Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World
Toward a New Jewish Archaeology

This book explores the Jewish experience with art during the Greco-Roman period - from the Hellenistic period through the rise of Islam.

Steven Fine (Author)

9780521145671, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 31 March 2010

298 pages, 19 b/w illus.
28 x 21.6 x 1.5 cm, 0.84 kg

'… a landmark book which both signals a fundamental transformation in its field and is at the same time the performer of a great element of the change. The study of Jewish art and archaeology in antiquity will not be the same after it …' Ja? Elsner, Oxford University

Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World explores the Jewish experience with art during the Greco-Roman period - from the Hellenistic period through the rise of Islam. It starts with the premise that Jewish art in antiquity was a 'minority' or 'ethnic' art and surveys ways that Jews fully participated in, transformed, and at times rejected the art of their general environment. Art and Judaism focuses upon the politics of identity during the Greco-Roman period, even as it discusses ways that modern identity issues have sometimes distorted and at other times refined scholarly discussion of ancient Jewish material culture. Art and Judaism, the first historical monograph on ancient Jewish art in forty years, evaluates earlier scholarship even as it sets out in new directions. Placing literary sources in careful dialogue with archaeological discoveries, this 'New Jewish Archaeology' is an important contribution to Judaic Studies, Religious Studies, Art History, and Classics.

Introduction
Part I. 'The 'Most Unmonumental People' of the World': Modern Constructions of Ancient Jewish Art: 1. Building an ancient synagogue on the Delaware: Philadelphia's Henry S. Frank Memorial Synagogue and constructions of Jewish art at the turn of the twentieth century
2. The old-new land: 'Jewish archaeology' and the Zionist narrative
3. Archaeology and the search for 'non-Rabbinic Judaism'
4. Art history: transmitting Jewish artlessness to new generations
5. Toward a new 'Jewish archaeology': methodological reflections
Part II. Art and Identity During the Greco-Roman Period: 6. Art and identity in latter second temple period Judaism: the Hasmonean Roay Tombs at Modi'in
7. Art and identity in Late Antique Palestine: the Na'aran Synagogue
8. Art and identity in Diaspora communities in Late Antiquity from Nehardea to Rome
Part III. Jewish 'Symbols' During the Greco-Roman Period: 9. Between Rome and Jerusalem: the date palm as a 'Jewish symbol'
10. 'The lamps of Israel': the Menorah as a Jewish symbol
Part IV. Reading Holistically: Art and the Liturgy of Late Antique Synagogues: 11. The Dura Europos Synagogue and its liturgical parchment
12. Synagogue mosaics and liturgy in the land of Israel
a. The Sepphoris Synagogue: a liturgical interpretation
b. The Torah, its shrine, and the decoration of late antique Palestinian synagogues
c. The zodiac
13. Concluding comments: sanctity and the art of ancient synagogues
Epilogue.

Subject Areas: Judaism [HRJ], Classical Greek & Roman archaeology [HDDK], History of art: ancient & classical art,BCE to c 500 CE [ACG]