ΣΥΝΑΓΩΓΉ ΤῶΝ ΙΟΥΔΑΊΩΝ ΚΑῚ ΘΕΟΣΕΒῶΝ (THE COMMUNITY OF JEWS AND GOD-FEARING) IN PANTIKAPAION-BOSPOROS
Rubrics: HISTORY
Abstract and keywords
Abstract (English):
The earliest account of the Judaic community and prayer room in the city of Pantikapaion appears in six manumission inscriptions dated from 57 to the second century AD. These manumissions are standard legal acts certifying the release of pagan slaves from slavery in a prayer house (προσευχή) in Pantikapaion. According to the release conditions described, the said manumissions comprise of two groups. Simultaneous Judaic Bosporan manumissions from Pantikapaion refer to two Judaic communities: the inscriptions of the first group (CIB, nos. 70, 72, 73) state that the slaves were freed into the protectorate of the Judaic community, though according to the inscriptions of the second group (CIB, no. 71, and from Bosphorskii Lane), into the protectorate of the community of the Jews and the God-fearing (θεοσεβεῖς). Plausibly the members of the Judaic community and the “God-fearing” pagans who also entered it inhabited the coastal area of the city, the fishermen’s quarter in particular, from the mid-first century on. There are amphorae and a lamp showing menorah uncovered in the said quarter, which belonged to these Jews. There probably was also a communal prayer house. Some information about the structure and organisation of a Bosporan synagogue appears in the texts of Greek-language epitaphs of men discovered in 2020 near Pavlovskii cape, in a dacha settlement in the vicinity of Kerch, at the third- and fourth-century Jewish cemetery which is known from 1867. These inscriptions mention a rabbi and archsinagogos, or the spiritual leader of the community, and two presbyters, or the elders.

Keywords:
synagogue, Jews, god-fearing, prayer room, Pantikapaion, manumission
Text
Publication text (PDF): Read Download
References

1. Aibabin A.I. Etnicheskaia istoriia rannevizantiiskogo Kryma [Ethnic History of the Early Byzantine Crimea]. Simferopol, Dar Publ., 1999, 352 p.

2. Aibabin A.I. The Byzantine Ports in the Crimea in the 4th-7th centuries. Bosporskie issledovaniia [Bosporos Studies], 2016, vol. 33, pp. 186-209.

3. Aibabin A.I. Early Byzantine Bosporos. Trudy Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha [Proceedings of the State Hermitage], 2017, vol. 89, pp. 140-150.

4. Aibabin A.I. Judaic Community in the Fishermen’s Quarter of Pantikapaion-Bosporos from the First to Sixth Centuries. A.I. Aibabin, E.A. Khairedinova (eds.), Imperium et Barbaricum: vzaimodeistvie tsivilizatsii: Sbornik statei v chest’ 70-letiia Mikhaila Kazanskogo [Imperium et Barbaricum: Interaction of Civilizations: Papers Collected in Honour of Michel Kazanski’s 70th Birthday]. Simferopol, Antikva Publ., 2023, pp. 41-48.

5. Aibabin A.I., Sidorenko V.A. The new Jewish Manumission inscription from Panticapaeum. Bosporskie issledovaniia [Bosporos Studies], 2007, vol. 17, pp. 121-127.

6. Beylin D.V., Yaylenko V.P. The second-fourth centuries ad new judean epitaphs from Kerch. Problemy istorii, filologii, kul’tury [Journal of Historical, Philological and Cultural Studies], 2022, no. 4 (78), pp. 115-146. DOI:https://doi.org/10.18503/1992-0431-2022-4-78-115-146.

7. Blavatskaia T.V. Gorgippian Manumission 67 AD. Sovetskaia arkheologiia [Soviet Archaeology], 1958, XXVIII, pp. 91-96.

8. Bekhter A.P., Chkhaidze V.N. New Evidence for ‘Godfearers’ in Asian Bosporos. Vestnik drevnei istorii [Journal of ancient history], 2021, no. 4, pp. 922-937. DOI:https://doi.org/10.31857/S032103910015302-5.

9. Golofast L.A. Sixth century amphorae with representations of menorah from Phanagoria. Rossiiskaia arkheologiia [Russian Archaeology], 2021, no. 4, pp. 53-64. DOI:https://doi.org/10.31857/S086960630015242-5.

