of Rome on the other side of the Tiber is occupied and inhabited by Jews, most of whom were Roman citizens emancipated. For having been brought as captives to Italy they were liberated by their owners and were not forced to violate any of their native institutions. He knew therefore that they have houses of prayer and meet together in them, particularly on the sacred sabbaths when they receive as a body a training in their ancestral philosophy. He knew too that they collect money for sacred purposes from their first-fruits and send them to Jerusalem by persons who would offer the sacrifices. Yet nevertheless he neither ejected them from Rome nor deprived them of their Roman citizenship because they were careful to preserve their Jewish citizenship Also, nor took any violent measures against the houses of prayer nor prevented them from meeting to receive instructions in the laws nor opposed their offerings of the first-fruits. 118
Of the numerous pieces of information about Jews in Rome at the time of Augustus we may pick out two areas: the synagogue communities known from the time of Augustus, and the question of their organization, structure, and offices.
Most of the witnesses concerning the Jews of Rome in the early imperial period come from the tomb inscriptions in the Jewish catacombs of Rome.119 We know of at least 11 (possibly 13) synagogues in early imperial Rome. In all probability, three of these were in existence in the time of Augustus. First, the synagogue of the Augustans (synagoga Augustensium), who evidently derived their name from Augustus, who was positively disposed toward the Jews. Second, the synagogue of the Agrippans (synagoga Agrippensium), named for the son-in-law of Augustus, Marcus Vipsanius120 Agrippa, who was well known for his good relations with Jews. Third, the synagogue of the Hebrews: In the view of H.J. Leon,121 this synagogue is one of the oldest in Rome: »The first group of Jews to form a congregation at Rome would naturally have called itself the Congregation or synagogue of the Hebrews, as different from other religious or ethnic groups.«122
By law, since the time of Caesar the synagogues in Rome were collegia licita so they remained unaffected by the various measures taken against associations. The communities each had their own administration and offices; there was no central organization to which all synagogues were subject. The offices mentioned in the catacomb inscriptions (and elsewhere) show that the communities were influenced by the constitutions of the poleis of Asia Minor (»archons«) and by the Palestinian presbyterial structure. It is fair to conclude that immigrants from the land of Israel and Asia Minor had found a home in the Jewish communities of Rome.
Unlike in Alexandria, where the presence of the Jews had been an integral and significant political and economic component since the founding of the city, and where there was a chief representative of the Jews: the ethnarch, the Jews of Rome evidently did not have a chief representative vis-à-vis the emperor, the senate, and the public. Each community had its own administrative organization with offices reiterated in the various communities, such as the archisynagogos, the ruler of the synagogue, who held the highest office. Whether this was exclusively religious (organization of prayers, appointment of readers of Torah, etc.) or simultaneously political or exclusively political, is a matter of debate. The title we encounter most frequently is archon, »leader« (the title is known from eight communities of Rome), but it is not clear whether one community had several archons or whether the period of office was set for one year so that several archons are attested for one community. Their duties will have been administrative. Designated archons were called mellarchon. The next-frequent title in Rome after the archon is the grammateus. Whether he was a scholar and teacher or secretary to his community cannot be determined with certainty.123 The »father« and »mother of the synagogue« are mentioned as honorary offices. Even if we cannot identify all offices and functions, the Jewish communities of Rome display an organizational structure whose officials saw to internal order and external representation.
Besides religious needs, the synagogue served social and communication needs. Meals had an important, identity-forming social function, especially in the Diaspora. Community events were not confined to the Sabbath service with reading of the Torah, instruction, and prayer, but had a wide variety. In Ostia, near to the synagogue, we find lodgings with dining-beds, and a matzah bakery. Besides teaching and prayer, the synagogue was also the place for court judgments (temporary exclusion, physical punishment), job placements (for Alexandria: b. Sukk. 51b), and Kosher food, although this was possible only to a limited extent.
Outlook
In Late Antiquity, the synagogue continued its identity-forming and representative function both in Palestine and the Diaspora. In the case of Palestine: »Literary and archaeological sources show that it (the synagogue) continued to serve as a central public framework for each Jewish community. Rabbinic literature mentions no other public institution of the community.«124 From the third century CE, synagogues were mostly oriented architecturally toward Jerusalem. »Prayer became an increasingly important part of the synagogue activities in Roman Palestine, as had been the case earlier in the Diaspora.«125 There are also reports of smaller localities in Judea and Galilee with several synagogues. There is archaeological evidence of synagogues in most parts of the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. Symbols, the Menorah in particular, represent Jewish identity.
8 Sacred Writings in Judaism of the Hellenistic-Roman Period
When did the Pentateuch become holy, immutable Scripture? Even for Judea it is difficult to say with any certainty when the biblical canon closed. The diversity reflected in the Qumran discoveries does not allow for certainty before 68 CE. Not before the manuscripts of Murabba‘at (135 CE) did the (pre-)Masoretic Text become the dominant form of the Bible.126 The extent of the canon is given in numeric terms in 4 Ezra 14:13–48 as 24 writings, and Josephus (Ag. Ap. 1.37–41) lists them. Both texts require closer examination. 4 Ezra 14:37–48 is a Jewish apocalypse from the late first century CE and describes the restoration of the Holy Scriptures destroyed in the Temple fire in 70 CE. By divine inspiration they were dictated by Ezra in 40 days and 40 nights and written down by five scribes in Hebrew characters, which they did not know. Of the 94 books written, 24 were intended for publication and should be made known to both the worthy and the unworthy; however, 70 were to be accessible only to the wise. Josephus argues against the large number of writings among the Greeks and their mutual contradictions with the small number, 22, among the Jews, which span three thousand years of history. The two witnesses do not form the conclusion of the canon, as discussions into the Talmud show. Rather there is a basis for further arguments, in particular on the fringes of the canon (»rendering the hands impure« in relation to Esther and Sirach; t. Yad. II.13). Early Christian writings of the first century CE also indicate that besides the texts fixed in the later canon of the Old Testament they know of others that were authoritative for some authors or groups. For instance, unidentified texts are quoted as Scripture, like 1 Cor 2:9 (»What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him«) and John 7:38 (»Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water«).127 Or when Ethiopic Enoch (1 Enoch) is quoted as Scripture (Jude 14f. ).
Our knowledge of the use and ranking of the scriptures that belong to the Hebrew canon entered a new stage with the Dead Sea discoveries (1947–1956). The approximately 200 manuscripts representing the books that belong to the Hebrew Bible all come from the pre-68 CE period. They are accompanied by hundreds of texts that did not find their way into the canon, some of them represented in more numerous copies than any biblical books, such as the book of Jubilees (16 Mss.) and the Enoch tradition (11 Mss.). The book of Tobit, also not adopted in the Hebrew canon but represented in the Christian Greek canon, is preserved in four Aramaic manuscripts and one Hebrew. Cautious conclusions are possible: The Pentateuch, Psalms, and Isaiah are held in the highest regard; they are followed by the Twelve Prophets, Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah from the Prophets, and Job from the Writings.128 Apart from the Psalms and Job, the so-called »Former Prophets« and the »Writings« do not have the same rank. We must take into account that an unknown number of scrolls have disappeared, but the relatively high number of references (ca. 1,000 Mss.) may provide indications. There is a remarkable consistency with quotations of these writings in the