ONLINE EXHIBITION:

Jewish & Other Imperial Cultures in Late
Antiquity
An Online Exhibition from the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies 2007-2008 Fellows at the University of Pennsylvania.

Introduction
This year has been the Center's first sustained focus on Judaism in Antiquity, and we aimed to study in a decidedly interdisciplinary mode. Instead of a year on the rabbis and their world, we have focused instead on the imperial context of which Judaism was but one small piece. How does this perspective change the sort of evidence and questions we bring to this era of seminal transformation in Jewish culture, law, society, art, and practice? The idea has been to foster vibrant reciprocity. Scholars of early Judaism need to be regularly challenged by the data and complexity of Roman history, even, and especially, as Rome became a Christian empire. The group has also pushed Roman history to better take the measure of the vast, but often inaccessible, evidence of one of its own (uniquely vocal) provincial populations - the Jews. The conversation has been extraordinary, and is reechoed in the diversity and range of the fellows convened, several of whom are represented in this exhibit. I hope you enjoy it, and get at least some taste of what has been an extraordinary year. I want to extend my sincere thanks to David Ruderman and the Center for supporting the year, to Arthur Kiron for curating this exhibit, to Greg Bear for the title graphic, to Leslie Vallhonrat for designing the on-line version of the exhibit, and especially to Ra'anan Boustan, Oded Irshai, and Seth Schwartz. These remarkable and generous scholars, through many hours of conversation, came up with the call for this year and were essential in fulfilling its mission.

Natalie Dohrmann

(Heads up, Annette Reed.)