The Jews among the Greeks and Romans: A Diasporan Sourcebook

In the aftermath of Alexander the Great's death in 323 B.C. and the resultant civil war among claimants to his throne, writes historian Margaret Williams, many Jews left Judea and settled in the Hellenistic cities of the eastern Mediterranean. During the Pax Romana and the various campaigns in Judea in the 1st century A.D., the Diaspora spread even further--to Spain, the Crimea, and the interior of Europe. They recorded their travels; so, too, did various chroniclers of the Roman Empire. Williams gathers their testimonies in this primary-source reference work, which touches on matters such as the establishment of synagogues in Jewish townships, Jewish interaction with Greek and Roman authorities, and funerary customs, among many other topics. --Gregory McNamee