Egypt, were reckoned among the “Hellenes” — not singled out for prejudi-
cial discrimination.
The nature of Jewish civic status remains obscure and controversial.
The Jews did have an established place in Alexandria by the end of the first
centuryb.c.e.Strabo, who had no Jewish agenda, reports that the Jews had
a large portion of the city allotted to them, and had their own official, an
ethnarch, to govern them, decide disputes, and oversee contracts and de-
crees. He plainly implies that Jews governed their own internal affairs but
also took part in a larger Alexandrian entity to which they owed allegiance.
Other evidence shows that they lived in all parts of the city, not restricted
to a ghettoized existence. They could label themselves “Alexandrians,” a
term that carried more than geographic designation. The Roman emperor
Augustus, in fact, referred to them on a bronze stele as “citizens of the
Alexandrians.” Whatever that means, it signals an acknowledged role in
the political process of the city, a feature independently attested by Philo,
who notes that Alexandrian Jews “shared in political rights.” Although we
lack precise data, Jews clearly had some claim on civic prerogatives, just as
they had on the social and economic life of the city.
Elsewhere, the political status of Jews receives only occasional men-
tion. At Herakleopolis in Egypt, recent papyrological finds reveal the exis-
tence of a Jewishpoliteuma,a self-governing body that could, among other
things, adjudicate cases involving both Jews and non-Jews. A comparable
politeumaexisted in Cyrenaica, and we possess evidence indicating that
Jews could serve in the governing body of the larger Cyrenaic community
as well. Citizen privileges of some sort also belonged to the Jews of
Antioch, as they did for those in Sardis and the Ionian cities of Asia Minor.
Moreover, Jews were eligible for Roman citizenship, well outside the city of
Rome. Paul, a Jew from Tarsus and a Roman citizen, is only the most cele-
brated example. Just what prerogatives this involved and how far they were
exercised remain controversial. But no barriers, it appears, excluded Jews
from becoming full-fledged beneficiaries of Roman power.The Jews’ Participation in Cultural and Intellectual Life
One can go further. Jews had access even to cultural life in the upper eche-
lons of Hellenistic society. Jewish authors were well versed in most, perhaps
all, forms of Hellenic writings. Those conversant with the conventions in-
cluded epic poets like Theodotus and Philo, tragic dramatists like Ezekiel,102erich s. gruenEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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