often identified with the donkey, an animal abhorred by the Egyptians (Ag.
Ap.2.79-80).
Another feature of Judaism criticized in Egypt from the time of
Hecataeus in the third centuryb.c.e.was its social separateness: “The sac-
rifices he [Moses] established differ from those of the other nations, as
does their way of living, for as a result of their own expulsion from Egypt
he introduced an unsocial and intolerant mode of life” (Aegyptiaca,apud
Diodorus Siculus,Bibliotheca Historica60.3.4). In time, Jewish separate-
ness was interpreted as misanthropy — hence the accusation of hatred of
humanity and of ritual murders. Its first formulation is found in the work
of Apion, who claims that the Jews used to “kidnap a Greek foreigner, fat-
ten him up for a year, and then convey him to a wood, where they slew
him, sacrificed his body with their customary ritual, partook of his flesh
and, while immolating the Greek, swore an oath of hostility to the Greeks”
(Ag. Ap.2.91-95).
Intellectual antagonism materialized at the time of Emperor Caligula.
In the year 38c.e., the arrival of King Agrippa in Alexandria was the occa-
sion of a popular riot, described at length in Philo’sAgainst Flaccus.Stirred
up by a group of extremists, the Alexandrians installed images of the em-
peror in the synagogues, so that the Jewish cult automatically ceased. Jews
were proclaimed “foreigners and aliens” (Flacc.54) and shut up in one
quarter of the city. When forced by the scarcity of food to leave the quarter
and to appear in the marketplace, they were pursued and slaughtered; their
houses were plundered and their goods stolen or destroyed. Members of
the Jewish senate were flogged with whips in the theater. Jewish traditional
autonomy was officially abolished. Seeking reconciliation, the Jewish aris-
tocracy sent a delegation to the emperor in Rome, but it failed in its pur-
poses. As soon as Caligula was killed in 41c.e., Jews in Alexandria rose in
arms and retaliated against the Greeks. Josephus tells us that “upon the
death of Gaius, the Jews, who had been humiliated under his rule and
grievously abused by the Alexandrians, took heart again and at once
armed themselves.” Claudius commanded the prefect of Egypt to put
down the uprising (Ant.19.278-79). Peace was restored but the dispute was
not solved; there were continuous clashes between Jews and Greeks in
which each crackdown by the authorities further exacerbated the quarrel
between the two sides (J.W.2.489).
Two generations later, amidst the prevailing anti-Jewish attitudes at
the time when the First Jewish Revolt broke out in Judea in 66c.e.,an-
other episode of violence took place in the theater of Alexandria (J.W.384miriam pucci ben zeevEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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