A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse: Cultural Interaction in the Ancient Mediterranean

Yaron Eliav; Yaron Eliav

Book

A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse

Cultural Interaction in the Ancient Mediterranean

Yaron Eliav and Yaron Eliav

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2023

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About this book

A provocative account of Jewish encounters with the public baths of ancient Rome

Public bathhouses embodied the Roman way of life, from food and fashion to sculpture and sports. The most popular institution of the ancient Mediterranean world, the baths drew people of all backgrounds. They were places suffused with nudity, sex, and magic. A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse reveals how Jews navigated this space with ease and confidence, engaging with Roman bath culture rather than avoiding it.

In this landmark interdisciplinary work of cultural history, Yaron Eliav uses the Roman bathhouse as a social laboratory to reexamine how Jews interacted with Graeco-Roman culture. He reconstructs their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about the baths and the activities that took place there, documenting their pleasures as well as their anxieties and concerns. Archaeologists have excavated hundreds of bathhouse facilities across the Mediterranean. Graeco-Roman writers mention the bathhouse frequently, and rabbinic literature contains hundreds of references to the baths. Eliav draws on the archaeological and literary record to offer fresh perspectives on the Jews of antiquity, developing a new model for the ways smaller and often weaker groups interact with large, dominant cultures.

A compelling and richly evocative work of scholarship, A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse challenges us to rethink the relationship between Judaism and Graeco-Roman society, shedding new light on how cross-cultural engagement shaped Western civilization.

Author / Editor information

Yaron Z. Eliav is associate professor of rabbinic literature and Jewish history of late antiquity at the University of Michigan. He is the author of God’s Mountain: The Temple Mount in Time, Place, and Memory and the producer of the documentary Paul in Athens.

Reviews

"Enlightening."---Thomas O’Loughlin, The Irish Catholic --- "A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse offers some fascinating ideas about the development of rabbinic Judaism and some challenging ones about rabbinic Judaism’s relationship to ancient Rome. . . . Readers may find themselves rethinking their views of Jewish life during ancient times and pondering how Judaism was, and is, able to adjust to different cultural experiences."---Rabbi Rachel Esserman, The Reporter --- "A detailed, granular account of the culture and tensions in which Christianity emerged – as such it fills out our cultural picture as few studies have done. . . . [A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse] challenges the too often made assumption that Judaism and Christianity defined themselves by segregation from the larger society."---Thomas O’Loughlin, The Pastoral Review --- "Yaron Eliav’s book, A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse, demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt that Jews and rabbis themselves did use the bathhouse. . . . It will prove to some a provocative conclusion. It need not. Eliav is familiar with both the rabbinical and the classical sources. . . . recognizing how few classicists know the Hebrew and Aramaic material and how few rabbinical scholars know Greek and Latin well."---Simon Goldhill, Times Literary Supplement --- "[A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse] collects and expands arguments that Eliav has been making about ancient Jewish bathing for three decades. The culmination of these scholarly labors is of enormous value to the fields of both ancient history and Judaic studies."---Michael J. Taylor, Jewish History --- "Immensely rich and multi-layered. . . . [A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse] is a very important book that reminds us of the benefits inherent in breaking away from our disciplinary restrictions. Eliav not only manages to introduce a fresh perspective to the study of the Roman bathhouse, he also revises and enhances our understanding of Jewish attitudes towards this institution and contributes to the general discussion about cultural interactions in the ancient Mediterranean. That is quite the achievement."---Dennis Mizzi, Phoenix --- "Eliav’s engaging account of cultural interaction between Jews and non-Jews in the rabbinic era will help readers to better imagine the interactions between Jews and Gentiles in the New Testament."---Zen Hess, The Christian Century --- "Writing entertainingly and informatively on both archaeology and the Talmud is a rare gift, and the author brings enthusiasm and erudition to his explanations of Roman engineering feats."---Sara Jo Ben Zvi, Segula

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
List of Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
A Note on References, Names, Abbreviations, and Translations Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	1
PART I SETTING THE STAGE
Chapter 1 The Miracle of (Hot) Water: The Emergence of the Roman Public Bathhouse as a Cultural Institution Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	21
Chapter 2 A Literary Bathhouse: Realities and Perceptions at a Roman (Jewish) Public Bath Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	44
Chapter 3 Earliest Encounters: Archaeology, Scholarly Debate, and the Shifting Grounds of Interpretation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	77
PART II FILTERED ABSORPTION
Chapter 4 A Sinful Place? Rabbinic Laws (Halakhah) and Feelings about the Public Bathhouse Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	107
Chapter 5 Tsni‘ut (Rabbinic Modes of Modesty) in the Halls of Promiscuity: Mixed Bathing and Nudity in the Public Bathhouse Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	138
Chapter 6 The Naked Rabbi and the Beautiful Goddess: Engaging with Sculpture in the Public Bathhouse Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	161
PART III SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TEXTURES
Chapter 7 A Social Laboratory: Status and Hierarchy in a Provincial Roman Bathhouse Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	195
Chapter 8 A Scary Place: The Perils of the Bath and Jewish Magic Remedies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	226
In Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	252
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	255
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	257
Bibliography of Primary Sources Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	313
Bibliography of Scholarly Works Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	323
Index of Ancient Citations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	349
General Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	355
A note on the type Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	369

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

May 23, 2023

eBook ISBN:

9780691243443

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691243443

eBook ISBN: 9780691243443

Keywords for this book

Public bathing; Bathing; Jews; Roman Empire; The Bathtub; Rabbi; Roman Baths (Bath); Judea (Roman province); Contemporary art; Bathtub; Roman Senate; The Bathhouse; Haredi Judaism; Woman Bathing (van Eyck); Jewish Publication Society; Greek Baths; Hellenistic Judaism; Baths of Caracalla; Hypocaust; Temple in Jerusalem; Cicero; Judaism; Roman art; Babylonia; Roman citizenship; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic; Jewish diaspora; Gentile; Rabbinic literature; Hellenization; Apodyterium; Jewish prayer; Tepidarium; Diocletian; Syria Palaestina; Revolutions of 1848; Latrine; Dominium; Regolith; Roman Theatre (Cádiz); Roman festivals; Seleucid Empire; Rabbinic Judaism; Aelius Aristides; Greek art; Caesarea; Mithraeum; Swimming pool; Epigraphy; Roman aqueduct; Jewish identity; Naples National Archaeological Museum; Thermostat; Cornell University Press; Oil painting; Venice Biennale; Take A Bath; Ashkelon; Nudity; Midrash; Diodorus Siculus; Ancient Greek; Culture of ancient Rome; Steven Mithen; Roman Religion; Second Temple period; Hebrew language; Rome and Jerusalem; Ritual purification; Ramat HaNadiv

Audience(s) for this book

For a non-specialist adult audience

A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

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