by Simon Schama
Song of Songs, 274, 283, 345
Sons of Heaven, 164
Sons of Light, 164, 166
Spain: Jewish immigrants, 263; Jewish dignitaries, 270–7; Jews persecuted, 277, 281, 395, 400; Arab civilised life in, 279; Jews expelled (1492), 325, 400–1, 403–4, 408–13; under Moors, 328–9; anti-Jewish movement, 382–90; Jewish conversions, 386–8, 391; great segregation, 389–90; Christian reconquest, 393; Inquisition in, 396–8, 401, 404–6; Jewish financing, 407–8; see also Majorca; Toledo Speyer, 298
Spinoza, Baruch, 34
Spittler, C. F., 59
Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn, dean of Westminster, 61, 63, 65, 68, 70, 72; Sinai and Palestine, 63
Stephenson, Robert, 63
Stern, Ephraim, 78
Stoics, 160
Strabo, 9, 110
Strasbourg: Jews massacred, 380
Sufism, 342 Survey of Western Palestine, 67
Sweetman (son of David of Oxford and Licoricia), 321–2
Syene, Egypt, 8–9, 13, 25 synagogues (proseuche): developed in Egypt, 91–2; in Greek settlements, 91; under Herod, 134; discovered at Dura-Europos with frescoes, 176–81, 189; design, 182–3, 198; under Romans, 182; building of, 190, 207; decorated with mosaics, 190–7, 221; and signs of lost Temple, 196; role in Jewish life, 197–8, 222; burials forbidden, 199; attacked by mobs, 218; converted to churches, 219–20; in Fustat, 241, 244, 253–4; in Toledo, 392–3, 395
Syro-Egyptian Society, 64
Syrus, Ephrem, 216, 219
tabernacle, 37, 85
Tabernacles, Feast of, 117, 124, 126, 170
Tacitus, 63, 147, 157–61
Tahpanhes, Egypt, 4, 12, 16
Talas (Kazakhstan), battle of (751 CE), 248 tallit (prayer shawl), 328
Talmud: on dietary laws, 18; and reading of Ten Commandments, 90; writing, 95; on circumcision, 110; origins, 128, 133, 184, 194, 197; twin (‘Yerushalmi’ and ‘Bavli’), 221; Babylonian, 223–8, 242, 253; rules and treatises, 224–7; on husband and wife, 314; Maimonides interprets, 348, 351; condemned and burnt in Paris, 349–52, 354, 360; Christian hostility to, 353–7, 360, 363, 388, 390
Tamet (Tapemet), 19–22 tamid (sacrificial roasting), 104–5
Tasa (daughter of Hananiah), 101
Tashbetz (Rabbi Shimon ben Zamakh Duran), 313 taxation: under Islam, 246–7
Tayma, the Hijaz, 241 tefillin (phylactery boxes), 37, 96, 328–9
Tekoites, 31
Tel Aviv, 135
Tel Dan, 78
Tel Safi, 80
Tel Zayit, 51, 82–3
Temple (Jerusalem): destroyed by Babylonians, 10–12; Second rebuilding, 28, 162; restored under Josiah, 40; out of bounds to non-Jews, 89; sacrifices at, 105–6; high priest in, 106; aristocracy, 107; saved from Seleucid depravation, 112; flame saved from Babylonians, 114–15; expanded under Herod, 132, 134–5, 139; destroyed by Romans, 147, 149, 152, 182; cult, 150; and Mishnah injunctions, 188; symbols shown in synagogues, 196; Julian attempts restoration, 216
Temple Mount (Haram al-Sharif ), 59 temples: design and function, 14–15, 85–6; sacrifices, 33, 104–5, 111; dating, 84–5; destroyed, 85
Ten Commandments, 70; on early Jewish papyrus, 90
Thaalibi: Curious and Entertaining Information, 248
Thanksgiving Hymns, 163
Thebes, Egypt, 100
Thecla the Equal-to-Apostles, 205
Theodosius I, Roman emperor, 204–6
Theodosius II, Roman emperor, 219
Theodotos (archisynagogos), 198
Theophrastos of Eresus: On Piety, 93
Thibaut, Count of Blois, 293
Thomas of Norwich, 309
Thompson, William, Archbishop of York, 63, 65
Thucydides, 145
Tiban As’ad Abu Karib, 233
Tibbon, Samuel ibn, 345, 352
Tiberias, 192
Timothy, 217
Tiran see Yotabe Tisha b’Ab, 129
Titus, Roman enmperor, 85, 130, 143, 146–7, 149, 151–3, 156
Tobiad dynasty, 108
Tobiah, 107
Tobit (apocryphal book), 162
Todros, Rabbi David, 292
