphik. Vol. 1 , Einlei tungs- und Hilfsdisziplinen, Die nicht-attischen Inschriften. Leipzig: 0. R. Reisland.

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Laronde, Andre. 1 987. Cyrene et la Libye hellenistique: Libykai historiai. Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique� Lesquier, Jean. 191 1 . Les Institutions militaires de l'Egypte sous les Lagides. Paris: E. Leroux. Levi, Mario Attilio. 1 963. I politeumata e la evoluzione della societa ellenica nel IV sec. a. C. La parola del passato 1 8:321-36. Liddell, Henry George, & Robert Scott. 1968. A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented by H. Stuart Jones, with a Supplement edited by E. A. Barber. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Liebenam, W. 1 890. Zur Geschichte und Organisation des romischen Vereinswesens. Leipzig: Teubner. Liideritz, Gert. 1 983. Corpus jiidischer Zeugnisse aus der Cyrenaika. Beihefte zum Tiibinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients, Reihe B, no. 53. Wiesbaden: L. Reichert. McDonald, William A. 1 943. The political meeting places of the Greeks. The John Hopkins University Studies in Archaeology, no. 34. Baltimore: John Hopkins Press. , Macridy, Th. 1 904. A travers les necropoles sidoniennes. Revue biblique 1 3 ( n.s. 1 ) : 547-72. Mendel, Gustave. 1 9 1 2-1 4. Catalogue des sculptures grecques, romaines et byzantines. Musees Imperiaux Ottomans. Vols. 1-3. Reprint 1 966. Roma: Bretschneider. Mitteis, Ludwig, & Ulrich Wilcken. 1912. Grundziige und Chrestomathie der Papyruskunde. Parts 1 ( 1 )-2 (2) . Leipzig: Teubner. Murray, 0. 1 975. Aristeas and his sources. Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 1 15 ( Studia patristica 12) : 123-28. Musurillo, Herbert A. 1 954. The acts of the pagan martyrs: Acta Alexandrinorum. Oxford: Clarendon. Nilsson, Martin P. 1 906. Griechische Feste von religioser Bedeutung. Leipzig: Teubner. Oppermann, Hans. 1924. Zeus Panamaros. Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten, vol. 19, Heft 3. Giessen: Topelmann. Pauly, August, & Georg Wissowa, eds. 1894-1 980. Paulys Real - Encyclopiidie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Neue Bearbeitung, begonnen von G. Wissowa, fortgefiihrt von W. Kroll, K. Mittelhaus & K. Ziegler. 'Vols. 1 ( 1 ) - suppl. 15 und Register. Stuttgart: Metzler (vol. 1 - suppl. 6) ; Stuttgart I Miinchen: Druckenmiiller ( suppl. 7ff.) . Pelletier, Andre, ed. 1 962. Lettre d'Aristee a Philocrate. Sources chretiennes, no. 89. Paris: Ed. du Cerf. Perdrizet, Paul. 1 899. Syriaca, part 2. Revue archiologique, 3rd series, 35 (2) : 3453. Poland, Franz. 1 909. Geschichte des griechischen Vereinswesens. Preisschriften gekront und herausgegeben von der Fiirstlich Jablonowskischen Gesell schaft zu Leipzig, no. 38. Leipzig: Teubner. Reynolds, Joyce M. 1 975. A civic decree from Tocra in Cyrenaika. Archaeo logica Classica 25-26 ( 1973-74) : 622-30. Reynolds, Joyce M. 1 977. Inscriptions. In Excavations at Sidi Khrebish Benghazi (Berenice), vol. 1 , ed. J. A. Lloyd, 233-54. Supplements to Libya Antiqua, no. 5. Tripoli: People's Socialist Libyan Arab Republic, Department of Antiquities. Robert, Louis. 1 940-65. Hellenica: recueil d 'epigraphie, de numismatique et d 'antiquites grecques. Vols. 1-1 3. Limoges: A. Bontemps (vol. 1 ) ; Paris: Adrienne Maisonneuve (vols. 2ff.) . Roux, Jeanne, & Georges Roux. 1 949. Un decret du politeuma des Juifs de =

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Berenike en Cyrenaique au musee lapidaire de Carpentras. Revue des etudes greques 62:281-96. Ruppel, Walter. 1 927. Politeuma: Bedeutungsgeschichte eines staatsrecht lichen Terminus. Parts 1 , .. 2. Philologus 82 ( n.s. 36) : 268-3 1 2, 433-54. San Nicolo, Mariano. 1972 Agyptisches Vereinswesen zur Zeit der Ptolemaer und Romer. 2nd edition with addenda by J. Herrmann. Vols. 1-2. (vol. 2: Miinchener Beitrage zur Papyrusforschung, no. 2) . Miinchen: Beck. Schiirer, Emil. 1 973-87. The history of the jewish people in the age ofJesus Christ (135 B. C. - A . D . 135). Revised and edited by G. Vermes, F. Millar, and M. Goodman. Vols. 1-3. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. Smallwood, E. Mary. 1976. The jews under Roman rule. Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity, v01. 20. Leiden: Brill. Thompson Crawfor<;i, Dorothy J. 1 984. The Idumaeans of Memphis and the P tolemaic politeumata . In Atti del XVII congresso internazionale di papirologia, vol. 3, 1 069-75. Napoli: Centro Internazionale per lo Studio dei Papiri Ercolanesi. Tod, Marcus N. 1 948. A selection of Greek historical inscriptions. Vol. 2, Frorrt 403 to 323 B. C. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Vatin, Claude. 1 962. Une inscription inedite de Macedoine. Bulletin de correspondance hellenique 86:57-63. Wendland, Paul. 1 900. Observationes cnucae in Aristeae epistulam. In Festschrift johannes Vahlen zum siebenzigsten Geburtstag gewidmet von seinen Schillern, 1 1 7-28. Berlin: G. Reimer. Ziebarth, Erich. 1896. Das griechische Vereinswesen. Preisschriften gekront und herausgegeben von der Fiirstlich Jablonowski'schen Gesellschaft • zu Leipzig, no. 34 ( 2 1 der historisch- nationalokonomischen Sektion) . Leipzig: S. Hirzel. Zuckerman, Constantine. 1 988. Hellenistic politeumata and the Jews: A reconsideration. Review of The jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt: The struggle for equal rights, by Aryeh Kasher. Scripta classica Israelica: Yearbook of the Israel Society for the Promotion of Classical Studies 8/9 ( 1 985-88) : 17185. =

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INSCRIPTION AND CONTEXT: READING THE JEWISH CATACOMBS OF ROME TESSA RAJAK Epigraphy, as we all know, is the "handmaid" of history. Yet in Jewish epigraphy, as in the study of inscriptions generally, it is usual to analyse texts as disembodied entities, divorced from any spatial and visual context, related for the most part to one another, sometimes to literature. Often enough, this is unavoidable. But in the Rome catacombs, whence not far short of half of all known Jewish inscriptions emanate, we are offered a very remarkable context, a visual world which cries out to be considered together with the written word within it. It is a new consideration of this context which currently holds out, I would suggest, our most hopeful route to a better understanding of the inscriptions. Here, I offer no more than a preparatory investigation, in which I shall look at some of the major problems of interpretation, and through which I shall hope to indicate areas where further work is likely to be fruitful. The focus will be on a number of historical questions rather than on the material per se. Another direction in which our view of the texts might be widened with the help of visual data is by incorporating the symbols and designs which appear with many epitaphs into our discussion of the verbal element. That, however, has to be the subject of a separate study, although we shall have occasion to touch on the question of representation. The disjunction between text and context did not always exist, and, as may be imagined, tunnels, decorations and texts alike were avidly scoured by the earliest explorers of both Christian and Jewish catacombs, starting with Bosio, "the Columbus of the cata combs", whose La Roma Soterranea was published posthumously in 1 632; going through de Rossi and Marucchi; and in a sense including even Father Frey, the indefatigable, if not quite infallible editor of the Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaicarum (for which the significant work was, we are told, completed before the second world war, in spite of a later publication date) . 1 This tradition in 1 See

P. W. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs (Kampen: 1 991 ) 1 2.

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Christian archaeology at Rome has not been lost, as we shall see when we come to discuss Fasola's recent work at the Villa Torlonia site. Inscriptions and Excavations

The history of the excavations of the Jewish catacombs of Rome has been very well told by Leon and I shall only mention some . relevant points he.r� . 2 The situation is that, while we are in the position of being able to relate most of the extant inscriptions, with the exception of those on sarcophagi, to the particular catacomb from which they come (just a few have turned up in odd locations in or outside Rome) , it is much harder to place them in an exact context. Six or seven Jewish catacombs are known, with four apparently no longer in existence, but the bulk of our material derives from two extant sites and one non-extant site, one of the former comprising two separate burial systems. We are presented with contrasting situations. The catacomb of Monteverde, beside the Janiculum (sometimes known by its top o graphical location, as Via Portuense) is now built over. The bulk of its inscriptions was taken off to collections at various times, most of them to the Lateran where a Jewish room was set up, and they were recorded by Nikolaus Miiller.3 For any notion of their original location within the overall plan of the catacomb, it is on the old records that we depend. On the other hand, in the Vigna Randanini, it is still possible to enter the main Jewish catacomb of the Via Appia area, discovered in 1 859, with a good number of inscriptions still in the walls, though probably not in situ; further exploration could be fruitful. Finally, the two extensive burial complexes (known also as the Via Nomentana catacombs) in the garden of Mussolini's residence at the Villa Torlonia, were dis covered in 1920 and have been systematically explored in recent years by U. Fasola, with the lower catacomb yielding 90 texts, some very fragmentary, and the upper 24. The small and now 2 H. J. Leon, The Jews of Ancient Rome (Philadelphia: 1 960) ; henceforward referred to as Leon. For more details, C. Vismara, "I cimiteri ebraici di Roma", in A. Giardina (ed.) , Societa romana e impero tardoantico (Rome and Bari 1 986) 2.35 1-5. 3 It is still necessary to refer to N. Muller and N. A. Bees, Die Inschriften der judischen Katakombe am Monteverde zu Rom (Leipzig: 1919) .

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lost Vigna Cimarra hypogeum has produced six Greek inscrip tions. From Via Labicana, outside the Porta Maggiore, where now a new road runs (strikingly photographed in Leon's book) ,4 came five or six items, and also two Hebrew scrawls, fancifully restored by Marucchi and rightly dismissed by Leon; and from Via Appia Pignatelli, a site which was once proposed as Jewish, two highly dubious texts. It is helpful at the start to recall that c. 75% of the total of some six hundred known texts is in Greek. Of the distribution of paintings and visual material, something will be said later. The problems and limits of the excavations deserve some words now. It would be foolish to expect too much from any early explo ration or excavation. It is also a wholly familiar story for tomb robbers to have emptied much of a site, as is reported for a number of galleries at Villa Torlonia. None the less, in this case, we have an additional set of disadvantages. It is not unfair to say that the Jewish tombs have been, quite simply, the poor relation in Christian archaeology. While arousing intermittent interest and curiosity, they could not compete with the venerated shrines of Christian saints and martyrs. The consequences are apparent in the record of work cut off in midcourse, and in the ready abandonment of Jewish sites. The prime case of such neglect is, of course, the Monteverde catacomb, and Muller vividly evokes for us his desperate attempts to get the permits which would allow him to complete his investigations. s This was a site which had been known from the earliest phase of catacomb exploration, for Bosio had already ascribed it to the "ancient Hebrews"; it is a reasonable surmise that at its full extent, this burial area would have been at least as large as the Villa Torlonia complex. Quarry ing and the resultant weakness of the tufo, resulted eventually in a total collapse of the system, and this time it is blocks of flats con structed on part of the site which Leon had the pleasure of photo graphing. 6 The obvious consequence of this sad story is the near certainty that material of inestimable value has been destroyed. But I am concerned with some less obvious, and perhaps more interesting consequences. It will be helpful to list them here as a preliminary. 4 Leon, fig. l . 5 Die judische Katakombe am Monteverde zu Rom (Leipzig: 6 fig.7.

1 9 1 2) , preface.

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1 ) It is unlikely that the entire constellation of galleries and chambers which made up any Jewish catacomb were ever excavated in their entirety. Lost peripheral material may have had a special importance, as we shall see. 2) We are in a position to ascribe inscriptions to catacombs; but not to areas within them. The organization of burials is opaque to us. This deficiency could be to some extent remedied by pain staking work amongst the original accounts, published and unpublished, but ' ii remains to be seen how great the returns might be.7 3) Disentangling the relative phases of a catacomb's construction is an essential preliminary to evolving any kind of hypotheses about actual dating. The complexities of such a task have been demonstrated by U. Fasola in exemplary fashion but within a limited scope at the Villa Torlonia site.s He has shown very clearly that we need to think in terms of sections of catacomb complexes. Through a study of their meeting point and of the methods of the diggers, the upper and lower catacombs have beep delineated as separate systems. A study of the construction suggests the likelihood that the two systems were being developed simultaneously during their peak period, which will have been in the third century. Part of the lower catacomb had been expanded several times before what is apparently the first visible gallery of the upper catacomb was begun. Two interactive opera tions within the upper catacomb itself are detectable, with a new section being started before the first section was deepened. A spur to this first section may, however, on the basis of small finds, have been a post-Diocletianic expansion . After all this, the sad fact emerges that one of the hardest sections to place, even in relative terms, is, as chance would have it, the epigraphically richest part of the lower catacomb . The general picture, then, is one of numerous interrelated phases, and this makes it extraordinarily difficult to date any particular item from a catacomb without very precise knowledge.

7 David Noy's forthcoming edition of the Roman inscriptions for the Cambridge Jewish Epigraphy Project will undoubtedly make matters clearer. I am grateful to him for assistance which facilitated the writing of this paper. 8 U. Fasola, "Le due catacombe ebraiche di Villa Torlonia", Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 52 ( 1 976) 7-62.

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It is highly dubious whether even this kind of analysis will be possible in relation to Monteverde, where we depend on reports alone, nor even at the Vigna Randanini, given the present state of the catacomb, where several bouts of "tidying up" seem to have taken place. 4) Not having access to the story of any one catacomb's develop ment, we are tempted to take the easy route and simply to treat them as a unit when we discuss their inscriptions; then we generalize about the Jews of Rome . Yet, if anything is clear, it is the emptiness of such generalizations. Diverse Jewish milieux

We should rather ask whether, on the available evidence, we can say anything meaningful about the differences between Jews buried in different locations. Scholars have found at least some reason to identify such distinctions, and have deemed them either date- or culture-related. But these are crude and impressio nistic readings. However, the linked questions as to whether we may detect differing levels of assimilation or of acculturation in different parts of the Jewish community, and how these might relate to changes in Jewish society over time, are central to any grasp of the community. So the first step must be to re-examine the old distinctions. First, there is the interpretation, current since Nikolaus Miiller, and endorsed by Erwin Goodenough,9 that the Jews buried at Monteverde were in some sense more "conservative" in their Judaism. It has been observed that the Vigna Randanini texts have no Hebrew. The only exception is a decorative shalom, of little significance, on a sarcophagus from the vicinity, belonging to Faustina, and decorated with masks which have led some to decide she was an actress. IO But what Hebrew was found at Monteverde? Leon can report three inscriptions (reckoned by him as a proportion of 1 .4% ! ) , a figure which he rightly describes as "almost negligible "; 1 1 all three carry a basic shalom formula, one 9 E. R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period (New York: 1953-68) 2.4ff. 10 A. Konikoff, Sarcophagi from the Jewish Catacombs of Rome: a Catalogue Raisonne (Stuttgart: 1 990) 111-15, with discussion on p.42. 11 Leon, 76-7.

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merely scratched in the stucco. There is simply not enough for quantification to make any sense. In any case, where a signifi cant showing of formulaic Hebrew in a funerary context does occur, as at Venosa in Apulia, 12 it is to be connected with broad processes of linguistic change in the Diaspora, linked probably to rabbinization, and occurring at a late date; not to Palestinian roots or to special closeness to the religious mainstream. Image has been �ssociated with language in this type of argu ment. When it COI]leS to ornament, it has been noted that there are notably fewer 'representations of living beings (three accord ing to Goodenough) in Monteverde than in Vigna Randanini. 1 3 The argument from representation i s also insecure: the copious material which has come to light in Palestininian synagog��s, and even more in the Rabbinic cemetery at Beth-She 'arim, makes it clear that during the Rabbinic period, 1 4 when the Roman catacombs were in use, a relaxed attitude to the second commandment prevailed even in the most halakhically stringent circles. The point needs no elaboration, and the conclusion must be that the numerical disparity here has no implications in terms of Jewish orthodoxy. Goodenough, as often, has scrutinized the evidence more searchingly than anyone else and has asked important questions. He merits more attention than he currently receives. However, his notorious preoccupation with reconstructing a comprehensive non-orthodox Diaspora judaism which expressed its ideas through mystical symbolism has led to distortions. 15 In any case, the prob lem of the distribution of figurative representation in the cata12 H. ]. Leon, "The Jews of Venusia", JQR N.S.44 ( 1 954) 267-84 is basic. For more recent developments, see especially C. Colafemmina, "Saggio di scavo in localita ' Collina della Maddalena' a Venosa", Vetera Christianorum 1 8 ( 1 98 1 ) 443-5 1 ; E.M. Meyers, "Report o n the Excavations a t the Venosa Catacombs 198 1 ", Vetera Christianorum 20 ( 1 983) 445-59. 13 Goodenough, Symbols 2 . 15ff. 14 Basic discussion in ]. Gutmann, "The 'Second Commandment' and the Image in Judaism," No Graven Images: Studies in Art and the Hebrew Bible (ed. ]. Gutmann, New York: 1 97 1 ) xiii-xxxx; 3-1 6; also in Beauty in Holiness: Studies in Jewish Custom and Ceremonial Art (New York: 1 970) 1-14; and HUCA 32 (1961 ) . 1 5 See the editor's forward to E . R. Goodenough, jewish Symbols i n the Greco-Roman Period: Abridged Edition (ed. ]. Neusner, Princeton: 1 988) xi-xxxiv, where the critiques of Nock and Morton Smith are also discussed. For Beth She'arim, see especially N. Avigad, Beth She'arim. Report on the Excavations during 1 953-68 3 Qerusalem: 1976) .

