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The first pogrom: Alexandria 38 CE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2002

PIETER W. VAN DER HORST
Affiliation:
Utrecht University, Faculty of Theology, PO Box 80.105, 3508 TC Utrecht, the Netherlands. E-mail: PvdHorst@ theo.uu.nl

Abstract

The first pogrom documented in history took place in Alexandria in the year 38 CE. The only document describing this event is an eyewitness account by the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria. It is a problematic source because the concern of the author is largely theological and also because he fails to inform the reader about the causes of the violence. These causes must be sought in the combination of a growing tendency among Alexandrian intellectuals to depict Jews as criminal misanthropes, and the Jewish tendency to side with the Roman occupiers of Egypt.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Academia Europaea 2002

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