10. Grushevoi A.G. Arch-synagogues in Greek-language inscriptions of the first centuries AD. K.A. Bitner (ed.), Iudaika i arameistika [Judaica and Aramaic Studies], St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg Institute of Jewish Studies Publ., 2014, pp. 71-85.

11. Dan’shin D.I. Phanagorian Jewish community. Vestnik drevnei istorii [Journal of ancient history], 1993, no. 1, pp. 59-72.

12. Kashovskaia N. Jewish proselytism in the Bosporus: Iranians in the Jewish community. V. Chernoivanenko (ed.), Ukrains’ka orientalistika: spetsial’nii vipusk z iudaiki [Ukrainian Oriental Studies: special issue from Judaism], Kiev, Kiev-Mohyla Academy Publ., 2011, pp. 188-222.

13. Struve V.V. (ed.). Korpus bosporskikh nadpisei [Corpus inscriptionum Regni Bosporani]. Moscow, Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1965, 952 p.

14. Latyshev V.V. Pontika: Izbornik nauchnykh i kriticheskikh statei po istorii, arkheologii, geografii i epigrafike Skifii, Kavkaza i grecheskikh kolonii na poberezh’iakh Chernogo moria [Pontika: Collection of scientific and critical articles on the history, archeology, geography and epigraphy of Scythia, the Caucasus and the Greek colonies on the Black Sea coast]. St. Petersburg, 1909, 430 p.

15. Levinskaia I.A. Review: Reynolds J., Tannenbaum R. Jews and God-fearers at Aphrodisias. Greek Inscriptions with commentary. Cambridge, 1987 (Cambridge Philological Society. Suppl. V.12). Vestnik drevnei istorii [Journal of ancient history], 1992, no. 2, pp. 196-200.

16. Levinskaia I.A. Deianiia apostolov na fone evreiskoi diaspory [The Acts of the Apostles against the backdrop of the Jewish Diaspora]. St. Petersburg, Logos Publ., 2000, 352 p.

17. Levinskaia I.A. Community of Jews and those who fear God. Peterburgskii istoricheskii zhurnal [St. Petersburg Historical Journal], 2019, no. 1(21), pp. 314-321. DOI:https://doi.org/10.51255/2311.

18. Levinskaia I.A. Dating of Greek-language Jewish inscriptions on the stele from Aphrodisias: hypotheses and arguments. Uchenye zapiski Novgorodskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Scientific notes of the Novgorod State University], 2019, no. 6 (24), pp. 1-4.

19. Marti Iu.Iu. New epigraphic monuments from the Bosporus. Izvestiia Gosudarstvennoi Akademii istorii material’noi kul’tury [Proceedings of the State Academy of the History of Material Culture], 1934, vol. 104, pp. 57-89.

20. Nadel’ B.I. On the economic meaning of the clause χωρις εις την προσευχην ϑωπείας τε και προσκαρτερήσεως of the Bosporan manumissions. Vestnik drevnei istorii [Journal of ancient history], 1948, no. 1, pp. 203-206.

21. Nadel’ B.I. Philological and diplomatic notes on the Bosporan manumissions. Vestnik drevnei istorii [Journal of ancient history], 1958, no. 1, pp. 137-145.

22. Nadel’ B.I. Bosporan manumissions and Greek law. Listy filologické [Folia philological], 1968, vol. 91, iss. 3, pp. 252-278.

23. Smokotina A.V. Ceramic complex dating to the second half of the 6th century from the excavations in Bosporus. Materialy po arkheologii, istorii i etnografii Tavrii [Materials in archaeology, history and ethnography of Tavria], 2008, vol. 14, pp. 103-144.

24. Solomonik E.I. The most ancient Jewish settlements and communities in Crimea. E. Solomonik, D. Lunev (eds.), Evrei Kryma. Ocherki istorii [Jews of Crimea. Essays on history], Simferopol, Mosty Publ., Jerusalem, Gesharim Publ., 1997, pp. 9-22.

25. Khairedinova E.A. Clothes of the urban population of the Bosporus in the 7th-8th centuries (by the finds from the necropolis at the Bosphorsky Lane). Bosporskie issledovaniia [Bosporos Studies], 2013, vol. 28, pp. 286-317.

