Timing and Context: Why Did Jewish Art Flourish in Late Antiquity?

• In Event: Jews in Late Antiquity: Perspectives of Law, Art, and Imperial Policy

Abstract

The utilization of art in Jewish life changed radically in Late Antiquity (third to ‎seventh centuries CE). For nearly 1500 years, from the early biblical period (ca. ‎‎1200 BCE) until the third century CE, the Israelites eschewed creating biblical ‎scenes and did not produce any recognizable Jewish symbolic art. They made ‎limited use of figural art, and, in fact, there was an almost universal avoidance of ‎such depictions during the last several centuries of the Second Temple period. ‎
This situation changed dramatically in Late Antiquity. Jewish symbols ‎became widely used, the display of biblical scenes and personages found frequent ‎expression, there was widespread use of an assortment of Jewish symbols, and even ‎blatantly pagan motifs such as Helios and the zodiac were given prominence in a ‎number of ancient synagogues. This remarkable change developed over the course of ‎several centuries, in large part in response to outside stimulation. The present article ‎will trace this development over these several centuries: (1) the destruction of ‎Jerusalem and its Temple in 70 CE radically changed many customs and practices ‎that had been closely associated with the city; (2) only sparse second-century ‎evidence has been found: the coins of second-century Sepphoris and Tiberias ‎displayed pagan temples and gods, and the Mishnah speaks of Rabban Gamaliel II ‎‎(ca. 90–120) bathing in the bathhouse of Aphrodite in Acre; (3) the third century ‎witnessed a renewed rapprochement between the Jews and Rome, expressing itself ‎artistically in Bet She‘arim; (4) the significantly increased use of religious ‎symbolism in the Late Roman period, as in contemporary Roman art, is apparent in ‎the synagogue of Dura Europos and the Jewish catacombs in Rome; and (5) the ‎flourishing of Jewish art under Byzantine rule (fourth century on) was a response to, ‎and an adaptation of, models drawn from the larger Christian cultural context of ‎Late Antiquity.‎

author

• Lee I. Levine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem