The Jewish Question is one which can lie dormant in a dark corner of the unconscious, never to fully manifest. In today’s world, however, the issue of Jewish power has perhaps never been as salient: it is almost impossible to avoid hearing of anti-semitism.

While the term anti-semitism dates only from the 19th century and its application to the writings of the ancients is clearly problematic, it is a contemporary linguistic iteration of a phenomenon that runs through the rock of time like a vein.

Modern approaches to anti-semitism conceptualise it as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred towards Jews.” Examples of anti-semitism include “age-old anti-Jewish tropes” such as making “mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as a collective.” A trope is usually defined as negatively connoting a significant or common theme.

The themes that emerge from the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans do not paint a favourable picture of Jews:

“A survey of the comments about Jews in the Hellenistic-Roman literature shows that they were almost universally disliked, or at least viewed with an amused contempt […] [T]here was a pervasive anti-Semitic feeling, not unique to any given segment of the Graeco-Roman world” (Daniel [1], p. 46).

The themes of anti-Jewish thought include the Jewish proclivity for exclusivity, intolerance, proselytism, circumcision and human sacrifice. Above all, the “most serious, and most recurrent charge by intellectuals against Jews is that they hate Gentiles” (Feldman [2], p. 125). This charge of misanthropy was as resonant to those observing Jewish behaviour millennia ago as it is to moderns observing events in Gaza today.

Some of the earliest writings on Jews are found in Herodotus (484BC—430BC), a Greek considered to be the father of history. Herodotus remarks that the Syrians of Palestine (who are assumed to be Jews) learned the practice of circumcision from the Egyptians [2]. Claims that Jewish cultural and religious practices were derivative from Egypt would become common in the following centuries.

The first recorded major anti-Jewish action was the destruction of the Jewish temple in an Egyptian military colony at Elephantine in 410BC [3]. Little is known about why this took place but it is speculated to have been inspired by politico-religious differences [3]. At that time Egyptian priests opposed the Jewish proclivity for burnt offerings and might have been resentful of the lenient treatment of Jews by the dominant Persians.

References to Jews in the fourth century BC are found in the writings of Theophrastus (371BC—287BC), a pupil of Aristotle. Fragments of his work embedded in Porphyry’s De Abstinentia describe Jews as Syrians who are notable for the novel ways in which they offer sacrifices [4]. Jews are described as making whole burnt offerings only at night, on which they pour libations of honey and wine [4]. In his final surviving sentence, Theophrastus writes that Jews were the first to sacrifice animals and human beings (under compulsion) [4]. It is thought that this passage on Jews is the first mention of them in Greek literature [4].

One of the first ancient writers to describe the Jews as misanthropic was Hecataeus of Abdera (c. 360BC—c. 290BC), a Greek living in Egypt [5]. His history of Egypt describes how foreigners there were blamed for pestilence and driven out, the best of them to Greece and others to Judea [5]. The latter tribe, led by Moses, went on to populate Judea and found a temple. However, it was this expulsion that led Moses to introduce “a kind of misanthropic (apanthrôpos) and inhospitable way of life” (Berthelot [5], p. 2). The Greek word apanthrôpos means one who turns their back on people or human society and is closely related to misanthrôpos.

Although generally positive towards Jews, Hecataeus’s treatise on Egypt is thought to have been inspired by an Egyptian folk tale that presents them as a band of impious lepers expelled for defiling the nation [5]. The motif of Eastern peoples bringing disease and being subsequently expelled was popular in Egyptian literature [5]. However, some argue that accusations of misanthropy stem from Greek perceptions of Jews rather than Egyptian literary culture [5].

Hecataeus compares Jews to Spartans who in ancient Greece were renowned for the expulsion of foreigners from Sparta and its surrounding territory. Spartans were concerned that an abundance of foreigners would result in the diminution of their ancient laws and customs [5].

