Bathhouses and Boundaries in Roman Jewish Life
Proqlos the son of Plaslos1 asked Rabban Gamaliel in Akko while he [Gamaliel—Ed.] was bathing in the bath of Aphrodite, and said to him: It is written in your Torah: And nothing of the devoted thing shall cleave to your hand (Deuteronomy 13:18), so why do you bathe in the bath of Aphrodite? He [Gamaliel—Ed.] said to him: One may not answer in a bath. And when he went out he said to him: I did not come into her space, she came into mine; people don’t say: The bath was made as an ornament for Aphrodite, but rather they say: Aphrodite was made as an ornament for the bath. Moreover, if you were given a great deal of money, you would not go in to your idol naked or after an emission of semen, nor would you urinate before her! Yet this [image] stands at the mouth of the sewer and everyone urinates before her! It is written only their gods (Deuteronomy 12:3)—that which is treated as a god is prohibited, but that which is not treated as a god is permitted.
Translated by Christine Hayes.
Notes
Words in brackets appear in the original translation unless otherwise noted.
Likely a corruption of philosophos. The name is transmitted variously in the manuscripts.
Credits
Mishnah Avodah Zarah 3:4, trans. Christine Hayes, from The Oxford Annotated Mishnah, eds. Shaye J. D. Cohen, Robert Goldenberg, and Hayim Lapin (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022), pp. 678–709.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.