The XNUMXth Muscle Song - Gymnasium activity of Jews in the Diaspora. Roman period

During this period, gymnasium education became a dominant touchstone and a necessary precondition for the stratification of the citizenry. Only the graduates of the gymnasium, i.e. the "Alanas" and only them (were allowed to take part in the filling of administrative and financial positions in the city of HaPolis

As we saw in the previous chapter, Egyptian Jewry, especially Alexandrian Jewry, benefited from a scroll of civil rights showered upon it by the torrent of the flowing policies of the Hellenistic rulers from the time of Alexander of Macedonia onwards. Ptolemy II, Philadelphus (246-284 BC) granted status including political privileges to the community of Alexandria. During his reign, Alexandria was one of the pillars of Hellenistic culture in the East and its Jewish residents (especially the aristocratic class) were greatly influenced by the flourishing Hellenistic culture. Moreover, from this period on, the Jews demonstrated a great deal of loyalty to the Ptolemaic government and helped him in various ways, the result of which was an improvement in their status and prestige.

The data presented so far, the essence of which is the crowning of the Jews with civil rights, was enough to support the assumption that the Jews of Alexandria took an active part in the life of the urban gymnasiums for all intents and purposes, as required by the principle of the legal-juridical limitation that conditioned the acceptance of civil rights in a gymnasium education. However, we will probably not be satisfied with "guess opinions" but look for more relevant and solid data.

After the death of Ptolemy IX, "Ptolemaeus" (in 80 BC), Egypt came under Roman influence. The Jews of Alexandria in particular lent a helping hand to the Romans in the political and military sphere, from the time of Julius Caesar onwards, and in return gained political rights from 30 BC onwards, when Egypt became a Roman province, the Roman rulers (Augustus and his successors) used to approve scrolls of civil rights for the Jews.

During this period, the gymnasium education became a dominant touchstone and a necessary precondition for the stratification of the citizenry, and for this reason the Roman supervision of the gymnasium system was increased, and such learning that the graduates of the gymnasium, i.e. the "alanas" and only them (the members of the aristocratic social section) were allowed to take part in the filling of administrative and economic positions in the city of the polis . Hence we will be able to understand and correctly measure the importance of gymnasium education in the eyes of the Jewish public.

It is true that the Roman condition was not in possession of an innovation, which the Romans brought to the East and assimilated it among the cities of the polis. The Romans copied the model as was accepted for centuries in the urban mosaic. However, they deepened the principled stipulation more and more, also out of their belief that in this way they would tighten the ring of supervision and criticism over the city of the polis. A city whose pendulum swings between absolute freedom and clipping its wings for long and protracted periods. This complexity was there to influence, even if indirectly, the Jews' attachment to the gymnasium. It therefore turns out that the aspirations of the Jewish public were somewhat dependent on the degree of Roman supervision of the gymnasiums. As a result of this supervision, conflicts and confrontations between the heads of the Alexandrian gymnasium and the Roman authorities were discovered, while normal and good relations prevailed between the Roman government and the Jewish society. This phenomenon undoubtedly helped and relieved the Jewish public who wanted to take an active part in the life of the gymnasium, as will emerge from the study of the following documents.

The first, known as the "Bolei Papyrus" discusses the excerpt from a letter sent to Augustus, ruler of Rome, on behalf of the Alexandrian authorities in 20 BC. From this document, despite its linguistic obscurity and difficulty in wording, the fact emerges that a number of Beryots, outside of the circle of citizens, sneaked into the ranks of the Epabiim (graduates of the Gymnasium at the Sports-Military Institution - Epbion) and others, "lacking culture and customs" (that is, non-Greeks) were impaled In an illegal way in the civil strata of Alexandria. A balanced and careful examination of the Greek terminology embedded in the protest letter, which is confirmed by the non-mention of the Jews in the document, indicates that the Jews were considered, officially and legally, as having the right to be educated in a gymnasium.

