Jerusalem Against Rome

Front Cover
Peeters Publishers, 2006 - Art - 581 pages
While conquering the world, Rome encountered a great number of peoples around the Mediterranean. We know very little about how these populations viewed their conquerors. The Jews were the only people to offer a comprehensive view of Rome over a great span of time. They expressed it in a rich corpus of Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic sources, reflecting the evolution of the relations between Jews and Romans: from alliance and friendship to tensions and revolt, culminating for the Jews in temporary compliance to foreign domination together with hopeful expectations for redemption. The image of Rome which emerges from apocryphal, Talmudic and Midrashic literature durably shaped the Jewish political, moral and eschatological vision of the world and history.
 

Contents

Introduction
1
FROM FRIENDSHIP TO DISILLUSIONMENT
7
ROME BEFORE 66 B C E AS SEEN BY PHILO
41
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS HISTORIAN OF
75
265
92
Popular beliefs and magic practices
103
ROME AND THE DESTRUCTION OF
111
The punishment of Rome and the return of Nero
122
From conciliation to resignation
293
THE IMAGE OF PAGANISM AND THE
305
Biblical accusations
316
ROMAN RELIGION THROUGH THE RABBI
325
The question of the imperial cult
348
THE MORAL IMAGE OF ROME
365
The exception and the rule
372
Moral judgement of Rome in rabbinic sources
380

The cause of the destruction of the Temple
152
The events of Hadrians reign
167
From Antonine the Pious to Diocletian
193
CONSCIOUSNESS OF ROMAN POWER
207
Provincial administration
222
207
244
Military power
260
Signs of loyalism
284
APOCALYPTIC THEMES BEFORE 70
421
THE ROLE OF APOCALYPTICAL IDEAS
439
CONCLUSION
525
List of abbreviations
531
Economic power
562
492
574
Copyright

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