عنوان

Inscriptions, Synagogues and Rabbis in Late Antique Palestine

شماره

LA118689

زبان متن نوشتاري يا گفتاري و مانند آن

انگلیسی

عنوان اصلي

Inscriptions, Synagogues and Rabbis in Late Antique Palestine

نام عام مواد

[Article]

نام نخستين پديدآور

Fergus Millar

محل نشرو پخش و غیره

Leiden

نام ناشر، پخش کننده و غيره

Brill

متن يادداشت

The numerous works of "rabbinic" literature composed in Palestine in Late Antiquity, all of which are preserved only in medieval manuscripts, offer immense possibilities for the historian, but also present extremely perplexing problems. What are their dates, and when did each come to be expressed in a consistent written form? If we cannot be sure about the attribution of sayings to individual named rabbis, how can we relate the material to any intelligible period or social context? In this situation, it is natural and right to turn to contemporary evidence, archaeological, iconographic and epigraphic. The primary archaeological evidence is provided by the large (and increasing) number of excavated synagogues. But, it has been argued, rabbinic texts are not centrally concerned with synagogues or the congregations which met in them. So perhaps "rabbinic Judaism" and "synagogal Judaism" are two separate systems. Alternatively, the epigraphic evidence attests individuals who are given the title "rabbi," and these inscriptions, on stone or mosaic, include some which derive from synagogues. But perhaps "rabbi," in this context, was merely a current honorific term, and these are not the "real" rabbis of the texts? It will be argued that this distinction is gratuitous, and that in any case the largest and most important synagogue-inscription, that from Rehov, both is "rabbinic" in itself and mentions rabbis as religious experts. The numerous works of "rabbinic" literature composed in Palestine in Late Antiquity, all of which are preserved only in medieval manuscripts, offer immense possibilities for the historian, but also present extremely perplexing problems. What are their dates, and when did each come to be expressed in a consistent written form? If we cannot be sure about the attribution of sayings to individual named rabbis, how can we relate the material to any intelligible period or social context? In this situation, it is natural and right to turn to contemporary evidence, archaeological, iconographic and epigraphic. The primary archaeological evidence is provided by the large (and increasing) number of excavated synagogues. But, it has been argued, rabbinic texts are not centrally concerned with synagogues or the congregations which met in them. So perhaps "rabbinic Judaism" and "synagogal Judaism" are two separate systems. Alternatively, the epigraphic evidence attests individuals who are given the title "rabbi," and these inscriptions, on stone or mosaic, include some which derive from synagogues. But perhaps "rabbi," in this context, was merely a current honorific term, and these are not the "real" rabbis of the texts? It will be argued that this distinction is gratuitous, and that in any case the largest and most important synagogue-inscription, that from Rehov, both is "rabbinic" in itself and mentions rabbis as religious experts.

تاريخ نشر

2011

توصيف ظاهري

253-277

عنوان

Journal for the Study of Judaism

شماره جلد

42/2

شماره استاندارد بين المللي پياييندها

1570-0631

اصطلاح موضوعی

Inscriptions

اصطلاح موضوعی

Late Antiquity

اصطلاح موضوعی

Palestine

اصطلاح موضوعی

rabbis

اصطلاح موضوعی

synagogues

مستند نام اشخاص تاييد نشده

Fergus Millar

شماره بازیابی

10.1163/157006311X544382

نام الکترونيکي

فرمت انتشار

p

نوع ماده

[Article]

کد کاربرگه

275578

سطح دسترسي

a

تكميل شده

Y