* In the above account no regard is paid to a passage in the Letter of Aristeas, which, if its terms were more precise, would supply us with information regarding the organization of the Alexandrian Jews about the year B.c. 200. The assage (Aristee Hpist., ed. Wendland, § 310) reads: oréyres of bepeis x02} ray épunviay of xpeoBirepor xo) riv awd Tov roAsreduceros of re nyovpevos rod sAZbovs elroy (this, which is the text of our MSS, is reproduced exactly in Euseb. Prep. Hvang. vu. v. 6; Jos. Ant. xu. ii. 13 [ed. Niese, § 108] gives a free summary of the contents of the passage). Since there is no sufficient reason for deleting the ve before *yoduevor, there are four Classes men- tioned : (1) the priests, (2) the elders of the interpreters, (3) the elders of the roairevja of the Jews, (4) the Ayodpevos rod xaos (cf. the explanation of Wendland in Festschrift fiir Joh. Vahlen, 1900, p. 128). The last two classes answer to the yepourie and the epyovres as organized by Augustus. It would thus appear as if the organization in those early times had been similar to what it again became subsequent to the time of Augustus, whereas in the intervening period it had more of a monarchical form. There is, indeed, nothing strange in a modification of the constitution having taken place more than once in the course of three centuries. But the statement of pseudo- Aristeas is too vague to build certain conclusions upon.
100
DIASPORA
DIASPORA
When we take a survey of what we know other- wise about the constitution of the communities of the Diaspora, certain common features show them- selves amidst many local differences.
1. One point in which a difference shows itself concerns the name for the community. In so far as the latter forms an independent political corpora- tion, it is called wodtrevpa. This term, however, is found only in the case of Alexandria (Aristew Epist. § 310), and of Berenike in Cyrenaica. In the latter instance the word occurs in a decree set up by the Jewish community in honour of the Roman governor, M. Tittius (CJG@ 5361; see fac- simile in Roschach’s Catalogue of the Museum of Toulouse [where the inscription now is], Musée de Toulouse, Catalogue des Antiquités, 1865, No. 225): €oke roils dpxovor kal ry modiTedpare THY év Bepevixy "Iovdalwy. The names of the dpxovres who stood at the head of the wodirevya are given at the beginning of the decree; there are nine of them. (On the use of rodlrevyua in a similar sense, see Perdrizet, ‘Le mwoNlrevua des Cauniens & Sidon’ in Revue archéol., trois. Série, xxxv. [1899] 42-48 ; and Wendland, Aristew Hpist., Index, s.v.).
In most towns the Jews formed at first a colony of foreigners side by side with the body of citizens. This is the condition implied in the expressions xaroukta (inscription at Hierapolis: ddéce 77 Karola Tov év ‘Teparédee karouxotvTwy ‘lovdatwy ; cf. Ramsay, Expositor, Feb. 1902, p. 96 f.), Xads (inscription at Hierapolis: dmorelce. Te Nag Trav "Iovdatwy), vos (inscription at Smyrna: décerr@ ever Trav Tovdaiwy).* These various designations all express the fact that the Jews belonged to a foreign nation, and in Greek towns were counted non-citizens.
The commonest designation, however, especially in later times, is cvvaywyy. In Greek usage this word occurs only in the sense of ‘assembly,’ ‘festal gathering.’ Thus, for instance, c. 200 B.c., in the so-called Testament of Epikteta (C/G 2448
=Inscriptiones Greece insularum maris Aigei, fase. iii. No. 330), the society which is to attend to the hero-cult instituted by Epikteta is called 7d xowdv, but the annual gathering of the society ouvaywyd (col. iv. line 23 f. ray dé cuvaywyay... ylvecOar ép pnvi Achouly ev 7G wovoely Kad’ Exacrov zros dpépas tpets) But in Jewish usage ouvaywy% stands for the community as a corporation (in the LXX it mostly represents m71y; see art. CONGRE- GATION invol.i.). This term has the most general sense, and hence could be retained even when the Jews through Greek culture and participation in the rights of citizenship had become assimilated to the rest of the inhabitants. They then formed a ‘society’ for the protection of their religious interests. We can adduce instances of the use of cwvarywy? in this sense from inscriptions in Asia as well as at Rome. So, for instance, in Asia: at Phokeea (4) cuvaywyh érelunoev tov lovdatwy Tdrvov Zrpdrwvos), Akmonia in Phrygia (ots twas kal 7 cwaywyh éreiunoev), Pantikapzeum (cvverirporeovons 6é Kal THs cuvaywyhs Tay Lovdalwyr).
At Rome the Jews were not, as at Alexandria, organized as a single great corporation, such a thing being apparently not tolerated by the author- ities. They had, on the contrary, to content them- selves with the more modest position of a number of small private societies. Hach society had its special name. The following names are preserved in the inscriptions : 4. cuvaywyh Aiyourrnctwy (CTE 9902, 9903 = Fiorelli, Catalogo del Museo Nazionale di Napoli: Iscrizioni latine, Nos. 1956, 1960; CIL vi. No. 29757; REJ xiii. 4). 2. cuvaywyh ’"Ayprmnolwv (CIG 9907). 3. ‘Synagoga Bolumni’ (CIL vi. No. 29756). These three societies are named after prominent persons [Bolumnus is=
*In the case of the inscriptions that have been already quoted in § i. we give here only the references.
Volumnus], whether for the reason that the mem- bers were in the service of these men (cf. Ph 4” ol éx THs Kalcapos olxtas), or because the latter were the patrons of the societies. Since we meet with ’Aypurmhovo as well as Avyovorjo.n side by side, the reference is doubtless to the first Augustus and his friend Agrippa. The name assumed by the societies would be retained even after the death of their patrons. Other societies take their name from the quarter of the city of Rome in which their members lived, sere —4,. The Kapmhovo, called after the Campus Martius (CIG 9905 [more correctly in Garrucci, Dissertaziont, ii. 188, No. 4]; also Garrucci, /.c. ii. 161, No. 10; CIL vi. No. 29756 ‘mater synagogarum Campi et Bolumni’). 5. The 2Bovpio., named from the Subura, one of the most frequented quarters in Rome, a centre of trade and business life (C/G 6447 = Fiorelli, Catalogo, No. 1954). The following additional synagogues are also known :—6. A cuvaywyh AiBpéwv, presumably that of the Hebrew- speaking Jews (CIG 9909 ; Mélanges Renter, 1887, p. 439=Kaibel, Inser. Gr. Sicil. et Ital., No. 945). 7. A cvvaywy) Edalas, named after the symbol of the olive tree (CJG 9904; de Rossi, Bullettino di archeol. crist. v. p. 16). 8. At Porto a cuvaywyh tov Kapxapyolwv, which derived its name from the occupation of its members, who were calcarienses, ‘lime-burners’ (Mélanges Renier, 440; and in CIG 9906 we should in all probability read not Kap- ae but Kadxapyclwy [see Garrucci, Cimitero, 38 f.]).