Acknowledgements.............. VII Introduction................ 1 PART ONE THE EARTHLY IMAGE OF ROME... 3 CHAPTER I FROM FRIENDSHIP TO DISILLUSIONMENT 7 I. Rome as friend and ally........... 7 1. The treaty of Friendship and Alliance between Rome and the Jews.............. 7 2. Renewal of the Alliance.......... 10 3. The image of Rome........... 13 A great military power.......... 13 An exemplary political regime....... 16 From friendship to idealised image...... 18 II. Deterioration in the Jews perception of Rome after 63 BCE 21 1. The emergence of anti-roman literature..... 22 The Psalms of Solomon.......... 22 The Kittim of the Qumran documents..... 23 The Third Sibyl........... 26 2. The new image of Rome......... 30 A frightening military power........ 30 Political rivalries........... 34 The role of Rome in history........ 35 CHAPTER II ROME BEFORE 66 B.C.E. AS SEEN BY PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA AND FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS 41 I. Rome as powerful protector.......... 42 1. Rome, ever friend and ally........ 43 2. Rome as protector of the Jewish religion.... 46 3. Rome as protector of Jewish property and people.. 54 4. Rome as universal benefactor........ 56
XIV II. Flaws in the image............. 58 1. Local abuses of Roman power........ 59 Pillage and extortion.......... 59 Religious provocation.......... 62 Murderous repression.......... 64 2. Weakening of support from the central power... 68 The disastrous role of the political counsellors... 69 The Emperor s personality......... 70 CHAPTER III FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, HISTORIAN OF THE ROMAN VICTORY OVER THE JEWS.. 75 I. Roman behaviour during the Jewish War, according to Josephus................ 76 1. The clemency of the two Flavians...... 76 2. Religio Romana........... 85 3. The ardour of the troops: from zeal to rage... 89 II. The sources of Roman power according to Flavius Josephus 91 1. The army, source of Rome s supremacy..... 95 Discipline.............. 96 Equipment and organisation........ 96 The morale of the troops......... 98 2. The role of Fortune........... 100 3. The instrument of Providence........ 102 III. Traces of another image of Rome in Flavius Josephus: Politics versus mystics............ 105 CHAPTER IV ROME AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE IN JEWISH SOURCES BETWEEN THE END OF THE FIRST CENTURY AND 135 CE.... 111 I. The humiliated enemy........... 113 II. The enemy as instrument of punishment..... 118 III. The punishment of Rome and the return of Nero.. 122 Chapter V MEMORY AND HISTORY IN THIRD AND FOURTH CENTURY RABBINIC SOURCES 127 I. Memory of the capture of Jerusalem and the burning of the Temple............... 132 1. Vespasian s war............ 133
XV The appeal to surrender......... 133 The famine and the role of the zealots, sicarii or birione. 135 The decision to destroy the Temple...... 140 2. Titus or the profaner punished........ 144 The profanation............ 144 The punishment............ 148 3. The cause of the destruction of the Temple... 152 II. The events of Trajan s reign.......... 157 1. Memory of the Egyptian Diaspora....... 160 2. The war of Qitos............ 164 3. The day of Torinos and the martyr of Julianus and Pappus............... 166 III. The events of Hadrian s reign......... 167 1. Origins of the war............ 168 2. The siege of Bethar........... 173 3. The religious persecutions......... 182 Forbidden practices........... 183 The martyrs............. 189 IV. From Antonine the Pious to Diocletian.......193 1. A conciliatory period........... 194 2. The prestige of the patriarch........ 196 3. Echoes of a troubled period......... 198 CHAPTER VI CONSCIOUSNESS OF ROMAN POWER 207 I. Political power............ 209 1. The emperor, a flesh and blood king..... 210 2. The Senate............. 220 3. Provincial administration......... 222 4. Local administration.......... 227 II. Military power.............. 231 1. Latin for war............ 232 2. Extent of the Roman military presence..... 233 3. The military hierarchy.......... 237 4. Technology in the service of war....... 239 III. Economic power............. 242 1. A fabulous wealth............ 243 2. Taxes as source of Roman wealth....... 246 The didrachma paid to the fiscus Judaicus... 247 The other taxes............ 251
