The Roman-Jewish Wars and Hebrew Cultural Nationalism, 66-2000 CE

In this controversial book, the authors show how the Roman-Jewish wars were precipitated partly by Jewish demographic and religious expansion and by conflict with the Greeks and their culture. They argue that the trauma and humiliation of defeat, stimulated Jewish cultural growth, particularly in Hebrew, during and after the wars. This culture was an implicit rejection of Graeco-Roman civilization and values in favour of a more exclusivist religious-cultural nationalism. This form of nationalism, though unique in the ancient world, anticipates more recent cultural-national movements of defeated peoples.

Autorentext

MOSHE ABERBACH is Professor Emeritus at the Baltimore Hebrew University and lives in Jerusalem. His books include The Roman-Jewish War (66-70A), Jewish Education in the Time of the Mishna and the Talmud and Labor, Crafts and Commerce in Ancient Israel.

DAVID ABERBACH is Associate Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature, McGill University, Montreal and Visiting Academic at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He as published books on three modern Hebrew writers, Mendele, Bialikan, Agnon, as well as Surviving Trauma: Loss, Literature and Psychoanalysis, Imperial and Biblical Prophecy 750-500BCE, Charisma in Politics, Religion and the Media: Private Trauma, Public Ideal, and Revolutionary Hebrew: Empire and Crisis.

Inhalt
Preface and Acknowledgements List of Maps Introduction by John Hutchinson PART ONE: ROADS TO WAR Background to the Roman-Jewish Wars A Brief Anatomy of the Revolts against Rome Short-Term Causes of the Jewish Revolts against Rome Long-Term Causes of the Roman-Jewish Wars Conclusion PART TWO: CREATIVE RESPONSES TO DEFEAT Humiliation and Creative Defiance The Lower Depths Sings on Recovery Hebrew and Revolutionary Jewish Education Hebrew, Loss and Idealization Hebrew, Empire and the Struggle for Unity From Bar-Kokhba to the Mishna Hebrew Literary Strategies Hebrew and Stoicism Conclusion Index