JEWISH EXEMPTIONS FROM ROMAN MILITARY SERVICE: A REPLY
Abstract
In my 2022 book I presented the line of interpretation put forward by H. Olshanetsky, according to whom sporadic exemptions from military service which the Roman authorities exclusively granted to Jews in the East are sufficient to prove that Jews were routinely recruited to serve in the Roman army. This same author insinuates a number of inappropriate objections in a paper entitled “The Best Evidence for Jewish Service in the Roman Army: A New Look at the Jewish Exemptions from Military Service as Appearing in Josephus, and Jewish Military Service in the Late Republic and Early Principate”, published in issue no. 10.3, 2023 of this Journal, to which this paper is intended as a forceful rejoinder. Indeed, not only do I posit that Olshanetsky wrongfully omits and misinterprets my contributions on several occasions, I also would also like to point out some unacceptable methodological errors in his research.
Keywords
DOI: 10.14795/j.v11i3.1030
References
APPLEBAUM 1974
Applebaum, Sh., The Legal Status of the Jews Communities in the Diaspora. In Safrai, S./Stern, M. (eds.), The Jewish People in the First Century. Historical Geography, Polit-ical History, Social, Cultural and Religious Life and Institutions (Assen/Amsterdam: Van Gorcum), I, 420-463.
BRUNT 1974 (= 1990)
Brunt, P. A., Conscription and Volunteering in the Roman Imperial Army, Scripta Clas-sica Israelica 1, 90–115 (= Brunt, P. A., Roman Imperial Times, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990, 188–214).
FORNI 1953
Forni, G., Il reclutamento delle legioni da Augusto a Diocleziano (Milan/Rome: Fratelli Bocca).
GAUTHIER 2020
Gauthier, Fr., The Transformation of the Roman Army in the Last Decades of the Re-public. In: Armstrong J./Fronda, M. P. (eds.), Romans at War. Soldiers, Citizens, and Society in the Roman Republic (London/New York: Routledge), 283-296.
GOLDSWORTHY 2003
Goldsworthy, A., The Complete Roman Army (London: Thames & Hudson).
GONZÁLEZ-SALINERO 2003
González-Salinero, R., El servicio militar de los judíos en el ejército romano, Aquila Le-gionis 4, 45–91.
GONZÁLEZ-SALINERO 2022
González-Salinero, R., Military Service and the Integration of Jews into the Roman Em-pire (Leiden/Boston: Brill).
GONZÁLEZ-SALINERO 2023
González-Salinero, R., Algunas consideraciones sobre los uicarii en el ejército romano, Aquila Legionis 26, 39–53.
GONZÁLEZ-SALINERO 2024
González-Salinero, R., Soldados judíos en el ejército romano. De la integración a la ex-clusión (Madrid: Marcial Pons).
JUSTER 1914
Juster, J. (1914), Les Juifs dans l’Empire romain. Leur condition juridique, économique et sociale, (Paris: Librairie Paul Geuthner) (2 vols.).
KRAUSE 2017
Krause, A. R., Synagogues in the Works of Flavius Josephus: Rhetoric, Spatiality, and First-Century Jewish Institutions (Leiden/Boston: Brill).
LAPIDE 1998
Lapide, P. and R., Ist koscheres Essen ein konstitutives Element für das Judentum? In: Schoppelreich, B./Wiedenhofer, S. (eds.), Zur Logik religiöser Traditionen (Frankfurt am Main: IKO-Verlag für Interkulturelle Kommunikation), 333–339.
LEON 1995 (orig. 1960)
Leon, H. L., The Jews of Ancient Rome (ed. C. A. Osiek) (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson) (orig. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America).
NOY 1995
Noy, D., Jewish Inscriptions of Western Europe, Volume 2. The City of Rome (Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press).
OLSHANETSKY 2023
Olshanetsky, H., The Best Evidence for Jewish Service in the Roman Army: A New Look at the Jewish Exemptions from Military Service as Appearing in Josephus, and Jewish Military Service in the Late Republic and Early Principate, Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology, 10 (3), 30–45.
PEREA YÉBENES 2019
Perea Yébenes, S., Probati a me. Fórmulas y métodos de incorporación de reclutas para el ejército romano altoimperial. In: San Vicente de Aspuru, J. I./Cortés-Bárcena, C./González González, E. (eds.), Hispania et Roma. Estudios en homenaje al profesor Narciso Santos Yanguas (Oviedo: Universidad de Oviedo), 109–120.
PHANG 2012
Phang, S. E., Roman Military Service. Ideologies of Discipline in the Late Republic and Early Principate (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).
PRAG 2011
Prag, J. R. W., Provincial Governors and Auxiliar Soldiers. In: Barrandon N./Kirbihler, Fr. (dirs.), Les gouverneurs et les provinciaux sous la République romaine (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes), 15-28.
ROCCA 2010
Rocca, S., Josephus, Suetonius, and Tacitus on Military Service of the Jews of Rome: Discrimination or Norm?, Italia, 20, 7–30.
RODRIGUES 2007
Rodrigues, N. S., Iudaei in Vrbe. Os judeus em Roma de Pompeio aos Flávios (Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian/Ministério da Ciência).
ROTH 2007
Roth, J. P., Jews and the Roman Army: Perceptions and Realities. In Blois, L. de/Lo Cascio, E. (eds.), The Impact of the Roman Army (200 B.C.-A.D. 476). Economic, So-cial, Political, Religious, and Cultural Aspects (Leiden-Boston: Brill), pp. 409–420.
ROTH 2019
Roth, J. P., Jewish Military Forces in the Roman Service. In Zeichmann, Chr. B. (ed.), Essential Essays for the Study of the Military in First-Century Palestine: Soldiers and the New Testament Context, Eugene, Pickwick Publications, pp. 79–94.
RUTGERS 1998
Rutgers, L. V., Roman Policy toward the Jews: Expulsions from the City of Rome dur-ing the First Century C.E. In: Donfried, K. P./Richardson, P. (eds.), Judaism and Chris-tianity in the First-Century Rome (Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans), 93-127.
SCHOENFELD 2006
Schoenfeld, A. J., Sons of Israel in Caesar’s Service: Jewish Soldiers in the Roman Mili-tary, Shofar. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 24 (3), 115–126.
VAN DER LANS 2010
Van der Lans, B., The Politics of Exclusion. Expulsion of Jews and Others from Rome. In: Labahn, M./Lehtipuu, O. (eds.), People under Power. Early Jewish and Christian Responses to the Roman Empire (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press), 33–78.
WENDT 2015
Wendt, H. Iudaica Romana. A Rereading of Judean Expulsions from Rome, Journal of Ancient Judaism, 6, 97-126.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
ISSN: 2360-266X