JEWISH STUDIES, AN INTERNET JOURNAL has posted a new article: Emmanuel Friedheim, "Timi De-Romi and Tyche De-Romi: A Reexamination of the Historical Significance of a Talmudic Expression" (in Hebrew). You can download it as either a Word or a PDF file.

Abstract

The Talmud Yerushalmi (‘Avodah Zarah 3.3) uses the obscure expression /timi de-Romi/, a term which puzzled scholars until the publication of a Geniza fragment which reads /tyche de-Romi/ instead, i.e., the Greek goddess of Fortune. Indeed, J. N. Epstein and S. Lieberman considered this reading authentic. However, examination of archaeological and historical sources suggests that the /lectio difficilior/ /timi de-Romi/ might also be viable, as demonstrated at length in this article, for in the Nabatean area and among Arabs from the Palmyrene region pagans referred to the goddess /Tyche/ as /time/.