The second document, which has the purpose of focusing an interesting beam of light on the affair in question, testifies to an Alexandrian Jew, a member of an aristocratic family and named Helenus, who in writing a letter to the prefect of Alexandria introduced himself as an "Alexandroni, the son of an Alexandroni", who received an "adequate education" ( So in the original), and asked, from this, to be officially counted among the circle of "graduates of the gymnasium".

From the following two reasons, the assumption that the aforementioned Halanos was educated in a gymnasium is strengthened: first, the box "adequate education"/"satisfactory" was nothing but an accepted term for a gymnasium education; Secondly - from the name of the petitioner, "Helanus", we will come to the same conclusion, since during the Roman rule in Egypt only Gymnacion graduates, whose parents were citizens of the city (and in the certificate - "Alexandroni, son of Alexandroni") were entitled to the name "Helanus", i.e. Greek.
Furthermore, the date of the document, 5/4 BC, is very significant, since Egypt at that time was a Roman province and its gymnasiums were placed under strict Roman supervision. From this, Halenus pleaded to officially confirm his status, precisely at the time when they took initial and fundamental measures to organize the registration of the genealogical scrolls of the families and document them in official documents.

If this were the case in which the civic-educational status of the Hellenus was discussed by examining a single document, we would be held as wrong if we sought to present this testimony as a sign and model for a situational picture that captures a typical cross-section of the Alexandrian Jewish aristocracy that has been educated for some time in the gymnasium to confirm its social-legal-class (civil) stratification. , but the treatise on the life and nature of the writings of an Alexandrian Jew, a member of an aristocratic family, named Philo (20 BC - 50 AD) also stands out on the historical research table.

The abundance of gymnastic and agonistic data and details that sink into his literary-philosophical works and were illuminated by him in a completely positive and sympathetic spotlight, may explicitly make the assumption that the author himself, Philo, was educated in the Alexandrian gymnasia, from 4 BC until the end of the century). Moreover, his works influenced by juicy allegorical clusters borrowed, for example and simile, from the world of Greek-Hellenistic sports, which were primarily intended for the Jewish readership, show that this public, aristocratic in its socio-economic section, was well aware, before and after, of gymnasium education and Hellenistic sports activities. This, either for the reason that this public was educated in the institutions in question and/or took an active part in the physical activities, at least some of them probably watched the sports shows and the training of the athletes. To sharpen the clarity and remove shadows from its corners, imagine that your eyes are on a modern newspaper, or your ears are tuned to the radio and your eyes to the television, and from these means of communication come sentences such as: "... before making the fateful decision, the government took a break to think deeply about the matter...", or: "a ticket Adom was pulled out by the Speaker of the Knesset after he allowed the unruly MK three times and did not stop harassing the speaker...", or "one more hurdle remains in order to finally bless the coalition agreement", or "the agreement was signed after a grueling night marathon" and more of this sort . These expressions, which are not taken from the world of sports, make us aware of their allegorical meanings, because they are internalized among us and taken from well-known sports. Like, for example, a string of phrases that will be clear and fluent to the American audience such as: the home-run, the touch-down, the fast-break and more, as well as in relation to the wicket, the tee, the jockey and more In relation to the British audience.

Moreover, the situation today is not similar to ancient times. Today we can relax comfortably on an armchair
the television and watch a chain of sports events that are radiating to us from the screen, including a mention of the rules of the game, slow replay and its analysis, and so on. On the other hand, in ancient times, the public was simply prevented from being closely aware (as Philo's testimony shows, for example) of games and competitions, if he did not witness them with his own eyes. This view arouses interest and serves as a basis for taking an active part, if ... anyone is entitled to participate, and it turns out that the right of citizenship with which the Jews were crowned opened wide the gates of the municipal gymnasium for them.

