Roman ANTISEMITISM
The official Roman policy towards Jews was as follows: the right of Jews to live according to their customs, the ability to make annual donations to the temple in Jerusalem, the ability to resolve arguments within community, freedom of civic demands on the Sabbath.
These policies were more for the sake of Rome than the Jews. They allowed Jews their customs to prevent civil strife but did not allow them immediate citizenship. They were also strictly told not to convert any non-Jews. This policy was succeeded more in isolating Jews in Rome. The more literate elite classes of Rome were thought to generally as a whole dislike Jews because of writings done by people like Cicero or Chaeremon. The public opinion of Jews was thought to also be generally hostile for multiple reasons. It ranged from jealousy of individuals, to Jews being caught in between political disputes, or the few examples of armed resistance of Jews of Roman rule. Because of the Jews' many, seemingly weird, practices they were a prime target for Roman satirists. The writings of these satirists is what caused several people to believe their was an animosity towards Jews. In actuality though a lot of this anti antisemitism was exaggerated.
However the Roman opinion of Jews morphed with the beginning of the Jewish Riots. We can take Juvenal's satires as key examples. In his first and second satire he jokes at Jews in a manner that doesn't imply a true ill-will. However in his third satire he does express what seems to be more than joking manner his dislike for Jews. "Here Numa once held his nightly assignations with his mistress; but now the holy fount and grave and shrine are let out to Jews, who posses a basket and a truss of hay for all their belongings." What bothered Juvenal as well as others in Roman literary classes was it's foreignness and how anti Roman it was. The most troubling aspect though was how much it appealed to other Romans. The change of attitude toward Jews was mostly in part due to the success of Jewish proselytism.
These policies were more for the sake of Rome than the Jews. They allowed Jews their customs to prevent civil strife but did not allow them immediate citizenship. They were also strictly told not to convert any non-Jews. This policy was succeeded more in isolating Jews in Rome. The more literate elite classes of Rome were thought to generally as a whole dislike Jews because of writings done by people like Cicero or Chaeremon. The public opinion of Jews was thought to also be generally hostile for multiple reasons. It ranged from jealousy of individuals, to Jews being caught in between political disputes, or the few examples of armed resistance of Jews of Roman rule. Because of the Jews' many, seemingly weird, practices they were a prime target for Roman satirists. The writings of these satirists is what caused several people to believe their was an animosity towards Jews. In actuality though a lot of this anti antisemitism was exaggerated.
However the Roman opinion of Jews morphed with the beginning of the Jewish Riots. We can take Juvenal's satires as key examples. In his first and second satire he jokes at Jews in a manner that doesn't imply a true ill-will. However in his third satire he does express what seems to be more than joking manner his dislike for Jews. "Here Numa once held his nightly assignations with his mistress; but now the holy fount and grave and shrine are let out to Jews, who posses a basket and a truss of hay for all their belongings." What bothered Juvenal as well as others in Roman literary classes was it's foreignness and how anti Roman it was. The most troubling aspect though was how much it appealed to other Romans. The change of attitude toward Jews was mostly in part due to the success of Jewish proselytism.