MARTIN GOODMAN will be giving a lecture at Binghamton University:

Annual Romano Lecture to focus on Rome, Jerusalem

Martin Goodman, professor of Jewish studies at Oxford University, will deliver the annual Mario and Antoinette Romano Lecture at noon Friday, April 11, in the Anderson Center Reception Room.

Goodman has divided his intellectual life between the Roman and Jewish worlds. He has edited both the Journal of Roman Studies and the Journal of Jewish Studies. His most recent book, Rome and Jerusalem: the Clash of Ancient Civilizations, was published in 2007.

In 70 CE, after a war that had flared sporadically for four years, three Roman legions surrounded, laid siege to and eventually devastated the city of Jerusalem, destroying the Temple that had been rebuilt by Herod less than a century before.

Goodman’s lecture, titled “Rome and Jerusalem,” will investigate what brought about this conflict and why, contrary to normal practice and against the reasonable expectations of the Jews, the Roman state would not allow the Jerusalem Temple to be rebuilt, with momentous consequences for the future of the Jews and Judaism.

A reception will follow the lecture, which is sponsored by the Mario and Antoinette Romano Endowment and the Harpur College Dean’s Office. For reservations, call Diane Horvath at 777-4278 or e-mail her at
dmhorv@binghamton.edu.