We will quote here, for impression only, a couple of sentences from Philo's writings immersed in an allegorical garnet: "Nature then gathers inwardly and rests to breathe shallow breaths, like some athlete who has finished the preliminary competitions and gathers his treasure of strength for the main competitions"; "He doesn't run away but takes a break in the fight, like an athlete (wrestler) who takes advantage of the pause to gather strength and breath."
It should be noted that the timeline on which Philo's essays were based is significant, because the Romans tightened the ring of supervision and criticism over the lists of the trainees of the Gymnasiums and Ephebion from 5/4 AD, and the Jews therefore did not find themselves outside of these lists.

It will also be highlighted that, against the background of this phenomenon, disputes and conflicts emerged between the Alexandrian Jews and the authorities of the city of Polis during the reign of Caius Caligula (41-37 CE). However, the Jewish public was not deprived of the civil rights scroll and they continued to have their gymnasium education.
It will be said that the relationship between the Jewish community in Alexandria and the authorities of the city of Polis was not always normal and positive (unlike the one that existed, as mentioned above, in the city of Polis of Antioch). However, even from the slanderous and hateful words that flowed from the mouths of some of Israel's haters, we can draw an interesting historical conclusion.

According to Apion, a Greek writer, a citizen of the city of Alexandria, a contemporary and contemporary of Philo, after all: "Why then, if they (the Jews) are citizens of the city (Alexandria), do they not worship the same gods as the Alexandrians do?"
In order to refine the historical conclusion that is hidden among the methods of Apion's judgment, it is necessary to point out a decisive fact that is common in all the cities of the polis in the Hellenistic East - the urban worship was close to the gymnasium being and an integral part of it. In other words: the urban worship was carried by the young men of the gymnasium and led by its leaders.

The question then arises - how did the Jews deal with this obligation during their gymnasium education and during their use of the sports facility as "gymnasium graduates"? Well, not only from the silence of the Jewish sources do we learn about their non-participation in the urban ritual (whose practices otherwise would not have been cleansed of sending half a blood vessel and criticism by the Jewish writers), but also the Plaster letter of Afion, which bitterly laments the "distorted" and "unacceptable" situation "We tolerate" that Jews are considered citizens of the city (they are educated in the gymnasium and take an active part in it). In light of the data and on the basis of the Antioch pattern, the authorities of the city of the Alexandrian polis and/or the heads of the gymnasium (at a time when relations with the Jewish public were relaxed) granted the Jews the privilege of a gymnasium education accompanied by a ritual exemption. Or, what is more plausible, that this right originates from Roman coercion, the fruit of historical circumstance and the result of the positive relationship fabric that prevailed between the Roman government and the Jewish public in Alexandria. Be that as it may, the bottom line is that the city's Jews were educated in the dominant and important institution, i.e. the gymnasium.

Emperor Caligula's successor, Claudius, issued two edicts (41 AD) relating to the Jews of Alexandria, in the spirit of the traditional approach of Julius Caesar and Augustus. The first explicitly states that the Jews of Alexandria are "Alexandrons from before Dana", that is to say - from the Hellenistic period, or at least from the time of Augustus. That is, their Alexandrian citizenship is not in doubt. It should be noted that by ratifying the Bill of Civil Rights for the Jews, the ruler granted, regardless of the other things, the right to maintain the Jewish religious identity. In Pasco, like the parent Claudius, at least indirectly (while ignoring the nagging of zealous Alexandrians), that the Jews have the right to be educated at the gymnasium and be exempt from pagan duties. Here is why this privilege is consistent with the above conclusion that emerges from the words of the bala of characterization.

Moreover, a permissive instruction in this form corresponded, so it seems, to the trend of the Jews in the ancient world. These sought to break through and break through the veil of external separatism and at the same time preserve their unique-holy characteristics and their traditional understanding. This phenomenon was made possible especially against the background of a normal relationship that prevailed between the Jewish kibbutz and the police authorities: or alternatively, as a result of a fabric of benign relations with the Roman government.

