Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Toward a New Jewish Archaeology

Art and Judaism explores the Jewish experience with art during the Greco-Roman period - from the Hellenistic period through the rise of Islam. It starts with the premise that Jewish art in antiquity was a ‘minority’ or ‘ethnic’ art and surveys ways that Jews fully participated in, transformed, and at times rejected the art of their general environment. It focuses upon the politics of identity during the Greco-Roman period, even as it discusses ways that modern identity issues have sometimes distorted and at other times refined scholarly discussion of ancient Jewish material culture.

• Explains the meaning of art in Judaism during the Greco-Roman period • Traces anti-Semitic and other cultural impulses that shaped the study of Jewish art during the twentieth century • Asserts the existence of a single ‘Judaism’ shared by Jews the world over, rather than a splintered world of multiple ‘Judaisms’

Part I. ‘The \'Most Unmonumental People\' of the World’: Modern Constructions of Ancient Jewish Art: 1. Building an ancient synagogue on the Delaware: Philadelphia’s Henry S. Frank Memorial Synagogue and constructions of Jewish art at the turn of the twentieth century; 2. The old-new land: ‘Jewish archaeology’ and the Zionist narrative; 3. Archaeology and the search for ‘non-Rabbinic Judaism’; 4. Art history: transmitting Jewish artlessness to new generations; 5. Toward a new ‘Jewish archaeology’: methodological reflections; Part II. Art and Identity During the Greco-Roman period: 6. Art and identity in latter second temple period Judaism: the Hasmonean Roay Tombs at Modi\'in; 7. Art and identity in Late Antique Palestine: the Na\'aran Synagogue; 8. Art and identity in Diaspora communities in Late Antiquity from Nehardea to Rome; Part III. Jewish ‘Symbols’ During the Greco-Roman Period: 9. Between Rome and Jerusalem: the date palm as a ‘Jewish symbol’; 10. ‘The lamps of Israel’: the Menorah as a Jewish symbol; Part IV. Reading Holistically: Art and the Liturgy of Late Antique Synagogues: 11. The Dura Europos Synagogue and its liturgical parchment; 12. Synagogue mosaics and liturgy in the land of Israel; a. The Sepphoris Synagogue: a liturgical interpretation; b. The Torah, its Shrine, and the decoration of Late Antique Palestinian synagogues; c. The Zodiac; 13. Concluding comments: sanctity and the art of ancient synagogues; Epilogue; A note on transliteration and translation; Abbreviations; Illustrations; Primary source index; General index.

\'… this is a rich and important work that will be central to all future discussions of ancient Jewish art and Judaism. Fine demonstrates that ancient Jewish art must be understood within the context of the Greco-Roman world as well as from the perspective of the history of art …\' BMCR

\'The first section introducing the history of how interest in Jewish art evolved is facinating, and the author\'s use of rabbinical texts is authoriatative. There is a vast volume of data here, extremely beneficial for students and scholars alike.\' Minerva

\'Praiseworthy for its near encyclopedic coverage and its insights into the evolution of late ancient Jewish material culture and theology, the book’s supreme virtues reside in its humane and refreshing methodology.\' Kalman P. Bland, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research

\'It is a book which deserves wide readership and debate. … This book is sparky … it is highly intelligent and fizzes with good ideas … it is scholarly - and also pleasingly self-reflexive about its scholarship. It is a book that takes the sword to the idea of Jewish aniconism … and like most slashing swords it doesn\'t take prisoners. It absolutely should be read by anyone interested in the theology or history of visual representation in the late antique.\' Journal of Theological Studies