Jewish History I: The Ancient and Medieval Experience
Fall 2008
This course offers an overview of Jewish history from biblical antiquity to the beginning of the modern period (ca. 1550), examining the social, religious, economic, political and cultural dimensions of the pre-modern Jewish experience. We will focus on the questions of how Jews around the world and throughout time have defined themselves in relation to their own historical past and the interactions between Jews and the various societies and cultures in which they have lived. Topics will include the biblical heritage, Jewish life in the Greek and Roman worlds, the destruction of the Second Temple (70 C.E.), the growth of the global Jewish Diaspora, the emergence of rabbinic Judaism and Christianity, Jewish communal life under medieval Islam and Christianity, medieval Jewish philosophy, literature, and religious thought, mysticism, anti-Judaism, the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the Spanish and Portuguese expulsions and the emergence of the early modern Jewish world. This is an introductory course that assumes no prior knowledge of Judaism or Jewish history. We will read and critically analyze a variety of primary and secondary sources, including religious and legal writings, archeological and artistic images, and modern scholarly interpretations. Readings will be drawn from a variety of sources, including selections from the Bible, Talmud, and medieval Jewish religious, legal, and philosophical writings, as well as a number of other texts, possibly including Rader Marcus, The Jew in the Medieval World; Barnavi, Historical Atlas of the Jewish People; Schaffer, The Jews in the Greco-Roman World; Shanks, Ancient Israel. Requirements include three five-page papers in response to primary sources, a midterm exam, and a final exam. HIEU 209 is followed in the spring by HIEU 210, Jewish History II: The Modern Experience (though the two courses may also be taken separately).