same issues were still pending. Quoting the work of Nicholas of Damascus,
Herod’s secretary, who personally witnessed the episode, Josephus pre-
sents us with two reports of a visit to Ionia in 14b.c.e.by the Roman
statesman Agrippa and King Herod. In the first report (Ant.12.125-27) the
Ionians are said to have requested from Agrippa that the citizenship
(politeia)granted by Antiochus Theos should be restricted to them alone
and should not include the Jews, who declined to worship the gods of the
Ionians. This statement is illuminating: the Jews are not entitled to the
same rights of the Greeks since they refuse to acknowledge the city’s gods.
Economic and religious issues were intermingled because religion was
central in the maintenance of civic patriotism. A local cult with a world-
famous temple, for example, was vital to a city’s identity and crucial to its
economy.
The second report (Ant.16.27-28) centers on Jewish claims. The Jews
do not mention civic rights and the city’s gods, but rather their mistreat-
ment by the Greek cities, which forbade them to observe their religious
laws, compelled them to attend judicial hearings on their holy days,
stripped them of the monies destined for the Temple in Jerusalem, pressed
them into military service, and forced them to spend their income on un-
wanted civic duties “although they had been exempted from these duties
because the Romans had always permitted them to live in accordance with
their own laws.” These “unwanted civic duties” may have been liturgies,
that is, public services assumed by, or rather imposed upon, the wealthier
citizens as a compulsory duty toward the community. In the difficult eco-
nomic situation following the Roman civil struggles of the last years of the
Republic, which had drawn heavily on Asian resources, liturgies had be-
come a problematic feature in the life of Greek cities in the East. The Jews
of Ionia based their refusal to participate in these duties on their religious
freedom, which was legally recognized by the Roman government. But
why did they justify their refusal on religious grounds and expect Agrippa
to agree with them? Their appeal makes sense only if the liturgies in ques-
tion were somehow incompatible with Jewish religious scruples. The obli-
gations may have included something like underwriting the cost of pagan
festivals or the expenses of the local gymnasium.
The same issues may have been at stake in an episode reported by
Josephus, in which the Jews complained that the Greeks “were persecuting
them to the extent of taking their sacred monies away from them and do-
ing them injury in their private concerns” (Ant.16.160-61). In hard times,
the Greeks may have resented that the Jews made no contribution to reno-380miriam pucci ben zeevEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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