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combs does await an explanation, and one in terms of chronology is not to be excluded, for we must suppose that, the prohibition on images, which was taken rather strictly in various Jewish circles during the Second Temple period, was relaxed by a gradual progression after A.D.70. Then there is the question of what has been called "Romani zation" of the Jews. Variations on this scale are seen to be reflected in the balance of Latin against Greek in the epitaphs, with Leon estimating that at Vigna Randanini over a third of the epitaphs are Latin, and at Monteverde about a fifth, while at Villa Torlonia there are only four Latin texts, and those on distinctive marble plaques. Such divergences seem immediately significant, but we need to remember the very partial sample on which the figures are based: we are most unlikely to be dealing with complete catacombs. 16 We have also to bear in mind, once again, that the surviving or known material from any particular catacomb probably repre sents burials over a considerable period, even if not over the whole time that the catacomb will have been in use. The evidence of brick stamps, which provide at least a terminus post quem, has been ably reassessed by Rutgers, and this suggests a concentration of building in the Severan era, but some activity at both Monteverde and Villa Torlonia (as we have seen) stretching back to the second and on in to the fourth century. The Vigna Randanini cemetery appears to have yielded only seven brick stamps ? of which five are certainly Severan.1 7 But the chronological distri bution of surviving epitaphs will not necessarily be the same for different catacombs. We cannot judge, then, whether we are dealing with different types of Jews or with changes over time. Greek was commonly used among the Roman plebs,18 but Greek was also the language of the Bible and of prayer for diaspora Jews. There is no direct evidence for a Latin Jewish Bible.19 Whether, therefore, the use of 16 Leon, 77. 17 L.V. Rutgers, "Uberlegungen zu den jiidischen Katakomben Roms",

JAC 33 ( 1 990) , 158-9. 18 I. Kajanto, A Study of the Greek Epitaphs of Rome (Acta Instituti Romani Finlandiae 2.3, Helsinki: 1 963) . 19 A. Deissmann, Light from the Ancient Near East (4th ed. London: 1 927) 447, argues that the hexametric Regina inscription from Monteverde ( CIJ 1 .476) , with its echoes of the Vulgate, is an indication of the existence of a

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Latin connotes a lower level of Jewish education, a greater dis tance from Judaism, or simply a modest social advance in Roman terms cannot easily be decided; nor may a higher frequency of Latin be automatically assumed to be a later development. These questions will have to be asked against the perspective of patterns of language usage among the Roman plebs generally, and it may well be that the Jewish pattern will be seen simply to follow those trends. If so, a longstanding Jewish conformity to the immediate pagan environme � t ·would be suggested, with the Jews as a proper constituent element of the Roman plebs (which is still in many respects an unknown quantity to us) . Organization ofBurials

A major issue is the organization of the burials within a catacomb, which, were it ascertainable, could give us vital information about family and synagogue groupings. The archaeologists have tended to regard individual cubicula, wherever they be, as occupied by household or family units of one kind or another. B�t we have as yet, so far as I can see, no evidence of contiguous burial by the members of any one family at Rome, though this phenomenon can be seen in the (largely later) Jewish catacombs of Venosa (Venusia) in ancient Apulia, and is discussed by David Noy in this volume. Family cubicula are known in the Christian catacombs, of Rome; indeed, the entire Via Latina structure, with its remarkable paintings, has been ascribed to one family unit.2° For the Jews, the alternative arrangement of burial by synagogue is probably to be excluded within catacombs; all we can say with confidence is that several synagogues used the same catacomb complex. Still other models are, of course, conceivable: the sim plest of all would be that for each deceased the next space along was allocated, or purchased (which it was remains unknown) in a convenient catacomb currently operative. At the Vigna Randa nini, a fair number of marble or plaster tomb closures carrying epitaphs are today to be seen in the walls of the catacomb, but it would appear that many have been moved from their original Latin Jewish Bible. 20 So J. M. C. Toynbee, Death and Burial in the Roman World (London: 1 971 ) 242. On this catacomb, The Unknown Catacomb: a Unique Discovery of Christian Art (New Lanark: 1 991 ) .

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locations, and we may not draw any conclusions about arrange ments in that catacomb without tracking down the history of the work within it. Burial and Social Level

How to locate the Jews of Rome within the social spectrum is a more teasing problem than has normally been acknowledged, and one on which little light is shed by the vituperation of Roman writers. The archaeological evidence is far more important. Leon maintained without much hesitation that the catacombs reflected the low status of those Jews, in the simplicity of their tombs, the general poor quality of the script in the usually rudimentary epitaphs, and the poverty of a good proportion of the loculi closures, which are plaster more often than marble. He admits a few prosperous individuals, but allows them to disappear from view after surveying the relevant artefacts, without allowing them to affect the overall picture . 21 Leaving aside Jewish objections to elaborate burial places (articulated several times by both Philo and Josephus) ,22 two types of visual evidence in particular challenge the first impression derived from our written epitaphs, and suggest that elite practices and values were not absent from the Jewish community. This implication has not gone unnoticed, but it has been stated rather than explored. First, marble sarcophagi were found in the vicinity of the catacombs, and also marble sarcophagus fragments within the galleries. O thers with Jewish characteristics were found in various locations around the city. None of these have so far proved securely restorable to their exact original locations, though Koni koffs publication gives some impression of the discoverers' reports and of the known findspots. 23 The tendency to regard sarcophagi as intrusive pagan material was sharply attacked by Goodenough and is now generally receding. Twenty two such items are associated with the Jewish catacombs, only four carrying explicit 2 l Leon, 203-24; H. Solin, 'Juden und Syrer im westlichen Teil der romischen Welt. Eine ethnisch-demographische Studie mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung der sprachlichen Zustande" Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt 2:29.2 ( 1 983) 713-20. 22 See T. Rajak, 'Jewish Benefactors", Proceedings of a Colloquium on the ;ewish Diaspora held at Tel-Aviv University, January 1 99 1 , forthcoming. 2 See above, n.10.

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Jewish imagery, in the shape of a menorah. In the well-known fragment of a Jewish "seasons" sarcophagus (provenance un known) , the menorah replaces the usual portrait in the central roundel, and of this Jocelyn Toynbee nicely said, "there could scarcely be a more impressive piece of evidence of a Jewish patron's deliberate choice of a pagan setting for his most revered religious symbol". 24 The norm is to draw on the common stock of designs, including, of course, human representations such as the figures of the seascfns, and mythological motifs such as the Muse Urania, or cupi ds picking grapes. The assumption is that all emanated from the normal local workshops. 25 Sarcophagi were in use in the West from the second century, and among the Christians from the third.26 It is worth noting that they wer� in established Jewish use in Palestine at the necropolis of B e th She'arim during this same period. The tendency for such attractive items to be appropriated and reused, for example as troughs, together with the total absence of Jewish imagery on many of them, means that further J ewis,h sarcophagi are likely to have travelled around the city and their fragments to be now unrecognisable. That fragments have lain unnoticed even within the catacombs is suggested by Rutgers' recent claim to have found, at Vigna Randanini, fractions of the Muse Urania sarcophagus identified from an old photograph in the Bodleian Library. 27 Nine sarcophagus inscriptions refer to synagogue posts.2 8 Twelve sarcophagi, including the long lost coffin of the proselyte and synagogue mother of two congregations, Beturia Paulina alias Sara, and the lost sarcophagus of the Gerousiarch ( ? ) Julianus, 29 bear o r bore inscriptions whose formulae and titles are wholly in line with the epigraphy of the Jewish catacombs.3 0 It is 2 4 Konikoff, Ill-14; Toynbee, Death and Burial 238. 2 5 On workshops, see L. V. Rutgers, "Archaeological Evidence for the

Interaction of Jews and non:Jews in Late Antiquity", AJA 96,1 ( 1 992) 1 04-6. 26 Toynbee, Death and Burial, 270-7. 2 7 Konikoff, 11-4.2; L. V. Rutgers, "Ein in situ erhaltenes Sarkophag fragment in der jiidischen Katakombe an der Via Appia", Jewish Art 14 (1988) 16-27. 28 Konikoff, I-1 ,2,3,6, Ill,17,18,19,20,2 1 . 29 CIJ 1.523 and 504. 3 0 In addition to the above, Konikoff, 11-5 (a painter) , III-15,16; Ill-12 speaks of Julia Irene Arista as "iustam legem colens".

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worth observing that in most cases the writing itself is of the same primitive level as the epitaphs from the simpler burials within the catacombs. Since sarcophagus burial is evidently not a cheap option, the interesting possibility is raised that the crudity of the texts may be a culturally rather than an economically deter mined phenomenon . Jewish clients and Jewish masons may by this have chosen to distance themselves from the epigraphic habit of the surrounding culture, with all its connotations of display. As well as noting the vulnerability of sarcophagi, we must remember that the failure which we have discussed to excavate Jewish catacombs to the limits, and the liability of exposed parts to landslides, renders likely a disproportionate loss in the burials of important and prosperous individuals and families: these may well have located themselves on the periphery in areas which could be marked off, especially as the immigrant community became more rooted in Rome and its social structure therefore more differentiated. Toynbee endorses the suggestion that at Vigna Randanini, the three small rooms between the current entrance on the Via Appia Pignatelli and the catacomb proper were used for the burial of "special persons".3 1 These happen to have survived because they are a means of access; other such in other places are likely to have perished. The evidence of the sarcophagi should be given its full weight. It then becomes not unreasonable to posit for the Jewish community of Rome in the imperial period a ratio of rich to poor comparable with that in the steeply graduated social pyramid of Romans society generally.3 2 Major questions remain. Above all, we have to face the problem that, while synagogue titles are well represented in the surviving sarcophagi, it is also the case that title-holders of what would seem to be every level figure amply amongst the ordinary epitaphs, including five archisynagogoi and some forty seven archons. Some of these, but by no means all, have superior loculus closures made of marble. Should we, then, conceive of a significant social distance between those interred in sarcophagi and the other community notables? And if the archisynagogate was in fact, as we have reason to believe,33 a title 3 1 Death and Burial, 238. 32 On this, see R. MacMullen, Roman Social Relations (New Haven and

London: 1974) 88-1 20. 33 See T. Rajak and D. Noy, "Archisynagogoi: Office, Title, and Social Status

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of some eminence, we would have to · conclude that social distinctions were not invariably made visible in tomb types? And yet it seems that sometimes they were displayed. Were we to be able to trace difference of practice through different periods we should undoubtedly have a clearer picture of the meaning of these social distinctions, but we should not assume that the solution to the conundrum lies entirely in change over time. Tomb paintings . are also widely regarded as an index of prosperity. We cannot tell what has been lost, but we can now feel comfortable about restoring to the Jewish ambit the four rooms in the western part of the Vigna Randanini catacomb which are quite nicely decorated with so-called "pagan" symbolism: Vic tory garlanding a nude youth who carries a branch and, perhaps, a quiver, with peacocks and other birds (room 1 ) ; Fortuna with cornucopia, cupids, dolphins, hippocampus, flowers etc. (room 2) (The date palms in the four corners of room 4 may argue for Jewishness) . Strenuous and long-standing claims from among the Christian archaeologists that these were chambers from an earlier hypogeum, incorporated in the ] ewish catacomb by die fo s s o re s and passively accepted by the ] ews, were already persuasively dismissed by Goodenough; further investigation of the construction of the galleries would be needed to lay the old theories finally to rest. The paintings are, then, an indication of the resources and aspirations of the communities which were users of this burial place, if not of individual or of family means. The synagogues of the Siburesians and the Campesians are named in inscriptions from this catacomb; 3 4 and even if these had once served poor inhabitants of the Suburra and Campus Martius districts, there is no reason to suppose that their circumstances were unchanging. It is to be noted that a fine sarcophagus from the garden of the Villa Torlonia, its ends decorated with griffins, has a crudely cut inscription, first read by Leon , which names "Caelia Omnina, wife of Julianus, archon of the Siburasians". 3 5 The Villa Torlonia catacombs also held paintings, and to these in the Greco:Jewish Synagogue", forthcoming in JRS 83, 1 993. 3 4 Synagogue affiliation in the different catacombs is helpfully set out in table E in Vismara 388. 3 5 Konikoff, 111-2 1 .

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Beyer and Lietzmann have given generous treatment.3 6 Three cubicula, all with arcosolia, depicted with considerable panache and elegance pagan mythological and Jewish motifs, including a flaming menorah and dolphins twisted around a trident. Both groups of paintings are directly comparable in design and tech nique with the decorated rooms of a number of Christian cata combs: this is visible even to the casual observer, and the parallels have been well explored by Rutgers. 37 More broadly, we need to give content to any proposed social stratification and to try to relate the Jewish hierarchy to the surrounding society. What sort of a figure could a prominent Roman Jew ever hope to cut in the city at large? Could he ever be ' more than a mere Trimalchio? How far above and beyond him were the members of the senatorial class? To pursue the Roman Jewish elite further, it becomes necessary to evolve a model for the social structure of the community as a whole . And there we become involved in central and familiar problems of Roman social history, the question of the "middle class" (including its freedmen) , and, as I have said, the composition of the Roman plebs.38 Religious Exclusivity

A context-related problem with wide implications is that of religious exclusivity within Jewish burial areas. This has a bear ing on our conception of the tripartite interaction between Jews, Christians and pagans: a much more open situation than used to be envisaged is now favoured in many quarters.39 Evidently, the Roman catacombs were Jewish burial areas, and many Jews chose to be buried among their co-religionists. But have we any grounds for seeing the separation of Jews in death either as total, 3 6 H. W. Beyer and H. Lietzmann, Die jildische Katakombe der Villa Torlonia in Rom (Berlin a�d Leipzig: 1930) ; for bibliography, see Leon, 207 and n. l . 3 7 Rutgers, Uberlegungen 1 45-5 1 ; cf. J . Gutmann, "Early Synagogue and Jewish Catacomb Art in its Relation to Christian Art", Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt 2.21 .2 (ed. H. Temporini and W. Haase, Berlin: 1984) ) 1 3 1 3-42.

38 For an epigraphic approach, see P. Huttunen, The Social Strata in the Imperial City of Rome: a Quantitative Study of the Social Representation in the Epitaphs Published in the "Corpus lnscriptionum Latinarum " volume (Oulu: 1 974) . 39 See J. Lieu, J. North, T. Rajak eds., The jews among Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire (London and New York: 1 992) introduction.

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or as dogmatic? I have collected material on mixed burials from various Diaspora sites, and had come to conclusions very similar to those now admirably presented in Rutgers' recent study. 40 His work makes it unnecessary to traverse this ground in detail here. The difficulty, and above all at Rome, is that we come up against distortions in the record. It is not fanciful to ascribe these to deep seated preconceptions about Judaism and Jews, as Rutgers perceives. To grasp �hat is involved, one cannot do better than refer to Bosio's assurance to his readers, referred to by Leon,4I that the sacred cemeteries of the Christians were never profaned or contaminated by bodies of Jews. To this we may add the highly emotive reaction to the Jewish catacombs expressed by an author (admittedly not necessarily a scholarly one) in the Catholic World of 1 879 and cited by Rutgers:42 "there is a cold cheerless look about the place very different from that of any neighbouring Christian catacomb, so full of the warmth of faith and hope". In other words, the Jewish catacombs are seen as a place entirely apart - whether from Christian or from pagan space. The obvious consequence of such attitudes is that materi al which appears to be unJewish in the supposedly exclusive Jewish catacombs has been systematically relegated to appendices, such as those of dubiously Jewish inscriptions, carrying D (is) M (ani bus) or the Greek equivalent, in Frey's Corpus. They are explained away, like rooms 3 and 4 of the Vigna Randanini catacomb. In fact, Frey regularly accounts for the presence in a Jewish catacomb of any text or fragment which to him has an "allure paienne" with the claim of secondary use as the closure of a Jewish loculus. Some apparently eccentric texts may well have been simply disregarded when the first records were made in a catacomb and the material in it first organized. A handful of DM texts, for no very good reason, have found their way into the main body of Frey's collection.43 4 0 Rutgers, Interactions; on mixed Christian-pagan burial in Christian catacombs, see P. Pergola, "Le catacombe romane, miti e realta (a proposito del cimitero del Domitilla", Societa romana e impero tardoantico 2 (ed. A. Giardina, Rome, Bari: 1 986) 332-50. 41 Leon 47. 42 Interactions 1 0 1 . 4 3 Appendix material: CIJ 1, ed.2, 535-74. Accepted D M texts: CIJ 1 .464; 524 (a "metuens") ; 531 (a vegetable-seller near the proseuche) . DM texts were found in Christian catacombs, too: see e.g. Ferrua 44. Against acceptance:

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To determine in advance what is Jewish and what is not (or even "probably" not) is to operate with a preconception of Jewish identity, when our task is, precisely, to seek to define that identity. The relative infrequency of such material, as against material which can readily be taken as Jewish, does not mean that the marginal material is unimportant. The interpretation of "unJewish " material (a very different phenomenon from the plentiful inscriptions, amounting to some one hundred and twenty, which are not visibly Jewish and can only be defined as such by their context) is obviously a com plicated matter. Are we dealing with the adoption of a Roman formula which, however much this may surprise us, was not unacceptable to Jews, even if it was not widely favoured? Or are we seeing traces of marginal, misguided or even "bad" Jews? Or, again, still allowing all such texts a real attachment to the cata combs where they were found, should they perhaps be linked to pagans who were in some way associated with Jews, perhaps by family ties, or with sympathizers of one sort or another? That such material is indeed intrusive, having dropped into the cata combs or been somehow imported, is not, admittedly, an impossi bility, yet it should not be allowed as an assumption. The implications of re-instating such texts into the catacombs at all times, except where there is a specific reason not to do so, are important. We move again nearer to the view that Jewish epitaphs are part of a world in which there were various forms of close association between some Jews and some non:Jews. This, as Rutgers observes,44 need not have lessened the Jews' sense of ethnic identity. Conclusion

A discussion such as this requires no long conclusion, since its purpose is to ask questions, to reflect on how we might go about answering some of them, to indicate areas of obscurity in the evidence or of methodological difficulty in interpreting it, and to serve as a pointer for work that lies ahead. If, however, we are to Solin 657; but see now R. S. Kraemer, Jewish Tuna and Christian Fish: Identifying Religious Mfiliation in Epigraphic Sources, HTR 84 ( 1 991 ) 1 558.

