Jews and Others
rival, element in the Christian period.^54 But this material is reinforced here
by documentary and archaeological evidence, much of which had not been
available to earlier scholars. What is deliberately omitted here is ‘‘Judaeo-
Christians,’’ or Ebionites, for whom we are entirely dependent on Christian
reports.
The religious spectrum of the period around.. was in any case com-
plex enough. All that is asserted here is that the history of Judaism in late
antiquity cannot be confined to Palestine, for we can see that there was a very
significant Jewish life in the diaspora: predominantly Greek-speaking, but
with strong hints that Hebrew and Aramaic might be studied and used here
too; a ‘‘synagogal’’ Judaism certainly, but not one in regard to which we can
either assert or deny the title ‘‘rabbinic’’ (thesophodidaskalosfrom Sardis, and
Synesius’nomodidaskalosshould give us pause for thought); a Judaism based
on the Bible, from which anyone was free to escape by the simple step of
converting to Christianity, as some certainly did; and a communal Judaism
which was assertive, might attract ‘‘God-fearers’’ or full proselytes, could be
argumentative, and might on occasion turn to abuse and violence. This chap-
ter in the history of Judaism has yet to be written.
. J. Juster,Les Juifs dans l’Empire romain: leur condition juridique, économique et sociale, esp.
vol. I (), –; M. Simon,Verus Israel: étude sur les relations entre Chrétiens et Juifs dans
l’Empire romain^2 (), esp. chaps. iv–vi, viii (English trans.,Verus Israel[]).