Imperialism and Jewish Society

Probing more than eight centuries of Persian, Greek, and Roman rule, the author reaches some provocative conclusions regarding Palestinian Jewish history - foremost among them, that the Christianization of the Roman Empire generated the most fundamental features of medieval and modern Jewish life.

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This provocative new history of Palestinian Jewish society in antiquity marks the first comprehensive effort to gauge the effects of imperial domination on this people. Probing more than eight centuries of Persian, Greek, and Roman rule, Seth Schwartz reaches some startling conclusions foremost among them that the Christianization of the Roman Empire generated the most fundamental features of medieval and modern Jewish life. Through masterful scholarship set in rich detail, this book challenges traditional views rooted in romantic notions about Jewish fortitude. Integrating material relics and literature while setting the Jews in their eastern Mediterranean context, it addresses the complex and varied consequences of imperialism on this vast period of Jewish history more ambitiously than ever before.