Circumcision in Antiquity

Circumcision is traditionally the first major ritual undergone by a Jewish male, bringing him into the covenant and sealing his status as a member of the Jewish people. Biblical and rabbinic law require circumcision to be performed on Jewish male infants on the eighth day after birth, on male proselytes joining the Jewish people, and on enslaved males entering a Jewish household (see Genesis 17:9–14).

Although Israelites and, later, Jews were not the only people in the ancient world to practice male circumcision, it was often viewed as a marker that differentiated them from other people. This aspect of circumcision became particularly salient in the Hellenistic period, when assimilation to the Greek way of life could entail nude participation in games, and some Jewish men underwent painful procedures to hide their circumcision.

Given the importance of circumcision to Jews as both a religious practice and a marker of identity, bans on circumcision by foreign rulers could elicit a violent response. A prohibition against circumcision and other Jewish practices by Antiochus IV Epiphanes was one of the causes of the Hasmonean revolt in 167 BCE, and a ban on circumcision by the Roman emperor Hadrian was a cause of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 132 CE.