Toledo, Spain: Halevi moves to, 281; riot (1349), 380, 385; Jewish community and culture, 391–3; Jews persecuted, 395; Jewish converts to Christianity, 396–9; civil war (1467), 399; Statute of Exclusion, 399, 403–4; Jews killed, 406–7
Tomar, Portugal, 418 tombs, 122
Torah: on Jewish flight from Egpt, 11; and Jewish practices in Egypt, 22–3; public reading from, 33–5, 38–9, 87, 106, 222; ubiquity and indestructibility, 37, 89; sacredness, 77, 87; law, 90, 96, 137, 165, 285, 344; and Asideans, 115–16; clash with politics, 125; Pharisees uphold, 128; Hillel–Shammai disputes over, 132–3; and ornament, 136; and Roman plunder of Jerusalem, 153–4; Josephus on, 160; sanctions polygamy, 169; proscribes images, 176–7; redefined by tannaim (sages), 183–4; and Mishnah comments, 187; interpretations, 194, 197; ritual practices in, 199; on animal sacrifice, 208; read in Greek, 221; material instruction, 285; Maimonides on, 344–5, 347–8
Torquemada, Tomas de, 405–8, 410
Torres, Captain Ferdinand de, 399
Torres, Luis, 418
Trajan, Roman emperor, 166
Trier, 298
Trikomia, Egypt, 100
Trinity: dispute over, 360–1
Trypho (possibly Rabbi Tarfon), 181, 208, 212
Tsadok, Rabbi, 3
Tubias (fort commander), 107
Tweed, William Marcy (‘Boss’), 6
Tyler, Wat, 383
Umar I, caliph, 233, 241–2
Umar II, caliph, 242
Umm Thana (of al-Mahalla), 257 unknowable, 285
Ur, Chaldea, 10
Urania (of Worms), 312
Urban II, Pope, 295, 297
Valladolid, 390
Varro, Marcus Terentius, 159
Verga, Solomon ibn, 416; Shebet Yehuda, 388, 416
Vermes, Geza, 165
Vespasian, Roman emperor, 130, 144–6, 148–50, 153–4, 182
Victoria, queen, 65–6
Vidranga (military commandant of Elephantine), 24–6
Vienna: International Exposition (1873), 60
Viladesters, Mecia de (formerly Samuel Corcos), 387
Violant of Hungary, queen of James I of Aragon, 387
Vizinho, Jose, 417
Wadi Qura, the Hijaz, 241
Wandering Jew legend, 326
War Scroll (Qumran), 165–6
Warren, Captain Charles, 67;
Underground Jerusalem, 60
Watchers, Book of, 163
Wellhausen, Julius, 47
Whitty, John Irwine, 63–4; ‘The Water Supply of Jerusalem, Ancient and Modern’, 64
Whyl (Caspian in Elephantine), 20 wickedness: and Judaism, 161–3
Wilbour, Charles Edwin, 6–7, 15
Wilbour, Theodora, 7
William I (the Conqueror), king of England, 304
William of Malmesbury, 308
William of Newburgh, 304–6
William of Norwich, 309
Wilson, Charles, 67, 68, 70 women: in Elephantine, 22; at celebration of return to Jerusalem, 32; as temptresses, 41; rights in Herakleopolis, 90; in Mishnah, 191; use of cosmetics, 224–5; dress, 245, 258; in Geniza letters, 257–8; murdered, 292–3; in religious services, 311–13; Ashkenazi, 313; business activities, 314–15; marriage rights and duties, 314
Worms, 298, 302
Wuhshah, Al see Karima Wyatt (Palestine Exploration Fund naturalist), 68
Xerxes, king of Persia, 3
Yaakov, Rabbi Nahman ben, 225
Yadin, Yigal, 72, 74, 86
Yahud (Persian province), 28 yahudiyya (Hebrew literary style), 268–9
Yahya, Gedaliah ibn, 291
Yannai (poet), 222, 251
Yathrib (Medina), 232, 235–7, 239–40
Yaush, Lord, 44, 51
Yazdegir I, Sassanian king, 224
Yazdegir II, Sassanian king, 223
> Yehiel ben Joseph, Rabbi, 355–6
Yehoiakim, 224
Yehoishima, 21
Yehudi (Jehoiakim’s counsellor), 43
Yekutiel, Moses ben, 298, 313
Yemen: Jews persecuted, 336, 339
Yerushalmi, Chayim Yosef: Zakhor, 150 yeshiva academies, 197
Yeshua (high priest), 28 YHWH: gives laws to Israelites, 3; punishes Israelites, 4; covenant with Israel, 8, 48, 111, 178; and Jewish exile in Babylon, 11; temple in Egypt, 13–14; and celebration of return to Jerusalem, 34; consort (Asherah), 35, 75; exclusive worship, 35, 47–8, 75–6; invoked, 44–5; name, 46; and writing, 53; and Zeus, 93; and Jewish tribulations, 161–2 Yigdal (poem), 222
Yisaq bar Hanina, 234
Yohanan ben Zakkai, 149–50, 154, 168, 182–3
Yom Kippur War (1973), 73
Yom Tov of Joigny, 306
York: Jews massacred (1190), 306–7; medieval miracle plays, 364
Yose b Yoezer of Seredah, 183
Yose b Yohanan, 187
Yose ben Yose, 223
Yotabe (island, now Tiran), 230–1
Yovel, Yirmiyahu, 405
Yusuf, Abu Ya’qub, Almohad caliph, 331
Zabara, Moses ibn, 402
Zaccur, son of Meshullam, 21
Zacuto, Rabbi Abraham, 413, 417–21;
Perpetual Almanach for the Movement of Celestial Bodies, 418; Sefer Yohassin (The Book of Lineage), 419
Zadok the high priest, 106
Zafar, 233–4
Zamaris of Babylonia, 207
Zealots, Zealotry: beginnings, 139; and resistance to Romans, 143–4, 147–9, 151; hold out at Masada, 154–5; and Dead Sea Scrolls (Qumran), 165
Zechariah, Tomb of, 122
Zedekiah, king of Judah, 43–4
Zenon archive, 101, 107
Zerubbabel, prince, 28, 135
Zeus (Greek god), 93, 95
Zipporah (Moses’ wife), 111, 312
Zipporah of Worms, 292 zodiac, 196
Zohar, 165
Zoroaster: death, 223
Zoroastrianism, 163, 224, 236
Photographic Insert
The streets and houses of Elephantine, fifth century BCE, built of mud and clay and a little granite; the tightly packed world of the Judaean Troop and their families.
The fortress town of Khirbet Qeiyafa, looking down on the valley of Elah.
A model cult shrine from Khirbet Qeiyafa, dating from the eleventh or tenth century BCE. There are vestigial doves on the roof, and a textile motif suggesting a hanging curtain.
A silver benediction amulet with an archaic Hebrew inscription, from one of the funeral chambers of Ketef Hinnom, late seventh century BCE.
Siloam tunnel inscription from the reign of Hezekiah, eighth century BCE, Israel, on which the tunnellers tell the story of their achievement; the first self-celebration of ordinary Jewish workmen.
Asherah pillar figurines, found all over Palestine and Judaea, from the ninth through to the seventh century BCE. The breast-cupping gesture symbolises fertility.
Photograph of the Palestine Exploration Fund Sinai Survey team, 1868, taken by Sgt James Macdonald. Seated in the centre of the picture at the back is Charles Wilson, with Edward Palmer on his right.
The Plain of Er Rahah seen through the cleft on Ras Sufsafeh in the Sinai range, the speculative site of the lawgiving of Moses, photographed by Sgt James Macdonald.
A limestone ossuary from the second/first century BCE, decorated in the style of a Hellenistic house.
Ossuary of the High Priest Caiaphas, with rosette decoration, dating from between the first century BCE and the first century CE.
Iraq al-Amir in Jordan, the fortress palace of the Tobiads, second/first century BCE. Limestone columns, panthers, fountains and colonnades evoke the magnificence of a baronial magnate with High-Priest connections.
Ceramic candelabrum from the second/first century BCE.
A pruta coin of the Hasmonean monarchy with pomegranate and cornucopia motifs.
Lion suckling cubs on the roof of Iraq al-Amir.
The Hellenistic ‘Tomb of Zechariah’ in the valley of Kidron on the edge of Jerusalem. Its spectacular, monumental elegance shows Hasmonean-period Jews following the dominant cultural style of the pagan world.
A frieze on the Arch of Titus in Rome, showing spoils taken from the Jerusalem Temple, first century CE.
Colossal masonry slabs from the western wall of the Jerusalem Temple, dislodged by Roman troops following the siege.
Third-century CE wall paintings from Dura-Europos synagogue which demolished the assumption that Judaism abhorred images. In the earliest synagogues quite the opposite was the case. (Above) The finding of Moses by Pharaoh’s daughter; (below) detail showing King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther.
