Asia Minor
In Asia Minor Jewish settlements were apparently a conspicuous element
of the local population. The Jews had formed vital and influential commu-
nities dating back to the third centuryb.c.e., but on several occasions the
Greeks prevented the Jews from observing their traditional customs. We
learn about these incidents from a number of documents quoted in part
by Josephus. The authenticity of these texts has often been challenged in
modern scholarship, and Josephus has even been accused of forging the
documents in order to prove that the Jews had always been held in high es-
teem by Rome. This view, however, is not tenable. Parallels in structure,
phraseology, and content can be readily found in authentic contemporary
Greek and Roman documents preserved on stone, bronze, and papyrus.
Moreover, if the documents were forgeries they would not contain so
many errors; an informed forger would have taken pains to replicate stan-
dard formulas and conventional structures correctly. Paradoxically, the
textual corruptions and factual errors constitute the strongest argument
for authenticity and indicate that the original texts had probably been cop-
ied several times before they reached Josephus.
From these documents, which date to the second half of the first cen-
turyb.c.e., we learn that at Delos the Jews were denied religious freedom
by a decree issued by the Greek city (JRRW7). In Laodicea, the Greek mag-
istrates wrote to the Roman proconsul agreeing to let the Jews observe
their Sabbaths and rites in accordance with their native laws, but that the
people of Tralles were dissatisfied and would not easily comply with the
Roman requests (JRRW17). At Miletus, the Roman governor resented that,
“contrary to our expressed wish, you are attacking the Jews and forbid
them to observe the Sabbaths, perform their native rites, and manage their
produce in accordance with the laws” (JRRW18). At Halicarnassus, Roman
pressure forced the Greek city to issue a decree allowing the Jews to follow
their customs (JRRW19). That the Jewish observance of the Sabbath was
liable to a fine we learn from another decree, issued this time at Ephesus,
where, again under Roman pressure, the Greeks agreed that “no one shall
be prevented from keeping the Sabbath days nor be fined for so doing”
(JRRW21). Kosher food also represented a problem; special permission
was necessary at Sardis for “having suitable food for them [the Jews]
brought in” (JRRW20).
Not surprisingly, the Roman letters and decrees were not very effec-
tive. A few generations later, during the reign of Augustus, some of the379Jews among Greeks and RomansEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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