Anti-Jewish perceptions in the Greco-Roman world

Prof. John G. Gager, Prof. Paula Fredriksen

As we have heard, there are scholars dealing with the history of the phenomenon who find the roots of antisemitism with the rise of Christianity and with Christian anti-Jewish theology. However, there are those who trace the roots of the phenomenon to earlier times. The historiographical debate on this matter usually focuses on the Greco-Roman world.

What was the context for the formulation of anti-Jewish perceptions in the Greco-Roman World?

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References

• Gager, John G., The Origins of Anti-Semitism: Attitudes toward Judaism in Pagan and Christian Antiquity (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983).‏

• Gruen, Erich S., Rethinking the Other in Antiquity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011).

• Gruen, Erich S, Cultural Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean (Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2011).

• Isaac, Benjamin, The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004).

• Stern, Menachem, Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism, 3 vols. (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1974 – 1984) .