Diaspora: Jews amidst Greeks and Romans (review)

In this book, Gruen looks at the Jewish diaspora from the time of Alexander the Great to the Roman destruction of the Jewish temple in 70c.e. He demonstrates that, besides forced migration, Jews also settled voluntarily outside Palestine. The first part of the book offers a historical study of diaspora Jews in Rome, Alexandria, and cities of the Roman province of Asia. The particular strength of this section is Gruen's mastery of documentary evidence and Greco-Roman material culture. This combination leads naturally to an interdisciplinary approach that is essential for ancient history in which evidence from established categories like literature and archaeology is often chronologically inconsistent, if not fragmentary. Unfortunately, the second part of the book, focusing on diaspora literature, does not achieve the level of analysis offered in the earlier chapters.

Romans were aware of the Jews' belief in one god and equated Yahweh with Jupiter, their "best and highest (optimus et maximus)" god. They labeled the Jewish faith a superstitio (superstition), as they did other beliefs different from theirs. Although Jews in the diaspora had assimilated in the areas they settled, were Hellenized, became Alexandrians, and were Roman citizens, their belief and way of life kept them distinct from the larger population. In fact, diasporan experience was the successful management of combining "access to the classical world with affirmation of a traditional identity (132)." Because Jews were recognized as "the other," they were subject to attack whenever politics, traditions, and personal ambitions of those in the majority demanded it.

Gruen's study of the Greek and Latin sources brings to light that government action against Jews during the period under consideration never targeted them alone. They were grouped together with Chaldeans, magicians, Egyptians, even collegia (associations). Rome's political concern was the maintenance of control. In troubled times, especially, when internal order was strained, these groups could be targeted as undermining the traditional order. In other words, political leaders demonstrated political resolve when they expelled or curtailed groups. Such actions illustrated the political elite's determination to uphold the well-being of the state.

Gruen also shows that external political conditions did not dictate universal political reactions. Roman politics was nuanced. The great Jewish uprising in Palestine against Roman domination in the 60s C.E., which ended in the destruction of the temple, did not change Rome's attitude toward the Jewish faith. Surviving sources do not report any reaction or insurrection of Jews living in Rome. Life in the capital and other diaspora locations went on as usual. Jews were a distinct group among many others and Roman administrators had no reason to punish or scapegoat them. Religion practiced in private was of no interest to the authorities controlling and upholding Roman law and order in the public sphere. Rome's world was stable; that is to say, Rome's ruling elite was in control and no social or political destabilizing factors were perceived.

Gruen discusses diasporan literature and its humor in the second part of the book. In comparison to the historical analysis, this one falls flat. "Humor, as is notorious, defies definition. No effort to pin it down has much hope of success (136)." If humor permits no definition, what then is humor? Or, what makes a passage in a historical fiction or biblical recreation humorous? Is it a change in diction, tone, or narrative strategy? Is it that a role reversal took place—say, a group usually humiliated turning the tables? In short, when and how does humor arise in these texts dealing with, and reflecting on, diaspora?

The "other" is the topic of Chapter 7, "Jewish Construct of Greeks and Hellenism." It was "the best" of this "other" that was appropriated. We learn that there is fluidity in cultural acceptance and rejection. The Romans had adopted Greek culture in their intellectual and artistic pursuits. They were consciously "Hellenic." In...