to local pagan culture (if so, then it would be the earliest one excavated in
the Diaspora), or the assembly hall of a pagan guild. At present both op-
tions appear equally viable.
Two inscriptions from an unexcavated building near the possible syn-
agogue demonstrate that Jewish communities were not the only ones to
spread across the eastern Mediterranean; Samaritan communities did as
well. Interestingly enough, the self-designation of the Samaritan commu-
nity on Delos was “the Israelites in Delos who pay tribute to the holy
sanctuary Argarizim,” and they called their assembly hall aproseuch 3 .Tw o
epitaphs inscribed before 88b.c.e.were found on Rhenaia, the burial is-
land of Delos. Each mentions the violent death of a woman and calls
upon “Theos Hypsistos,Lord of the spirits and all flesh” to send “the an-
gels of God” to avenge the crime. The terminology seems to indicate a
Jewish milieu.
Evidence from other places in Greece is sparse. The second-century-
b.c.e.date of an epitaph mentioning a certain Sim(e)on son of Ananias
from Athens is debated (IJO1:156-57). Especially interesting are two in-
scriptions incised on the polygonal wall of the temple of Apollo at Delphi
dated to 163/62 and 158/57b.c.e., respectively. The inscriptions document
the manumission of a male slave named Ioudaios and a female slave
named Antigone. In another inscription from Delphi from the second to
first centuryb.c.e., Ioudaios son of Pindaros declares his slave Amyntas
free (IJO1:173-76). The oldest manumission inscription mentioning a
Ioudaios(“Jew” or “Judean”) comes from the Amphiareion at Oropus and
is dated to 300-250b.c.e.Here Moschus son of Moschion obeyed a dream
sent by the gods Amphiaraos and Hygieia commanding him to erect an in-
scription documenting his manumission from an unknown master (IJO
1:177-80). On an inscription from Iasos, a certain Niketas son of Iason from
Jerusalem is listed as one of twometoikoi(resident foreigners) who have
together donated 100 drachmas for an unnamed pagan festival. If Niketas
was indeed a Jew, the inscription, dated after 150b.c.e., documents partici-
pation of Jews in public life. Another list of names from Iasos, dated to the
early first centuryb.c.e., may also include Jews since the names Judas and
Jason are mentioned (IJO2:129-31). A list of benefactors from Smyrna
dated 123/24c.e.mentions that “a group of former Jews” pledged to give
10,000 drachmas. The phrasehoi pote Ioudaioiis unique and enigmatic:
does it refer to inhabitants of Smyrna who used to live in Judea or who
were apostate Jews? The termIoudaioscan indicate both regional origin
and religious affiliation. Also unclear is whether the phrase is a self-336jürgen k. zangenbergEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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