JEWS OR PAGANS? 155burial practice was now (third-fourth century)under way in some circles.^91 In
theverysameperiodtheJewsofRomealsobegantouselarge-scalecommunal
burial places and mark their epitaphs with Jewish symbols.
Nevertheless, the circles engaged in the judaization of burial practice in
the third century are likely to have still been a small minority of Palestinian
Jews.TheiratypicalityisconfirmedbytheintermentinBethShearimofmany
“rabbis” (whether or not they are “our” rabbis,)^92 of possible members of the
patriarchalfamily,andofthebonesofsmallnumbersofDiasporaJews,among
who mthe practice of sending bones to Palestine for secondary burial must
havebeenrestrictedtothemostJewishlypious(andwealthy),despiterabbinic
ambivalenceregardingthepractice.^93 Ontheotherhand,thegeneralabsence
of pagan iconography in the wall carvings and graffiti, and its predominance
onthesarcophagiofcatacombs11and20(discussedinmoredetailpresently)
hintsatacertaintensionbetweendifferentgroupsofcustomersofthenecrop-
olis, or between the management (if there was one),^94 responsible for digging
out and decorating the chambers, and some of the purchasers. Interestingly,
it is in catacomb 20 that the aforementioned “rabbis” were buried, though
we do not know if it was they who used the sarcophagi.
Thus,evenBethShearim,stronglyJewishasitis,isfilledwithpaganiconog-
raphy, most of it introduced into the catacombs in the form of decorated sar-
cophagi but not built in. Of the decorations actually carved and scratched on
the walls, lintels, and so on, most common are the menorah and the highly
traditionalbututterlyinscrutablerosette,ubiquitousintheJewishiconography
ofthelaterSecondTempleperiod.^95 Alsocommonaregraffitiofarchedstruc-
tures, sometimes flanked by lions, with a door, a menorah, or nothing at all
within the arch. A complete glass plate decorated with a similar design, per-
haps made for funerary use like the decorated gold glasses in the Jewish and
(^91) Note also the construction outside several of the catacombs of areas of assembly, closely
resembling the later apsidal synagogues in design, presumably for some sort of ritual gathering.
(^92) On which, see S. Cohen, “Epigraphical Rabbis,”JQR72 (1981–1982): 1–17. That the
“rabbis”preferredHebrewfortheirepitaphsprobablyindicatesthattheyfeltthemselvessomehow
connected to the Torah; see S. Schwartz, “Language, Power, and Identity in Ancient Palestine,”
PastandPresent148 (1995): 3–47.
(^93) Y.Ketubot12:3,35b;mostofthefewburialsidentifiedintheinscriptionsasthoseofforeign
Jews alsoidentify the deceased ascommunal officials:BethShearim2.141 (Aidesios, gerousiarch
of Antioch); 164 (Eusebios,virclarissimus[!], archisynagogue of Berytos—clearly an inscription
of the mid-fourth century at earliest, iflamprotatoshas its customary meaning); 203 (Iako, archi-
synagogue of Caesarea in Pamphylia [?], or Iako of Caesarea Maritima, archisynagogue, [origi-
nally] fro mPa mphylia); 221 (Iose, archisynagogue of Sidon).
(^94) For a not very conclusive discussion, see Z. Weiss, “Social Aspects of Burial in Beth
Shearim,” pp. 362–66.
(^95) On rosettes, see R. Hachlili,Ancient Jewish Art,p.80.Menorotwere uncommon in the
SecondTempleperiod,butevenso,thereareseveralexamplesfromfunerarycontexts;seeHach-
lili,AncientJewishArt, pp. 81–82.