XVI IV. Signs of weakening Roman power........ 258 Roman power distorted.......... 258 The threat from the exterior........ 261 V CHAPTER VII THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A MODUS VI- ENDI............. 265 I. Traces of hostility toward Rome....... 265 1. Mourning the destruction of the Temple..... 265 2. The Greek language between praise and prohibition. 269 3. The horror of informers.......... 276 4. Contempt for tax collectors......... 280 II. Signs of loyalism............. 284 1. The duty of paying taxes.......... 284 2. Roman dating of documents........ 285 3. Abandoning the coins of the Revolt...... 289 4. Respect due to the Emperor......... 290 III. From conciliation to resignation........ 293 IV. Conclusion............... 298 PART TWO RELIGIOUS AND MORAL IMAGE: CONSTANTS AND VARIATIONS.... 301 CHAPTER VIII THE IMAGE OF PAGANISM AND THE BI- BLICAL HERITAGE........ 305 I. The derision of idolatry........... 305 1. Canonical biblical writings......... 305 2. Jeremiah s letter............ 307 3. Jewish texts of the Hellenistic period...... 308 4. Rabbinic sources............ 312 II. Idolatry as a source of immorality........ 316 1. Biblical accusations........... 316 2. Themes of Judaeo-Hellenistic literature..... 317 3. Implications of Rabbinic legislation...... 320 ROMAN RELIGION THROUGH THE RABBI- NIC SOURCES AND THE QUESTION CULT 325 I. The deities............... 327 CHAPTER IX
XVII 1. Aphrodite.............. 327 2. Mercury............... 328 3. The Alexandrian triad and the healing gods.... 329 4. Dionysius or Mithra?........... 333 II. Commemorative celebrations......... 334 1. Calends............... 335 2. Saturnalia.............. 337 3. Imperial celebrations........... 338 4. Secular games............. 338 5. Private celebrations and sacrifices....... 340 III. Popular beliefs and magic practices....... 342 1. Prediction of omens........... 343 2. Talismans and charms.......... 345 IV. The question of the imperial cult........ 348 1. Admissible limits in the 1 st century....... 348 2. Resistance to the institution of the imperial cult under Caligula............. 351 3. Hostility to the imperial cult through the rabbinic sources............... 355 Images of the emperor.......... 355 Imperial celebrations.......... 358 Refusal of deification of the emperor...... 360 CHAPTER X THE MORAL IMAGE OF ROME.... 365 I. From admiration to scorn: from the period of the Maccabees to the aftermath of Pompey s entry into Jerusalem............... 365 1. Moral idealisation............ 365 2. Exposure of Roman vices......... 366 II. Evil as accident: Idealised Rome and real Romans in Philo and Flavius Josephus.......... 372 1. Pietas and evergetism........... 372 2. Cupidity and cruelty........... 376 3. The exception and the rule..........378 III. Moral judgement of Rome in rabbinic sources... 380 1. The material benefits of Roman civilisation.... 380 Public constructions........... 381 Distributions............. 383 Exercise of justice........... 385
XVIII 2. The fundamental moral inferiority of Rome... 387 The inferiority of its origins........ 387 A borrowed civilisation......... 389 A civilisation of leisure......... 391 3. The vices of Rome........... 395 Cupidity.............. 395 Cruelty.............. 398 Hypocrisy and ruse........... 409 Depravity............. 412 Conclusion: the guilty kingdom, the kingdom of evil. 415 PART III ROME FROM THE ESCHATOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE.. 417 CHAPTER XI APOCALYPTIC THEMES BEFORE 70... 421 I. The book of Daniel and the appearance of the theme of the fourth empire............ 421 II. The post-exile prophecies and the theme of cosmic upheavals............... 424 III. Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38 and 39) and the theme of the eschatological war........... 427 IVThe synoptic little apocalypse and the theme of messianic birth pangs............... 432 THE ROLE OF APOCALYPTICAL IDEAS IN THE FIRST REVOLT AGAINST ROME.. 439 I. The fourth philosophy and the sicarii..... 439 II. The zealots and the war clan......... 448 CHAPTER XII CHAPTER XIII ROME AT THE END OF THE FIRST CEN- TURY IN THE ESCHATOLOGICAL PERSPEC- TIVE OF THE LAST JEWISH APOCALYPSES 455 I. The eschatological interpretation of the 70 catastrophe.. 456 II. The coming end of Rome.......... 463 1. Rome Babylon............ 463 2. The symbols............. 469 The forest and the cedar of II Baruch..... 469
XIX The eagle of Ezra IV.......... 471 The two beasts of the Book of Revelation.... 474 III. The exasperation of Messianic expectancy and its historical consequences.............. 477 1. The tannaitic parallels of the two Jewish apocalypses (II Baruch and IV Ezra).......... 478 2. The calculation of times and Jewish revolts of the 2 nd century.............. 484 CHAPTER XIV APOCALYPSE DENIAL AND PERSISTENCE 489 I. Apocalypse denied........... 489 1. Purging the tradition........... 489 2. Condemning time calculation and reconciling with patience............... 492 II. The fate of Rome according to apocalyptic traces in rabbinic literature............. 496 1. Rome Esau Edom........... 497 Enemy brothers............ 497 The punishment of Esau-Edom....... 505 2. Rome fourth empire.......... 511 The quaternary schema......... 512 Animal symbolism........... 514 The eschatological value of the swine symbol... 517 Conclusion: The end of Rom, a hope shared.. 522 CONCLUSION............... 525 Chronological landmarks.............527 Chronological list of the principal cited rabbis...... 529 List of abbreviations............. 531 Bibliography................ 533 Index of names............... 565