Fifth-century floor mosaics from the synagogue at Sepphoris in Israel: (above left) the month of Tevet representing winter; (above right) the month of Nisan representing spring. (Below) Emblems of the Temple: the golden candlesticks, the holder of the ‘four species’ for the Feast of Tabernacles, and the shofar trumpets.
Painted decorations of a date-palm grove in the Jewish catacombs at Vigna Randanini near Rome, fourth century CE.
Floor mosaic of a dolphin from a synagogue at Hammam-Lif in Tunisia, third/fifth century CE.
A child’s Hebrew exercise book with a doodle of a camel; from the Cairo Geniza, the repository for documents of an entire medieval Jewish world. Most are in Judeo-Arabic (Arabic written in Hebrew characters), itself evidence of cultural crossings.
A ‘cheque’ or commercial bill of payment in Judeo-Arabic with Arabic, from the Cairo Geniza.
A thirteenth-century stained glass window at Lincoln Cathedral showing, on the right, the ‘boy of Bourges’ being put in an oven by his father (in the conical red hat); on the left the son sits safely in the oven thanks to the interceding haloed Virgin who inclines her head protectively towards him.
A Judeophobic caricature captioned ‘Aaron fils diaboli’ (Aaron Son of the Devil), from a thirteenth-century English Exchequer record.
The Jews being beaten out of England, from ‘Chronica Roffense’, fourteenth-century vellum.
A page from the Book of Donations in Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, with a miniature of Moses receiving the tablets of the Law, and a running deer at the head of the page, which often symbolised Israel. From late thirteenth-century France.
The Birds’ Head Haggadah, Germany, c.1300.
The title page of Moses Maimonides’ Moreh Nevuchim (Guide to the Perplexed ), from Huesca in Spain, 1356, the philosopher-doctor’s treatise on how to reconcile faith and reason and proceed on the quest for perfection.
Dedicatory inscription to Samuel Halevi Abulafia in the synagogue known as El Transito in Toledo, Spain, mid-fourteenth century.
Profuse Mudejar stucco decoration on the eastern wall of El Transito, mid-fourteenth century.
Moorish horseshoe arches in the ‘New Synagogue’ (known as Santa Maria la Blanca) in Toledo.
Carpet page illumination by Joseph ibn Hayyim, from the Kennicott Bible of Isaac de Braga, La Coruña, Spain, 1476.
A Barcelona Haggadah from the mid- to late fourteenth century, showing the Seder. The father of the family is setting the dish of matzot on the heads of his children, a Sephardic custom that seems to have ended with the expulsion from Spain. The brilliant decoration of fanciful beasts is typical of the Haggadot illuminated in this period.
An illumination by ‘Joseph the Frenchman’, from the Cervera Bible, Spain, 1299–1300.
Illustrations by Joel ben Simeon Feibush, from a North Italian Haggadah, 1469: (above) ‘Avodim Hayinu’ (‘We were slaves in Egypt’); (below) ‘Ha lachmah di’ anya’ (‘This is the bread of affliction’) shows two figures holding up the basket of circular matzot. This still happens in modern Seder services.
Illuminations by Joseph ibn Hayyim from the La Coruña Kennicott Bible: (above) Jonah and the ‘Great Fish’; (right) Temple candlesticks with a protect
ive lion crouching below.
The colophon page from the La Coruña Kennicott Bible. It reads: ‘I, Joseph ibn Hayyim, illuminated and completed this book.’
(Facing page) In an art form unique to Jewish culture, a border of micrographic figures formed from Hebrew characters in Ashkenazi script surround the text of Genesis 32. These sometimes microscopically tiny letters often have nothing to do with the text they ostensibly illustrate.
The fourteenth-century ‘Catalan Atlas’ (mappa mundi) by Cresques Abraham and his son Jafuda Cresques. In the bottom left-hand corner Jaume Ferrer can be seen in his ship, and the king of Mali in the bottom right.
About the Author
SIMON SCHAMA is University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University in New York. His award-winning books include Scribble, Scribble, Scribble; The American Future: A History; National Book Critics Circle Award winner Rough Crossings; The Power of Art; The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age; Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution; Dead Certainties (Unwarranted Speculations); Landscape and Memory; Rembrandt’s Eyes; and the History of Britain trilogy. He has written and presented forty television documentary films for the BBC, PBS, and The History Channel, including the Emmy-winning Power of Art, on subjects that range from John Donne to Tolstoy.
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