Alexandria, E^ypt
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
(Ancient;
is testified to also by Strabo ("Ant." xiv. 7, 5i 2) can br fixed with tolemblc accuracy for Apion derisively ri-fers to the Jews as a lu'ople liviiijj on u liarborkss sliore: w iieren|)(iii Josephiis rejoins that tills is a very excellent silualiou;
existence of which
—
lor, as a eoiise(|iienee, they resided in the vicinity of the Uoyal l'alaec("t'(intni Ap."ii.4). The palace was built nil the spit of land called Lochias, and the harbor was in proximity to it, west of Lochias. Therefore the Jews must have inhabited that |)art of the citj' Jloreover. that extended eastward from the palace. the whole city was divided into five districts, which were named after the first five letters of the Greek Of these five districts two were denomialphabet. nate<l Jewish districts, because the majority of their inhabitants were Jews (Philo. "('(intra Flaeeum." t; M; ed. Mangey, ii. 525). From this quite a clear conception of the strength of the Jewish population may
be formed. Accordinn; to Josephus, the fourth or "delta" district was iH)pulaled by the Jews("lJ. J."il. 18, S; 8); which fact warrants the inference that The Jewish this isolation was already in existence Q,uarter. in the time of Josephus (compare also
"Ap."
ii.
-1).
At
that time, however,
this isolation was not strictly enforced for, according til Philo, there were many Jewish dwellings scattered throughout the city. There were even synagogues distributed all over the city (Philo, " De Legatlone
ed. JIangey, ii. 5()5). As regards position, the Jews in Alexandria enjoyed a greater degree of political independence there tliau
ad L'ajum." ^ 20;
decree of Claudius was sent to the successor of A(|uila. As this occurred before his Installation, it must refer to the same decree. Claudius intends only to make It a|>parent that Augustus permitted the Jews to retain their own government. Philo relates, more particularly, that the ethnarch was replaced by a gerusla. 'i'o the latter he fieiiueutly alludes In another passage of his work. The gernsia was jiresidcd over by archoiis, chief magistrates (Philo, "Contra Flac-
governors, and
While the Jewish inhabitants of other
Roman empire,
without an_v ])olitical separation, formed ])rlvate societies for religious purposes, or else became a corporation of foreigners like the Egyptian and Phenician inerchanlsin the large commercial centers, those of Alexandria constituted an independent iiolltlcal coinmuiiity, side by side with that of the heathen population. Strabo thus describes their constltuti(iu(" Ant." xiv. 7, 5; 2): "At their head stands an ethnarch, who rules and judges the people; and, like thearchon of an Independent city, gives special attention to the proper fulfilment of the duties and to the compliance with the various regulations." At the time of Augustus, a f/iriixid (council of elders) seems to have stepjied into the place of this It appears indeed from a decree individual ruler. of the emperor Claudius that u]iiiii the death of the Jewish ethnarch, during the governorship of Aquila, Augustus permitted the ap])ointmeiit of an ethnarch ("Ant." xix. 5, t; 2); but Philo distinctly states that at the time of Augustus the gerusiaasGovem- sumed the position of tlwr/cniirc/i this is thi' word he uses for <'tlinarch (" Conment.
—
tra Flaccum." ^ 10; ed. Mangey, 11. 527 Since Philo mentions another governor than the onercferreil to by Claudius, it might besujiposed that Augustus ])romulgated two dilTerent decrees upon this subject, and that during Aipilla's tenure of office the emperor conthe ethnarch having died sented to a new election; but later, during the tenn of Magnus Maximus, theothee of ethnarch again becoming vacant through death, he replaced it by the gerusla. But In his decree of Claudius, which gives a retrospect of the constitutional rights of the Alexandrian Jews, some mention of such a second decree would have been made. It is evident that Claudius refers to an ordinance which was still in force. Nor do the different names of the governors prove that there were different ordinances. Soon after the lieath of the ethnarch, under the governorship of Aquila, a change took place in the
etneq.).
