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266 Athenians Athias

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

opinion from the Rabbis. Joshua declared the Rabbis wiser than the Greeks, and promised to prove this to the emperor. Joshua, going to Athens, went to a butcher as he was dressing the head of an animal. " What will you sell your head for? " asked Joshua. When the butcher told him the price, which was agreed to, the rabbi insisted that the butcher had sold his own head. Joshua, however, agreed to cancel the bargain if the butcher would show him the way to the wise men. Now, the wise men had forbidden any one, on penalty of death, to point out where they lived. When the butcher remonstrated that the wise men, surrounded by a strong guard, had given orders to kill any Athenian that should betray their meetingplace, Joshua taught him a trick by which he could signalize the place without being exposed to danger. When Joshua after another trick had' safely passed the guard and surprised the Athenian sages, the contest of wit against wit was undertaken on condition that the defeated party should be left entirely to the mercy of the victor. Joshua, in the first place, had to answer various philosophical questions put to him by the sages. This he did to their satisfaction. They then tried to drive him to bay by proposing riddles to him. Their first question was: "If salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted " (that is, be made fit for use; compare Matt. v. 13)? His answer, " With the afterbirth of a mule, " shows that to an impossible query he had ready an equally impossible answer (compare Ahikar). Joshua won the contest, and then conveyed the wise men on a ship to Hadrian. The emperor delivered them into the hands of Joshua, who poured into a vessel some water taken from a whirlpool and having the peculiar quality of absorbing other water " swallow "}. He then directed the sages to fill (SOT, the vessel, and they proceeded to do so but after wearying themselves vainly in their attempted task, had to give it up in despair (probably an echo of the Danaid myth). In later times, when it was thought impossible that a sacred book like the Talmud should contain anything amusing, much ingenuity was displayed in order to read into these jests a deep and secret

significance.

Besides the commentaries to the Haggadot in the (see Jacob ibn Habib, "En Ya'akob," ed. Wilna, ad loc), there are about a dozen works devoted to the " Sabe de-he Atuna " (elders of Athens). Bibliography: Bacher, in MnnaUseJirift, xix. 68-72; Perles, Wkl. xxii. 02-67 Berliner, &exch. der Juden in Rom, l. 31

Talmud



Dubsch, in He-Halnz, ii. 160, 161 Gratz, in Levy's Neuhehr. Wfirter1mch,iii.4S3h; Gratz, Die Jlldischen Proselyten, p. 28; Rapoport, 'ErelcMilUn, pp. 252, 253; Wiinsche, Die Uilfhselweiaheit hei den Hehrttcru, pp. 39 et seq., pp. 42 et seq.

j.

L. G.

sr.

ATHENS, ANCIENT



The

principal city of

Greece, situated five miles from its seaport, Piraeus, on the Saronic gulf. When, as a result of the Persian wars, Athens attained the hegemony of the eastern Mediterranean, it was already one of the most important commercial cities of antiquity. It retained this commercial supremacy in times of political decay, far into the period of the Roman emperors. Hence numerous foreign merchants did business in

Athens, and some of them settled there, form-

266

ing close corporations which mutually supported each other, and at the same time retained their

The practise of their respective national religions. religions and the building of temples were not permitted in the city of Athens, but these privileges were allowed in the Piroeus. As early as 333 B.C., the Egyptians possessed a temple of Isis there. There, too, permission was given to the Kirieic (merchants from the city of Citium in Cyprus) to build a temple to Aphrodite; and somewhat later the Sidonians erected one to their god, Baal-Sidon (Schurer,

"Gesch." iii. 58). Together with the wealthy Egyptian and Phenician wholesale merchants, many Jews settled in Athens for commercial reasons and organized a community. The residence of Jews in AtFirst Jews tica in general is testified to by Philo in Athens. ('' Legatio ad Cajum," p. 36 ed. ManFrom the Acts of the gey, ii. 587). Apostles (xvii. 17) it is certain that there was a JewAmong the Greek inscripish synagogue in Athens. tions found in Athens are some of Jewish origin. "Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum, " iii. 2, contains

three,

In the

numbered 3545, 3546, and 3547 respectively. first two the seven-branched candlestick is

No. 3545 reads " This is the resting-place mother of Athenaos and Theoktistes " No. 3546 " This is the resting-place of Theodula and Moses"; and No. 3547: " [Jac]ob and Leontius, descendants of Jacob of Csesarea. " This Jacob probably came from Palestine for Csesarea means either Ccesadepicted.



of Eutychia,



The Jews not Stratonis or Csesarea Philippi. only worshiped in their accustomed manner in Athens, but appear to have made proselytes among the heathen population there. Just as the Egyptians and Phenicians successfully introduced their particular cults in Athens, so the Jews gained many adherents in the chief city of Greek culture by their preaching of the spiritual adoration of the one true rea

God who must be without pictorial representation. These "devout persons" (aE/36/jevoi, Acts xvii. 17) joined themselves to the Jewish community as a first step. They attended the Jewish services, but did not observe the Law in its entirety, only obeying certain of the more elementary commands, such as Sabbath-observance and the most important laws of purity.

As

back as the first century B.C., there existed between the authorities of Athens and certain Jewish princes. Among the documents preserved by Josephus is an interesting decree by the people of Athens in favor of the Jewish high priest Hyrcanus (Josephus, '"Ant." xiv. 8, § 5). Omitting the introduction, it reads: far

official relations

"Since Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, high priest and ethnarch of the Jews, continues to hear good-will toward the people [the Athenians] in general and to eaeh one of the citizens in particular, and treats them with great consideration and most kindly welcomes those Athenians Hyrcanus who come before him, either as ambassadors Honored or on their own private affairs, and displays by Athens, thoughtful care concerning the safety of their return now, therefore, having had several former testimonies and on the report of Theodosius [other manuscripts have " Dionysius"], son of Theodoras of Sunium, who has reminded the people of the virtues of this man, and that he has always endeavored to do all the good that lay in his power, be it resolved, that this man be honored with a golden crown according to the law, that a statue of in bronze be

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