Editing Jewish diaspora (section)

==Pre-Roman diaspora==
{{See also|Elephantine papyri and ostraca#Jewish temple at Elephantine|Assyrian captivity|Babylonian captivity}}
[[File:Jewishdiaspora.png|thumb|right|Routes of Jewish expulsion and deportation]]

In 722 BCE, the [[ancient Assyrians|Assyrians]], under [[Sargon II]], successor to [[Shalmaneser V]], conquered the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]], and many [[Israelites]] were [[Israelite diaspora|deported]] to [[Mesopotamia]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=TgoTAAAAYAAJ Laura A Knott (1922) ''Student's History of the Hebrews'' p.225], Abingdon Press, New York</ref> The Jewish proper diaspora began with the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BCE.<ref name="Tripolitis">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pj6Pll9qgtIC&q=jewish+Diaspora+babylon&pg=PA61 | title = Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age | author = Antonia Tripolitis | publisher = Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing | pages = 61–62|year = 2002 | isbn = 9780802849137 }}</ref>

After the overthrow of the [[Kingdom of Judah]] in 586 BCE by [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] of Babylon (see [[Babylonian captivity]]) and the deportation of a considerable portion of its inhabitants to [[Mesopotamia]], the Jews had two principal cultural centers: [[History of the Jews in Iraq|Babylonia]] and the [[land of Israel]].<ref>"In the beginning, when the Torah was forgotten by Israel, Ezra came from Babylonia and reestablished it. Later the Torah became forgotten again. Then came [[Hillel the Elder|Hillel]] the Babylonian and reestablished it." [[Sukkah (Talmud)|''Sukkah'']] 20a</ref><ref>Hersh Goldwurm (1982) ''History of the Jewish People: The Second Temple Era'' p.143, Mesorah Publications, New York {{ISBN|978-0-899-06455-0}}</ref>

Deportees returned to the [[Kingdom of Judah|Samaria]] after the Neo-Babylonian Empire was in turn conquered by [[Cyrus the Great]]. The biblical book of [[Ezra]] includes two texts said to be decrees allowing the deported Jews to return to their homeland after decades and ordering the Temple rebuilt. The differences in content and tone of the two decrees, one in Hebrew and one in Aramaic, have caused some scholars to question their authenticity.<ref>{{cite book |ref=Bedford |last=Bedford |first=Peter Ross |title=Temple Restoration in Early Achaemenid Judah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MOd320e710IC&pg=PA112 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |year=2001 |page=112 (Cyrus edict section pp. 111–131) |isbn=9789004115095}}</ref> The [[Cyrus Cylinder]], an ancient tablet on which is written a declaration in the name of Cyrus referring to restoration of temples and repatriation of exiled peoples, has often been taken as corroboration of the authenticity of the biblical decrees attributed to Cyrus,<ref name="Becking">{{cite book |last=Becking |first=Bob |editor1-last=Lipschitz |editor1-first=Oded |editor2-last=Oeming |editor2-first=Manfred |chapter="We All Returned as One!": Critical Notes on the Myth of the Mass Return |title=Judah and the Judeans in the Persian Period |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1zi2i_C1aNkC&pg=PA8 |year=2006 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |location=Winona Lake, IN |page=8 |isbn=978-1-57506-104-7}}</ref> but other scholars point out that the cylinder's text is specific to Babylon and Mesopotamia and makes no mention of Judah or Jerusalem.<ref name="Becking" /> [[Lester L. Grabbe]] asserted that the "alleged decree of Cyrus"<ref>Grabbe, ''A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period,'' vol.1 2004  [https://books.google.com/books?id=1cPeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA76 pp.76ff.]</ref> regarding Judah, "cannot be considered authentic", but that there was a "general policy of allowing deportees to return and to re-establish cult sites". He also stated that archaeology suggests that the return was a "trickle" taking place over decades, rather than a single event. There is no sudden expansion of the population base of 30,000 and no credible indication of any special interest in ''[[Yehud Medinata|Yehud]]''.<ref name="Grabbe355">[[Lester L. Grabbe]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=1cPeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA355 ''A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period: Yehud - A History of the Persian Province of Judah v. 1,''] [[T & T Clark]], {{ISBN|978-0-567-08998-4}},  2004 p.355.</ref>

Although most of the Jewish people during this period, especially the wealthy families, were to be found in Babylonia, the existence they led there, under the successive rulers of the [[Achaemenid dynasty|Achaemenids]], the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucids]], the [[Parthia]]ns, and the [[Sassanid dynasty|Sassanians]], was obscure and devoid of political influence. The poorest but most fervent of the exiles returned to Judah / the Land of Israel during the reign of the [[Achaemenid dynasty|Achaemenids]] (c. 550–330 BCE). There, with the reconstructed [[Temple in Jerusalem]] as their center, they organized themselves into a community, animated by a remarkable religious ardor and a tenacious attachment to the [[Torah]] as the focus of their identity. As this little nucleus increased in numbers with the accession of recruits from various quarters, it awoke to a consciousness of itself, and strove once again for national independence and political enfranchisement and sovereignty.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}

