Description
Book SynopsisIn Israel in Egypt scholars in different fields explore what can be known of the experiences of the many and varied Jewish communities in Egypt, from biblical sources to the medieval world. For generations of Jews from antiquity to the medieval period, the land of Egypt represented both a place of danger to their communal religious identity and also a haven with opportunities for prosperity and growth. A volume of collected essays from scholars in fields ranging from biblical studies and classics to papyrology and archaeology, Israel in Egypt explores what can be known of the experiences of the many and varied Jewish communities in Egypt, from biblical sources to the medieval world.
Table of ContentsIntroduction Ancient Part 1: 750–300 BCE before Alexander 1 Egypt in the Book of Isaiah Hugh G. M. Williamson 2 Arameans and Judaeans: Ethnography and Identity at Elephantine Reinhard G. Kratz Ancient Part 2: 300 BCE–100 CE Qumran and LXX 3 “Egypt” and the Dead Sea Scrolls Dorothy M. Peters 4 Dating and Locating the Septuagint of Proverbs in Its Jewish-Hellenistic Cultural Context Lorenzo G. A. Cuppi 5 “They Did Not Settle in the Land of the Lord: Ephraim Settled in Egypt” (Hos 9:3): Returning to Egypt in the Septuagint and Other Hellenistic Jewish Works Alison Salvesen 6 Hidden and Public Transcript: Jews and Non-Jews in 3 Maccabees Noah Hacham Ancient Part 3: 300 BCE–100 CE Writers and Their Writings 7 Along the Banks of the Egyptian River: Representations of the Nile in Early Jewish Literature Nathalie LaCoste 8 Philo of Alexandria and the Memory of Ptolemy II Philadelphus Sarah Pearce 9 “Pre-eminent in Family and Wealth”: Gaius Julius Alexander and the Alexandrian Jewish Community Gregory E. Sterling 10 The Metaphor of the Plague: Apion and the Image of Egyptians and Jews under Tiberius Livia Capponi Ancient Part 4: 300 BCE–100 CE Archaeology and Evidence 11 The Jewish Presence in Greco-Roman Egypt: The Evidence of the Papyri since the Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum Willy Clarysse 12 The Jews of Apollinopolis Magna/Edfu — a Late-First-Century CE Jewish Community in Upper Egypt Re-examined Margaret Williams Ancient Part 5: 100–400 CE after Trajan 13 Jewish Egypt in the Light of the Risings under Trajan William Horbury 14 Alexandria in the Literary Memory of the Rabbis: The Failure of Cultural Translation and the Textual Powers of Women Galit Hasan-Rokem 15 An Addendum to Bagnall and Cribiore, Women’s Letters from Ancient Egypt: Two Aramaic Letters from Jewish Women Tal Ilan Medieval Part 1: History and Society Introduction to the Medieval Section Mark Cohen 16 Visible Identities: In Search of Egypt’s Jews in Early Islamic Egypt Petra Sijpesteijn 17 From Egypt to Palestine and Back: Links and Channels in Medieval Judaism Miriam Frenkel 18 Mastery, Power, and Competition: Jewish Slave Owners in Medieval Egypt Craig Perry Medieval Part 2: Language and Script 19 On the Graphic Cultures of the beth din: Hebrew Script in Legal Documents from Fustat in the Early Fatimid Period Judith Olszowy-Schlanger 20 Language and Identity in the Cairo Genizah Esther-Miriam Wagner Medieval Part 3: In the Eyes of Poets and Travellers 21 The Mixed Blessings of the Western Wind: Ambiguous Longings in Ha-Levi’s Alexandrian Poems of Welcome and Farewell Yehoshua Granat 22 An Andalusian Poet in the Land of the Pharaohs: Judah al-Ḥarīzī’s Account of His Visit to the Jewish Communities of Egypt (circa 1216) Paul B. Fenton Medieval Part 4: The Image and Concept of Egypt 23 The Concept of Egypt in Medieval Karaite Bible Exegesis Marzena Zawanowska 24 Living in Egypt — a Maimonidean Predicament Joanna Weinberg 25 “In the Wilderness of Their Enemies” — Jewish Attitudes toward the Muslim Space in Light of a Fifteenth-Century Genizah Letter Dotan Arad Index
