community roles and offices (Frey 1936 –52 [1975]; Noy 1993–5; Noy and
Horbury 1992; Noy and Bloedhorn 2004; Noy et al. 2004; see also Tcherikover
and Fuks 1957– 64; Lüderitz 1983; Goodenough 1952– 65).
Some (few) inscriptions in whole or in part from or about Jews place them in, or
show their support for, institutions outside the synagogue and Jewish community,
for example, in the amphitheater and theater (e.g. in Cyrenaica, Lüderitz 1983: 70f.;
in Miletus, Frey 1936 –52 [1975]: no. 748), giving us some notion of Jews’ presence
and participation in patterns of benefaction supporting the local city’s institutions
(see Barclay 1996: 236f.; Harland 2003).Narrative literary works by Jews
Narrative literary works by Jews purporting to describe and/or interpret important
events regarding Jewish life in the Greco-Roman Diaspora are invaluable, despite
their tendentious and apologetic character. Of chief importance are writings by
Philo of Alexandria, especially Embassy to Gaiusand Against Flaccus(dating from
the reign of Caligula near the mid-first century ce), and of Josephus, principally
Antiquities of the Jewsand Wars(from the last third of the first century ce). They
provide the most direct evidence for Jews and Judaism as a minority ethno-religious
construct in the Greco-Roman Diaspora.
Other literary works by Jews
A plethora of other literary works in Greek by Jews of the Greco-Roman Diaspora
promote faithfulness to Judaic life within a dominant, pagan, Greco-Roman world.
These range in genre from the “philosophical-allegorical” works of Philo (first half
of the first century ce), through the “Jewish” Sibylline Oracles (compiled in the
sixth century from materials dating from the second century bcethrough first
century ce), to 3 and 4 Maccabees (first century bceto first century ce), to name
a few.
Pagan Greek and Latin authors
A number of so-called pagan Greek and Latin authors mention and characterize Jewish
life in the midst of their cities. I shall name a few by way of example. We have already
noted passing remarks made by Cicero (especially in his trial defense of Flaccus, for-
mer proconsul of Asia) and the literary compositions of Ovid, Horace, Martial, and
Juvenal (particularly in their more satirical works). Roman historians and biographers
like Tacitus and Suetonius proffer information about Jews in the empire, and Jews
figure in the correspondence of Pliny the Younger with his imperial master while
the former administered Rome’s affairs in Asia Minor in the second century (see
M. Stern 1974 – 84).Roman legal edicts
While dating almost exclusively from the mid-second century ceon, with the high-
est concentration dating from the late fourth and early fifth centuries (under the
Valentinian-Theodosian emperors), Roman legal edicts are invaluable corroboration
350 Jack N. Lightstone