—
—
the
Magnus Maximus,
cum," S
10;
ed.
Mangey,
ii.
528
et mi}.).
It
num-
bered, as in Jerusjjlcm, seventy -one members (Tosef., Silk. ed. Zuckermandel. iv. 198; Yer. Suk. v. 1). Josephus, also, refers occasionally to the "chiefs of the gerusla" ("15. J." vlii. 10, sj 1). In conseiiuence of their isdiation, the Jews of Alexandria were unhampered in the exercise of thelrceremonies, and were also enabled to regulate their civil affairs indeiiendently. The only restriction from which they suffered was due to official sui>ervislon to royal, and afterward toimjierial, repredelegated .sentatives. The Jews of Alexandria, however, were (piite Independent of the council and civil government of the city jn'oper. They formed a smaller political cor|)onitlon by the side of the larger one. IMoreover, t here was no smh liing as a council (j3iw?J/) (luring the first two centuries of the Greek domination; this having been abolished by the Ptolemies, or, at the very latest, by Augustus, and only revived t
under Septlmlus Severus.*
numberand
elsewhere. cities of the
362
In spite of the political isolation of the
Jews
of
Alexandria they did not lose their franchise as citizens. The doubts that have been exCivil jjiessed In connection with Ibis by a few modern scholaisare not supported Rights. by decisive evidence, but are ba.sed ujion a general mistrust of Josephus, whose testimony, however, on all material points, is corroborated by Philo as well as by the decree of Claudius. Jo.sephus Siiys ("Ap."ii. 4): "Alexander gave them a place In which to live, and they also received the same rights as the ^lacedonlans [Greeks], and up to the present their race has retained the appellation Macedonians " In another )dacc (" H. J."ii. 18, tj 7) he declares; "Alexander permitted them the .same This privilege they preserved rights as the Greeks. under the successors of Alexander, who permitted them to call themselves Macedonians. Nay. w hen the Romans took po.sscsslon of Egypt neither the first Cu'sar nor his successors sutTered the rights, which had lieen liestowed upon the Jews by Alexander, to be diminished." The decree by which Augustus confirmed the rights of the Jews, especially the civil rights of tho.se in Alexandria, was engraved tablet of brass which still existed at the time of .Josephus ("Ap." ii. 4; "Ant." xiv. 10, ^ 1). Philo also gives lu'ominence to the fact that the Jews enjoyed the civil rights of the Alexandrians (that is, of the Ah'Xandrian citizens), and not those of the Egvptlaus ("Contra Flaccum," § 10; ed.
upon a
Mangey,
ii."528).
In the persecutions that occurred during the reign of Caligula, Flaccus, governor of Alexandria, i.ssued an edict in which he called the Jews " aliens and residents" ("Contra Flaccum," g 8;cd. Mangey, ii. 528).
t
- Dio
Cassias.
11.
17; Siwrtianus, in his hinpraptiy of Severus.
Concerning the censtitutinii nf .Ie.^andria. ronipare Kuhn, " liie Sliiiltische and Burgerllehe Verfassung des Runiischen Reieht'.s," Ii. 47ii ft scii, Marquardt, " KOmisi.'he Staatsverwaltung," Issl, |. 4,51 cfscr;. Lumbroso. "Rerherches sur I'Ei'onomie Politique de I'Egypte sous les lyBgides." pp. 212 if sill., Turin, 1K70; Wilcken, " observatlones
oil.
xvll.
strabo, xvii. p. 797:
ad'Hisliiriarn .Kgvitti Provinelie Roinanje. pp. 7 ct ser/., Berlin. l.s.S.'i: MiiiniTisen.' unmisi-be (ieschinhle." v. .'«5-,5.58: Junt', " Die U.iiiiisihen Verw-altungsbeamten in Aegyptcn " (" Wiener Studlen," Lstr.', xiv. 227-266).