44 Interaction, 1 17.

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sum up those areas where it appears that progress might be made, then the following should be singled out: the archaeology of the catacomb in the Vigna Randanini; the comparison of the language pattern in the Jewish epitaphs with that among the Roman plebs; the sharpening of our social analysis of the Roman Jews in the context of changing social patterns in the city; the comparison of Jewish with Christian patterns on all fronts; and the investigation of the various categories of "dubiously Jewish" or supposedly non:Jewish material found in the catacombs. The Jewish inscriptions of Rome, taken together with their context in the catacombs, do not belong exclusively to Jewish history, though to judge by a widespread neglect of Leon ' s excellent book o n the part of Roman historians, one might think that this was the case. The inscriptions in context are a first rate, cohesive collection of data on an ethnic group who, from Julius Caesar to the conquest of Christianity, were a characteristic element in the life of the city; and archaeology can play a crucial part now in our reconstruction of that life.

JEWISH PERSONAL NAMES IN SOME NON-LITERARY SOURCES GERARD MUSSIES

Our knowledge of Jewish onomastics in Greco-Roman Antiquity is based on both literary and non-literary sources written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek or Latin. The main literary sources are the later works in the Septuagint-canan such as the four Books of the Maccabees, the New Testament, the oeuvre of Josephus, and, of course the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmud. The non literary sources are those papyri and inscriptions that deal with Jewish persons or affairs: for instance, the well-known collection of Jewish papyri from Egypt of Tcherikover, Fuks and Stern, the contracts, letters and other documents found in the Judean Desert, and the Jewish inscriptions scattered all over the Roman Empire, with important concentrations in Rome, Venosa (Apulia) , Cyre naica, Tell el-Yehudieh (Egypt) , Jerusalem, and Beth Shearim (Galilee) . The inscriptions are in principle collected in the corpus of Frey and Lifshitz, and that of Liideritz, or their successors, if a ny . As far as Jewish personal names are concerned, there would be absolutely no reason for keeping apart the two categories of sources just mentioned, because they always appear to confirm one another in this respect. 1 The only difference is, that, as a matter of course, the personal names present in the literary sources have been the object of scholarly attention more often and for a longer period of time. The one and only reason, therefore, why the non-literary sources figure in the title of this lecture is, that it is to this category that recently some important material has been added, namely, the funerary inscriptions from the tomb of 1 With regard to the NT, for instance, DeiBmann made the remark that the personal names that occur in Rom 16 have nothing specifically "Ro man ", but are attested all over the ancient world [Licht vom Osten. Das Neue Testament und die neuentdeckten Texte der hellenistisch�romischen Welt (Tiibingen: 4 1 923) ] 238 n. 7. Cf. also E. M. Meyers - J. F. Strange, Archaeology, the Rabbis, and Early Christianity (Abingdon-Nashville: 1981 ) 1 03, who note the agree ment between the names found on the Jerusalem ossuaries and in the NT. Note that even such a syncope as BEpVL Kll for BEpEVLKll in Acts 25: 1 3 etc. and Josephus, J W 1 §552 etc. is corroborated by an ossuary-inscription ( G.lf 1 366, Jerusalem) .

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the so-called "Goliath family" at Jericho, published by Hachlili in 1 979, the list of Jews and Godfearers found in Aphrodisias, pub lished by Reynolds and Tannenbaum in 1 987, and the final reports of the excavations at Masadah, published by Yadin, Naveh and others in 1 989.2 Before examining these new discoveries, however, it may be appropriate to survey the different topics, the specific points of attention, and the questions, that have been discussed and raised especially in connection with the names of Jews in Greco-Rom �n Antiquity. a) First of all there is the difficult problem of identifying an cient Jews by their names only. This has recently been discussed by Van der Horst in his study of the ancient Jewish epitaphs,3 and by myself in connection with the Christian inscriptions 6f Palestine.4 Suffice it to repeat here that first and foremost it is very often impossible to distinguish Jews and early Christians, and that many of both groups simply escape our notice when they bear pagan names and no further clues are present. This is so because the definite schism of Judaism and Christianity was carried , through in different places at different times, all kinds of mixed groups and intermediate sects having existed up to the end of Antiquity. Morover, there are hardly any names in this period that are typically Jewish or typically Christian .We may now think such a name as Moses to be the hall-mark of a person' s Jewishness, but the Armenian historian Moses o f Chorene, who was a Christian of the Vlllth century, proves the contrary. One may think all bearers of the name Paulus belong unmistakably to the Christian Church, but the 'judas, son of Paul" in the Aphro2 R. Hachlili, "The Goliath Family in Jericho . Funerary Inscriptions from a First Century A.D. Jewish Monumental Tomb," BASOR 235 ( 1 979) 3 1 65; R. Hachlili - P. Smith, "The Genealogy of the Goliath Family," ibid 6670; M. Simon, "Design of a Computer Program. Establishing the Family Relations of Individuals Buried in the Jericho Tomb," ibid 71-73. J. Reynolds -R. Tannenbaum, Jews and Godfearers at Aphrodisias. Greek Inscriptions with Commentary. Texts from Excavations at Aphrodisias conducted by Kenan T. Erim (Cambridge Philological Society. Supplementary Volume 1 2; Cambridge: 1 987 [henceforward referred to by "RT"] ) . The Yigael Yadin Excavations 1 9631 965. Final Reports. Y. Yadin - J. Naveh, Masada I. The Aramaic and Hebrew Inscriptions Qerusalem: 1 989) ; H. M. Cotton - J. Geiger, Masada II. The Latin and Greek Documents Qerusalem: 1989) . 3 P. W. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs. An introductory survey of a millennium of Jewish funerary epig;raphy (300 BCE 700 CE) (Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology 2; Kampen: 199 1 ) 1 6-18. 4 R. van den Broek - ]. ]. V. M. Derksen - G. Mussies K. Vriezen, Kerk en kerken in Romeins - Byzantijns Palestina. Archaeologie en geschiedenis. (Palae stina Antiqua 6; Kampen: 1988) 1 86-190. -

-

-

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disias-inscription5 should warn us to be careful. If �Eu811s , other wise a well-known name of several Thracian princes, did not figure in a list of persons paying the 'I ou8aLKOV TE AEcr!J.a or Jewish tax in 73 CE, 6 we would never have taken him for a Jew but for a pure Thracian. The name of his father, "Theodoros", is worthless here as a clue, since the pagan philosopher Theodoros 6 "A8Eos ( c.340 - c.250 BCE) is there to remind us of the fact that many pagan Greeks also bore names beginning with Theo-, while his nick-name shows, furthermore, that one certainly did not always live in accordance with such a name. b) With this remark on �Eu811s we have already passed on to the next subject, namely that so many of the persons, who with certainty can be identified as Jews, have no Hebrew, but foreign, mostly Greek or Latin names, both in the Palestinian homeland and in the Diaspora. In the papyrus about the Jewish Tax just quoted only six out of the twenty-six Jewish inhabitants of Arsinoe in the Fayum still have Hebrew names, the ambiguous �( IJ.WV included, which may be the transliteration of the Hebrew Shim'on, but also a Greek name meaning "Flat-Nose". This docu ment offers, of course, no genealogies of these tax-payers, but even so it is clear that some of them had been named after relatives, one man after his father, one after his grandfather, and two little girls named ITpwToiJs most likely after their common paternal grandmother. It is certainly wise not to assume that all these people bearing foreign names had no Hebrew names at all, but to reckon with the possibility that many, if not all of them, had a He brew name as well, which for some reason or other never appears in our sources. Such a case is certainly that of the Hasmo nean king Aristobulos II, who goes by this name only in history, his Hebrew name never being mentioned, while his homony mous uncle and grandson, Aristobulos I and III, are also known as Judas and Jonathan, respectively. c) With regard to the character of these foreign names used by Jews several typical categories can be discerned. c-1 ) First there are the translated names, translated from Hebrew into Greek or Latin. Especiilly frequent were Theodoros, Theodotos, Dorotheos, Dositheos, Theodotion, etc., and their 5 RT 1 03 (b 19) . 6 CPJ II nr. 42 1 (pp.

204-206) .

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feminine counterparts. These were widely used among Jews for Yonathan, Nathanyah, Mattanyah, Nathanael, and the like, all meaning "Given by God", "Gift of God", "God has given", the difference between El and Yahweh being levelled in the process. Purely Latin renderings of these names are rare, but in Rome �aT'L �os ( i.e. Dativus: CIJ 416) and Flavia Datiba (i.e. Dativa: CIJ 234) may well have served this purpose. In the Jewish Tax Papy rus we find one Theodoros, one Theudous, its feminine hypoco ristic, and twice a J? osarion, which may be the hypocoristic of either Dosithea or Theodosia. A very frequent Latin translation name was Justus as the equivalent of Tsadoq, perhaps also of names like Tsidqiyah. Similarly, At TTJTOS occurs as the exact counterpart of the Hebrew name ?1�rv, or the Aramaic �?,�rv, both passive participles indicating a son that had been "asked" or "prayed for". These two Semitic names are, of course, much better known in their Grecized forms as those of LauX.os and his travel companion �LX.Cis in the Book of Acts ( cf. in Lib. Ant. Bibl. 40:2 the name of Jephthah's daughter: Seila) . An interesting instance is , also fEX.acrL (o)s ( CIJ25; 317; 991 ?) , as a rendering of Isaac, a name which was later also in use among Christians. This, by the way, raises some interesting questions with regard to the identity of the Gelasios figuring in a list of names in the Mithraeum of S. Prisca, and of the two Syrian (?) bearers of this name inscribed in the Dolichenum on the Aventine.7 Further instances are Ireneus ( CIJ 69 Rome) and Etpi)vT) ( CIJ 2 1 , etc.) , which may represent Shelomo and Salome, and I1ap11y6pL (o )s "consoling, comforting", which is in all likelihood the counterpart of such names as Nachum, N echemyah or Menachem. c-2) Akin to these pure translations are those Greek theoRh.oric names of which the divine element could be identified with or could be seen as translating the name of Yahweh. Apart from the general term 8Eo-, which we have already touched upon, there was only one Greek god to answer the conditions, and that was 7 M. J. Vermaseren - C. C. van Essen, The Excavations in the Mithraeum of the Church of Santa Prisca in Rome (Leyden: 1 965) 1 84-1 86. The pagan, or, at least, syncretistic background of the name may have been the creative laugh of the Primeval God as in PGM XIII 1 61-163 and 472-475: "And the Divinity laughed 7 times: cha cha cha cha cha cha cha. And when the Divinity had laughed there were born 7 gods, those who encompass the cosmos/the all. For these are the ones that appeared first."

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Zeus himself. The identification of Zeus and the God of Israel was made quite explicitly by the Jewish Torah-interpreter (Pseudo-) Aristobulos. He quoted, in support of his own argument, the first nine lines of Aratus' Phaenomena, in which the name of Zeus in the genitive case occurs no less than three times. Aristobulos took care, however, to replace the second and third 8u)s by 8Eou , and defended this by saying that this was what the Greeks really meant by the name (ap. Eusebius P.E. 1 3. 1 2) . And so when Paul in Athens two centuries or so later, or Luke in Antioch, as the case may be, quoted the 5th line from the same poem (Acts 1 7:28) , a line which does not contain Zeus' name but the demonstrative TOV, the reference, though out of context, is still to Zeus. And when his speech continues with "being therefore God's offspring", the same identification is reiterated by implication. So it need not surprise us that Jews did not object to bearing such names as 8L6cr8oTos ( CPJ 19 l 1 3) , 8L6avTos ( CPJ 22 l. 1 4: 201 BCE; also CIJ 18) , Z11vo8w pa ( CIJ 43) , [Z ] llvo�(a ( C!J 1 035 Beth Shearim) , or Jovinus ( CIJ 467: IOBINV) , the last perhaps being also used as the Latinized form of Job, phonetically: [yov] . It is sometimes stated that Jews in this period had no objections, either, to bearing theophoric names containing other divine elements. 8 This, how ever, is only partly true, because gods and goddesses other than Zeus were often interpreted by them as being identical with some of the ordinary men and women that figured in their own sacred history. And so sky-supporting Atlas was, according to Pseudo Eupolemus as quoted by Eusebius (P.E. 9.1 7.9) , considered to be the same as Enoch, because the latter was thought to have been an astrologer (so 1 Enoch 41-44; 72-82) . Asbolos, a centaur whose name means "soot" (Hesiod, Shield 185) , was equated with Cush (Gen 1 0:6) , the ancestor of the dark Ethiopians (P.E. 9 . 1 7 . 9 ) . Musaios, the archetypal musician of the Greeks, was deemed identical with Moses (P.E. 9.27.3) ; first, of course, because of the likeness of their names, and second because both were composers of songs (Exod 1 5; Deut 32) . This equation may account for the Moucra'los hL IJ.wvos, 'I ou8a'l os TflS E- nvyovfls ( CP] 20, 228-1 BCE, .

8 So by G. Mussies, "Greek in Palestine and in the Diaspora," The Jewish People in the First Century (CRINT 1:2; eds. S. Safrai & M. Stern; Assen Amsterdam: 1976) 1 052. Cf. G. Delling, Die Bewiiltigung der Diasporasituation durch das hellenistische Judentum (Berlin: 1987) 57, where he says that such names do not imply apostasy.

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Tebtynis) . But on the other hand the Egyptian god of writing and science, Thoth-Hermes, whose holy bird was the ibis, was thought by the priests, as Artapanus reports, to be also the same as Moses (P.E. 9.27.6) , no doubt because he is the first man recorded in the OT as writing (Exod 24:4; 33:2) cf. Eupolemus ap. Eus. P.E. 9.26. 1 , who says that it was Moses who first instructed his people in the art of writing. There is a double reflection of this second equation in the 'Epj.!(as o Kat L�twv, the son of 'Ovtas ( CPJ 453) . The first name is, of cours� , a derivation of "Hermes", the second is derived from Coptic n e tn, meaning "the Ibis".9 In a comparable manner, the supreme divine pair of Egypt in the Ptolemaic and Imperial periods, Sarapis, as corn-god mostly capped with a corn measure, and Isis Lactans, suckling baby Horus, are in the Babylonian Talmud and in the Tosephta interpreted as pictures of Joseph and Eve, with the latter, it is said, because "she suckled the whole world" ( b. 'Abod. Zar. 42b; t. 'Abod. Zar. V (VI) 1 ) , and with the former, of course, because of his connections with grain . Although both Talmud and Tosephta forbid the possession of , utensils or ornaments on which these two were depicted in some way, so as not to sin against the second commandment about the "graven image", it is a telling fact that there was evidently no objection to theophoric names like };EpaTI(wv ( SEG XVI 910: Cyre naica) , 'I a(wv ( CPJ 480) , or 'I cr(8wpos ( Clj 985: Galilee) . In the case of names there is no graven image, and so any other objections possible may have been removed by the re-interpretation of the deities as human beings. Moreover, names like Serapi6n were almost certainly associated at the same time with the class of angels called Seraphim, while Isi6n could also be felt to be a shortening hypocoristic of Isak, cf. also a "Rabbi '0'�, the priest".IO There are, however, many more instances which cannot be explained in this particular way. How are we to account, for instance, for such names as 'ApTE1J.(8wpos ( CPJ 30) , �wvva( a ( CIJ 1 063: Beth Shearim) , 'Hpa·(s ( CP] 42 1 ) , or 'A1roA.A.ws (Acts 1 8:24) ? What can we make of "Benus (i.e. Venus) filia rebbitis Abun danti" ( Clj 568: Naples) . Is this a translation of Esther=lshtar? Can 9 Cf. ABA ¢.» t 8 in W. E. Crum - H. I. Bell, Wadi Sarga. Coptic and Greek Texts (Coptica consilio et impensis Instituti Rask - Oerstediani edita III; Cof£enhagen: 1 922) nr. 3 1 . 0 J. Naveh, On Stone and Mosaic. The Aramaic and Hebrew Inscriptions from Ancient Synagof5Ues [Hebrew] (Jerusalem: 1 978) nr. 75.

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one assume this etymology to have been known? Possibly there have existed many more of such Euhemeristic re-interpretations of Egyptian, Greek and other deities, which simply have not come down to us. Even so, the man named Hrr y E"v11s in the Jewish Tax papyrus ( CPJ 42 1 ) confronts us with a riddle. This name is, in origin, certainly the same as the well-known 8Ea y€ VllS , but its etymological meaning, "born of I to (the) goddess", seems hard ly to be an epithet ever making much sense in Jewish religion. The Jewish name 8118ocrLOS ( CIJ 1 530) , though, seems rather to indicate that 811- also was, like 8Eu-, a shortening of 8Eo-. However that may be, in order to explain such cases as Artemidorus, we probably also have to allow for some extent of Jewish-Pagan syncretism. Otherwise it will not be easy either to understand the presence of Jewish votive inscriptions near the sanctuary of the god Pan (Min) at Edfu, like "Ptolemy the son of Dionysius, a Jew, praises the god" ( CIJ 1 538) . With regard to the names of Christians one is faced with a similar duplicity. On the one hand it is known that they sometimes changed their original names if these were pagan theophorics. Eusebius explicitly mentions five martyrs who came from Egypt, and who had substituted their former "idolic" names by respectively "Elias, Jeremias, Esaias, Samuel and Daniel" (Palestinian Martyrs 1 1 .8) . On the other hand one sees that such men as Origen and Dionysius of Alexandria, Diodorus of Tarsus, and Isidore of Pelusium left their pagan names unaltered. 1 1 The retention of pagan theophorics in later periods may have to do with the fact that some of the earlier Christian bearers of such names had been martyrs and were thus honoured and memorized. And so Dionysius Exiguus and Isidore of Seville (both Vlth cent.) may have owed their names to the much earlier homonymous martyrs, but it is rather doubtful that such an explanation will also account for e .g. Dionysius of Alexandria (IIIrd cent.) . It is speculation to assume that he did not change his name because he had heard about the contemporary martyrdom of Dionysius of Paris. 12 Moreover, not every name of 1 1 Origen 's pagan name 'Opt 'YEVTlS was a common one in Imperial Egypt, see D. Foraboschi, Onomasticon Alterum Papyrologicum (Milan: 1 971 ) 35 1 b. Note also the principals of monastic tradition in Middle Egypt: 6..11 6.. 6.. 11 0"-"-W , 6..11 6.. b.. N OY11 , 6..11 6.. <J? t B Father Apollo, Father Anubis, Father the Ibis (Thoth) , in Crum - Bell, o. c., nr. 3 1 . 1 2 The emperor Zeno ( t 49 1 ) , who was originally called Tarasikodissa, =

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this kind can be matched by a preceding martyr; and so Diodorus of Tarsus (IVth cent.) , for instance, remains as an instance of a bishop who had been named after the Greek high god, who was at that time certainly not treated as the equivalent of the god of the Christians. c-3) The next category of Jewish foreign names consists of those that have been chosen purely because of their phonetic resemblance to speci£ic Hebrew ones. We have alreaay noted Moucra'los-Moses. Furth er instances are "AA.KL IJ.OS for Yakim, high priest in c . 1 62 BCE '(Josephus, Ant. 1 2 §385) , which was certainly short for Elyakim, and hLA.ouav6s for hLA.Cis ( cf. 1 Thess 1 : 1 with Acts 1 7 : 1 3-14) . The best known cases, however, are 'I cicrwv because of its outward likeness to Yeshu' or Yeshua', and h( IJ.WV which f� almost identical with hLIJ.EWV or hUIJ.EWV, both transliterations of Jili�tzi, and occurring in the Book of Acts with reference to one and the same individual ( 1 0:5 and 15: 14) . c-1 and/or c-3) Some names performed a double task. Mvciawv (Acts 21 : 1 6; CPJ 28 1. 1 7) and Mv{L }acr€as ( CIJ 508) may be seen as translating Zakaryah and the like, or as substituting the similar Manasseh. The same held good of 'I oucrTOS, which could translate Zadok etc. or serve for Joseph, as probably in Acts 1 :23 'joseph . . . surnamed Justus". Compare Midrash Rabbah on Song of Songs 84, 24 where Jacob's sons are praised, because they did not call Joseph 'justus". c-4) Finally, there were also many Jewish Greek names, which simply had no Hebrew equivalents. Above all we have to think here of the many Jews called Philip, Alexander or Ptolemy, who ultimately owed their name to a member of a royal dynasty. Dareios, though not a Greek name, belongs here too ( CPJ 3 1 1. 70; 35 1. 1 8) . But there are also such appellatives as dJTpciTTEAOS, which occurs twice as a Jew's name, in Greek and in Hebrew script, in a document found in one of the caves of the Wadi Murabba'at, dat ing to the lind century (D]D II 29 recto 1 1 ; verso 1 : 1 33 CE; also in CIJ 1 383) . Its meaning comprises "witty", "tricky" and 'jesting", and it is precisely this combination, perhaps not found as the had adopted his new name to honour an earlier !saurian compatriot and namesake, and apparently without objections against its pagan origin, just as Zeno, bishop of Verona (t 371 ) , never changed his. In these two cases it is conceivable that the name had been sanctioned by the memory of the five Christian martyrs called Zeno.