This reasoning can also be seen in the Hebrew Bible, which prohibits Israelites from intermarrying with Canaanites to avoid falling into idolatry. However, Jewish theology speaks not only of separation but extermination. In Deuteronomy, the Hebrews are commanded to destroy the seven nations of Canaan so that any danger of religious (or racial) dilution be eradicated. Thus:

“…the implicit comparison between Jews and Spartans that pervades the text helps us to understand what Hecataeus means by “a kind of misanthropic and inhospitable way of life.” But the Spartans are never accused of being a misanthropic people. The Jews are actually the only people or nation ever accused of being misanthropic (misanthrôpos, apanthrôpos) and inhospitable (misoxenos) in the whole corpus of Greek literature” (Berthelot [5], p. 6).

The seed of Jewish misanthropy grew from fecund scriptural soil. A hermetic intolerance of alternative spiritual realities is embedded in the Jewish ontology:

“Ever since the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, Judaism…constituted a spiritual fortress, invulnerable to attack, impermeable by influences from abroad. And because the Jew reacted to the world around him, with all its multiplicity of aspects and phenomena, with this monastic religious consciousness, he was bound to condemn pagan civilization in toto. Not only the cults and beliefs of paganism but also all the manifestations of the true and beautiful in alien culture were dismissed by him as mere froth on a sea of evil and corruption” (Goldstein [6], p. 347).

One motif common to both Theophrastus and Hecataeus is that Jews borrowed heavily from Egyptian culture, retaining mostly their lesser traditions [4]. Both esteemed Egypt, with Theophrastus describing her people as “the wisest of all men” [4]. Instead of sacrificing animals, they worshipped them as gods. Egyptian religious practices predated those of the Jews whose own rites were bastardisations of the original, the blame for which is laid at the feet of Moses [4].

Themes of Jewish exclusivity can be seen in the writings of third-century BC historians. This exclusivity was driven by the centripetal forces of religious and racial purity:

“Jewish faith bred an anti-social clannishness which in turn cast suspicion on them as citizens. They were perceived as snobbish, and in a particularly dangerous way. Since they could not and would not participate fully in Graeco-Roman political and economic life, and since they tended to maintain a strong unity among themselves, they were a force to be taken into account by all concerned” (Daniel [1], p. 58).

The belief that the Jews were the chosen race clearly set them apart from those around them, as did the idea that Gentile nations would eventually be reduced to serving the Jewish God. That the Jewish Messiah would also emerge to punish the Gentiles proved somewhat inimical to neighbourly relations [1].

Jewish authors often expressed “severe contempt” for Gentiles [1]. Writers of the book of Ezra claimed that it was for the Jews only that God created the world (4 Ezra 6:55) and that “[a]s for the other nations, which also come of Adam, YOU have said that they are nothing, and they are as spittle: and have compared the abundance of them to as a drop that falls from a vessel” (4 Ezra 6:56).

Diaspora Jews in the Graeco-Roman world tenaciously preserved their religious integrity, “painstakingly observing all the Mosaic injunctions, and with extraordinary assiduity living up to the requirements of the ceremonial law” (Goldstein [6], p. 350). While other groups became subsumed by Greek culture, Jews alone “opposed to Hellenism an immutable and irreconcilable essence, shunning its games and its theatres, its pageants and its processions, its art and its science, converting even its philosophy, in so far as they found it acceptable, into the handmaiden of Judaism.” Thus, to self-confident Greeks and Romans, the Jews were seen as “arch nonconformists” [6].

Jews were often viewed as “loathsome people, strange and unwilling to adapt their peculiar customs to the norm of contemporary society” (Daniel [1], p. 51). Gentiles felt that Jews “had no intention of trying to fit gentile customs, and this led inevitably to a strong aversion for Judaism” (Daniel [1], p. 51).

The Egyptian priest Manetho (c. 300BC—c. 250BC) wrote that Moses ordained that the Jews should not have dealings with those outside their own people [2]. For pagan intellectuals, it was not only Jewish exclusivity but their derogation of other theological systems that aroused particular anger. Manetho argued that Mosaic theology impelled Jews not simply to abide by their own customs but also to deny and denigrate those of others, including those of the Egyptians [2]. The exodus of Jews from Egypt “was not a flight for freedom as the Bible described it but an outcasting of negative, impious, and diseased elements” (Laqueur [3], p. 40).