26. Khvol’son D.A. Sbornik evreiskikh nadpisei [Collection of Jewish inscriptions]. St. Petersburg, Imp. Academy of Sciences Publ., 1884, 528 p.

27. Elektronnaia Evreiskaia entsiklopediia [Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia]. 1992. T. 6. URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20191223122526/https://eleven.co.il/judaism/community-synagogue/13037/

28. Arthur P. Some observations on the economy of Bruttium under the later Roman Empire. Journal of Roman Archaeology, 1989, vol. 2, pp. 133-142.

29. Bellen H. Συναγωγῆ τῶν Ἰουδαίων καὶ Θεοσεβῶν. Die Aussage einer bosporanischen Freilassungsinschrift (CIRB 71) zum Problem der „Gottfürchtigen“. Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum, 1965-1966, Bd. 8-9, pp. 171-176.

30. Bonz M.P. The Jewish Donor Inscriptions from Aphrodisias: Are They Both Third-Century, and Who Are the Theosebeis? Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 1994, vol. 96, pp. 281-299.

31. Cesteros H.G., de Almeida R.R., Costello J.C. Special Fish Products for the Jewish Community? A Painted Inscription on a Beltran 72 Amphora from Augusta Emerita (Mérida, Spain). HEROM. Journal on Hellenistic and Roman Material Culture, 2016, vol. 5, iss. 2, pp. 196-236.

32. Gibson E.L. The Jewish Manumission Inscriptions of the Bosporus Kingdom. Tübingen, Mohr-Siebeck Publ., 1999, 201 p.

33. Goodenough E. Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period. Vol. 2: The Archaeological Evidence from Diaspora. New York, 1953, 344 p.

34. Harland P.A. Greco-Roman Associations: Texts, Translations and Commentary. II. North Coast of the Black Sea, Asia Minor. Berlin, Boston, de Gruyter, 2014. 564 p. (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, 204).

35. Kroll J.H. The Greek inscriptions of the Sardis synagogue. Harvard Theological Review, 2001, vol. 94, no. 1, pp. 5-127.

36. Latyshev V. Inscriptiones antiquae orae septentrionalis Ponti Euxini Graecae et Latinae (IOSPE) II. Petropoli, 1890, 352 p.

37. Levinskaya I., Tokhtas’yev S. Jews and Jewish Names in the Bosporan Kingdom. B. Isaac, A. Oppenheimer (eds.), Studies on the Jewish diaspora in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Tel-Aviv, Tel-Aviv University, 1996, pp. 55-73.

38. Lifshitz B. Notes d`épigraphie grecque. Revue Biblique, 1969, vol. 76/1, pp. 92-98.

39. Levinskaya I. The Synagogue of Jews and Godfearers. Early Christianity, 2019, vol. 10, iss. 3, pp. 383-391.

40. Magness J. The Date of the Sardis Synagogue in Light of the Numismatic Evidence. American Journal of Archaeology, 2005, vol. 109, no. 3, pp. 443-475.

41. Rajak T. Jews and Christians as Groups in a Pagan World. J. Neusner, E.S. Frerichs (eds.), To see ourselves as others see us: Christians, Jews, ‘others’ in Late Antiquity. Chico, Ca., Scholars Press, 1985, pp. 247-272.

42. Rajak T., Noy D. Archisynagogoi: Office, Title and Social Status on Graeco-Roman Synagogue. The Journal of Roman Studies, 1993, vol. 83, pp. 75-93.

43. Reynolds J., Tannenbaum R. Jews and God-fearers at Aphrodisias. Greek Inscriptions with commentary. Cambridge, 1987, 256 p. (Cambridge Philological Society. Suppl. V.12).

44. Rostovtsev M.I. Iranians and Greeks in South Russia. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1922, 354 p.

45. Runesson A., Binder D.D., Olsson B. The ancient synagogue from its origins to 200 C.E.: A source book. Leiden, Brill, 2008, 327 p.

46. Schürer E. The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C. - A.D. 135). A New English version revised and edited by G. Vermes, F. Millar and M. Black. Vol. II. Edinburgh, 1979, 606 p.

47. Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum (SEG). Vol. LVII. Eds. A. Chaniotis, T. Corsten, R.S. Stroud, R.A. Tybout. Leiden, Boston, Brill, 2011, 1047 p.

Login or Create
* Forgot password?