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meaning of one single Hebrew word, that may have caused its adoption. Foreign names could also be taken over without any attention to their original meaning. Such a case was certainly that of 'OuETTT)VOS , the father of 8E6 8oTos , who figures in the well known Mt. Ophel inscription of the 1st century CE. This Latin name was most likely the gentilicium (Vettienus?) that he had taken over from his former Roman master. It had, however, no longer any appellative meaning even in contemporary Latin ( CIJ 1404) . d) With regard to the Hebrew-Aramaic names that were borne by Jews, the main point of interest is the extent to which they were still newly formed, or were no longer made up, but assigned after relatives. In the latter case, the names could at the same time be those of persons that had played some role in Biblical ' b.istory. Here it is interesting to note that some typically Jewish names of later times, such as Moses and David, are hardly attested, say before 500 CE. Except for the Mouaat:os already discussed, there may be an instance of a Mwafls in a Murabba'at papyrus, but its reading is not unchallenged (DJD II 9 1 , II, 2) . The name of David may have been shunned for some time since it could be interpreted as a claim to Davidic descent. Any future son of a "David" would become a "ben David" and this could have been treated as an expression equivalent to "Messiah". And so there is only a late instance in an inscription from Tarentum ( CIJ 621 ) , contemporary with the Venosa cemetery. On the other hand the names of the patriarchs and their wives were very popular: Abram, Isak, Rebecca, Jacob, Joseph, Judah, etc. From the linguistic point of view, a distinction can be made between Hebrew names appearing in Greek literature, papyri and inscriptions as undeclined transliterations like I wm'}, MapLCiiJ. etc., and those that have entered into some type of Greek declension. The use of one kind or the other seems to have been merely a matter of taste, since, as far as we can see, there are no current Hebrew names that have never been adapted to Greek in some way or other. Technically this adaptation was carried through by several procedures. d-1 ) If the Hebrew name did not as such fit in with a Greek , declension, for instance if it ended in -p (h) or in -m, it was made to fit either by addition or by subtraction. To e.g. 'I wa1l

-

-,

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respectively the 2nd and 1 st declensions, after that the case suffixes could follow. Hence the accusatives 'I wcrrpr-o-v (Josephus, Ant. 2 §9) and MaplaiJ. (IJ.)-T)-V (Josephus, Ant. 4 §78) . Or from 'I wO'T) was subtracted the final -, and from MaplaiJ. the final iJ., so as to get a declinable stem, after which the case suffixes could be added, hence the nom. 'I wails (Matt 1 3:55 v.l.) , and the ace. Map(av (John 1 1 : 19) . The nom. 'I aKwc; ( SEG XX 442: Beth Shearim) must have arisen in the same way from a shortening of 'I aKw�. d-2) If the name, according to its final part, could be interpreted as one of the cases .��f a Greek name paradigm, it simply further conformed to that particular paradigm. The Aramaic name �"'�� (She'ila) could be seen as a Greek genitive of such a name as 'AcrKA.us, and hence we find nom. �lAUS, dat. �LA.Q. , ace. �LA.uv (Acts 1 5 :32, 34, 40) . Names with final -v, like BEvlaj.!(V, could be seen as containing the Greek accusative -v , which then gave rise to a nominative BEvlaiJ. (E ) (s (Josephus, Ant . 2 §1 1 1 ) .13 e) In Hebrew itself there existed several ways to form hypo coristics in the Imperial period. One procedure was to shorten, by , apocope and/ or syncope, the full name preferably to its first or at least to one syllable, for instance Yehochanan 'John" first to Yan-, to double the final consonant, if any, hence Yann-, and then to add the element -ay, with Yannay as the resulting name. Such a name could easily be Hellenized into one ending in -atos , in this case into 'I avvatos , well-known by its famous bearer, king Alexander ]annaeus. Other examples are Zakkay ZaKxatos from Zakharyah "Zachary", and Matthay - MaT8at: os "Matthew" from Mattanyah or Mattityahu. The formation of this type of short name did not entail any drastic changes in vocalism. It is therefore extremely dubious whether the alleged name "�ou!J.a'i: os " in one of the Bar Kokhba letters can really be considered as a hypocoristic of Shim' on, who -

-

13 The backformation BEvta!J.LS (nom.) from BEVta!J.LV interpreted as an accusative is exactly proportionate to the creation of the place-name hETrwpts (nom . ) from the plural tsipp8rin "birds" (cf. b. Meg. 6a) or "whirling waters", likewise re-interpreted as a Greek accusative. CIJ 900 has 'I wvaea in genitive position.This is probably to be read as 'I wva8d , the genitive which belongs with nom. 'I wva8ds (as in Papyrus Enteuxis 2 3 . 1 ) and ace. 'I wva8dv . M . H. Williams, "The Jewish Community o f Corycus: Two More Inscrip tions," ZPE 92 ( 1 992) 248-250, discusses MAMA III ( 1 9 3 1 ) nr. 684 € Ky6vwv hUIJ.OUTJ ds 9E6 8oTov Kat hUIJ.OTJ V . The first and third names here are best explained as gen. and ace., respectively, of a hUIJ.o(u)fls formed from hUIJ.OmlA.

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is then also supposed to be the same as Bar Kokhba himself.14 We would rather prefer to read it as LouA.a1os, which, according to the photographs, is all that can be read in line 20, whereas in the opening line the middle part of the name, including [M ] or [AA ] , has wholly vanished.15 One would have here then an instance of the Nabataean name Shullay, which was also rendered in Greek as LuA.A.a'i: os Uosephus, Ant. 16 §220 etc.; Strabo 1 6.4.23-24) or LOAAEOS .1 6 Another way to form hypocoristics was to shorten the full name somewhat less than as described above, and to add -a(h). If we take the same instance again, Yeh6chanan was first shortened to Yehochann- or Y6chann- (also with doubled final consonant) , and after the addition of -a(h) there resulted respectively the masculine names Yehochanna(h) and Yochanna(h) . Both occur in the so-called Babatha archive with bar, and a father's name added, which confirms their masculine gender (documents 1 4, 1 5, 1 6, 20, 22) . 17 The former is also found a s a textual variant in the pedigree of Jesus according to Luke 3:27 (mss. KMII) TOU 'I wavva, whereas the mss. m�ority has Tou 'I wav(v)av . Another well-known instance of this type was 'Aqibhah from 'Aqabhyah.1s Sometimes names of foreign provenance were also treated in 14 So B. Lifshitz, "Papyrus grecs du desert de Juda," Aegyptus 42 ( 1 962) 243244, with photograph opposite p. 256. 15 See the photographs in Lifshitz (see footnote 1 4) and in Y. Yadin, Bar Kokhba. The rediscovery of the legendary hero of the last Jewish Revolt against Imperial Rome ( London: 1 97 1 ) p. 1 3 1 . The latter transcribes the name as

"So [ .. . ] ios" and denies the alleged identity with Bar-Kokhba (p. 1 30) . 16 Cf. hOAAat os- ( CPJ 67 1. 4; 68 1. 4) and hOAAE OS" , see A. Alt, Die griechi schen Inschriften der Palaestina Tertia westlich der 'Araba (Wissen s c h aftli c h e Veroffentlichungen d e s deutsch-tiirkischen Denkmalschutz-Kommandos, Heft 2 ; Berlin-Leipzig: 1 92 1 ) nr. 18 (Beersheba 518 CE) , where it is equated with Nabataean Shullay. Also a hOAAE OS" in E. Littmann - D. Magie - D. R. Stuart, Syria. Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1 904-5 and 1 909. Division Ill: Greek and Latin Inscriptions. Section A: Southern Syria (Leyden: 192 1 ) nr. 238 1 . 17 N. Lewis, The Babatha Archive. The Documents from the Bar-Kokhba Period in the Cave of the Letters (Jerusalem: 1 989) . 18 Cf. T. Ilan, '"Man born of Woman .. .' (Job 1 4: 1 ) . The Phenomenon of Men Bearing Metronymes [sic] at the Time of Jesus," NovT 34 ( 1 992) 23-45, esp. 38-39. - A further type of hypocoristic is that which ends in -on, but here it is always unclear with which one is confronted, with Hebrew p-, as in Shim' on , or with Greek -wv , as in Z'll vwv . Abtalyon is probably ITToA.A.( wv, formed from ITTOAE �a'i: os- [cf. The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York-London: 1 925) I 1 36a] , while 'Abdon is the Hebrew formation on the basis of 'Abdiyah, but which are Naqdemon (from NLK68TJ�OS") or p�1:1 (from B6TJ8os-) ?

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this way, 'I ouoTOS becoming i1r!l01' ( CIJ 1 197 Noarah) , NLK6A.aos i1?pJ or Niqiah (D.JD II 24 D (4) , 20) . A third kind of hypocoristics were those that simply dropped their final consonant, Maryam becoming Maryah, both used with reference to the same woman in Dominus Flevit nr. 7, and Yoseph becoming Yose , for instance i101' in CI] 987 ( Can a) . Possibly such names were back-travellers to Hebrew from Greek, where such clippings .were necessary for morphological reasons (see above) : cf. at Matt 27:56 (v.l.) Map(a T, . . 'I w<Jil J.l.TtTllP · From the occurrence of a MupTLAOS 'I aKw (Aphrodisias-inscr. b 1 1-1 2) one might therefore take it that a Hebrew text could contain a 1p.t1' as well. l 9 Mter this necessarily sketchy survey of the different pheno mena encountered in this field, it is now time to turn to the new sources which we mentioned at the outset. The excavations carried out at Masada, the last stronghold of the Jewish Revolt, have provided us with a great many ostraca, jar inscriptions, graffiti and scraps of papyrus, altogether 95 1 items. Almost all of these texts are very short and fragmentary, but they' do contain many personal names. Here , it is not necessary to discuss these important excavations in detail; but in what follows we shall gratefully make use of the new data they provide. The Goliath family needs somewhat more comment. The tomb of this by now famous family was found in the Jewish cemetery at Jericho, which was unearthed in the late 70s. It con sists of two chambers at different levels which are interconnected by a passage and a small staircase. There is a beautiful fresco in it, which represents a trellised vine with leaves, bunches of grapes, and birds perched on the branches. The tomb contained 22 ossuaries or bone-chests, on which in most cases ( 1 4x) had been noted whose bones they contained. Half of these inscriptions are in Greek, half are written in square script and then either Hebrew or Aramaic, three of them being bilingual. The family obtained .

.

l9 The various occurrences of 'l aKw in genitive position, without a 'l aKWS' in the same context, are ambiguous ( CIJ 91 0; 927; 1 1 60) , for they may be genitives of 'I aKw s , or indeclinables like Joseh. - Another type of shorten ings are such names as '0'1 (from �11 1.1:r) Tptos , with itacism) , "0'� ( fr o m 'l crt8wpos-?) , see Naveh (see footnote 1 0) nr. 75, 'P'1C!lEl (from IlaTp( KtOS' ) (y. Yoma 41d) , ,,,J',�El (from Ilaplly6ptoS', C..[J 1 041 ) , unless these should be read as Demay etc.

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its curious name in modern publications because some of its members had the sobriquet "Goliath", and not undeservedly so: according to their skeletal remains they must have been very tall indeed. Their social status appears from the fact that one of them, Theodotus alias Nath [an] el, was a freedman of "Queen" Agrip pina, the wife of the Emperor Claudius. First of all these inscriptions give us some insight into the prac tice of name-giving in this family. With regard to the filiation we follow the results of the special computer analysis which took into account both the inscriptions and the physical characteristics of the bones. The ancestor was called Yeho'ezer (I) , son of El'azar (I) "Goliath"; he had, among other children, three sons who respec tively received the names El'azar (II) , Ishma'el (I) and Yeho'ezer (II) "Goliath"; each of these three had in his turn a son whom he called after his own father, hence Yeho'ezer III, IV and V; nr. IV of these had a son who got the name of Ishma' el (II) , probably after his great-uncle. Unfortunately, the parents' names of none of the different "in-laws" are mentioned, so that most of the further name-connections, if any, remain in the dark. Nevertheless it is clear that the practice within this family corroborates the critical remark, which was made to Elisabeth in Luke 1 : 6 1 , when she wants her son to be called 'John", although none of the relatives had that name. 2o One wonders whether the "Eleazaros Gigas", who was given as a present to Tiberius by the king of Parthia (Josephus, Ant. 18 § 1 03) was not the same man as the ancestor of this family of giants. The Hebrew names used in this family are the usual ones that one would expect: Yo'ezer, Eleazar, Nathanael, Maryam, Ishmael, etc. The excavator and editor Hachlili makes the remark that Ishmael was rare in this period, but the prosopography at the end of CPJ III contains three different persons bearing that name (nrs. 1 3, 1 20, 452) , and two more have been found on ossuaries unearthed at Dominus Flevit (nrs. 4 and 6) . Moreover, there was at least one highpriest Ismael in the 1st century (Josephus, Ant. 1 8 §34) , possibly two if h e is not the same as the one mentioned in Ant. 20, § 1 79, and at least four Rabbis called Ismael are quoted in 20 See "Name Giving after Relatives in the Ancient World" in P. W. van der Horst - G. Mussies, Studies on the Hellenistic Background of the New Testament (Utrechtse Theologische Reeks 1 0; Utrecht: 1 990) 65-85.

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the later Talmud. 2 1 In all likelihood this name had been assigned in each case not so much after the son of Abraham, but rather because of its meaning "God will hear". The Hebrew names have been Hellenized in the ordinary way: MapLUflll (nr. 1 ) , 'I ov8as (nr. 1 ) , 'I wl(pos (nr. 4) , 'l crf.LailAOS (nr. 4) , etc. Goliath has the Greek form roMa8os (nr. 9) , as in Josephus, Ant. 6 § 1 72 etc., although at its first occurrence in 6 § 1 7 1 the mss. have foAL d 81lS . Shelam Tsion, "Peace of Si�n ", is here hEAUf.LcrLw (nr. 1 1 ) , which differs from hUAUfltPLW, as Josephus renders it (Ant. 18 §§ 130; 1 3 1 ; 1 38) , and perhaps from �T, AalTT L W V ( CIJ 935) , if that really is the same name .22 Only one of the persons interred in this tomb, the freedman of Agrippina, had as well a Hebrew as a Greek name. On his·- own ossuary the inscription runs: 8Eo86Tou ciTI (EAEu8 ) € pou �aaLA( dalls 'AypLlTlTELVllS a6pos (nr. 3) , whereas he is referred to on the ossuary of his daughter Mariah (il'iO ) as Nathan (a) el (nr. 7a: '?� [J] nJ ) , which is broadly an equivalent of Theodotos. One might further suppose that at least one of the seven Yo'ezers and Eleazars w� nt alternatively by the name of B6118os , like the priest from Alexan dria of that name, who was himself also the father of a Yo'azar and an Eleazar, both highpriests in the 1st century (Josephus, Ant. 1 7 §339) , but this is, of course, a piece of mere guess-work. By far the most important addition to our knowledge of Jewish onomastics has been furnished by the discovery of the by now famous Aphrodisias inscription. It dates back to the second quarter of the lind century at the earliest, but may well have to be assigned to a later part of that century. At any rate it is the first piece of evidence for the presence of Jews in this ancient town in western Asia Minor east of Miletus, consisting of a long list of the 1 25 male members ( 1 24, if the president was a woman, see below) of a club or association, which had to do with a meal or meals. The problematic opening line is most likely an invocation of 2 1 B. Bagatti - J. T. Milik, Gli Scavi del ''Dominus Flevit " (Monte Oliveto Gerusalemme), Parte 1: La necropoli del Periodo Romano (Jerusalem: 1 958) nrs. 4 and 6. - D. Rokeah, "Prosopography of the Jews in Egypt, " in CPJ I I I

(Cambridge-Mass.: 1964) pp. 1 67-196 (papyrusnrs. 1 3; 1 20; 4.5 2 ) . - For the four rabbis of this name who occur in the Talmud, see H. Strack - P. Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch, vol. V - VI Rabbi nischer Index. Verzeichnis der Schriftgelehrten. Geographisches Register (Miinchen: 51979) 184-1 85. 22 So Frey, but names in -<.UV are masculine.