The second Claudian decree granted the same bill of rights to the Jewish communities in the diaspora of the Roman world (such as Asia Minor, Syria, Greece, etc.). Even this set of privileges is explained on the basis of the desire of the Diaspora Jews to take an active part in the educational institutions of the polis. Indeed, it is no wonder that from this period onward we find a series of testimonies about Jewish athletes in gymnasiums and pubs in the mosaic of the mentioned sites. We will discuss here one example from the string of sites, and I mean the city of Sedridis in Asia Minor. The Jews who lived in this city of Polis were called, similarly to the "Antiochian" and "Alexandrian" Jews mentioned above - "Citizens (politai) Jews who live in our city (Sardis)". From this terminology alone, a solid conclusion can be drawn that the Jews were educated in a gymnasium, but we will not be satisfied with that and turn to the archaeological sources.

Well, it turns out that in Sardis a gymnasium was uncovered, and next to it ... a synagogue, so that both form one architecturally uniform complex, just like the room for the worship of the Ephebes in the Greek gymnasium. It should not be imagined that the aforementioned Jewish meeting and prayer platform was used for idolatrous worship, but it should also not be assumed that the proximity of the buildings is due to chance. The proximity of the gymnasium to the synagogue, the citizenship of the city of Polis that was granted to the Jews, the desire of the latter to train in the gymnasium... all these strengthen the hypothesis, which is also based on a very sound relationship that prevailed between the Jewish community in Sardis and the authorities of the city of Polis, because the Jews did not see anything wrong with the buildings being very close to each other. And if it is not the hand of chance, then we can conclude that the synagogue was built in the nerve center of the city of Polis, and from here we will learn that the Jewish public sought to break beyond the wall of social isolation, as is customary in other diaspora communities that lived in important urban centers.

Moreover, the Synagogue in Sardis was built near Jewish businesses and shops (an image that emerges well from the archaeological findings at the site). This phenomenon is certainly reminiscent of the synagogue in Alexandria, which was praised by sages in a Talmudic text. In this synagogue, special and permanent seating areas were intended for the professional associations of the Jewish artisans and craftsmen. Although this mention is far from the topic of our discussion, it nevertheless serves to complete the picture of the comparison between the Jews of Alexandria and Sardis in the case of our issue. More than that, the Alexandrian House of Punishment is described in the Talmudic text in its enormous richness, but mainly in the extent of the influence of Hellenistic architecture on its structure and parts, with the emphasized word there being "Basilki" and next to it "Istaba" which is none other than the Greek Stoa, which is well connected to the issue of gymnasiums and aphibions. The historical conclusion is therefore self-evident.

And returning to the Alexandrian issue, we will be wise to know that another important document, dated to the year 41 AD is contained in an official letter sent from the desk of Emperor Claudius to the authorities of the Alexandrian polis. Two interesting paragraphs stand out from this document. The first is attributed to the city's Jews who were educated in the gymnasium and were officially registered as Afavis (in a parenthetical note it is stated that the date of this document is the same as the above Claudian edict, hence - establishing and strengthening the credibility of the latter). The second strongly directs the Jewish attention to avoid intrusion into the sports competitions managed by the "gymnesiarchis" (the heads of the gymnasium) and the "kosmetai" (those in charge of the setting, decorations and other accessories of the games).

The conclusions that are required from the study of the passages are: First - Jews took an active part in the sports competitions held in Alexandria, to such an extent that the emperor, Yarom-Hudo, was forced to act on the matter. Secondly - the Jews were not excluded from the gymnasium education circle because the right to take part in competitions was given only to the gymnasium trainees and its graduates. Thirdly - it would not be far from assuming that these competitions served as a natural lever for religious, ethnic and prestigious tensions between the Jewish and pagan competitors.
Since this is the case, and paying attention to a number of incidents that arose between the Jewish kibbutz and the authorities of the city of Polis, it would be only natural and logical to conclude that these tensions especially intensified during the holding of the sports competitions and Claudius, as someone who wanted to establish "industrial peace" in Alexandria, was aware of this and acted accordingly.

