Editing Jewish diaspora (section)

===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}}