THE JEWS IN THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE 641-1204
THE JEWS IN THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE 641-1204

Author(s): Joshua Starr
Subject(s): Jewish studies, Ethnohistory, Middle Ages
Published by: CEEOL Digital Reproductions / Collections
Keywords: Amittai family; Tobiah b. Eliezer;Aaron Isaakios;Benjamin of Tudela;
Summary/Abstract: TEXTE UND FORSCHUNGEN ZUR BYZANTINISCH-NEUGRIECHISCHEN PHILOLOGIE. Zwanglose Beihefte zu den „BYZANTINISCH - NEUGRIECHISCHEN JAHRBÜCHERN", Herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. Nikos A. Bees (Βέης) // It has long been known that the period of five and one-half centuries to which this study is devoted was not one of undisturbed toleration for the Jews of the Byzantine empire. At its opening they were still under the shadow of the forcible Christianization decreed by Heraclius (610-41), in a vain effort to establish a solid front against his Moslem enemy. Thereafter, each of the following three centuries produced an emperor who outlawed Judaism. However, a mere enumeration, ominous as it is, does scant justice to the total historical situation, for, besides attempting to recover the course of events itself, it is necessary to see these spasms of intolerance in the perspective furnished by materials of a rather different tenor. Accordingly, it is proposed here first to review the treatment of the Jews by the intolerant emperors, and then to measure the duration of these situations against the remainder of our period.

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