According to some, not to worship — or at the very least respect — the gods of the Graeco-Roman world was unpatriotic [2]. That the Jews did not acknowledge the gods of the city-state, and consequently failed to erect statues in their honour, meant that they threatened the unity of the community [2]. To the polytheistic and generally open-minded ancients, “Judaism stood out as an intolerant religion in a society which was generally tolerant towards divergent beliefs” (Daniel [1], p. 61).

That Jews looked down upon and consequently mistreated Gentiles is evidenced in the numerous admonitions of rabbis who urged Jews to inter alia care for the Gentile sick, help bury their dead, respect their wisdom and not deceive them [1]. The fact that Jews were “warned not to mistreat gentiles or hold themselves completely aloof from them indicates that there was a strong tendency in that direction” (Daniel [1], p. 62).

A first-century BC papyrus yields an important clue about attitudes towards Jews at that time in Hellenistic Egypt. Although badly damaged, it speaks of an unknown person “loathing the Jews”, a typical reaction for centuries to come [1].

Leading first-century BC intellectuals Poseidonius (c. 135BC—c. 51BC) and Apollonius Molon (fl. c. 70BC) are presumed to be the sources of accusations that Jews engaged in human sacrifice of Gentiles [2]. It is said that when the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes (215BC—164BC) entered the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, he encountered a captive Greek who told him that he had been kidnapped and fattened up in preparation for his sacrifice — a yearly ritual after which the Jews would partake of the victim’s flesh and swear an oath of hostility to all Greeks [2].

The first century BC Romans may have viewed Judaism as akin to the secret cults such as the Bacchanalia whose mysteries their members refused to reveal [2]. Greek biographer Plutarch (46AD—119AD) would later draw parallels between the Jewish god and Dionysus, and imply that Judaism was a mystery cult and that Moses was a hierophant [2].

A common theme in first-century BC writings on Jews is their misanthropy. Alexandrian writer Lysimachus remarks that Moses taught the Israelites to show no goodwill towards any man, to offer the worst advice and to overthrow the temples and altars of gods [2].

Likewise, the aforementioned Greek rhetorician Apollonius Molon criticised the Jews for closed-mindedness and double standards towards others in refusing to countenance the admission into their ranks those with divergent views about God [2]. Diodorus (c. 100BC—c. 1BC) stated that when Syrian king Antiochus Sidetes laid siege to Jerusalem around 135BC, his advisors urged him to wipe out the Jews, “since they alone of all nations avoided dealings with any other people and looked on all [other] men as their enemies” (in Feldman [2], p. 128).

Another locus for anti-Jewish feeling was their success in proselytising. Some argue that Jews were more successful in acquiring converts during the Hellenistic-Roman period than at any other point in history [1]. Roman poet Horace (65BC—8BC) lampooned Jews for their forceful efforts in proselytising Gentiles, which is cited as the main reason for Emperor Tiberius expelling Jews from Rome in the following century [1].

Other Roman sources such as Cicero (106BC—43BC) criticised Jewish financial influence in Rome and implied that Jewish religious practices were subversive and would lead to general degeneration [3]. Rome itself was generally tolerant towards Jews and protected their religious freedoms, as they did with other cults until they threatened the peace [1].

In Rome itself, the Jewish diaspora formed “part of the pauperized city mob, turbulent and ignorant…” (Daniel [1], p. 52). Jews there were largely illiterate, as evidenced by the quality of inscriptions on tombs [1]. Economic rivalry was not a salient issue because “there were hardly any Jewish bankers at the time” (Laqueur [3], p. 45).

Christ’s crucifixion was axiomatically the most significant event in the history of Gentile-Jewish relations and it is following his death that we witness the embedding of anti-semitism in broader political, religious and cultural movements amid the rise of Christianity.

