Violence and Revolts in the Diaspora

Unrest among Jews, their rulers, and non-Jewish citizens in the first century CE was not restricted to Judaea and Galilee. Roman intervention in the affairs of the Jews of Egypt stirred local conflicts and ended in disaster. Initially, however, Alexandria prospered under the Julio-Claudian dynasty (from Augustus, starting in 31 BCE, to Nero, assassinated in 68 CE), and for a time the Jews there did so as well. Hostilities toward Jews in this period may be traced to Jews enjoying special privileges to maintain and practice their ancestral customs at the same time that they were striving to secure full rights as citizens of the Roman Empire. 

This is the only period in antiquity for which we have detailed information about Alexandrian Jewry, thanks to the writings of Philo of Alexandria. He devoted two impassioned essays to the Alexandrian riots of 38/39 CE, which were due both to disastrous Roman administrative tinkering and to long-simmering tensions between Jews and Greeks in the city. The Hellenistic kings had classified all non-Egyptians as Hellenes, including those who were not ethnically Greek, such as the Jews. The Romans classified all people not of ethnic Greek background as Egyptians. The emperor’s personal friendships with leading Jews of the eastern empire notwithstanding, Alexandrian Greeks no longer had to tolerate the Jews’ Hellenic aspirations.

Tensions flared again in 69–70 and 116–117. Although there was some bloodshed in the riots of 38–39 and 69–70, the Jews suffered defeats that were largely political in those cases. On the last occasion, all-out war erupted in Alexandria and other areas of Egypt, in Libya, and on Cyprus, quite possibly annihilating their Jewish communities. Although the revolts in Palestine and Egypt were distinct events with distinct effects on their populations, they were nevertheless part of a single larger phenomenon. Events in Egypt may not have directly involved the Jews of Palestine, but they affected Roman policy toward Jews throughout the empire. With the destruction of the Jewish community in Egypt, the last revolt and final act of dispersion in Palestine could not be far behind.