130 CHAPTER FOUR
Between the Bar Kokhba revolt and the christianization of the empire, the
main areas of Jewish settlement included Upper and Lower Galilee, Dios-
polis-Lydda and its vicinity, perhaps Joppa and some scattered settlements
elsewhereontheMediterraneancoast,theGolanHeights,andthesemidesert
fringeofJudaea.Asalreadysuggested,JewishsettlementinJudaeaproperwas
drasticallyreduced inthe wakeof theBarKokhba revolt.^2 What thenbecame
of the district is unclear, but it may not have recovered fully until late antiq-
uity, when it began to benefit fro mthe attention of the Christian state. What
Jewish population remained in Judaea was confined to its edges: there are
scattered pieces of evidence, especially but not exclusively late antique, for
Jewish settlement in such agriculturally marginal villages as Zif, Eshtemoa,
andSusiyah,southofHebron.Joppa,conventionallyconsideredJudaea’sport
but for most of its history a normal Levantine town with a mixed population,
retained some Jewish inhabitants even after it was rewarded by Vespasian for
its loyalty to Rome during the first Jewish revolt.^3 Indeed, the Jews may have
been numerous and influential. The evidence is exiguous but suggestive—a
set of molds for lead weights dated to the first decade of the second century,
which identify asagoranomos(market supervisor) of the city one Ioudas son
of Gozo mor Tozo m.^4 Asagoranomos, Ioudas, who was obviously of Jewish
origin however we construe his mysterious patronymic, was one of the city
elites, probably in fact a member of theboule, or city council.^5 Evidence for
Lydda, on the northwestern fringe of Judaea, is more abundant and will be
considered below.^6
Galilee, 135–324Galilee was divided into two zones that were to some extent culturally dis-
tinct—urbanized Lower Galilee and unurbanized Upper Galilee.^7 While
UpperGalileehadbeenapopulousandprosperousregionbefore67C.E.,and
character of some of the Transjordanian cities, see Bowersock, “Greek Culture at Petra and Bos-
tra,” pp. 15–22; D. Graf, “Hellenisation and the Decapolis,”Aram4 (1992): 1–48, esp. 5–7.
(^2) For a full account of the evidence for continued Jewish settlement in the district, see J.
Schwartz,JewishSettlement inSouthernJudaeafrom theBarKokhbaRevoltto theMuslimCon-
quest(Jerusalem: Magnes, 1986).
(^3) See Isaac,LimitsofEmpire, pp. 348–49.
(^4) SeeSEG31 (1981): 1410.
(^5) S.Applebaum’sclaim,madeentirelyonthebasisoftheseweights,thatthereexistedatJoppa
multiplepoliteumata(ethniccorporations), eachwithitsownmagistrates,is unlikely:seeSCI8–
9(1985–1989)138–44.TheJewishcemeteryofJoppa(seeCIJ2.892–960)ismainlylateantique,
to judge fro mthe Greek spelling and the use of such titles askyra(e.g., 896) andberibbi. Some
of the inscriptions Frey assigned to the Joppan catacombs may come from elsewhere and may
be somewhat earlier—they lack “late” features, including Jewish iconography. This cemetery
needs a comprehensive reexamination.
(^6) IngeneralseeJ.Schwartz,Lod(Lydda),Israel:FromitsOriginsthroughtheByzantinePeriod,
BAR International Series 571 (Oxford: Tempus Reparatum, 1991).
(^7) For a general account, see Goodman,StateandSociety.