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divine help and runs as follows: 8Eos �ol18os TTUTEAA.a8o [ 1 or 2 letters] . Of the last sequence of letters several explanations have been given.The editors assume the most probable solution to be a dative TTUTEAAQ., with the following 8o [ . ] being either a word mean ing "building": 86 [j.i (os ) ] , 86 [j.i (Tlj.iU) ] or some form of the verb "to give" e.g. 86s, or "gift", "giver(s) ": 86 (crLs ) , 8oT (f\pEs) . 2 3 The word TTa TE A.A.a "dish; plate", originally a loan word from Latin, was cur rent in Imperial Greek and occurred also as a loan in Hebrew. 24 The editors also assume that it means here, by extension, "charity plate; the collecting of (cooked) food and its distribution to the poor; soup-kitchen", just like its Hebrew counterpart ,,non ( tam chuy) , which, besides "plate", had these further senses too. 2 5 As it is not unusual for Greek words in a Jewish context to take over the total meaning of their Hebrew, at first partial equivalents, such an extension of the meaning of TTciTEAA.a would be quite thinkable . 26 But we have said elsewhere that a dative sg. is not very likely here, because it should in Koine-Greek have the form TTUTE AATJ , and we proposed instead to take the whole as one word and read it as TTUTE AA.a 8o [s ] , the genitive sg. of an otherwise unattested TTUTEA.A.as . This might have the meaning "dish-man", and in this text "charity dish-man" . 2 7 so that the line could mean "God (is/may) be the helper of the charity-disher". It is, however, incompatible with the Greek language and therefore hardly pos sible, to read here, with M. H. Williams, a word like *TTaTEAA.a86s , the aor. imperative o f an alleged verb *TTaTEA.A.a8(8wj.iL , meaning 23 24

RT 8; 26. J. Levy, Neuhebraisches und Chaldaisches Worterbuch uber die Talmudim und Midraschim (Leipzig: 1 889) vol. IV, 26. 25 M. Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (New York: 1 967 [= 1 903] ) 1 676b.- M. H . Williams, "The Jews and Godfearers Inscription from Aphrodisias.- A Case of Patriarchal Interference in Early 3rd Century Caria?, " Historia 41 ( 1 992) 303 disputes more or less that tamchuy can have the special sense of "soup kitchen", but the existence of such a Jewish charitable institution cannot be doubted, as appears clearly from e.g. m. Pe 'a 8:7 and b. B.Bat. 8b, where the collecting of the food, its immediate distribution, as well as its difference from the "quppah" are explicitly discussed. The latter, which properly means "basket", became in a similar way to mean "poor fund", cf. Jastrow o. c. 1 338a and Levy o. c. IV 270b. 26 As a model of such semantic extensions may serve here the word mcfl1TTpov "stave; stick". This was used to render the Hebrew word C!l:lrli "stave; stick", but as the latter also meant "tribe", crKi) lTTpov adopted the sense "tribe" in the LXX, e.g. at 1 Kgdms 2:28. 27 Mnemosyne 44 ( 1991 ) 293-295.

·

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"put (food) upon our plate". 28 Apart from the fact, that as a first compound-member nE pw, etc. These are, as it were, substituted by verbs like -80TEW, -X.oyEtu, cf>opEW, hence aLT080TEtu, 1J.U8oX.oyEw, Kapnocf>opEW. The final option seems to be then that nLX.o!J.a8wv Twv KE nav TEuX.oy (-wv) Els cinEv8Tla(av T4) nX.i)8L EKTLaa [v] E:� l8twv IJ.Vf11J.a: "The persons mentioned ( litt. : placed) below, (members) of the Society of the Studious, who are also the . . . , for alleviation of grief, in behalf of the congregation/the people (?) , founded by private means a/this ( ? ) monun1ent". The sense "congregation " fo � nX.f1 8os may be instanced by Acts 6:2, 5. The most problematic word of these lines is, however, navTEuX.oy ( .. ) , both because of its uncertain completion, and the rather wide semantic range of dJX.oy-. An additional problem is whether Els cinEv8lla(av should be connected with it, or rather with E KTLaav . The editors have very cautiously chosen for navTEuX.6y (wv ) , assuming this to have the same meaning as navTE uX.oyoiJ vTES , 2 9 but here there are some objections to be made. As far as we can see the various possibilities of completing navTEuX.oy ( .. ) comprise the following: a) navTEuX.6y (wv) ; unattested; would be a compound of navT- and d ) X.oyos , for which the dictionaries give the senses "sensible, reasonable ", "legitimate ", "honourable " (only 1 Mace 1 2 :43) , "eloquent" (only Exod 4: 1 0 v.l.) ; b) navTEuX.oy (i)Twv) ; attested with the meaning "blessed by all", referring to the virgin Mary,3 o compound of navT- and EuX.6yllTOS "blessed"; c) navTEuX.oy ((aTwv) ; unattested; would be a compound of navT and EuX.6yLaTos "well calculated; calculating well"; "blessed"; 28 29 30

Williams o.c. 309. RT 5. G. W. H. Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford: 1 968) 1004b.

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d) lTUVTEUAO'Y (ouvnuv) ( edd.; Williams) 31 ; unattested; as there are no compounds of the element Tiav (T ) -, TiavTo- on the one hand, and a verb on the other, such a verb as *TiaVTEuA.oyE-w, if it existed, is unlikely to have been a compound of lTUVT- and EuA.oyE- w "to bless; to praise"; the (rare) verbs that nevertheless begin with Tiav (T ) - seem to belie this statement, but they can all be derived from substantives or adjectives that had already been com pounded with that element, such as lTUVT)yup((w from Tiav'TlyupLS , TiavoupyE- w from Tiavoupyos , etc.; as a consequence, a postulated verb *TiaVTEuA.oyE-w would have to be a derivation from * TiaVTEUA.o yos , meaning "to be *TiaVTEuA.oyos ", with senses as given under a) , which do not, however, comprise "blessing" or "praising". The most fitting and at the same time least boastful of all these possible senses would be "blessed in all respects (by God) ", which may be carried by b) , the only word that happens to be actually attested, and which might well link up with the immediately following "for alleviation of grief'. In this way God would be the ultimate performer of the charitable acts done by the more or less wealthy community members. As to the ll.Vfl 1.1a which they founded, this may quite well be the column itself. "Tomb", the most common sense of this word, would hardly be in place. One can imagine the establishment of a cemetery for a community, but not a tomb. Williams supposes that it refers here to the triclinium or dining-hall of a burial society,3 2 but I think that neither a dining-hall nor a cook-shop would as such be called a ll.Vfl lla . If the stone was ever part of a building, it must have been the one where the Society met and/or organized the lTUTEAAa to be distributed to the needy of the congregation. What follows next are two lists of names: I) a mixed list of people, apparently born Jews, (three) proselytes and (two) 9EO<J'E �ELS or Godfearers, together 73 persons; II) a list, which according to its superscription contains Godfearers only, together 52 persons. With the patronymics included, the total of the different personal 31 RT 35-36; Williams o . c . 305. The only exception seems to be 1TavTo KpaTlw "to be almighty, v.l.in LXX Za. 8:2" according to LSJ 1 300b. This tex tual variant is not recorded in the Gottingen-edition by J. Ziegler, Duodecim prophetae (Gottingen: 2 1 967) 305, but must be, according to the syntactical context, the participle 1TaVTOKpanilv , certainly a mistake for 1TaVTOKp
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names mentioned amounts to some 1 30. A more precise figure

cannot be given, because a number of them are abbreviations of either names or professions, and some may be nicknames rather than names given at birth. There can be no question of dealing here with all of these names. Instead of that we shall give a succinct survey of the different classes of names to be discerned, and make some suggestions here and there with regard to unanswered question �· or questionable explanations made by the editors. The inscription distinguishes between three kinds of adherents of the Jewish confession: there are Jews, there are proselytes and there are Godfearers. To begin with the last. People thus indicated are the same as those who are otherwise called oi. aE�OlJ.EVOL or 'ol. o�OU lJ.EVOL TOV 8E6v throughout the Book of Acts and also by Josephus (Ant. 1 4 § 1 10) . These were Judaizing sympathizers, who had not or not yet made the decision to convert completely and become proselytes. As a matter of fact they were of Pagan, in later times perhaps also of Christian origin . It will be clear, therefore,, that the purely Greek names of a�l these Godfearers have nothing to do with Jewish onomastics in the strict sense. It is true that we find among them one 'Eucra��ci8LOS ( b 48) , who has, of course, a Jewish name meaning "well-observing the Shabbath". I think this can be explained either as an adoptive name, or from the fact that the man may have been the son of a Jew and a heathen woman. Compare the case of Timothy in the NT, who was the son of a pagan father and a Jewish mother, but uncircumcised (Acts 1 6: 1 ) . I do not think one should adhere to the suggestion of Solin and totally exclude inscriptions about Godfearers from any corpus of Jewish inscriptions.33 On the contrary, they rightly de serve their place, since they have to do with the Jewish religion, but they should, of course, be marked as such in the indexes. Naturally, the same holds good of the proselytes. According to the Talmud, a proselyte was supposed, among other things, to adopt a new, Jewish name, and even no longer to mention his father's name together with the new adoptive one, but rather to call himself "a son of Abraham". On our inscription the three prose lytes identified as such do indeed have Hebrew names: Samuel, 33 H. Solin , 'Juden und Syrer im westlichen Teil der romischen Welt, "ANRW II 29.2, 655 .

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Joses and Joseph (a 1 3; 1 7; 22) 34. The fact that one of them, Joseph, mentions his father Eusebios by name, need not necessarily mean that he neglected a talmudic prescription. It might as well mean that his father was a proselyte before he became one him self, but apart from such borderline-cases proselytes had no ances try ( cf. b. Yebam. 62a) . A fourth convert, another 'Euaa��ci8tos, may be hidden under the epithet �EVOS' ( b 1 6) . This could well be an alternative rendition of Hebrew 1) (ger) , which means both "stranger; foreigner", and "proselyte". In that case he would also appear to have adopted an at least partly Hebrew name.35 These adoptive names are known from elsewhere. At Rome there are the instances of "Felicitas, now called Nuemi " ( CIJ 462) ,36 and of ''Veturia Pauc (u) la (not: Paulla) , now called Sara " ( CIJ 523) . Two more, bearing both the new name of judas, are known from ossuaries found in and near Jerusalem ( CIJ 1 385; Dom. Flev. 1 3) , and also a woman now called Shalam (Dom. Flev. 3 1 ) . An ostracon from Masada mentions a Yeshua ' Giorii, which is Aramaic for "proselyte" (Mas. I 420, 7) . Curiously, fLwpas could apparently also occur as a proper name (Josephus, J W 2 §52 1 etc.; DJD II, 1 20 C 9) . A much later instance was that of a court-chaplin of the emperor Lewis the Pious, called Bodo and a member of a Frankish noble family. In the year 838 he pretended to set out on a journey to Rome together with a nephew, but instead of crossing the Alps he crossed the Pyrenees, and travelled into Spain, where he con verted to Judaism, took on the new name of Eleazar, and started to write polemics against Christianity.37 Well-known is the still later instance of Johannes-Obadyah, around 1 1 00.38 A similar custom could be practised on the occasion of Christian baptism: a Saxon king, Cedual, was called Petrus after his conversion . Consequent ly, whenever a Jew converted to Christianity, he also could adopt a new, "Christian name". Gregory of Tours tells the story of a 34 35

Cf. RT 45. For a discussion of the frequency of the names Sabbathios, Sambathi6n etc., see below. 36 Carried out as "NVENN ", in which the "NN" are probably an erroneous solution of "MI" written in ligature in the stone-mason 's papyrus. For the form of the name cf. in LXX Ruth NWEj.l (j..L ) EL (v) . 37 The jewish Encyclopedia 3 (New York - London: 1 925) 283a; Encyclopaedia judaica 4 (Jerusalem: 1971) 1 1 64 s.v. Bodo. 38 Encyclopaedia Judaica 12 (Jerusalem: 1 97 1 ) 1 306-1 307 s.v. Obadiah, the Norman Proselyte.

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Juda who was called Quiriacus after his baptism, i.e. KupLaKOS (Hist. Franc. 1.34) .39 All this does not mean that proselytes were always called in daily life by their new adoptive names. One of the earliest examples known by name is that of N L Ko A.aos from Antioch, mentioned in Acts 6:2, who apparently retained his original Greek name, or perhaps never took a new one. Further instances are C (h) rysis, a woman convert in Rome ( CIJ 222) , and a Dio genes son of Zenas (1Jom. Flev. 2 1 ) , whose tombstones are silent about their new names, if any. Josephus has some instances too: the Roman lady Fulvia, whom he describes as a "rrpocrEA11AU8til a to the Jewish institutions" (Ant. 1 8 §82) , and the well-known case of the royal family of Adiabene, queen Helen and her son Izates (Ant. 20 §1 7ff.) . All three, however, were persons of high status, to whom the author preferably kept referring by the names once used, for clarity's sake. If we now turn to the persons not called Godfearer or proselyte on the Aphrodisias inscription, - the word 'I ou8a'i: os does not, occur at all -, we see that a considerable number of them bear ordinary Hebrew names such as Samuel, Judas, Benj amin, Ruben. Joseph occurs both in this form and Hellenized as Joses. Jako is found by the side of the unshortened Jakob, but as it has the function of a genitive, the nominative may have been either Jako as well, or the Hellenized Jakos ( b 1 3) . The only Hebrew names worthy of special mention are that of the rrpocrTaTllS or president of the society, I a11A., who naturally opens the list ( a 9) , and that of 'I Ecrcr€os (a 14) . Before the inscription was published, Bernadette Brooten had already mentioned this president in a post-script to her study of the Women Leaders in the Ancient Synagogue. It was automatically assumed there that the Yael of the inscription was a woman presi dent, but this may have been done without the complete text of the stone being available to the authoress. 40 The assumption itself 39 I. Kajanto, Onomastic Studies in the Early Christian Inscriptions (Acta Instituti Romani Finlandiae 2 , pt. 1 ; Helsinki: 1 963) 1 05 . 40 BJS 3 6 (Chico: 1 982) 1 5 1 . I n two recent articles this position has been argued more thoroughly: a) "The Gender of I UT)A in the Jewish Inscription from Aphrodisias, " in: H. W. Attridge - J. ]. Collins - Th. H. Tobin SJ. (edd.) , Of Scribes and Scrolls. Studies on the Hebrew Bible, Intertestamentary judaism, and Christian Origins presented to John Strugnell on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday (College Theology

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rests, of course, on the presupposition that Yael was a feminine name only. The editors have endeavoured to undermine this position by pointing to two men who are called I aT] A. in the LXX at 2 Esdr 1 0:26, 43.41 These instances in themselves, however, con stitute rather weak evidence, since they are both textual variants of forms that happen to be much closer to the Hebrew names as found in the MT, namely I a (E ) LT]A ( 10:26 cf. MT "�'n') , and I E (E ) LT]A ( 1 0:43, also 1 0:2, cf. MT "�'»') . In all likelihood "I a11A." arose from I ULT]A at 10 :26, and may have influenced in its turn the ortho graphy of the similar name at 10:43, as these two verses are not so widely apart. However this may have been, as the resulting variant is found only in one of the arid name lists of the OT, and not in one of its lively stories, it can hardly be supposed to have occasioned its later use as a male name all by itself. For this it needed, rather, the support of a famous Yael, and the only one possible is, of course, the heroine in the history of Deborah and Barak (Judg 4: 1 7-5:24) . But she was a woman, and can one take it for a fact that her name was borne by men as well? This question assumes already that some distinction at least was made in Israel and Judaism between specific women 's names and specific men's names, but was this really so? The question may be diffi cult to answer because the women's names known to us are by far in the minority as compared with those of men. Moreover, the practice in later Judaism may have differed from that of the pre exilic period. In spite of the relative scantiness of women's names, however, some facts do emerge clearly. 1 ) The different types of theophoric name, that can be distin guished appear to have been neutral in this respect, because they were originally short sentences about God. The following in stances are attested both for men (m.) and for women (w.) : Abi yahu (m. 1 Sam 8:2; w. 2 Chr 29: 1 ) , Atalyahu (m. 1 Chr 8:26-27; w. 2 Kgs 8:26) , Yokebed (w. Exod 6: 19; cf. m. I wxa�11 1 Sam 1 4:3 LXX = Ikabod) , Mehetabe'el (m. Neh 6: 10; w. 1 Chr 1 :50) , Mikayahu (m. Judg 1 7 : 1 ; w. 2 Chr 1 3:2) . Without exact male counterpart, but as Society Resources in Religion 5; The College Theology Society: 1 990) 1 63-1 73. b) "Iael lTpoaTCi TTJS in the Jewish Donative Inscription from Aphro disias," in: B. Pearson ( ed. ) , The Future of Early Christianity. Essays in Honor of Helmut Koester (Minneapolis: 1 99 1 ) 1 49-162. 41 RT 1 0 1 . These extremely doubtful instances are quite rightly rejected by Brooten ( 1 990) 1 68-170.

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opposed to numerous male names beginning with Y(eh) o- or El (i)-, or ending in -yah (u) , there occur the following female ones: Yeho'addan (2 Chr 25: 1 ) , Elisheba' (Exod 6:22 "Elizabeth") , Yecholyah ( 2 Kgs 1 5 :2) .42 The same holds good of names beginning with Ab (i)- and Ach (i) -, which referred, at least origi nally, to a god or to God invoked as father or brother. Both for a woman and a man is attested the already mentioned Abiyahu. Without exact male counterpart, but again alongside many male instances of Abi- ana Achi-, we find: Abigal (2 Sam 1 7:25) , ' Abigayil (2 Sam 3:3) , Abichayil ( 1 Chr 2:29) , Abita! (2 Sam 3:4) , Abishag ( 1 Kgs 1 :3) , Achino' am (2 Sam 3 :2; but cf. m. Abino'am Judg 4:6) . 2) That masculine substantives could serve as male names, arid feminine substantives as female names, is exactly what one would expect, and in line with the procedure in other languages which have grammatical genders such as Greek. Examples are layish "lion " (masc.) and also a man's name ( 1 Sam 25:44) , and deborah "bee " (fe�.) and also a woman's name (Gen 35:8; Judg , 4:5) . Contrary to this, however, masculine substantives could also be used as female names, and feminine ones as men's names, hence: tamar "palm-tree" subst. masc., but women's name at Gen 38:6; 2 Sam 1 3: 1-2; 2 Sam 1 4:27; no'am "delight" subst. masc. , but woman' s name Na'omi "my delight" (Ruth 1 :2) ; ayyah "hawk " subst. fern., but man's name 2 Sam 3:7, yonah "dove" subst. fern., but man's name 2 Kgs 14:25; rechob "space" subst. fern., but man's name Neh 1 0: 1 1 ; techinnah "favour" subst. fern., but man's name 1 Chr 4:1 2.43 Such a practice would have been impossible in Greek: Bd.vTl (f.) could only become a woman's name, aTl avos (m.) only a man's. 3) The only Hebrew names, then, that may have been con sistently reserved either for women or for men, were those that occurred in pairs opposing a masculine form to a feminine form. These were mainly adjectives and participles used as personal =

42 The Hebrew looking, Modern English woman' s name Muriel does not belong here at all. It is Celtic and derives from Old Irish muir gheal "se a bri ht", see R. Coghland, Irish First Names (Belfast: 1 985) 53. Instances of one and the same Hebrew substantive used alternatively as a woman ' s name and as a man ' s are hard to find. An Edomite example would be Timna ', at least if that is a substantive in origin. It is a man's name at Gen 36:40, but a woman's name at Gen 36: 12, 22.

