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

by Steven Fine

• ISBN13: 9780521145671
• ISBN10: 0521145678
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-03-31
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

'The 'Most Unmonumental People' of the World': Modern Constructions of Ancient Jewish Art

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

The old-new land: 'Jewish archaeology' and the Zionist narrative

Archaeology and the search for 'non-Rabbinic Judaism'

Art history: transmitting Jewish artlessness to new generations

Toward a new 'Jewish archaeology': methodological reflections

Art and Identity During the Greco-Roman period

Art and identity in latter second temple period Judaism: the Hasmonean Roay Tombs at Modi'in

Art and identity in Late Antique Palestine: the Na'aran Synagogue

Art and identity in Diaspora communities in Late Antiquity from Nehardea to Rome

Jewish 'Symbols' During the Greco-Roman Period

Between Rome and Jerusalem: the date palm as a 'Jewish symbol'

'The lamps of Israel': the Menorah as a Jewish symbol

Reading Holistically: Art and the Liturgy of Late Antique Synagogues

The Dura Europos Synagogue and its liturgical parchment

Synagogue mosaics and liturgy in the land of Israel

The Sepphoris Synagogue: a liturgical interpretation

The Torah, its Shrine, and the decoration of Late Antique Palestinian synagogues

The Zodiac

Concluding comments: sanctity and the art of ancient synagogues

Epilogue

A note on transliteration and translation

Abbreviations

Illustrations

Primary source index

General index

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