The first century AD saw one of the most significant anti-Jewish polemicists Apion (30BC—48AD) emerge from the cauldron of Alexandria. The city saw pogroms and riots against Jews throughout the century, despite their being afforded separate living quarters and equal rights. It is this Hellenistic author and grammarian against whom Jewish writer Flavius Josephus (37AD—100AD) directs his defence of Jews in Against Apion.

Apion echoes writers from earlier centuries by accusing the Jews of misanthropy, “attributing to the Jews an oath to show no goodwill to any alien, especially to Greeks” (Feldman [2], p. 128). Josephus counters this accusation by arguing that Greeks are also hostile to foreigners [2].

One of Apion’s most famous calumnies against the Jews was that they prayed in their synagogues to the head of a donkey [3].

It is in the first century AD that Philo Judaeus (20BC—50AD), a Greek-speaking Jewish philosopher wrote his tract on Jewish law De Specialibus Legibus. He begins his description of Jewish law with a defence of circumcision on the grounds of health, purity, hygiene, fertility and the numbing of excessive pleasure [2].

Circumcision was regarded by Greeks and Romans as an obscenity and a deformity, with any man who had undergone the procedure being barred from competing in the Olympic Games [1, 2]. Circumcision was largely ridiculed by the Graeco-Roman world, and it is for this reason that Paul may not have required it of converts to Christianity [2]. Petronius (died 66AD) uses the term “circumcised” (verpe) as a disdainful term on multiple occasions [1]. Romans generally felt that circumcision was an embarrassment unworthy of civilised people [1]. Thus:

“What to the Jew was a sacred rite invested with a certain mystical essence became to the unperceiving pagan mere indulgence in obscenity” (Goldstein [6], p. 357)

Circumcision was conceived of as the last barrier to conversion. This can be seen most clearly in the conversion to Judaism of Izates, the king of Adiabene (a vassal state of the Parthian Empire), in the first century AD. According to Josephus, Izates insisted on circumcision because he felt he would not be fully Jewish without it [2]. His mother Helena tried to dissuade him, arguing that such an act would alienate him from his subjects [2]. Izates committed to circumcision after a Jew named Eleazar told him that the law required such an act if he were to be considered fully converted.

Anti-Jewish sentiment would become a fixture in the works of theological and academic writers for centuries to come. From Celsus, Plutarch, Tacitus, Juvenal, Suetonius and the Church Fathers through Martin Luther, Voltaire, Schopenhauer and Henry Ford — the Jewish Question would remain central to the European world.

Much of the anti-Jewish sentiment of both pagan and Christian thought was grounded in theological animus. What is clear from the ancients, however, is that this hostility stemmed from the Jewish attitude towards Gentiles. While the self-assured Graeco-Roman world may have looked down on the barbarians in its midst, it generally respected the religious rites and ancestral traditions of others. In contrast, the Jews, as the self-proclaimed chosen people, tolerated others only insofar as they existed in a world that their God — the only God — had created in their name. It is this stance of epistemic superiority that inspired the ill-feeling echoed in writings from antiquity to the present day.

In anti-semitism, Jews are the prime mover.

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[1] Daniel, J.L. (1979). Anti-semitism in the Hellenistic-Roman period. Journal of Biblical Literature, 98(1), 45-65.

[2] Feldman, L.H. (1993). Jew and gentile in the ancient world: attitudes and interactions from Alexander to Justinian. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

[3] Laqueur, W. (2006). The changing face of anti-semitism: from ancient times to the Present Day. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[4] Murray, O., & Stern, M. (1973). Hecataeus of Abdera and Theophrastus on Jews and Egyptians. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 59, 159-168.

[5] Berthelot, K. (2008). Hecataeus of Abdera and Jewish ‘misanthropy’. Bulletin du Centre de Recherche Français à Jérusalem, 19.

[6] Goldstein, N.W. (1939). Cultivated pagans and ancient anti-semitism. The Journal of Religion, 19(4), 346-364.