The first [[History of the Jews in Egypt|Jewish diaspora in Egypt]] arose in the [[Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt|last century of pharaonic rule]], apparently with the settlement there, either under [[Ashurbanipal]] or during the reign of [[Psamtik I|Psammeticus]] of a colony of Jewish mercenaries, a military class that successively served the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]], the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic]] and Roman governments down to the early decades of the second century CE, when the revolt against Trajan destroyed them. Their presence was buttressed by numerous Jewish administrators who joined them in Egypt's military and urban centres.<ref>[[Steven B. Bowman|Steven Bowman]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=7QEjPVyd9YMC&pg=PA193 'Jewish Diaspora in the Greek World, The Principles of Acculturation,'] in Melvin Ember, Carol R. Ember, Ian Skoggard  (eds.) ''Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World. Volume I: Overviews and Topics; Volume II: Diaspora Communities,'' [[Springer Science & Business Media]], 2004 pp.192ff. pp.192-193.</ref> According to [[Josephus]], when [[Ptolemy I Soter|Ptolemy I]] took Judea, he led 120,000 Jewish captives to Egypt, and many other Jews, attracted by Ptolemy's liberal and tolerant policies and Egypt's fertile soil, emigrated from Judea to Egypt of their own free will.<ref>Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, in The Works of Josephus, Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Edition (Translated by William Whiston, A.M.; Peabody Massachusetts:Hendrickson Publishers, 1987; Fifth Printing:Jan.1991 Bk. 12, chapters. 1, 2, pp. 308-309 (Bk. 12: verses 7, 9, 11)</ref> Ptolemy settled the Jews in Egypt to employ them as mercenaries. [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus|Philadelphus]] subsequently emancipated the Jews taken to Egypt as captives and settled them in [[cleruchy|cleruchs]], or specialized colonies, as Jewish military units.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/egypt-virtual-jewish-history-tour#1|title=Egypt Virtual Jewish History Tour|website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2022}} Jews began settling in [[Cyrenaica]] (modern-day eastern Libya) around the third century BCE, during the rule of Ptolemy I of Egypt, who sent them to secure the region for his kingdom. By the early first century BCE, the geographer [[Strabo]] identified Jews as one of the four main groups residing in the city of [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Smallwood |first=E. Mary |title=The Jews under Roman Rule |publisher=Brill |year=1976 |isbn=90-04-04491-4 |series=Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity |location=Leiden, Netherlands |pages=120}}</ref>

While communities in Alexandria and Rome dated back to before the [[Maccabean Revolt]], the population in the Jewish diaspora expanded after the [[Siege of Jerusalem (63 BC)|Pompey's campaign]] in 62 BCE. Under the [[Hasmonean]] princes, who were at first [[High Priest of Israel|high priests]] and then kings, the Jewish state displayed even a certain luster{{Clarify|date=October 2021|reason=ambiguous meaning and relevance}} and annexed several territories. Soon, however, discord within the royal family and the growing disaffection of the pious towards rulers who no longer evinced any appreciation of the real aspirations of their subjects made the Jewish nation easy prey for the ambitions of the now increasingly autocratic and imperial Romans, the successors of the Seleucids. In 63 BCE [[Pompey]] invaded Jerusalem, the Jewish people lost their political sovereignty and independence, and [[Aulus Gabinius|Gabinius]] subjected the Jewish people to tribute.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}