Moreover, a careful examination of the history of the Jewish community in Egypt, during the Hellenistic and Roman rule, and in the structure of its relations with foreign rule, would not be at all true if it were said that Claudius' decree was nothing more than a compromise between the extreme factions of the authorities of the city of Alexandria, who at times sought to put An end to the education of the Jews in gymnasium, and the persistent Jewish claim to be considered in law and in court as citizens of the city for all intents and purposes. This compromise brought in its wings the continuation of Jewish education in the gymnasium, but on the other hand it prevented the Jewish public from taking part in the sacred municipal competitions. It should be noted that in the closing paragraph of the decree, the emperor advised the Jews to "use, for their benefit, the things that belong to them". That is - in the local sports facilities, the "neighborhood" ones. And if so, this assumption unfolds before us a very instructive picture about the internalization of the positive consciousness towards physical activity among the Jewish public and its inheritance.

From here we turn to the western neighbor of the Egyptian province, Kirini (Libya). The history of the Jewish kibbutz in Kirini is strikingly similar to the history of the Jewish community in Egypt. Similar conditions prevailed in both countries during the Hellenistic and Roman rule. And for our purpose, we will mention the fact that the gymnasium education is considered a necessary-pre-condition for the stratification of the civil rights practiced in the two mentioned regions. the fact of the Jewish rescue to extend a helping hand to the foreign government, and the process of Greekization that befell the Jewish kibbutz in the two discussed diasporas. In 13 BC, Augustus granted the "isonomia" (a sort of civil status) to the Jews of Cyrene, and three years later the Jews were honored with civil rights signed in a decree the royal

Did Jews take advantage of these rights, and this in relation to the main issue that comes up here? Well, a cursory study of the epigraphic documents is enough to answer the question in the affirmative. The collection of inscriptions from the years 3/2 AD onward reveals lists of Jewish apaves, some of which were nothing more than pairs of wrestlers who began the gymnasium phase of their education as a result of the row of Augustan rights highlighted above.
It is worth noting that, similar to Egypt, the aforementioned legal orders were used as a purely technical means. However, considering the fact that these not only opened the gates of the gymnasium and the apivion for the education of Jews, but also paved a significant way for the Jewish public to take an active part in these institutions and in the system of athletic games, - a phenomenon that was intended to end barrenness and dormancy if the Jews had not wanted it and it is mainly about Members of the aristocratic class, on whom the processes of Greekization left a significant mark.

Moreover, the remains of a spacious Jewish amphitheater, which was uncovered in Briniki in Kyrini, and whose construction date belongs to the years 6/8 BC, was intended for conducting sports competitions and training athletes. The striking fact is that this structure, which was erected several years after the imperial decree of 13 BC, carries, therefore, an important historical significance, as learned above. Incidentally, it is possible that Claudius directed his words to this type of buildings by saying: "to use, for their benefit, the things that belong to them".

It remains for us to find out, when we reach the Roman period, the origin of the Antiochian issue, which was mentioned in the previous list, from the mouth of Josephus. Hella argued as follows: "... and when a crowd with Antioch wanted to cancel this right (the right of oil) in the war (that was) in our days, Mokyanus, who was at that time commissioner of Syria, upheld it" (Kadamoniot Yehudis 120, 400). The conflict between the polis authorities in Antioch and the Jewish public living in the city then takes place in the Roman period, as we have been proven to know, and this is also good in relation to the reaction of the Romans. A much more important conclusion is humbled by a mathematical-chronological calculation: the Jews won the mentioned privilege at the beginning of the third century BCE, and Yosef ben Matthiyahu directs the end of his words (according to the mention of the war that was "in our time". That is, in the author's time) to the end of the first century CE. It follows from this that the Jews enjoyed the right to be educated in a gymnasium for a period of at least 9 years (!!!XNUMX), if not longer than that (but as for the end of the assumption, we do not have any document or certificate).

From all of this it appears that the active participation of the Jews in the life of the urban gymnasiums and gymnasiums in Misreim and Kirini resulted from the intersection between the privilege they received and their desire to participate as athletes. And let's not forget the urban-legal product that resulted from the success of the struggle of the Jews to win civil rights in the aforementioned polis cities.