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1 - Antisemitism in the Pagan World

from Part I - The Classical Period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2022

By
Erich S. Gruen
Edited by
Steven Katz
Steven Katz
Affiliation:
Boston University
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Summary

In what sense and to what extent did antisemitism (or anti-Judaism) exist in the pre-Christian world? The attitudes of numerous pagan writers and various episodes of oppression are explored in order to ascertain whether Jews encountered hostility on ethnic, religious, ideological, or political grounds, and whether any of these experiences amounted to antisemitism.

Keywords

aniconismJudeophobiaseparatismreligious pluralism
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Antisemitism , pp. 25 - 41
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

Further Reading

Chazan, R., From Anti-Judaism to Anti-Semitism: Ancient and Medieval Christian Constructions of Jewish History (Cambridge, 2016). Confines itself largely to early Christian and medieval attitudes toward Jews but makes a useful distinction between anti-Judaism and antisemitism.Google Scholar
Feldman, L. H., Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World (Princeton, NJ, 1993). A broad-gauged survey of Jews’ relations with non-Jews from the Hellenistic period through late antiquity.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gager, J. G., The Origins of Anti-Semitism (Oxford, 1985). A balanced and intelligent presentation of opinions about Jews by pagans, ancient Christians, and modern scholars.Google Scholar
Gruen, E. S., Diaspora: Jews amidst Greeks and Romans (Cambridge, MA, 2002). Treats the Jewish experience in ancient Alexandria, Asia Minor, and Rome.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruen, E. S., Rethinking the Other in Antiquity (Princeton, NJ, 2011). Discusses Greek and Roman attitudes toward a wide variety of peoples, including Jews.Google Scholar
Isaac, B., The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity (Princeton, NJ, 2004). A wide-ranging study of “proto-racism” in antiquity, with an important long chapter on the Jews.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nirenberg, D., Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition (New York, 2013). Traces the concept of anti-Judaism from antiquity to the Holocaust and finds its roots in ancient Egyptian attitudes.Google Scholar
Schäfer, P. Judeophobia: Attitudes toward the Jews in the Ancient World (Cambridge, MA, 1997). Makes a strong argument for widespread hostility toward Jews, stemming from Egypt and spreading throughout.Google Scholar
Sevenster, J. N. The Roots of Pagan Anti-Semitism in the Ancient World (Leiden, 1975). An extended argument tracing antisemitism to the perception of Jews as separatists and xenophobes.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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