===Early diaspora populations===
{{Further|Hellenistic Judaism}}
As early as the third century BCE Jewish communities sprang up in the Aegean islands, Greece, Asia Minor, Cyrenaica, Italy and Egypt.<ref name="Ehrlich">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NoPZu79hqaEC&q=jewish+diaspora |title=Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture, Volume 1 |editor=Mark Avrum Ehrlich |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2009 |isbn=9781851098736}}</ref>{{rp|8–11}} In Palestine, under the favourable auspices of the long period of peace—almost a whole century—which followed the advent of the Ptolemies, the new ways were to flourish. By means of all kinds of contacts, and particularly thanks to the development of commerce, Hellenism infiltrated on all sides in varying degrees. The ports of the Mediterranean coast were indispensable to commerce and, from the very beginning of the Hellenistic period, underwent great development. In the Western diaspora Greek quickly became dominant in Jewish life and little sign remains of profound contact with Hebrew or Aramaic, the latter probably being the more prevalent. Jews migrated to new Greek settlements that arose in the Eastern Mediterranean and former subject areas of the Persian Empire on the heels of [[Alexander the Great]]'s conquests, spurred on by the opportunities they expected to find.<ref>Gruen, Erich S.:[https://books.google.com/books?id=7tgXDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA284 The Construct of Identity in Hellenistic Judaism: Essays on Early Jewish Literature and History], p. 28 (2016). [[Walter de Gruyter]] GmbH & Co KG</ref> The proportion of Jews in the diaspora in relation to the size of the nation as a whole increased steadily throughout the Hellenistic era and reached astonishing dimensions in the early Roman period, particularly in Alexandria. It was not least for this reason that the Jewish people became a major political factor, especially since the Jews in the diaspora, notwithstanding strong cultural, social and religious tensions, remained firmly united with their homeland.<ref name=Hegermann>Hegermann, Harald  (2008) "The Diaspora in the Hellenistic Age." In: ''The Cambridge History of Judaism'', Vol. 2. Eds.: Davies and Finkelstein.PP. 115–166</ref> Smallwood writes that, 'It is reasonable to conjecture that many, such as the settlement in Puteoli attested in 4 BCE went back to the late (pre-Roman Empire) Roman Republic or early Empire and originated in voluntary emigration and the lure of trade and commerce."<ref>E. Mary Smallwood (2008) "The Diaspora in the Roman period before A.D. 70." In: ''The Cambridge History of Judaism'', Volume 3. Editors Davis and Finkelstein.</ref> Many Jews migrated to Rome from Alexandria due to flourishing trade relations between the cities.<ref name=jewishencyclopedia>Jacobs, Joseph and Schulim, Oscher: [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12816-rome ROME] - ''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref> Dating the numerous settlements is difficult. Some settlements may have resulted from Jewish emigration following the defeat of Jewish revolts. Others, such as the Jewish community in Rome, were far older, dating back to at least the mid second century BCE, although it expanded greatly following [[Siege of Jerusalem (63 BC)|Pompey’s campaign]] in 62 BCE. In 6 CE the Romans annexed Judaea. Only the Jews in Babylonia remained outside of Roman rule.<ref name="Smallwood1">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AW2BuWcalXIC&q=Diaspora+before+70&pg=PA168 |title=The Cambridge History of Judaism: The early Roman period, Volume 3 |editor1=William David Davies|editor2=Louis Finkelstein|editor3=William Horbury |author=E. Mary Smallwood |chapter=The Diaspora in the Roman period before CE 70 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1984 |isbn=9780521243773}}</ref>{{rp|168}} Unlike the Greek speaking Hellenized Jews in the west the Jewish communities in Babylonian and Judea continued the use of Aramaic as a primary language.<ref name="Tripolitis" />

As early as the middle of the 2nd century BCE the Jewish author of the third book of the [[Sibylline oracles|Oracula Sibyllina]] addressed the "chosen people," saying: "Every land is full of thee and every sea." The most diverse witnesses, such as [[Strabo]], [[Philo]], [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], [[Luke the Evangelist|Luke]] (the author of the ''[[Acts of the Apostles]]''), [[Cicero]], and [[Josephus]], all mention Jewish populations in the cities of the [[Mediterranean basin]]. See also [[History of the Jews in India]] and [[History of the Jews in China]] for pre-Roman (and post-) diasporic populations.

King [[Agrippa I]], in a letter to [[Caligula]], enumerated among the provinces of the Jewish diaspora almost all the Hellenized and non-Hellenized countries of the Orient. This enumeration was far from complete as [[Italy]] and [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]] were not included. The [[Epigraphy|epigraphic]] discoveries from year to year augment the number of known Jewish communities but must be viewed with caution due to the lack of precise evidence of their numbers. According to the ancient Jewish historian Josephus, the next most dense Jewish population after the Land of Israel and [[Babylonia]] was in [[Syria]], particularly in [[Antioch]], and [[Damascus]], where 10,000 to 18,000 Jews were massacred during the great insurrection. The ancient Jewish philosopher Philo gives the number of Jewish inhabitants in [[Egypt]] as one million, one-eighth of the population. [[Alexandria]] was by far the most important of the Egyptian Jewish communities. The Jews in the Egyptian diaspora were on a par with their Ptolemaic counterparts and close ties existed for them with Jerusalem. As in other Hellenistic diasporas, the Egyptian diaspora was one of choice not of imposition.<ref name=Hegermann />

To judge by the later accounts of wholesale massacres in [[Kitos War|115 CE]], the number of Jewish residents in [[Cyrenaica]], [[Cyprus]], and [[Mesopotamia]] must also have been large. At the commencement of the reign of [[Caesar Augustus]], there were over 7,000 Jews in Rome (though this is only the number that is said to have escorted the envoys who came to demand the deposition of [[Herod Archelaus|Archelaus]]; compare: Bringmann: Klaus: Geschichte der Juden im Altertum, Stuttgart 2005, S. 202. Bringmann talks about 8,000 Jews who lived in the city of Rome.). Many sources say that the Jews constituted a full one-tenth (10%) of the population of the ancient city of Rome itself. Finally, if the sums confiscated by the [[Promagistrate|governor]] Lucius Valerius Flaccus in the year 62/61 BCE represented the tax of a didrachma per head for a single year, it would imply that the Jewish population of [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]] numbered 45,000 adult males, for a total of at least 180,000 persons.{{citation needed|date=July 2007}}