,&

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names, such as yadid (m.) vs yedidah (f.) "beloved", hence Yedid yah, the original name of king Solomon (2 Sam 1 2:25) , as opposed to Yedidah, the mother of king josiah (2 Kgs 22: 1 ) ; Shelomi (man Num 34:27) vs Shelomith (women Lev 24: 1 1 ; 1 Chr 3 : 1 9 ) ; Meshullam (men e.g. 2 Kgs 22:3) vs Meshullemeth (woman 2 Kgs 2 1 :9) ; perhaps also Chanan (Avav) as opposed to Channah (Avv a ) "gracious", but the former may well be a shortened theophoric name.44 Here belong certainly also such suppletive pairs as "bull" vs "cow" (H� 'ah) , "ram" (ayil) vs "ewe" (rachel) , "son of' (ben) vs "daughter of' (bath) as soon as they were made into names, hence Le' ah, Eyl-on (Judg 1 2 : 1 1 ) , Rachel, Bin-yamin "son of the right hand", Bath-sheba' "daughter of the oath", etc. For the comparison of specific women's names and specific men's names the period of postbiblical Judaism offers somewhat more data than the OT does, with its many lists of mostly male persons. This is illustrated, for instance, by the fact that Rokeah's prosopography in CPJ Ill, which lists some 840 Egyptian Jews, 44 There are a number of seeming exceptions in the form of feminine adjectives or participles which are nevertheless used as names for men. In addition to the regular pair s/Shelomi (masc. adj . , male name) s/Shelomith (fern. adj . , female name, there also occur men who are called Shelomith, for instance, at 1 Chr 26:25. Here one almost certainly has to read n,o?rzi w i t h some mss. and the LXX � aAWIJ.we , which may have been a n appellative meaning "welfare " or "recompense", or perhaps, since there are some more men ' s names in m-, there were a special kind of hypocoristics. The best known instance is, as a matter of fact, the name Qoheleth, allegedly the pseudonym of king Solomon. It occurs both with and without the definite article, and is mostly supposed to be a substantive indicating a function or profession, something like "(My) Preachership"; cf. 0. Eissfeldt, Einleitung in das Alte Testament (Tiibingen: 4 1976) 666. The same may hold good of ha Sophereth (Ezra 2:55) and Pokereth (Ezra 2:57) , seemingly names of officials of Solomon, but the article of the first name makes it already clear that it is not a personal name. Moreover, the LXX-readings AcrETJpae and axEpae do not exactly point to feminine participles. Ezra 2:55 niE:I,Oi1 ' l :l might as well mean "members of the scribes' guild". According to F. Zimmermann, The Book of Tobit (New York: 1 958) 44 the name Tw�LT ;a arose from "Tobi" with the addition of -t(h) in order to make it undeclinable (quoting C. C . Torrey) . This is a rather curious explanation, for there appears nowhere to be any resistance against declining Hebrew names as soon as they figure in a Greek text. Codex Sinaiticus of Tobit does indeed decline the name a few times, having the nom. Tw�(s at 1 1 : 10, 1 2, 14, the acc.Tw�(v at 1 0:9 and 1 1 : 19. Moreover, if the original form of the name was Tw�L it could have been left as it was, as is shown, for instance, by the undeclined name of AEu (E ) (. in the LXX. No addition of a consonant was needed to effect this. In all likelihood Tobit(h) represents a female substantive now lost with the meaning "goodness", or perhaps a hypocoristic like �aAWIJ.we above, or else we may have to do with some kind of corruption like �tpax for Mi'O. -

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contains no less than 10% women, but the proportion is unfavou rable again in the rather "masculine" Talmud.45 What changes in this period, then, is not so much the system itself, but rather that increasingly many persons were now named after the famous ancestors and ancestresses, whose stories figured in Holy Scripture. This is abundantly attested by the numerous bearers of names like Abra (ha) m, Sar (r) a, Isa(a) c, Rebecca, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Benjamin, fo�nd in the inscriptions and papyri after the Exile.The first exaii}ples of the re-use of the names of Jacob' s sons already occur together in a list in Ezra 10 (vv. 23, 30-33, 42) . Some, however, which one would expect to re-occur as well, have not (yet?) been found or very rarely: Adam, Eve, Noah, Dinah, Gideon, Samson, David (the latter, for instance, only once in CIJ vol. I, in nr. 62 1 , a completely Hebrew inscription at Tarentum) . Nevertheless, with regard to those that do occur it is clear that they were always assigned, either to girls or to boys, in accordance with the biological sex of the famous earlier bearer of the name. So, although such a name as Yehoshua', as we have seen, could i:q principle be borne by members of both sexes, the renown of the male successor of Moses made it henceforth unfit for girls. Or so it seems. Surely no one would ever expect that a Jew would give the name of Moses' sister to his son. It occurs so often with women, and in several forms (MapL
45 The proportion was equally unfavourable in Classical Athens, see J. Bremmer, "Plutarch and the Naming of Greek Women," A]Ph 1 02 ( 1 96 1 ) 425-426, and the literature quoted there ( D . Schaps; ]. Gould; A . H. Sommer stein) .

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ing to some,4 6 a masculine ya ' el (attested only in the plural ye ' elim, ya ' ale in the OT, the singular being found in the Mishnah)47 and a feminine ya 'alah (attested only in the construct state ya 'alath in Prov 5:18-19 ) , one would suppose both these words to have been used as gender specific names, but in that case the problem would be that the masculine substantive would have had to become a male name, whereas in Judg 4: 1 7 it is clearly that of a woman. This problem is, however, non-existent, if the feminine substan tive ya 'alah, or as it is also vocalized ya 'elah, does not refer to the female of the ya'el or mountain-sheep, but to another species, the "gazelle ", as Jastrow maintains.48 Derivation by means of -a h certainly served more purposes than just that of forming females by the side of males, as is shown by such pairs as mekes "tax" miksah "number; worth ", se'ar "hair" - sa 'arah "a hair", chakam "wise " chokmah - "wisdom".49 But since the determination of species of animals, plants, or (precious) stones, that are referred to in ancient languages, is notoriously difficult and disputed, it is better not to consider such a differentiation too rashly as a matter which is already certain, although it would solve the problem. Instead, one might rather assume, because Proverbs is a post-Exilic composition, that ya 'el in the much earlier period of the Judges was still a two-gender word, like dob "he-bear" (Prov 28: 1 5) or "she-bear" (2 Kgs 2:24) , and that the special feminine form was created at a later time beside it. so In this case, that is if the -

-

46 F. Brown - S. Driver - Ch. A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament . (Oxford: 1966) 418b. - L. Koehler - W. Baumgartner, Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros (Leyden: 1958) 389a. 47 Rosh ha-Shanah 3:3, where it is stipulated that the shofar blown at the

New Year should be the horn of a wild goat. 48 Jastrow, o. c. , 584b. 49 Greek feminines formed from animal-names likewise do not oppose sex only: AU KOS "he-wolf'' or "wolf'' vs A.v Katva "she-wolf'', but e.g. u s "swine; boar; sow" vs uatva 1 ) "hyena"; 2) (kind of ) "antelope"; 3) (kind of) "sea-fish". 50 It has even been supposed that 'I ..os , however, which is found in Ant. 7 §379 for the Biblical Yechi 'el of 1 Chr 29:8, shows the same suppression of the long e-vowel. At any rate, even if Josephus read Ya 'alah , that reading would probably be a correction of the lectio difficilior Ya'el. As it stands now in the MT this form of the name may well date back to the Xlth century BCE, although the earliest core of the Book of Judges is =

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substantive had a double gender, it could certainly be used as a name for both women and men, as the above survey has shown. And indeed, there is also an instance of a male person bearing it, albeit in Aramaic disguise, for among those who repatriated under Zorobabel mentioned at Ezra 2:56 and Neh 7:58 we find "the sons ofYa'ala I the Ibex" (LXX: I ETJAa, I EA.a, I EaATJ, I EaTJA., I EATJA) . This name is based on the Aramaic substantive ya 'ala (�?»' ) or ya 'ela ( �?'»' ) , which .is a masculine noun in the status deter minatus ending in "'a 5 1 As Aramaic was becoming the lingua franca in Mesopotatnia by that time this is no surprise, and other Aramaic names are found in the same context, for instance, Lebana or "the White" (Ezra 2:45; Neh 7:48) . This instance proves at least that up to the Exile the name was not yet totally restricted 'to ' women. One would expect this to have happened during th e subsequent period of Judaism owing to the reputation of the historical Ya'el, but as the Aphrodisias inscription offers the only further instance of its re-use in Jewish Antiquity, such a gender specialization cannot be proved or assumed to have obtained in , this case. That is only reasonably certain if it is backed up by a significant number of examples, as is, for instance, the name Yehoshua' - 'I TJaous. On the other hand, the complete absence of a Biblical name in our materials should not lead us to conclude that it was "there fore" not used. As it is, the combined corpus of Jewish papyri and inscriptions, together with the New Testament, the books of Josephus dealing with the post-Exilic period, and the Talmudim contain a comparatively restricted and incidental onomastic collection. It still has, for instance, such a preponderance of male names, that for that reason alone it can hardly be considered as representative of the population as a whole. .

two centuries later and its final redaction Vth or IVth century BCE, see G. F. Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on judges (Edinburgh: ( 1 895) 1949) , XXXIII - XXXV. - . Curiously, it is also Songs of Songs in which the fern . subst. gazelle i1':J� i s attested for the first time, by the side o f the existing masc. ':J� . Both were also used as personal names, though vocalized slightly differently: i1':J� , the mother of king Jehoash, at 2 Kgs 1 2:2, the Aramaized �·:J� , as a man's name at 1 Chr 8:9 (for the purely Aramaic equivalent cf. the fern. Ta�tea in Acts 9:36) 51 Jastrow, o. c., 584b; cf. Syriac ya 'lo explained as: "m. the mountain goat, ibex, chamois " in J. Payne Smith (Mrs. Margoliouth) , A Compendious Syriac Dictionary founded upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith, D.D. ( Oxford: (1903) 1979) 194b.

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Where does all this leave use with regard to the I aT) A of Aphro disias? Quite clearly, in no position at all for drawing any con clusion based only on the name itself: we do not know whether it was frequently used or rarely; and, as a consequence, we do not know either, whether it occurs as a male name here in accor dance with its grammatical gender (which is masculine, because a feminine counterpart has existed at least since the composition of Proverbs, c. 300-250 BCE) ,52 or as a female name contrary to its grammatical gender (but claimed for women only due to the fame of the OT heroine) . In other words, both are quite possible. In the inscription , however, the name is followed by the title npocrTd TT)S' or "leader", which is a masculine substantive. If the personal name does not offer a decision, maybe this substantive can. Brooten has argued that this word refers here to a woman, and adduces: 'PmJE'lva 'I ou8ala apxLcruvciywyos ( Clj 741 ll. 1-2) and <1>olf311v . . . ovaav [Kat ] 8LciKovov (Rom 1 6: 1 ) , as parallels of masculine substantives used for women.53 There is, however, a difference between these two parallels on the one hand, and words of the type npocrTUTT)S' on the other. The former are compound substantives or substantived adjec tives (apxL-, 8La-) , which end in -os and belong to a class of words that always lacked a separate feminine form in -11 ,54 and were therefore used both as masc. and as fern. till after the end of Antiquity. This appears, for instance, most clearly from such epithets of the Virgin Mary as 8EOTO KOS' , first found in works of Hippolytus and Origen and used ever since. On the other hand, the words in -TT)S' (gen. -Tou ) , which are often derived from verbs to denote the "actor" or performer of what is expressed by the verb itself, regularly had feminine counterparts formed with -TLS' (gen. -TL8os) or -Tpla. Hence there are found, a t.KETLS', f3ouAEUTLS', lTOALTLS', npoflTLS' , Mwaf31TLS', �aj.lap'i: TLS' , (Berenike II and Kleopatra III) 5 2 For the dating of Proverbs as a collection see C. H. Toy, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Proverbs (Edinburgh: ( 1 899) 1 970) XIX

XXXI . 53 Brooten ( 1 990) 1 67 n. 20, and ( 1 99 1 ) 153 n. 15. 54 As feminine personal names, however, such compounds nearly always have -11 , as in 'Av8poj..L d. Xll . :Eav8( mr, , etc. That this was a later development appears from the fact that the few compounds without the fem .-11 are restricted to the realm of mythology: " ATponos , one of the three fate-god desses (Hesiod, Theog. 905) , and "AypauX.os and Ild.v8poaos, respectively wife and daughter of Kekrops (Apollodorus, Libr. 3 . 1 4.2) .

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EuEpyETLS and many more, as opposed to a LKETTJS etc., and so, by the side of npocrTci TTJS , also a npocrTci TLS , a title which is used in Rom 1 6: 1 -2 in connection with that same Phoebe who was there already called a 8td Kovos . A derivation by means of -T p L a is 1J.a8ftTpLa, which is used at Acts 9:36 to refer to the woman-disciple Tabitha-Dorcas, in contradistinction from the frequent masculine 1J.U8TJTll S . Unlike the compounds in -os , these masculine actor words in -TTJS were not used to refer to women. Schwyzer men tions only one exarriple: Sophocles Trach. 1 1 25 Tfls naTpoovTou IJ.TJTpos, we KAUELV ·�IJ.E ,55 but in this verse-line the second word is clearly used metri causa instead of the expected naTpo6vou, which did not fit the metre. Note, however, the use of the latter in the comparable combination in Euripides Orestes 193 naTpoo vou IJ.UTpos, in a choral lyric of a different metre. The reasoning "if (words of the type) d pxtcruvciywyos can be used for women, so can (words of the type) npocrT
55 E. Schwyzer, Oriechische Grammatik 56 Brooten ( 1 990) 1 66 n. 44 points

'

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The second Hebrew name which is worthy of study is I EO"O"EOU (a 1 4) . This is certainly to be construed as the genitive of 'I Ecrcra1os the Hellenized form of the name of David's father I EO"O"al (LXX and NT) , which is also used by Josephus (Ant. 5 §336) .57 The two hybrid, half Hebrew half Greek, names };a� ( � ) d 8LOS and E ucra� (�) a8ws deserve some special attention, because of the frequency in Egypt of the similar names };a��a8a1os , };a (IJ.)�a8(wv etc. The Aphrodisias-inscription has no less than eight different persons bearing such names ( a 18; 25; b 15; 1 6; 18; 24; 32; 48) , and a further instance is also found on a possibly Jewish inscription from the .same town .5 8 One of these eight is listed under the heading of the God-fearers ( b 48) , the remaining may have been ordinary Jews, because proselytes would have been so indicated. Considerably more bearers of names derived from the word "shabbat(h) " are known from Antiquity. Vol. I of CIJ contains 1 6 Jewish as well as 8 allegedly Jewish examples of such names, the Jewish Egyptian papyri up to 1964 no less than 56, while Fora boschi's lexicon has listed the additionally published ones, Jewish or not, up to the year 1 971 ,59 of which those beginning with };ajl.TI instead of };ajl.�- are worthy of some note; moreover, the dedica tions to the "Highest God" found at Tanais contain 4 instances. 60 The problem posited by these names is that not all of them occur in a Jewish or Christian context. The editors of CP], who noted that several of them are found in otherwise purely Egyptian fami lies, to judge from the onomastics in e.g. nr. 485, have supposed that the popularity of this originally Hebrew name was due to groups of syncretistic sabbath-observers, even to venerators of a special sabbath-goddess Sambathis, so that not any bearer of such a name needs to have been a pure Jew because of that fact alone. 6 1 The original Hebrew name Shabbetay is found for the first time in Ezra 1 0: 1 5 and Neh 8:8. According to the Masoretic punctuation 57 Brooten ( 1 990) 1 66 n. 4 surmises that this could be the name of Isaiah. This is, however, almost always rendered as 'Haa( as (LXX, NT, Josephus, e.g. Ant. 9 §276; cf. i1'lltzi� Masada I nr. 41 1 ) , except for 'I Eaa (E ) (as at 2 Chr 26:22. 58 RT 1 35 nr. 7b; in spite of the statement in the index (p. 1 47) nr. 9 (p. 1 36) does not have a Euaa��a6LOs, but a Eua€�LOS. 59 Foraboschi, o. c., 278b, 279ab. 60 B. Latyschev, Inscriptiones antiquae orae septentrionalis Ponti Euxini Graecae et Latinae (Petersburg: 1 885-1916) vol. II nrs. 446, 447, 448, 45 1 . 6l CPJ III pp. 53-54.

