Judaea

Landscape of Judaea
Strabo describes Jerusalem as “not an enviable land, nor one that anyone would ever fight for in earnest”. The area of Jerusalem is seven square miles, and the city and its periphery are rocky. The city itself is well-irrigated. . Tacitus describes Judaea as a land scattered with villages and towns. Jerusalem is the capital of this people, which includes fortifications, a palace, and a temple enclosed within.

Origins of the Jewish People
Diodorus Siculus says that the ancestors of the Jews were driven from Egypt on account of impiety and the sickness/leprosy/curse that they had caused, with Moses leading to take up residence in Jerusalem. Philo of Alexandria says that their ancestors were the Chaldeans, and as they once moved out of Syria, they were led by Moses out of Egypt when the land was insufficient for their population. Strabo says that Moses, who was a priest of Egypt, left with followers of his God to Jerusalem upon becoming unhappy with the Egyptians’ portrayal of the divine. Tacitus recounts that they were driven out of Egypt by King Bocchoris, who was told by an oracle that they were hated by the gods and thus cause for the plague, and that Moses led them in religious matters. However, he also recounts that some say they are the Idaeans, or that they were a portion of Egypt, leaving as it became overflowing with people, as well as that some give them a fantastical beginning calling the Solymi the founders of the Jewish race.

Josephus tells us that the Spartan King, Areus, sent a letter to the high priest Onias. The contents of this letter stated that the Spartans were of the same race as the Judaeans and related through Abraham (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities By establishing the genealogical link between the Spartans and the Jews an alliance was created.

Appearance of Judaeans
As evidenced by several Roman authors, the Jewish practice of circumcision was seen as different. Philo of Alexandria explains nothing of this ancient practice, other than that it, “Has been mocked by many,”. Tacitus: Tacitus’ account focuses primarily on the ability to identify Jews by circumcision: They instituted the circumcision of their genitalia so that they would be recognized by their difference ). Martial’s account of the Jewish practice of circumcision is written as a mockery. The majority of his writing can be summed up by the sentence, “Swear, circumcised guy (verpe), by Anchialus,” . Plutarch not only describes Jewish practices, but also gives a description of what was worn by the Jewish high-priest. “The high priest himself puts naysayers forcefully to shame when he leads the processions of Jewish festivals wearing a mitre and clad in a gold-threaded fawn-skin. His robe reaches to his feet and he wears high boots. Many bells hang upon his clothes, and they ring beneath his robe as he walks. This is the same as we do in our worship,” . He interestingly makes a connection between the Greek religious practices and the Jewish ones.

Jewish Traditions and Customs
With the exception of Philo of Alexandria, Roman authors seem to have thought the Jews to be a particularly “misanthropic” people, and seem to put extreme emphasis on the Jewish practices of circumcision and their ban on pork. “They alone of all peoples, the advisors said, refused to mingle with other peoples and considered all other peoples their enemies.”. Diodorus Siculus views Moses as the primary lawmaker, claiming that Moses founded the city of Jerusalem, the temple therein, and organized the constitution of the Jews, as well as dividing the people into twelve tribes as it was “considered the most perfect and in harmony with the number of months in a year.”. The Jewish aniconic beliefs supposedly have its roots in the fact that Moses “did not think that god had a human form. Instead, he thought that only the heavens surrounding the earth were the god who ruled over all.”. Moses supposedly fostered an environment of “courage, patience, and and endurance in the face of misfortune in general.”

Cicero, in his speech On Behalf of Flaccus gives mention of the custom of Jews outside of Jersualem sending gold each year back to Jerusalem.

Philo of Alexandria seems to be somewhat of an apologist for Jewish practices, and gives mention of some Jewish customs such as Moses’ laws where he “forbade the sacrifice of mother and child on the same day.” Jewish Law also supposedly “forbids from sacred areas all pregnant animals...reasoning that the contents of the womb are equal to those already born,” which connects with the initial prohibition forbidding the sacrifice of mother and child on the same day. This may also relate to later Christian prohibitions on abortion. Philo also gives mention of Jewish lawgivers establishing a law which requires pregnant women condemned to death to give birth before being executed. Philo seems to consider the idea that the Jews were a misanthropic people to be preposterous. Strabo believed Moses to have been an Egyptian priest, who left Egypt and came to Judea. . Strabo sums up the core of certain beliefs of Moses with the statement “those who live a life of moderation and justness should always expect nobility and always a gift and a sign from god, while others should expect no such things.”

According to Josephus, the Roman magistrate Dolabella made exceptions for the Jews due to their dietary practices and requirement to keep the Sabbath, and granted “to them, as previous governors have done, release from military service, and I permit them to follow their ancestral customs.”

Tacitus states that the Jews were driven out of Egypt for being an unclean people, as a method of alleviating a pestilence which had fallen across Egypt under the reign of King Bocchoris. Tacitus believed that “their faith is fixed among themselves and tenderhearted in public but includes hostile hatred against all others, they remain separate from others at meals and keep their bedrooms separate. Their race is most likely to throw themselves into lust. And, though they abstain from cohabitation with foreign women, among themselves nothing is forbidden. They instituted the circumcision of their gentialia so that they would be recognized by their difference...they take in no one until they learn to condemn gods, reject their homeland, and hold their parents, children, and brothers of little value.” According to Tacitus, “The Jews comprehend divinity intellectually as a single being, while they consider profane those who fashion images of the gods in the likeness of men from mortal materials. They believe their god is supreme and eternal and neither imitable nor perishable. Therefore no statues stand in their cities nor even in their temples…”

Juvenal and Plutarch both expressed particularly negative views of the Jews, though this seems thoroughly influenced by the popular opinion at the time. Juvenal refers to the Hebrew Bible as the “secret book of Moses”, which implies that gentiles may not have been allowed to access or read the Bible.

Food in Judaea
Jews do not eat pig’s meat. Therefore when the Antiochus’ ancestor wants to humiliate and vent his anger against Jews, he sacrifices a sow in the front of the statue of the founder and then on the altar. The blood was used to destroy the altar and statue. The books containing the laws of the Jews were sprinkled with the broth of a pig, and he forced the high king and all the people to eat some of the pig meat. The justification of using the meat as the reason for a sacrifice is an impious act to Philo. This is why he agrees with the legislation of the Jews that forbids the sacrifice of a mother and child animal on the same day and another that forbids all pregnant animals from the sacred areas. This is because it makes not logical sense, would anger the gods and would be giving in to the sin of gluttony. The idea of having tyrannical men in the priesthood of the Judeans is tied to customs act and the fact they are forbidden to eat meat and thus, reject it. Petronius is poking fun at the fact that Jews are culturally forbidden from eating pork.