Rabbinic Texts and the History of Late-Roman Palestine
Martin Goodman and Philip Alexander
Abstract
This volume brings together studies in the rabbinic literature of late antiquity by specialists in the history of the Jews in that period in order to reveal the value of rabbinic material as historical evidence and to show the problems and issues which arise in its exploitation. An introductory section discusses the current state of knowledge about Palestine in this period and debates the difficulties involved in editing and dating rabbinic texts. Specific core texts and text categories are then introduced to the reader in a series of ten discrete studies. The volume concludes with six themati ... More
This volume brings together studies in the rabbinic literature of late antiquity by specialists in the history of the Jews in that period in order to reveal the value of rabbinic material as historical evidence and to show the problems and issues which arise in its exploitation. An introductory section discusses the current state of knowledge about Palestine in this period and debates the difficulties involved in editing and dating rabbinic texts. Specific core texts and text categories are then introduced to the reader in a series of ten discrete studies. The volume concludes with six thematic analyses which illustrate the use and limitations of rabbinic evidence for cultural, religious, political, economic and social history.
Keywords:
rabbinic literature,
late antiquity,
Jews,
historical evidence,
Palestine,
editing,
dating
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2011 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780197264744 |
Published to British Academy Scholarship Online: January 2012 |
DOI:10.5871/bacad/9780197264744.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Martin Goodman, editor
Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Oxford; Fellow of the British Academy
Philip Alexander, editor
Professor of Post-Biblical Jewish Literature, University of Manchester; Fellow of the British Academy
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