Raynald: The Jewish uprising of 115-117 AD

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Jun 5, 2020 at 07:24

Reynald you wrote:

>. Proselytism seems to have largely fallen out of fashion after the two major Jewish revolts against Rome in 66-73 AD and 132-135 AD.

In actual fact it was the Jewish uprising, which was very bloody, of 115-117 AD that led to the destruction of the very large Jewish community in Alexandria in late antiquity and might have ended Jewish proselytism.

It started in Cyrene, Libya and spread to Alexandria, the Egyptian Cora, Palestine and Cyprus. The literary sources are very scant. However, the target of the attacks were the Hellenes (read this as the pagan Greeks) the native Egyptians as well as non Jewish groups in Libya, Cyprus and Palestine. Jews at that time were interested in "Proselytism" either in peace or by force. And you are correct Jews were about 10% of the population of the Roman empire and more Jews would mean more political power in the Roman empire..

However, the Jewish community of Alexandria was not to recover from this total destruction of their community until 300 years later.

For good reading about the Jewish community in Alexandria in general and the 115-117 AD Jewish uprising in particular check Chris Haas' book: Alexandria in Late Antiquity

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