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it had an explosive [b] , not a spirant [v] . Whether such a [b] is, phonetically, to be called a geminate is not important here, but it is apparently represented in the LXX counterparts of this name by -(3�-: �a��a8aL (2 Esdr 10:15; some mss. �a�a8aL) and �a��aTa1os ( ( 1 Esdr 9 : 1 4, 48) . When i n post-classical Greek the earlier voiced explosive [b] by phonetic change had become a spirant [v] in almost any position, the occurrence of the explosive [b] was henceforth restricted to the post-nasal environment ll� and v�, for instance in the verb· Aall�d vw, and the same held good of the distribution of spirant 8 as against explosive 8 . In the same sur roundings, that is after [m] and [n] , the voiceless explosives [t] and [p] also came to be pronounced as voiced explosives, as [ d] and [b] , as appears from such spellings as n€v8E (BGU975 l. 8; 45 CE)', 62 8EKan€v8E ( SEG I 705; Perge, lp?) , �EKOVVTOS' (P. Oxy. 242 1 ) reversely for �EKow8os, �1lll�p6vL (o )s for �Eil1TPWVLOS', and GUll �POVTJGL4> for GUll npOVTJG(u.> (P. Oxy. 1 199 l. 1 7; Illp?) . 63 Outside of the post-nasal position, then, the explosive [b] occurred only incidentally, in Koine Greek in general, in loan words such as d��a, Ga��aTOV etc., , and as the result of assimilation of [mb] to [b (b) ] in llETaA.a��avwv (P. Oslo 1 53 1. 10: Ilp) , 64 �u��aAAEG8aL , GU��oA.ov,65 and particularly in Egyptian Greek as a free variant or allophone of the voiceless explosive [p] , e.g. in d�l xw for dn€ xw ( 0. Tait 65 1 l. 2: 1 3 CE) , 66 because in the Egyptian vernacular the two explosives constituted only one phoneme. This latter fact is well illustrated by the Coptic monastic title 0.. n 0.. , which had become the standard, but 62 63

Gignac, o. c., 8 1 . Schwyzer, o. c., I 2 1 0, and Gignac, o. c., I 83. The spelling and pronun ciation of the month's name :E:av8tK6s do not belong here directly, because it is a Macedonian word, and as such the regular phonetic representation of Greek :E:av8tK6s, just like 8aAciyxa 8d.Aaaaa. In a parallel way Macedonian � corresponded with Greek q,, as is shown by B(Attrrros and BEpEv(KTl . Because :E:av8tK6 s became standard as part of the official Macedonian calendar throughout the Hellenistic world, it must have exercized a considerable influence on the spread of the pronunciation [nd] for -vT- and -ve-. It is even conceivable that that the whole phonetic change was triggered off by this na me . 64 Gignac, o. c., 1 72 . 6 5 Schwyzer, o. c. , I 3 1 7. O n the sentence level such assimilations are known from dialects of Modern Greek, see G. Blanken, Les grecs de Cargese (Corse): recherches sur leur langue et sur leur histoire. vol. I. Partie linguistique (Leyden: 1 95 1 ) 49-50: n)v traT€pa is there pronounced [to batera] , in standard Modern Greek as [tom batera] . 66 Gignac, o. c., 83. =

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stemmed from the Hebrew loan-word ci��a . Especially if it was the result of the assimilation of a preceding E-v- or avv-, or rather EIJ.-, UUIJ.-, such a [-b (b)-] was still interpreted phonemically as a variant or allophone representing [-mb-] , which could therefore be re stored at will. By analogy this sometimes also happened in cases where an [-m-] had never been present, and that is the origin of the variants �aiJ.�a8a1os, �a�J.TTa8a1os, �avTTaT' (BGU 1 680) , etc. That this was not merely a matter of orthography is shown by Latin sambatha (P.Ryl. 4 , 61 3 ) , Gothic sambato, French samedi, Old High German sambaztac, Modern German Samstag. The frequency in Egypt of these names cannot be wholly explained from the postulated presence of syncretistic groups of sabbath-observers, of which nothing further is known, for the only mention of a [a ] uv68� cra�J.�UTLKfj on an inscription found at Naukratis ( SB 1 2 ) , together with a person entitled auvaywy6s ( "convener" or "synagogue-official"? ) , may be of purely Jewish provenance. And the spread of 7th day abstention from work as recorded by Josephus Against Apion 2 §282 may often have been a secular matter only, which was certainly not always fully observeq, cf. ibid. 2 §234. The popularity among Egyptians, there fore, of �a�J.�a8a'i: os , �a��a8a'i: os etc. can hardly be understood without assuming that, in addition to its Hebrew meaning, the name also meant something in Egyptian, albeit, of course, by popular etymology. If one starts from the unabridged form of the name, the sequence -8/Ta1o- can simply be read as the Coptic word T 0.. 1 0 "honour", and �av-TTa-TaLO would then have the meaning "Brother of the Man of Honour". As in the Coptic language [p] and [b] were one phoneme, it made no difference at all whether this was pronounced [sampa-] or [samba-] , as is clearly shown by the similar name �a�J.�aTT(wv "Brother of Papion" ( O.Mich. 681 ) . 67 =

6 7 We have assumed here the superficial equation of Graeco-Egyptian aa� jaav Coptic (Achmimic and Fayumic) C b. N "brother" (in Bohairic and Sahidic this would be C 0 N ) . Since the word for "sister" is C W N € (Achmimic, Sahidic) or C W N t (Bohairic, Fayumic) , some women ' s names with proclitic Taav- or Taov- (i.e. the fern. article T- plus C b.N I C O N ) would be hard to account for, unless they were phonetic variants of the current TaEv- names meaning "the daughter of'. These correspond with Coptic fern. article T - plus W € N [ JE n] "child of". Confusion was possible in Greek transcriptions only, for the sigma was the only symbol available to render both the Egyptian [s] and [J] , written in Coptic as C and W respectively. Hence we think that TcravaychrTJ (P.Apoll. 80) and Tcrovewoe ( 0. Tait 18) were rather "The daughter of Love " and "The daughter of Thoth" than their =

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Translation names in the Aphrodisias-inscription are 8E68oTos ( a 1 1 ) , 8E68wpos ( a 23) , and llap11y6pws ( b 32) , representing Yehona

than etc. and Menachem or some other name with n-ch-m. There are also three names connected with "life": BufnLKOS (b 8) , ZwaL (jl.os) ( b 28) , and ZwTLKOS ( b 33) , but as the Hebrew equivalents Chayim and Chay are IXth century or later, these Greek names, which were favoured by Jews, are to be associated with Zw"Tl , as the name of Eve, the "mother of all living", is translated in the LXX of Gen 3:20. Pagan gods as H ermes, Zeus and Sarapis are still present among the Jews in the theophorics •Epj.J.il (as) ( a 24) , �LOYEVllS ( b 1 8 twice) and hEpan(wv ( b 2) , but these may have been open to Jewish re-interpretation as we have seen above. Phonetically resembling substitutes are here in all likelihood 'I ciawv ( b 1 4) for Yeshua' and ·poiJos ( b 1 1 ) for Ruben. As regards the former, Josephus reports explicitly that Jesus, the brother of Onias, who received the highpriesthood out of the hands of Antiochus IV, changed his name into Jason (Ant. 1 2 §239) . That the name , Rufus ( cf. Mark 1 5 : 2 1 ) was sometimes used to replace Ruben appears from the Midrash Rabbah on Song of Songs (84,24) , where such a practice is scoffed at and the sons of Jacob are set as an example to show that in olden times the Jews did not change their names: "As Reuben and Shimeon they went to Egypt, and they returned as Reuben and Shimeon. They did not call Reuben ' Rufus' , nor Shimeon 'Julianus"'. A third and most interesting substitute name may be IlauA.os , the father of [ 'I ou ] Bas ( b 19) , that is if he was a born Jew. The fact that the latter is listed as such (i.e. not as a proselyte or theosebes) does not, of course, rule out that that the father may have been a proselyte. But if he was born out of Jewish parents, his name, like the apostle's, may well have been a substitute for hUUA.os . According to the editors this latter name was avoided because the Greek adjective aauA.os had the unfavourable meaning of "walking wantonly". 68 The case would also show that the name of the famous or notorious Christian was not or not yet shunned by Jews. sisters. 68 RT 1 03.- For an extensive recent discussion of the names of the apostle we refer to M. Hengel, "Der vorchristliche Paulus," in: M. Hengel U. Heckel (edd.) , Paulus und das Antike judentum, (Tiibingen: 1 99 1 ) 1 93-208 (§ 1 .3) . -

274

G. MUSSIES

There are also, as might be expected, some onomastic puzzles. What to make of I ouv�aA.os (b 43) , the name of a theosebes ? At first sight it looks like a Phenician name composed with -Ba' al, like 'I Sw�aA.os (Josephus, Ant. 8 §324) or Hannibal, but perhaps the order of the letters is incorrect, and should rather be I ou� (E )vaA. (L)os, the Latin Juvenalis. Unusual are further 'AvTLTIEOS ( a 24; b 37) and EtJTcipKLOS (b 23) . The former is certainly to be read as 'AvTLTiaws, but this is not derived, as the editors think, from 'AvnTius,69 for that is already a hypocoristic itself. It is rather to be seen as a parallel hypocoristic formation in its own right from the full name 'AvTLTiaTpos, like NLKaws from NLK6A.aos, etc. With regard to EuTcip KLOS the editors say that its initial letter is unclear on the stone but cannot be an alpha. Even so there is no real problem here since au and EU vary more often in papyri and inscriptions. A good parallel is offered by a (Jewish) inscription from Apamea (Syria) of 391 CE, in which the name of the month 'Av8vvat os is spelled as Ev8vvEov ( Clj 803) . One can only guess at I w<J>, the father of Mava afts ( b 5) .The editors suppose this to be a variant of 'I w� and point to an epigraphical instance of I aKw<J> for a similar orthography, 7 0 Since it stands at the end of a line one could also consider whether it might not be an abbreviation, perhaps of 'I wa"Tl<J>, less likely, with o for w, of the Greek name 'I o<J>wv . What remains is a whole list of names which express community-virtues, several of these having the form of negative compounds. They stress, for instance, such virtues or activities as peacefulness ( 'AIJ.ciXLOS a 18 ; Ilpao(A.ws b 1 0 twice; 'Ax6A.ws b 22) , consolation (IIapT)yo pLos b 32) , grace (Xapt vos b 1 2) , elegance (IloAL T L av6 s a 2 1 ) , seriousness (�E �il pos b 1 3 ) , cheerfulness CI A.apLav6s a 12) , good nature (EuKoA.os a 1 6) , affection ( 'AjJ.civnos b 1 2) , sweetness (NEKTapLS a 25) , and, of course, sabbath-observance (�a��ciSws a 25; E uaa��ci8LOS b 15 etc.) and feasting in general ( 'EopTciaws b 7,31 ,33 and 'OpTciaws b 27, 49) . Others reflect qualities more generally admired in Antiquity: nobility (Euylvws b 9, 24) and vigor (fopyovLOs b 3 1 , 46) , luck (EuTtJXLOS b 25, 27) , success (Euo8os b 1 4, 1 4) , and achievement KaA.ALKapTios b 7) . The name 'O�ux6 A.Los ( b 1 1 etc.) will hardly have meant "easily angered", but rather something like "lively; vivacious", which is then to be 69 70

RT 97-98. RT 1 02.

JEWISH PERSONAL NAMES IN SOME NON- LITERARY SOURCES

275

added to the semantic description of this word in LSJ This latter group of names which express more general qualities is indistin guishable from the contemporary Pagan onomastic practice. This emphasizes yet again that in Antiquity a water-tight identification of Jews against Christians by names only is a risky matter and hardly possible, except in very few cases. The name of 'I ou8as may be such a rare case, but most of the others need additional evidence. Sociologically it is curious that only four of these city:Jews have double names: �a�aeLOs NEKTapt (o)s ( a 25) , 'I aKw� 6 Kat 'ATTEA.At (wv) . ( b 20) ' 'I ou8ac; 6 KUl Zw<JL (I-LOS) ( b 28) ' and AlA.tavos 6 KUl �UIJ.OmlA ( b 30) . There is the possibility, though, that some of those who are now listed under Greek names have suppressed their Hebrew ones.71 Since, apart from patronymics, a family-relationship between the members is explicitly defined in only two cases, one can merely make some suppositions about further family-ties. The two obvious instances are of the same kind: 'I m'}A. TTpoaTUTT)S avv u'tc{) , 'I waouq. a px (ovT L ) ( a 9-1 0) , and 8E<)8oTOS TiaA.aT ( v (ou ) avv ul Q 'I A.aptavQ ( a 1 1-1 2) , a father immediately followed by a son. With some degree of certainty one may suppose, therefore, that such lines as b 1 0 Tipao( A.tos . 'I ou 8as TipaotA.( ou likewise mention a father and son (the same in b 1 4 and 40) , and perhaps in reverse order b 29-30 Ai. A.tavos Ai.A.ta (voD ) Ai. A.tavos 6 Kat �aiJ.ou"Tl A. a son followed by his father. In b 44 TUXLKOS Tuxt ( KoD ) . f A.T)yo p t os Tuxt (KoD ) one may see either a father and his son or two brothers, but, apart from the uncertainty inherent in the abbreviations, we think that it is already speculation to posit that b 43 KaA.A.l IJ.Opcf:>os KaA. (A.t1J.6pcf:>ou) and b 50 KA.au8tavos KaA. (A.t1J.6pcf:>ou?) were also rela tives, and the same holds good of b 1 1 ·oeuxo A.tos yf. pwv , b 1 7 ·oeux6A.tos VEWTEpos , and the other two Jews who are sons of an 7l 9Eo8oTOS" IIaA.aT'i: v (os-?) (a 1 1 ) may as well have been 9Eo8oTOS" IIa>..a T(v (ov) . - Cases like b 5 Z11vwv 'l aKw� . Mavaafls- 'l w (a1l ) are best considered as name plus patronymic (so also b 1 2-1 3 and 23) . - For double names in Antiquity see G. H. R. Horsley, art. "Names, Double" in D. N. Freedman (ed. ) , The Anchor Bible Dictionary, (New York etc . : 1 992) IV 1 0 1 1 b- 1 0 1 7b. Cf. also the remarks made by H. G. Kippenberg, "Geheime Offenbarungsbiicher und LoyalWitskonflikte im antiken Judentum, " in: Chr. Elsas - H. G. Kippenberg (edd.) , Loyalitiitskonjlikte in der Religionsgeschichte (Wiirzburg: 1 990) 258-259. For the adoptive names of Roman soldiers see A. Deissmann, o. c., 148 n. 18. -

276

G. MUSSIES

'O�u (x6A.Los) ( b 3 1 ) or 'O�ux ( oA.ws) ( b 32) . The relative scarcity of these names is no argument, for locally they may have been much more frequent than our data betray. Compare the TaTLavos 'O�u (xoA.Lou?) ( b 46) , a theosebes, who as such cannot have been the brother of the Jews with the same patronymic. Repetition of names in families is certain only there, where, according to the patronymics, persons bear the same name as their father, like :Eciv8os :Eciv8ou (b 40; so also b 29, 41, 43, 44, 53) .

INDEX OF PASSAGES I INSCRIPTIONS, 0STRACA AND PAPYRI Aphrodisias inscription Face a 9-1 0 275 Face a 9 261 Face a 1 1-12 275 Face a 1 1 273 Face a 12 274 Face a 13 260 Face a 14 261 , 270 Face a 16 274 Face a 17 260 Face a 18 270, 274 Face a 21 274 Face a 22 260 Face a 23 273 Face a 24 269, 273f Face a 25 270, 274f Face b 2 273 Face b 5 274 Face b 7 274 Face b 8 273 Face b 9 274 Face b 10 274f Face b 1 1-12 253 Face b 1 1 53, 273f Face b 1 2 274 Face b 13 261 , 274 Face b 14 273-5 Face b 1 5 270, 274 Face b 1 6 260, 270 Face b 17 53, 270 Face b 18 273 Face b 19 244, 273 Face b 20 275 Face b 22 274 Face b 23 274 Face b 24 270, 274 Face b 25 274 Face b 27 274 Face b 28 273, 275 Face b 29-30 275 Face b 29 276 Face b 30 275 Face b 31 274, 276

Face b 32 Face b 33 Face b 37 Face b 40 Face b 41 Face b 43 Face b 44 Face b 46 Face b 48 Face b 49 Face b 50 Face b 53

270, 273f, 276 273f 274 275f 276 274-6 276 274, 276 259, 270 274 275 276

Aphr. (Appendix Reynolds Tannenbaum) no. 7b 270 no. 9 270

&

Archaeologica Classica 25-26 (197374) 622-630 217, 221

Babylonian Cyrus Cylinder 44f BASOR 235 (1979) 235 (1979) 235 ( 1979) 235 (1979) 235 (1979) 235 (1979) 235 (1979)

31-65 no. 1 255 31-65 no. 3 255 31-65 no. 4 255 31-65 no. 7a 255 31-65 no. 9 255 31-65 no. 1 1 255 31-65 no. 14 1 49

BCH 9 (1885) 124-131 195 46 (1922) 337f no. 25 64 46 (1922) 343f no. 35 63 86 (1962) 57-63 216f Belleten 1 1 (1947) 1 1f 57

Bernand, Fayoum I 15 196 II 67 191

278

INDEX OF PASSAGES

II 1 12f 191f II 121 190f Bernand, Inscr. mitr. 37 1 2 BGU 975.8 271 1 680 272 RS

II 49 53 II 73 149 II 1 27 1 29, 136, 147, 169 II 129 159 II 1 34 85 II 141 54 II 149 53 II 1 62 85 II 1 67 132 II 170 53 II 180 53 II 181 53 II 1 83 51,129, 139, 147, 1 69 II 193 137 II 194 137 III 1 159 III 2 159 CdE 65 (1990) 122f 1 1 , 28 ac

I 124 191 II 3408 195f II 3540 196 II 5866c 198 III 3822i 75 III 3861 74 III 3861b 93-8, 121f III 3891 85-7, 109f III 5361 2 1 1f CIJ 9 54 18 246 21 245 22 53 23 53 25 245 32* 1 37 35a 53

43 246 48 84 69 245 76 51 86 51 88 220 95 54 106 54, 84 1 19 51 147 54 148 51 189 54 201 51 222 261 234 245 291 52 301 54 315 53 317 52, 245 343 51 346 53 347 53 353 54 354 52 355 54 368 54 370 51f 375 53 379 52 402 220 405 54 408 54 416 245 425 54 462 260 464 239 467 246 476 1 29, 139, 142, 169 502 52 505 52 508 249 509 84 510 52 51 1 54 523 260 524 239 531 239 533 54 535 52 535-574 239

INDEX OF PASSAGES

561 54 568 247 569 175 575 179 576 181 578 53 581 179 584 1 78 587 1 78 590 1 79 594 179 595 1 76, 179 596 1 78 597 1 79 599 175 600 54, 1 79, 181 606 179 607 179 610 179 61 1 12, 1 75, 1 78, 180f 612 175 613 54, 1 75, 179 614 1 79f 619a 181 619b 179, 181 619c 181 619d 53, 179 621 250, 265 629 51 650 85 661 51 701 1 29, 143, 1 69 718 52 731c 51, 53 731d 50 731f 57f 733b 54 733g 50 738 57-9 741 268 742 59 746 53 749 59 750b 52 754 50, 52 757 101 760 89-91, 1 15-7 761 53, 76, 86, 93, 107 762 93-8, 121f 763 74

