Pompey, after he defeated Aristobulus II, the Hasmonean prince who dared to defy Rome, had Hyrcanus II, his brother appointed as High Priest of Judaea. The Jews acted like that because they had a certain clientelar obligation, towards Pompey and Gabinius, supporting them informally in contiones and formally during comitia. The first as slaves could not have taken part in these assemblies, and the latter were too few to influence a contio, and anyway they could participate in the various comitia. On the other hand, from this group are excluded the Jews who were slaves, and the few Jews who were Roman citizens. This makes clear that most of the Jews involved were just foreigners or liberti, who had not the right to take part in comitia. Cicero hints that the Jews could be brought together to form a crowd, and that they could be active in informal assemblies (contiones), as opposed to comitia, or the legally recognized organization of the Roman People to elect magistrates and to vote a law. Cicero thus accuses Laelius, who directed the defense that brought the Jews, knowing “what a big crowd (turba)” it is, and “how influential they are in informal assemblies (contiones)”. However, Cicero’s text is important because it shows the political activities of the Jews. Thus, it seems that the Jewish community of Rome in the Late Republic was organized following informal lines, although the Jews had the right as individuals or as a group to send the Half – Shekel to the Jerusalem Temple. This could have been possible only if the Jews of Rome would have been organized together in some way, as to collect money from various sources, to deposit it and to send it all together, thus organizing the effort through land or sea to Judaea and Jerusalem could have been possible through a communitarian effort. It seems then the Jews living in Rome in 59 B.C.E., had a certain type of communal life, as the reader was accustomed to think that the Jews “stick together” and that they sent each year from Rome as well as from Italy the Half – Shekel too the Jerusalem Temple. Thus Cicero writes that the Jews “stick together”, that “every year it was customary to send gold to Jerusalem on the order of the Jews from Italy and from all our provinces” (Cicero, Pro Flacco 28, 66-69). Some of it can help us in reconstructing the legal and social position of the Jews living in Rome in 59 B.C.E. Cicero Pro Flacco presents us with much data on the Jews living in Rome. The most important sources on the participation of the Jews living in Rome in the years before the civil war between Pompey and Caesar to the political life of the city are Cicero and Suetonius. The Jews living in the Rome of the Late Republic were active in politics. In gratitude, when Caesar took over Rome, he changed some of the civil laws, such as, to allow the Jews to better observe the Sabbath and revoke the harsh decrees and taxation. When the Egyptians besieged Julius Caesar in Alexandria, planning to murder him just as they had killed Pompey, the Jews living in Judaea, modern Israel sent in over 3,000 soldiers to help. As the anniversary of the Ides of March soon approaches, I reached out to historian Samuele Rocca in Jerusalem to ask him about the Julius Caesar and the Jews of Rome. The licensed tour guides from the Jewish community of Rome, such as Marco Misano, offers educational Jewish heritage walking tours in Rome and throughout Italy from a Jewish perspective. While many tours in the eternal city will focus on this historical re-enactment of that fateful day in 44 BCE. Thus, both gave Jews freedom to practice their religion, without interference granted them security and had a positive view of them. Rome will mark the Ides of March and the assassination of Julius Caesar on March 15, 2023. Due to this cooperation, Caesar granted religious tolerance and security for Jews. Gaius Julius Caesar (12 July 100 BCE – 15 March BCE) was given military support by Jews at a critical moment in his fight in Egypt against Pompey.
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