Читать онлайн "Jews and Greeks in ancient Cyrene" - Эпплбаум Шимон - RuLit

According to the finds made in the tombs, these burials were all of the same period, and their pottery was thought to date them approximately to A.D. 100. It therefore becomes clear that two eras were used side by side, nor is there any relationship between the high and the low figures. The higher represent a “political” era (of a city or regime), and the lower, the regnal years of a ruler or rulers. Accordingly the figures of the Era of Actium are more appropriate to the archaeological finds. As regards the regnal dates, these probably belong to Flavian emperors, in which case the third (13 years) can only be that of Domitian (A.D. 81-96). Thus Wright’s dating of the pottery was correct, but only for the latest deposited in the tomb. We must therefore assume the Era of Actium in regard to a number of tombs at Teucheira, but it is hard to know whether some of the low figures do not indicate regnal years of the Ptolemaic dynasty. However, if we assume the Era of Actium for the high figures, then the tombs so dated extend from 5 B.C. to A.D. 94.[869]

There may be one burial under Commodus, to judge by the name of the dead man recorded in the epitaph.[870] A number of epitaphs are dated in the Roman period by their names.[871] In four of these only the nomen and praenomen occur, and are therefore evidently to be dated down to or in the reign of Tiberius. One family among the bearers of the tria nomina received citizenship under Claudius or Nero.

The problem of date must also be considered from the point of view of the letter-style of the inscriptions. This did not alter much in the period when the tombs were used, and in contrast to the position at Cyrene, the forms C and W are common at Teucheira (as in the other coastal towns and in Egypt) before the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D., apparently owing to the influence of Egypt, where these forms appear in half-cursive inscriptions as early as the 3rd century B.C.,[872] also on painted steles[873] and on Jewish tomb-monuments at El-Ibramiyeh.[874] On the other hand the open sigma (Σ) is completely absent at Teucheira, likewise the irregularly sized letters characteristic of the 3rd century BC in hellenistic inscriptions; this would suggest that the epitaphs begin later. Nor are there parallels to the inscriptions dated to the 2nd century B.C. at Cyrene, with letters of irregular height, adorned with cerifs. In addition, the shape of the frames enclosing the epitaphs must be considered. Many of them resemble those of the epitaphs of Tel el-Yehudiyeh (Leontopolis — The land of Honio or Onias)[875] and of other Egyptian sites. The resemblance is particularly close to the stones at Tel el-Yehudiyeh, with their apicidal gable tops; these begin in the 2nd century B.C. On the other hand there is a striking absence at Teucheira of such formulae as “Farewell, no one is immortal”, or “I am not and I don’t care”, so common on Egyptian epitaphs. Egyptian influence at Teucheira will be discussed presently.

Discussion of the distribution of the tombs requires caution, since, as stated, Jews may be concealed among apparently gentile epitaphs. Nevertheless, several features can be indicated. Obvious Jewish names are absent in Courts I, II-VII, X, XIII, XVI and XX. II has only one identifiable Jewish name, although it contains a symbol interpretable as a sort of menorah, with three instead of seven branches. There are Roman citizens in V, VI, VII, VIII, XI, XIII, XV and XVIII. Of these, V, VII and XIII contain no identifiable Jewish names, XI only three, although other names here are suspect. But the large number of Jewish names in XV and perhaps XVIII, justifies the view that there were Jews among the Roman citizens whose names are incised there. The overwhelming majority of the tombs at present known to be of Jews are situated to east of the town, yet only one other was here adorned with a true menorah-symbol; it was found by Wright.[876]

Larger or smaller groups of Jewish graves can be identified in VIII, XI, XII, XIV, XV and XVIII. The largest is in XV, where no fewer than fifty names appear in Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum. Webster, Gray and Reynolds add 26 more. It is therefore evident that one court was overwhelmingly Jewish, but smaller concentrations are found in other courts, and in a number there are no identifiable Jewish graves, or only a few. On the assumption that not all the burials to the east of the town are Jewish — which is hard to prove or disprove — the situation corresponds to that prevailing in the hellenistic and early Roman periods between Jews and Greeks in Alexandria:[877] there two quarters were inhabited preponderantly, if not entirely, by Jews, but Jews lived dispersed also throughout the other quarters.[878]

The Jewish epitaphs of Teucheira can only be distinguished by the character of the names or because they are found in tombs together with obvious Jewish names. Even the few Hebrew words to be seen, for example, at the end of Jewish epitaphs in Rome, do not appear here, and the same applies to religious symbols (the menorah, etrog, lulav, shophar, etc.) with two exceptions. As stated, one such, a menorah, was rediscovered by Wright to west of the town.[879] The language of the known epitaphs is Greek, with one doubtful exception, Hebrew letters being perhaps incised over an inscription dated in A.D. 69.[880] The fewness of symbols, the apparent dispersal of burials among the Greeks, and the almost complete dominance of the Greek language at Teucheira, show a good deal of assimilation on the part of its Jews; the composition and character of their names point in the same direction.

Of the 144 names under discussion, only 39 are Hebrew. These are Sarah (2); David (Dados) (1); Simon (4); Musaeos (2); Jesus (3); Judas (6); Judais (2); Judion (1); Sepphoris (Tzipporah) (1); Sabbatis (1); Josippos (2); Isuphon (= Josipon) (1); Joses (1); Josecos (Isaac?) (1); Maria (2); Mara (1); Joannos or Joannes (5); Tubias (2); and apparently Simux (Heb. tzimuq — raisin).[881] Some of the names are probably Greek translations of Hebrew names; such are Irene (? Shulamit) and Pothetos (Shaul?). The Hebrew names constitute 31 percent, of the total known Jewish names at Teucheira; in Egypt they were about 25 percent.[882] There are also some Aramaic names, and it cannot be determined with certainty if they belong to Jews, although circumstances favour this. They are Abbias, Martha, Marin and Marinicos; Marin and Marinicos have perhaps been influenced by a similar Libyan name.[883] Beischa (Βεῖσχα)[884] and Nonna[885] are found on Jewish tombs elsewhere, and are paralleled on one epitaph at Jaffa; the second is common both in masculine and feminine forms. Nonos or Nonnas are found in various instances in Jewish or Semitic contexts.[886] Beischa is a Libyan name, to be compared with the district of Bassachis (Βασσαχέως Παρατόμη) in Marmarica, recorded in Papyrus Vatican ii,[887] also with the Bessachitae, a Libyan tribe mentioned in the same area by Ptolemy.[888]

Theophoric names are common, and most of them must be regarded as Jewish in this context. To this class belong Theodoria, Theodotos, Dositheos (9 cases), Dosithea, Theogiton, Theocles, Theoxenos, Theodoras, Theodora and Theologos. Didosas (Διδώσας) although not strictly theophoric, must be seen specifically as Jewish, a sort of pseudo-theophoric, or a translation of Nathan. Gray also noted that the name Ptolemy, found in three instances among the Jewish names, is probably an indication of the presence of the descendants of Jews who had come as military settlers.