Military Service and the Integration of Jews Into the Roman Empire

Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-90-04-50675-6
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 72, 222 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 518 g

Reihe: The Brill Reference Library of Judaism

According to Raúl González Salinero, the plurality of religious expressions within Judaism prior to the predominance of the rabbinical current disproves the assumption according to which some Jewish customs and precepts (especially the Sabbath) prevented Jews from joining the Roman army without renouncing their ancestral culture. The military exemption occasionally granted to the Jews by the Roman authorities was compatible with their voluntary enlistment (as it was in the Hellenistic armies) in order to obtain Roman citizenship. As the sources attest, Judaism did not pose any insurmountable obstacle to integration of the Jews into the Roman world. They achieved a noteworthy presence in the Roman army by the fourth century CE, at which time the Church’s influence over imperial power led to their exclusion from the militia armata.

Autoren/Hrsg.

González-Salinero, Raúl

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte des Judentums (Diaspora)
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien: Leben & Praxis, Soziale Aspekte
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Geschichte des Judentums Geschichte des Judentums außerhalb Israels/Palästinas
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Geschichte der klassischen Antike Römische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Militärgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

List of Figures

Introduction

1 Jewish Military Service in Hellenistic Armies

1 Precedents

2 Under the Ptolemies

3 Under the Seleucids

4 Apologetics and Historical Reality

2 Jewish Exemptions from Military Service in the Late Republic and the Augustan Principate

1 Jews and the Recruitment of Auxilia

2 Military Exemption as a Jewish Privilege

3 A Legal Precedent?

3 Jewish Soldiers in the Roman Army during the High Empire

1 Exceptional Recruitment

2 Jewish Troops in Roman Service

3 Material Evidence

4 Dura-Europos

5 The Presence of Jews in the Imperial Army: Conditions and Historical Evolution

4 During the Later Roman Empire

1 Material Evidence

2 Under the Christian Empire

Conclusion

Appendix 1: Violence and the Use of Arms on Sabbath

Appendix 2: The Inscription of Rufinus the Soldier, from the Via Appia Pignatelli Catacomb (Rome)

Appendix 3: A Critical Rereading of the Inscription of Flavia Optata Found in Concordia

Prosopographic Map

Sources

Bibliography

Analytical Index

Über Autor(innen)

Raúl González Salinero, Ph.D. (1997), University of Salamanca, is a Lecturer in Ancient History at UNED (Madrid). He has been a Visiting Scholar at the Universities of Parma, Sorbonne-Paris IV, Bari Aldo Moro, Cambridge, and Bologna.