Book contents
- Religious Violence in the Ancient World
- Religious Violence in the Ancient World
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Contributors
- A Note on Abbreviations
- General Introduction
- Part I Methodology
- Part II Religious Violence in the Graeco-Roman World
- Chapter 3 Ancient Greek Binding Spells and (Political) Violence
- Chapter 4 The Expulsion of Isis Worshippers and Astrologers from Rome in the Late Republic and Early Empire
- Chapter 5 Religious Violence? Two Massacres on a Sabbath in 66 ce: Jerusalem and Caesarea
- Chapter 6 Religion, Violence and the Diasporic Experience: The Jewish Diaspora in Flavian Rome and Puteoli
- Chapter 7 Animal Sacrifice and the Roman Persecution of Christians (Second to Third Century)
- Chapter 8 The Great Persecution and Imperial Ideology: Patterns of Communication on Tetrarchic Coinage
- Chapter 9 The Violent Legacy of Constantine’s Militant Piety
- Part III Religious Violence in Late Antiquity
- Index of Sources
- General Index
Chapter 5 - Religious Violence? Two Massacres on a Sabbath in 66 ce: Jerusalem and Caesarea
from Part II - Religious Violence in the Graeco-Roman World
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2020
- Religious Violence in the Ancient World
- Religious Violence in the Ancient World
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Contributors
- A Note on Abbreviations
- General Introduction
- Part I Methodology
- Part II Religious Violence in the Graeco-Roman World
- Chapter 3 Ancient Greek Binding Spells and (Political) Violence
- Chapter 4 The Expulsion of Isis Worshippers and Astrologers from Rome in the Late Republic and Early Empire
- Chapter 5 Religious Violence? Two Massacres on a Sabbath in 66 ce: Jerusalem and Caesarea
- Chapter 6 Religion, Violence and the Diasporic Experience: The Jewish Diaspora in Flavian Rome and Puteoli
- Chapter 7 Animal Sacrifice and the Roman Persecution of Christians (Second to Third Century)
- Chapter 8 The Great Persecution and Imperial Ideology: Patterns of Communication on Tetrarchic Coinage
- Chapter 9 The Violent Legacy of Constantine’s Militant Piety
- Part III Religious Violence in Late Antiquity
- Index of Sources
- General Index
Summary
In recent years a new debate has appeared in scholarship over the value of ‘religion’ as a category for studying the ancient Mediterranean world before its Christianisation. Although I have unwittingly become involved at the margins, I confess not to understand what is at stake for all participants. Whereas the debate usually proceeds on a theoretical or at least abstract level, a volume on ‘religious violence’ in Antiquity invites us to get down to cases. This chapter examines a pair of extremely violent incidents reported by Josephus for the year 66 ce, in Jerusalem and Caesarea, to ask what if anything makes them instances of religious violence, or how we might better understand what happened if we called it ‘religious’ behaviour. Before turning to the double episode in Josephus’ War, I would like to spell out my limited understanding of the stakes in using or declining religion language for the first century.
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- Religious Violence in the Ancient WorldFrom Classical Athens to Late Antiquity, pp. 106 - 132Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020