The Rabbi in Aphrodite's bath: Palestinian society and Jewish identity in the High Roman Empire
Being Greek under Rome. Cultural identity, the second sophistic and the development of empire, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge u.a., (2001)Abstract
Rezension v. Thomas A. Schmitz in http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2002/2002-02-22.html: Seth Schwartz's "The Rabbi in Aphrodite's Bath: Palestinian Society and Jewish Identity in the High Roman Empire" (335-61) is also directly relevant to questions of cultural identity. His starting point is the astonishing record of coinage and archeological remains in the Jewish cities of Palestine. How can their almost completely pagan nature be reconciled with the contemporaneous development of rabbinic authority? Schwartz argues that the rabbis should be viewed as negotiating between their adherence to a Pentateuchal ideal banning any form of pagan icon, and the reality of the period after the destruction of the temple when the life of most Jewish citizens had become more and more assimilated to the general mores of urban life in the Roman Empire. Had the rabbis tried to cling to rigoristic standards, "they would have reduced themselves to sectarian irrelevance" (361). I must confess my incompetence in the field treated by Schwartz, but my impression was that some of his interpretations are not bolstered by enough evidence.