The Diaspora, C. 235–638

doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521772488.021

19 - The Diaspora, C. 235–638

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008

Leonard Rutgers and

Scott Bradbury

Edited by

Steven T. Katz

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Leonard Rutgers: Affiliation:
Department of Late Antique Studies, Utrecht University
Scott Bradbury: Affiliation:
Department of Classical Languages and Literatures, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts
Steven T. Katz: Affiliation:
Boston University

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In late antiquity, Jewish communities were a common occurrence throughout Italy. While some of these communities were old and well established, others appeared to emerge only after the third and fourth century ce. Jewish communities were not confined to the larger towns, such as Naples, Milan, Ravenna, or Rome. Smaller centers and villages in the remoter parts of the Italian countryside became home to well-organized Jewish communities or to groups of Jewish families. Various islands off the Italian mainland likewise participated in this trend. In late antique Sicily and Sardinia as well as in Malta and Lipari, evidence abounds for a strong Jewish presence not only in the major urban areas but also in the countryside.

The profusion of primary sources currently available helps to correct earlier views according to which the Italian Diaspora ceased to be a factor of importance after 70 ce. Archaeological and epigraphic materials discovered throughout Italy since the 1850s suggest a different scenario: it was precisely during the late antique period that the Jewish community of Italy began to flourish in an unprecedented way, causing it to become the single most visible and tangible Jewish community of the entire western Diaspora in antiquity.

Keywords

Carthaginians Jewish communities Italian Jews Phoenicians King Egica Spain

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of Judaism , pp. 492 - 518

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521772488.021 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2006

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19 - The Diaspora, C. 235–638

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