279

765 74 766 57f 767 75 768 87-9, 95, 102f, 1 1 1-4 769 87-9, 1 03, 1 1 1 770 89-92, 102, 104f, 1 19 773 53, 84 774 85, 102, 108 775 54f, 102 776 54-6, 1 02 777 54-6, 59 778 54-6 779 53-6 780 53-6 784 52 785 53 793 52 796 53 803 54, 274 804 50 900 251 910 253 927 253 930 53 935 255 985 247 987 253 991 245 1035 246 1041 253 1063 247 1085 53 1 160 253 1 197 253 1328 265 1366 242 1383 249 1385 260 1404 53, 250 1437 1 3 1438 13 1446 1 6 1450 57, 59 1451 25, 1 29, 143 1484 35, 132 1488 35, 132 1489 1 1 , 129, 143 1490 1 1 , 26, 29, 39, 1 29, 133, 1 43 1491 53 1502 53

280

INDEX OF PASSAGES

1507 30 1508 35, 39, 1 29, 144 1509 1 1, 30, 37, 1 29, 144 1510 1 1 , 22, 34, 39, 1 29, 144 151 1 28f, 39, 1 29, 134, 145 1512 129, 145 1513 22, 3lf, 34, 1 29, 145 1514 53 1522 29, 1 29, 1 45 1530 36, 1 29, 1 31-2, 146, 248 1530a 23-5, 34-6, 39, 58f, 1 29, 132, 134, 146 1533 1 3 1534 1 3 1536 1 3 1538 248 1539 1 2, 26, 146 App. 3 67 50 ClL

IX 1 363-1397 1 74-178 X 761 90 XI 3758 1 1, 1 29, 143 Colafemmina, Studi storici (1974) no. 5 1 73f, 1 76f, 181 CPJ 13 254 19 246 20 246 22.14 246 28.1 7 249 30 247 31 .70 249 35.18 249 67.4 252 68.4 252 1 20 254 150 207 153 15 195 265 421 244, 247f 432.57 220 452 254 453 247 480 247 485 270 1530a see CIJ 1530a

Deschamps & Cousin, Inscr. Zeus Panamaros 1 189 123 189 145 189 DJD II 24 D(4) , 20 253 II 29 r.l 1 249 II 29 v.1 249 II 73 and 78 153, 1 61 II 91 , II, 2 250 II 120, C, 9 260 Dominus Flevit 4 254 6 254 7 253 13 260 21 261 31 260

Drew-Bear, Nouv. Inscr. de Phryg;ie 5 80 40 103 45 60 Hellenica 1 1-12 (1960) 43tK39 53f Hesperia 21 (1952) 340-380 no. 5 64f ICI 1 1 75 v 1 0-35 1 74-8 v

!. Cos 323 50 IEph 2299C 61 IG 112.1 112 65 112.1 236 65 112.1 687 65 112.1 1006 48 112.1 101 1 48 112.1 1029 48 11.5 1335b 195f v 1 660 48

INDEX OF PASSAGES

XII.1 867 195f XII.7 392 184 XIV 688 1 75 /GC326 51 IGLS N 1636 51

96 165 98 169 105 1 67 1 1 4 168 141 168 Kaibel, Epigrammata graeca 566 1 1 , 38

IGR (= IGRR) III 340 78 III 478 77f N 638 74 N 658 89-92, 102, 1 04f, 1 19f N 678 75

IOSPE II 446 270 II 447 270 II 448 270 II 451 270

!CUR II.2 837 99 III 1231 1 29, 142

Liideritz, CJZC 70 57, 59, 21 1 71 57, 59, 21 1f

1./asos 394 61 629 61

MAMA I 232 49 I 267 98f, 125f I 437 92 III 68 251 N 27 75 N 28 75 N 84 78 N 355 60 N 358 60 VI 231 84 VI 277 74 VI 287 74 VI 316 87-9, 95, 1 01-3, 1 1 1-4 VI 323 74 VI 325 98f, 1 23-5 VI 335 83, 89-91 , 1 02f, 1 1 7f VI 335a 89-91 , 1 15-7 VI 336 90 VII 199 92 VII 582 63 VII 585 63 VIII 1 1 0 93 VIII 326a 63 VIII 492b 269

I.Priene 1 1 66, 69 37f 69 !. Smyrna 195 61 239 62 246 61 JIGRE 18 57, 59 23 168 30 1 65f 33 168 34 167 36 1 66, 1 68 38 164 39 1 66, 209 40 167 44 167 45 167 59 164 67 167 70 167 78 169 84 167 93 1 69

Masada I 41 1 270 I 420.7 260 O.Mich. 681 272

281

282

INDEX OF PASSAGES

O. Tait 18 272 651 271 OGlS

( OGJ)

I 143 I 145 I 146 I 148 I 332 II 592 II 658 II 729 II 737

=

202 202 201 201 1 84 193, 202 198 200 199, 221

P.Apoll. 80 272 P.Enteux. 23. 1 251 P. Osl. 153.1 0 271 P. Oxy. 745.4 210 1 199.1 7 271 2421 271 P.Ryl. 4.613 272 P. Teb. I 32 197

Peek, GV 4 44 1378 1 03 1 870 94 PGM XIII 161-163 245 XIII 472-475 245

Proc. Ninth World Congress of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem 1986) , Div. A, 1 25 no. 1 150 Puteoli 1 2-1 3 (1988/89) 103-17 nos. 2 and 4 1 6

Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics 1.1 20 63 1.1 80 1 03 1.2 231 76

1.2 361 85-7, 109f 1.2 373 63 1.2 399bis 85, 102, 1 08 1.2 455-7 72f, 98 1.2 465f 87-9, 95, 1 02f, 1 1 1-4 1.2 526 98f, 123-5 1.2 563 87-9, 103, 1 1 1 1.2 564 89-92, 1 02, 104f, 1 19f 1.2 565 74 1.2 566 74 1.2 567 93-8, 121 RB

13 ( 1904) 547-556 193 61 (1954) 229 154 87 (1980) 1 18-26 153 90 (1983) 482-533 28, 37 92 (1985) 265-73 no. 1 154 Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 39 (1963) 136f 61 ( Sammelbuch) 12 272 623 200 5819 265 6664 196f 6941 257 7270 196 7448 207 7875 198 8757 198f SB

=

SEC I 452 98f, 125f I 705 271 II 601 61 II 602 61 II 603 62 11 614 63 II 848 198f II 871 196f VI 1 71 93-8, 1 21f VI 1 72 93-9, 1 22f VI 230 60 VI 739 60 VI 802 98 VIII 469 1 29, 147 VIII 573 196 IX 1 185

283

INDEX OF PASSAGES

IX 248 102 XI 93 97 XV 807 89-91, 1 15-7 XV 811b 60 XVI 910 247 XVI 931 21 1 XVII 694 79 XVIII 726 1 85f XVIII 772 218 XX 442 251 XX 499 192 XXVI 1 178 54 XXVI 1 687 54 XXVIII 1079 77 XXVIII 1 156 60 XXIX 90 65 XXIX 1 179 76 XXXI 1407 53 XXXII 809 57, 59 XXXII 810 57-59 XXXIII 791 54 XXXV 995 53f XXXV 1084 60 XXXIX 1 114 61 XXXIX 1279 82

695 184 1 107 190 TAM II.2 61 2 101 II.3 949 62 IV. 1 269 93 IV. 1 319 73 IV. 1 375 84f, 107f IV. 1 376 73, 84f, 1 06f IV. 1 377 73 V. 1 213 76, 82f

Testa, Herodion IV Qerusalem 1972) 77f no. 53 153 Tod,

Gr.

Hist. Inscr. 192 187

UPZ 1 .4 257 Waelkens, Tursteine 41 1 75 421 74 425 93-8, 1 22f 430 74 435 93-8, 121f 492 75, 103

Sylz 3(= S/G 3) 323 66

II BIBLE Old Testament Genesis 3:20 273 10:6 246 35:8 263 36:1 2 263 36:22 263 36:40 263 38:6 263 Exodus 4: 10 v.l. 257 6:19 262 6:22 263 1 0:2 82 15 246 24:4 247

33:2 247 34:6f 79-82 Leviticus 24: 1 1 264 Numbers 34:27 264 Deuteronomy 19:6 27, 31 25:2f 87 27: 15ff 83, 91 28 91f, 94 29: 19 91 29:26 91 30:7 91 32 246

284

INDEX OF PASSAGES

33:3 58

Zechariah 5:1-4 87f, 94 8:2 v.l. 258

Judges 4:5 263 4:6 263 4:1 7-5:24 262 4:1 7 266 12:1 1 264 17:1 262

Psalms 37:21 22 39:4 27, 31 Proverbs 5:18f 266 1 0:6f 51 17:6 79, 82 28:15 266

1 Samuel 2:6 35 8:2 262 14:3 262 25:44 263

Ruth 1 :2 263

2 Samuel 3:2 263 3:3 263 3:4 263 3:7 263 1 2:25 264 13: 1-2 . 263 1 4:27 263 1 7:25 263 1 Kings 1 :3 263 2:28 256 1 1 :40 15 1 2:2 15 12:24c-f (LXX) 2 Kings 2:24 266 8:26 262 1 2:2 267 1 4:25 263 15:2 263 2 1 :9 264 22:1 264 22:3 264 Isaiah 5:14 40 14:23 93f 22:1 3 37 Jeremiah 41:17-44 15

Esther 8: 12c (LXX) 58

15

Ezra 1 :2-4 44 2:45 267 2:55 264 2:56 267 2:57 264 6:3-5 44 6:6-12 44 7:1 2-26 44 10:15 270 10:23 265 10:30-3 265 10:42 265 EzraLXX (2 Esdras) 10:2 262 10:15 271 10:26 262 10:43 262 Nehemiah 6:1 0 262 7:48 267 7:58 267 8:8 270 10: 1 1 263 1 Chronicles 1 :50 262 2:29 263 3:19 264

INDEX OF PASSAGES

4:1 2 263 4:1 7 265 8:9 267 8:26-27 262 26:25 264 29:8 266 2 Chronicles 1 3:2 262 25: 1 263 26:22 270 29:1 262 New Testament

Matthew 2:1 3-23 15 6:20 1 39 1 0: 1 7 87 1 3:55 v.l. 251 20:15 24 27:56 v.l. 253 Mark 15:21 273

6:2 257, 261 6:5 257 9:36 267' 269 10:5 249 1 1 :24 24 15:14 249 15:32 251 15:34 251 15:40 251 16: 1 259 1 7:13f 249 1 7:28 246 1 8:24 247 21:16 249 21 :37f 1 4 25:13 242 Romans 16 242 16:1f 269 16:1 268 1 Corinthians 15:32f 37 15:32 1 37 16:22 1 4

Luke 1 :61 254 3:27 v.l. 252 1 2:19 1 37 23:50 24

2 Corinthians 1 1 :29 30

John 1 1:19 251

1 Thessalonians 1 : 1 249

Acts 1 :23 249

Hebrews 12:2 50

Galatians 2:14 210

III ANCIENT WRITINGS Jewish Ben Sira 2:7-9 34, 39 6:19f 1 36 7:19 22 7:34 27, 29 12:7 22

1 4: 1 1-19 38 14:12-16 37 1 4: 1 2 39 16: 1 22 17:27 39 22:1 1 27, 29, 39 26: 1 6 22 37: 1 1 22

285

286 37:19 22 38:2 42 38:1 6-23 26-9, 31, 33, 39 38:1 7 27, 29, 31 , 41 38:21 36f 38:22 32f, 37f, 41 38:24-39:1 1 26 39:4 42 39:1 3 34 39:24 34 40:1 2 24 40:1 7 24, 41 41 :3 35, 38 41 :4 39 44 25 45:23 22 1 Enoch 41-4 246 72-82 246 1 Esdras 9:1 4 271 9:38-46 204 9:48 271

Josephus Ant. 2.9 251 2.1 1 1 251 2.346 19 4.78 251 5.207f 266 5.336 270 6.1 71 255 6.1 72 255 7.42 49 7.379 266 7.387f 1 63 8.324 274 9. 104 54 9.276 270 1 2. 1 08 208 1 2.239 273 12.385 249 13.62-73 163 1 4. 1 1 0 259 1 4. 1 1 4-8 (Strabo) 214f 1 4.131 1 66 1 4.215f 214

INDEX OF PASSAGES

14.235 214 1 4.261 101 15.320 26 16.220 252 17.177 48 17.339 255 18. 1 6 36, 41 18.34 254 18.82 261 18. 103 254 18.130 255 18. 131 255 18. 1 32 255 20.1 7 261 20. 179 254 Apion 2.234 272 2.282 272 Jewish War 1 .552 242 2.155 39f 2.331 222 2.405 222 2.521 260 7.409-21 15 7.426-36 163 Judith 10:12 53 12: 1 1 53 14:18 53 Letter of Aristeas 30 17 38 1 7 172 206 308 204 310f 1 7 3 1 0 204 Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum 40:2 245 1 Maccabees 8 45 8:23-32 44 12 45 12:6-18 44 12:20-3 44 12:43 257

INDEX OF PASSAGES 2

Maccabees 1-15 47 3: 1-6:1 1 68 6:18-7:42 48 7:31 52f 8:17 65 1 1 :13 52f 15:37 52 3

Maccabees 4:2 30

4 Maccabees 1 :1-2 45 1 :10 45 1 : 1 1 46f, 67, 69 3:20-4:26 47, 68 3:20 65 4:2 68 4:9 67 4:1 1 53 4:19 65 4:23 65 5:2 53 5:4 48, 54 5:7 52 5:16 65 5:35 48 7: l lf 48 8:2 53, 67 8:3 67 8:7 65 8:15 67 9:1 47 9:6 53f, 67, 69 9:1 3 96 9:18 53 9:26 96 9:28 96 9:29 47 9:30 67 1 1 :24f 67 1 2: 1 7 50 1 4:20 23 1 6: 1 67, 69 16:14 67 1 6: 1 6 47 17:2 67 1 7:3 67 17:4 1 38

17:5 67 17:7 49, 67 1 7:8-10 44-69 17:8 48-50 1 7:9 48, 5 1 , 53f, 56, 63f, 67-9 17: 1 0 69 17:1 1-8 58, 67 17:15 59 17:19 58 17:20-22 58 17:21 67 18:5 65, 67

Philo Flacc. 39 14 74 208 Heres 45 39 Vit. Mos. 2.27f 18 2.40 17 Sibylline Oracles 1-2 68 Testament of Solomon 18:38 158 Tobit 10:9 264 1 1 :10 264 1 1 :12 264 1 1 :1 4 264 1 1 :19 264 Wisdom of Solomon 1 : 1 4 39f 2:1-9 37 3 10, 34 4 10 7 10 17:13 39

Rabbinic Literature 12 m. 'Abot 2:7 m . Pe'a 8 : 7 256 m . Rosh ha-Shana 3:5 266 m . Tamid 2:1 95 t. 'Abod. Zar. 5(6) :1 247

287

288

INDEX OF PASSAGES

y. Yoma 41d 253 b. ' Abod. Zar. 42b 247 b. Ber. 61b 96 b. B. Bat. 8b 256 b. Cit. 57b 52 b. Cit. 60a 156 b. Meg. 6a 251 b. Mo 'ed Qat. 25a 1 2 b . Sanh. 107b 15 b. Yebam. 62a 260 Midr. Cant. Rab. 84.24 249, 273 Midr. Lam. Rab. 1 : 1 6 52

Christian Clement of Alexandria, Strom. I.9 18 1.15f 1 8 1.21 1 8 1.25 18 1.29 1 8 Codex Theodosianus XII 1 . 1 58 172 XVI 8. 29 181

Eusebius Praep. Evang. 8.7.7 71 9.17.9 246 9.26. 1 247 9.27.3 246 9.27.6 247 1 3. 1 2 246 Pal. Marl. 1 1 .8 248 Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc. 1 .34 261

Prudentius Perist. 1 .44 96 5.337 96 10.73 96 10.557 97 Pseudo-Clement, Hom. 4.13 19 Severus PL 20.731 179 Tatian, Ad Graecos 29 19

Pagan Andocides 1 .96-98 65 Anthologia Palatina 7.249 44

Apollodorus, Bibl. 3,14,2 268 Aratus, Phaen. 1-9 246 Aristotle Rhet. 1415b 48 Pol. 1278b8-14 188 Arrianus, Anab. 1 . 1 7.2 187 1 . 1 8.2 187

Justin Martyr I Apol. 5.4 1 8 7.3 1 8

Cicero Ep. Att. 174.3 183 1 76.2 183 Tusc. disp. 1 .101 44

Phileas, Letter of (Rufinus) 5 96f

Demosthenes, Or. 60.1 49

INDEX OF PASSAGES

Dio Cassius 55.2.2 48 57.20.3 48 Diogenes Laertius 10:124-126 37 10:129 37 10:132 37 Dionysius of Halicarnassus Ant. Rom. 7.8.3 64 De Dem. 23.1 0 48 44.3 48 Epictetus 2.19.29 50 Euripides Ale. 463f 133 Or.

193 269 FGrH 231 66 Gorgias (Diels-Kranz 2.284286) 47 Heliodorus 4.8.8 49 Herodotus 7.228 44 Hesiod Scut. 185 246 Theag. 905 268 Homer 01. 9.62 136 01. 9.1 05 136 01. 9.565 136 Hypereides, Or. 6.1 , 3 49

!socrates, Pan. 148 64 Leonidas Alexandrinus Epigr. no. 30 (Page, FGE [1981] ) 20 Libanius Declam. 20.14 64 Prog;ymn. 7.4.1 64 Lucian, Alex. 60 48 Lucretius 3.41 7-829 35 Lycurgus Contra Leocr. 66 83-101 65 1 24-7 65 Lysias, Or. 2.1 49 2.60 49 Pausanias 7.27.7 64 Plato Leg. 864d 64 Phaedo 63e 138 78b 138 87e 138 95c 138 Plutarch Arat. 53.3f 66 Praec. ger. rei publ. 66 Vitae dec. orat. 9 48 Polybius 2.47.3 64 21.17.12 206

289

290

INDEX OF PASSAGES

Seneca, Ep. 14.3 96

Tacitus, Ann. 16.6 30

Sophocles, Trach. 1 1 25 269

Thucydides 2.34-46 47 2.43.2 49

Strabo 1 6.4.23f 252 Suetonius, Vita Caesaris 42 203

Vitruvius, Arch. 5.2 213

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