Alexandrian riots (38 CE)

By Alexandria pogroms modern scholars refer to the persecution of Jews in 38 AD in Roman Alexandria, Egypt. The sole source is Philo of Alexandria , himself a Jew, who witnessed the riots and afterwards led the Jewish delegation to the Roman emperor Caligula , that requested the reestablishment of legal Jewish residence in Alexandria.

title The Alexandrian pogrom , or Alexandrian riots , were attacks directed against Jews in 38 CE in Roman Alexandria , Egypt. The Roman emperor Caligula did not trust the prefect of Egypt, Aulus Avilius Flaccus . Flaccus had been loyal to Tiberius, had conspired against Caligula's mother and had connections with Egyptian separatists. In 38 CE, Caligula sent Herod Agrippa to Alexandria unannounced to check on Flaccus. According to Philo, the visit was met with jeers from the Greek population who saw Agrippa as the king of the Jews. Flaccus tried to placate both the Greek population and Caligula by having statues of the emperor placed in Jewish synagogues . As a result, riots broke out in the city. Caligula responded by removing Flaccus from his position and executing him. Riots again erupted in Alexandria in 40 CE between Jews and Greeks. Jews were accused of not honouring the emperor. Disputes occurred in the city of Jamnia. Jews were angered by the erection of a clay altar and destroyed it. In response, Caligula ordered the erection of a statue of himself in the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem , a demand in conflict with Jewish monotheism. In this context, Philo of Alexandria wrote that Caligula "regarded the Jews with most especial suspicion, as if they were the only persons who cherished wishes opposed to his". The sole source is Philo of Alexandria, himself a Jew, who witnessed the riots and afterwards led the Jewish delegation to Caligula, and requested the re-establishment of legal Jewish residence in Alexandria. Philo's writings on the topic are found in two sources: In Flaccum (meaning "Against Flaccus"), which is wholly devoted to the riots, and Legatio ad Gaium (meaning "Embassy to Caligula"), which makes some references to the event in its introduction. Scholarly research around the subject has been divided on certain points, including whether the Alexandrian Jews fought to keep their citizenship or to acquire it, whether they evaded the payment of the poll-tax or prevented any attempts to impose it on them, and whether they were safeguarding their identity against the Greeks or against the Egyptians. Studies in Josephus And the Varieties of Ancient Judaism . Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora: From Alexander to Trajan (323 BCE – 117 CE) . Surpassing Wonder: The Invention of the Bible and the Talmuds . Jews: The Making of a Diaspora People . Diaspora: Jews Amidst Greeks and Romans . Divine Providence in Philo of Alexandria . Ignatius and Concord: The Background and Use of the Language of Concord in the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch . Jews in the Hellenistic and Roman Cities . The Roman World: 44 BC - AD 180 , by Martin Goodman, Jane Sherwood, p269 Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations , by Philip A. The Jews in Egypt and Alexandria, in The Jews Under Roman Rule: From Pompey to Diocletian , by E. Mary Smallwood, p220-256 The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt: The Struggle for Equal Rights , by Aryē Kāšēr, p166 Between Athens and Jerusalem: Jewish Identity in the Hellenistic Diaspora , by John Joseph Collins, p118 and 137 Josephus by Norman Bentwich, p44 A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews , by Avner Falk, p303 "Anti-Semitism and Anti-Romanism in Egypt", in Origins of Anti-Semitism , by John G. Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus VI.43 . Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus VII.45 . Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus XXI.185 . Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XVIII.8.1 . Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XXX.201 . Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XXX.203 . Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XVI.115 . Philo of Alexandria, "In Flaccum" Philo of Alexandria, "Legatio ad Gaium" Gambetti, p13

Attacks directed against Jews in Roman Alexandria, Egypt in the year 38 CE The Alexandrian pogrom , or Alexandrian riots were attacks directed against Jews in 38 CE in Roman Alexandria , Egypt. The Roman emperor Caligula had few reasons to trust the prefect of Egypt, Aulus Avilius Flaccus . Flaccus had been loyal to Tiberius and had conspired against Caligula's mother. According to Philo , the visit was met with jeers from the Greek population who saw Agrippa as the king of the Jews. Flaccus tried to placate both the Greek population and Caligula by having statues of the emperor placed in Jewish synagogues , an unprecedented provocation. This invasion of the synagogues was perhaps resisted by force, since Philo writes that Flaccus "was destroying the synagogues, and not leaving even their name." In response, Flaccus then "issued a notice in which he called us all foreigners and aliens ... allowing any one who was inclined to proceed to exterminate the Jews as prisoners of war." Philo says that in response, the mobs "drove the Jews entirely out of four quarters [of the city], and crammed them all into a very small portion of one ... while the populace, overrunning their desolate houses, turned to plunder, and divided the booty among themselves as if they had obtained it in war." In addition, Philo says their enemies, "slew them and thousands of others with all kinds of agony and tortures, and newly invented cruelties, for wherever they met with or caught sight of a Jew, they stoned him, or beat him with sticks". Philo even says, "the most merciless of all their persecutors in some instances burnt whole families, husbands with their wives, and infant children with their parents, in the middle of the city, sparing neither age nor youth, nor the innocent helplessness of infants." Some men, he says, were dragged to death, while "those who did these things, mimicked the sufferers, like people employed in the representation of theatrical farces". Other Jews were crucified . Flaccus was eventually removed from office, exiled, and ultimately executed. Riots again erupted in Alexandria in 40 CE between Jews and Greeks. Jews were accused of not honouring the emperor. Disputes occurred in the city of Jamnia. Jews were angered by the erection of a clay altar and destroyed it. In response, Caligula ordered the erection of a statue of himself in the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem , a demand in conflict with Jewish monotheism. In this context, Philo wrote that Caligula "regarded the Jews with most especial suspicion, as if they were the only persons who cherished wishes opposed to his". The sole source is Philo of Alexandria, himself a Jew, who witnessed the riots and afterwards led the Jewish delegation to Caligula, and requested the re-establishment of legal Jewish residence in Alexandria. Philo's writings on the topic are found in two sources: In Flaccum (meaning "Against Flaccus"), which is wholly devoted to the riots, and Legatio ad Gaium (meaning "Embassy to Caligula"), which makes some references to the event in its introduction. Scholarly research around the subject has been divided on certain points, including whether the Alexandrian Jews fought to keep their citizenship or to acquire it, whether they evaded the payment of the poll-tax or prevented any attempts to impose it on them, and whether they were safeguarding their identity against the Greeks or against the Egyptians. Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus III.9 . Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus V.26–28 . Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus V.29 . Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus VI.43 . Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus VI-X , XIII , XVIII , XXI . Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XVIII.8.1 . Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XXX.201 . Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XXX.203 . Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XVI.115 . "Philo of Alexandria, "Legatio ad Gaium" " . The Alexandrian Riots of 38 C.E. and the Persecution of the Jews: A Historical Reconstruction , pages 11-12

Attacks directed against Jews in Roman Alexandria, Egypt in the year 38 CE The Alexandrian pogrom , or Alexandrian riots , were attacks directed against Jews in 38 CE in Roman Alexandria , Egypt.