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Gentile Attraction to Judaism in the Roman Empire ‫ﱜ‬ Extant textual and epigraphic data indicate that the Jewish way of life had considerable appeal among Gentiles in the Roman Empire in the first and second centuries ce, particularly among the aristocratic class of Roman society, including the imperial family. The purpose of this chapter is twofold: first I discuss the phenomenon of nonChristian judaizing in the Roman Empire in the first and second centuries ce, then I consider how pagans became attracted to Judaism and the complicated question of whether Judaism was a missionary religion. Investigation of Gentile attraction to Judaism in the first and second centuries ce provides a context for my particular focus on the appeal of Judaism for Gentile Christians during this period. Gentile Attachment to Judaism in the First Centuries CE Many Gentiles in the Greco-Roman world found themselves attracted to Judaism, expressing their attachment to Judaism through a variety of different behaviours. While literary and epigraphic evidence indicates that some Gentiles underwent the full conversion process and became Jews, others expressed their adherence to Judaism by voluntarily adopting certain Jewish customs or by supporting the Jewish community through benefactions or political support (Cohen 1999: 140–74). Gentiles were attracted to Judaism for a wide assortment of reasons. Some scholars speculate that Gentiles may have considered the long history of the Jews and their possession of an ancient text to be attractive qualities (Feldman 1993: 177–200). In contrast to the current North American appeal of the “new and improved,” the Greco-Roman world valued older things as more trustworthy and desirable—“since ancient times were closest to the gods” (Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.1.5–4.10).1 The possibility of associating with a close-knit community with a clear set of ethical guidelines probably appealed to some Gentiles, while the Jewish reputation among certain Greek writers as a wise and philosophical people— chapter 2 11 Notes to chapter 2 start on page 154 in part probably because of their emphasis on study of their ancient texts— likewise would have attracted certain individuals to Judaism. Pythagoras ’s condemnation of the use of images is attributed in Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers (1.6–9), to Jewish influence, while references to the Jews as philosophers by birth were made by the historian Megasthenes (Indica, apud: Clement of Alexandria, Stromata i.15; 72.5; Stern, Authors no. 14) and the philosophers Theophrastus (De Pietate, apud: Porphyrius, De Abstinentia 2.26; Stern, Authors no. 4) and Clearchus of Soli (De Somno, apud: Josephus, Against Apion i.176–83; Stern, Authors no. 15). The connection between wisdom and the ability to express oneself well was emphasized in antiquity and garnered the Jews praise from non-Jewish writers: first-century ce literary critic Pseudo-Longinus, for example, expresses admiration for the literary style of Jewish scripture in his De Sublimitate (9.9: see Stern, Authors no. 148; Feldman 1993: 214). Literary evidence from the first and second centuries ce demonstrates that Gentiles did convert to Judaism. Philo speaks warmly of converts and states that they should be welcomed into the fold as equals (Virtues 20.103–104). First-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus writes that Jews “were constantly attracting to their religious ceremonies multitudes of Greeks, and these they had in some measure incorporated with themselves ” (ka >kei /nouj tro / pJ tini \ mo^iran aùtÒn pepoi /hnto; War 7.45) probably through conversion (contra Goodman 1994: 87, no. 58). Josephus provides at least seven instances of conversion to Judaism in Antiquities, for example in the person of Fulvia, an aristocratic Roman woman (Ant. 18.81–82), and in the members of the royal household of Adiabene (Ant. 20.17–96; Cohen 1987). Roman writers also attest to Gentile conversion to Judaism. Dio Cassius writes that, because, in 19 ce, “the Jews had flocked to Rome in great numbers and were converting many of the natives to their ways” (kai \ sucnou \ j tÒn e >picwri /wn e >j ta \ sfe /tera †qh meqista / ntwn), the emperor Tiberius banished most of them from Rome (Roman History 57.18.5a; also Tacitus, Annals 2.85; Josephus, Ant. 18.83–84). Tacitus states that “circumcision was adopted by [Jews] as a mark of difference from other men. Those who come over to their religion adopt the practice, and have this lesson first instilled into them, to despise all gods, to disown their country , and set at nought parents...

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