destroyed by the Romans and rebuilt by Hadrian as a pagan settlement.
Church Fathers refer to Jewish slaves being sold there cheaply. Coin discov-
eries reveal that the fair attracted traders from all over the empire.
R. Yohanan even allows that one may purchase items in wreathed stores,
providing the wreath is free of the myrtle plant (Jerusalem Talmud Avodah
Zarah1:4), and admits to uncertainty as to whether or not the commercial
event at Aza should be considered a fair (Aza was revived as a fair by
Hadrian). Safrai (1984, 149) also notes that non-Jewish writers such as
Sozomenous and Epiphanius, who mentions having met at a fair a Jew
named Jacob, speak of Jews participating in such gatherings.
The question of economics is central to the perspective of Safrai and
Urbach. Did an impoverished situation in the land of Israel cause legal stric-
tures against trade with pagans to be weakened? Daniel Sperber (1978,
160–76) offers support for this point of view, citing material from both Jew-
ish and Roman sources to show that conditions in Palestine changed radically
during that time. Land prices dropped, and much land was sold to non-
Jews. Many of the laws dealing with adherence to the land seem to have been
written in response to this difficult situation. Gary Porton also agrees with
these views, providing a long list of items that could have been restricted, but
which the Mishnahand the Toseftain fact allowed to be traded freely. Porton
claims an even wider-ranging economic rationale than the others. Few restric-
tions were placed on marketplace activity, and those restrictions that were in
place are said to be “few and relatively innocuous” (Porton 1988, 335n. 67).
Porton is also concerned with another related topic: How was the idol-
ater viewed in this literature? This question is relevant when we ask about
the extent to which the restrictions embedded within Jewish legal litera-
ture were meant to reflect purely economic concerns, and the extent to
which they expressed a desire to abstain from trading with a pagan on
unapproved holidays. Was the pagan to be avoided at all times, or just dur-
ing the time of his worship events? Porton thinks that the texts created
times to avoid trade and times to engage in it: “Our authors differentiated
between occasions when overtly religious activity within the spheres of
social and economic life were evident and periods when they were not”
(1988, 243). This implies that the writers did not in fact want their read-
ers to refrain from all interactions with pagans, but only those that took
place on certain significant days.
Saul Lieberman (1950) writes that the “principles of idols and idol
worship” are omitted intentionally in Jewish literature, all forms of oppo-
sition toward pagan practices being curtailed because the Greco-Roman
writers already recognized the flaws in their own system. Edwyn Bevan
Is the Pagan Fair Fairly Dangerous? 79