Jews and Others
occasional papyri. But of the known papyri written in Hebrew characters
only theketubbaof.., mentioned above, is securely dated.^57 This is not
the place to attempt to analyse all the documentary evidence for the diaspora
which dates, or may date, to this period.^58 But it may be worth returning to
one question: were there rabbis in the late Roman diaspora? The evidence
consists firstly of references to persons, like thehiereusandsophodidaskalos
from Sardis (see text following n. above), who are recorded on inscriptions
in terms which suggest a role or function comparable to that of a rabbi. Then
there are the people described in the undatable Jewish epitaphs of Rome as
nomomathēs, ‘‘learned in the Law,’’^59 ormathētēssophōn, ‘‘disciple of the wise.’’^60
The actual term ‘‘rabbi’’ is also attested on inscriptions.^61 For instance, it ap-
pears on an enigmatic and isolated graffito of the mid-fourth century from
Cyrene,^62 which reads either ‘‘Lord, help the rabbi’’ or ‘‘Help, Lord of the
rabbi.’’^63 A ‘‘prayer of Rabbi Attikos’’ (euchē rabbē Attikou) is also recorded on
a third-century inscription from Cyprus.^64 But the term also appears in Italy,
perhaps first in an inscription of the fourth century from Brusciano near
Naples; it begins with the wordshalomwritten in Hebrew and is adorned with
a shofar, menorah, and palm branch. The Latin text reads ‘‘Here lies Rabbi
Abba Maris the honoured one.’’^65 A similar mixture of (rather more exten-
sive) Hebrew and Latin appears on the epitaph of a Jewish girl from Venosa
(Venusia) for whom mourning was said by ‘‘twoapostuliand tworebbites.’’^66
Ifapostulihas the normal meaning ofapostoli, emissaries of the patriarch,
the inscription would both confirm the patriarch’s influence in Italy (text to
n. above) and (presumably) date from before theexcessus(cessation?) of the
patriarchs which is alluded to in a law of .^67 But nothing serves to date
the epitaph of the ‘‘daughter of Rabbi Abundantius’’ (filia Rebbitis Abundanti)
. C. Sirat,Les papyrus en caractères hebraïques trouvés en Égypte().
. It is surveyed, on geographical basis, in Schürer, Vermes, and Millar,HistoryIII.,
–.
. Frey (n. ), no. .
. Frey (n. ), no. .
. S. J. D. Cohen, ‘‘Epigraphic Rabbis,’’JQR (–): .
.SEGXXXI, no. G.
. P. W. van der Horst, ‘‘Lord, Help the Rabbi: The Interpretation of SEG XXX b,’’
JJS (): .
. Frey (n. ), no. .
. E. Miranda, ‘‘Due iscrizioni greco-giudaiche della Campania,’’Riv.Arch.Cr.
(): SEGXXIX, no. Noy (n. ), no. .
. Frey (n. ), no. Noy (n. ), no. .
.Cod.Theod.,,Linder(n.),no..