Claudius Bans Jewish Assembly

As for the Jews, who had again increased so greatly that by reason of their multitude it would have been hard without raising a tumult to bar them from the city, he did not drive them out, but ordered them, while continuing their traditional mode of life, not to hold meetings. He also disbanded the clubs, which had been reintroduced by Gaius. Moreover, seeing that there was no use in forbidding the populace to do certain things unless their daily life should be reformed, he abolished the taverns where they were wont to gather and drink, and commanded that no boiled meat or hot water should be sold; and he punished some who disobeyed in this matter.

Translated by Earnest Cary and Herbert B. Foster.

Credits

Dio Cassius, Roman History 60.6.6, from Dio Cassius, vol. VII, trans. Earnest Cary and Herbert B. Foster, Loeb Classical Library, vol. 175 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1924), pp. 383–85.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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