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Justinians Novella 146

and Contemporary Judaism


1
Willem F. Smelik
2 Tnr Grrr Scrirrrrs xn rnr Rxnnis
The signicance of Novella 146, perhaps the most notorious of Roman
legal documents on Jews and Judaism, has long been recognised. Issued
on February 8, 553 , in the middle of his failing attempts to reel in the
Monophysites and establish a reconciled Church, shortly after the great
plague, the emperor addressed the Novella to the Praefectus Praetorio of
the East, Aerobindus.
1
The Novella regulates the use of liturgical languages
in the synagogue service and sets out the punishments to be meted out to
anyone who dees the principle of free language selection. Justinian has
learnt fromtheir ownpetitions that some Jews insisted uponthe exclusive
use of the Hebrew language in reading the Scriptures, whereas others
consider it right to use Greek as well.
2
On the face of it, the Novella thus
reects a turning point in reading practices when advocates of the Hebrew
language opposed the scriptural recitation in Greek, posibly following
the increase of rabbinic inuence upon Diaspora Judaism. Accordingly,
0
I am particularly grateful to Alison Salvesen for the meticulous organisation of
the ESAJS seminar at Oxford University, her kind invitation to participate, and to all
participants for their congenial and stimulating contributions. I am no less grateful to
Nicholas de Lange for his many helpful remarks and suggestions on an earlier version
of this article in a paper which I gave at the Hebrew, Jewish and Early Christian Studies
Seminar, University of Cambridge, 12 May 2008. Finally, I greatly benetted from further
comments oered by Bernard Stolte, Simon Corcoran and Sacha Stern on a draft of this
article. Finally, thanks are due to T.M. Lawfor all his eorts in editing the various versions
of the article I sent to him. Needless to add, only the errors are entirely mine.
The Greek text of the Novellae is cited after R. Schll and W. Kroll, Corpus Iuris Civilis.
III. Novellae (Berlin: Weidmann, 1895). For the translation, see A. Linder, The Jews in
Roman Imperial Legislation (Detroit & Jerusalem: Wayne State University Press and The
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1987), pp. 402-11. The translation of Nov.
146 quoted, here and below, is based on that of Linder, with some adaptations; see
further J. Parkes, The Conict of the Church and the Synagogue (New York: World Publishing,
1961), pp. 392-93; Fred H. Blume, Annotated Justinian Code (University of Wyoming,
http:uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/blume&justinian/default.asp). Cf. S.P. Scott, The Civil Law. XVI-
XVII. The New Constitutions of Justinian (Cincinnati: The Central Trust Company, 1932).
1
The quaestor (the emperor's legal draftsman, see A.M. Honor, Some Constitutions
Composed by Justinian, Journal of Roman Studies 65 (1975), pp. 107-123 [107]) of Novella
146 is identied as Constantinus, who took part in the Council of Constantinople
a few months later; see T. Honor, Tribonian (London: Duckworth, 1978), pp. 240-2;
A.H.M. Jones, J.R. Martindale and J. Morris (eds.), Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 19711992), III, Constantinus 4; R. Price, The
Acts of the Council of Constantinople of 553 (2 vols; Translated Texts for Historians, 51;
Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2009).
2
On the translation of !"#"$"%&'()*( as use, see below.
Jsriixs Novriix 146 s Corrrorxr. Jnxis 3
the Novella has long been hailed as crucial evidence for the changes in
liturgical reading practices among Diaspora Jews.
3
Lately this scenario has come under renewed scrutiny because the
Novella is not just about liturgical language selection. Comprised of a
preamble, three chapters and an epilogue, this Novella is also about too
literal Jewish interpretation of the Scriptures and evil Jewish commen-
tators. It contains the following three prohibitions: exclusive recitation
in Hebrew which relies on Jewish commentators to convey its meaning
to the masses, the +),-.#/0*1a common designation of the Mishna in
patristic literature and, by extension, of the Oral Tora,
4
and the denial of
the resurrection, the last judgment and God's creation of angels. Finally,
the Novella concludes with the hope that access to the Holy Books will
open the eyes of those who err in clinging to their Jewish religion and
with the penalties to be imposed on those who stand in the way of the
law's implementation. Every reading ultimately must explain the Novella's
self-expressed context of an inner-Jewish debate in view of its attack
on the evil of Jewish commentators, the Mishna or Oral Tora, and the
condemnation of the so-called Sadducean denial of the last judgment,
the resurrection and angelic beingsalthough rabbinic Judaism, if indeed
3
J. Juster, Les Juifs dans lEmpire Romaine: leur condition juridique, economique, sociale (2
vols; Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1914), II, pp. 369-77 (369); V. Colorni, Luso del greco mella
liturgia del giudaismo ellenistico e la novella 146 di Giustiniano, Annali di Storia del Diritto,
8 (1964), pp. 1980; Linder, Jews in Roman Imperial Legislation, pp. 403-404; K. Treu, Die
Bedeutung des Griechischen fr die Juden im rmischen Reich, Kairos 15 (1973), pp.
12344; S. Simonsohn, The Hebrew Revival among Early Medieval European Jews in
S. Lieberman (ed.), Salo Baron Jubilee Volume on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (3
vols.; Jerusalem: American Academy for Jewish Research, 1974), II, pp. 83158; A. Rabello,
Giustiniano, Ebrei, Samaritani: Al la luce del le fonti storico-letterarie, ecclestiastiche e giuridiche
(Milan: Giur, 1988), II, pp. 814-28; P. Schfer, Geschichte der Juden in der Antike: Die
Juden Palstinas von Alexander dem Groen bis zur arabischen Eroberung (Stuttgart: Verlag
Katholisches Bibelwerk and Neukirchener Verlag, 1983), pp. 205-206; P. Gray, Palestine
and Justinians Legislation on Non-Christian Religions, in B. Halpern and D. Hobson
(eds.), Law, politics and Society in the Ancient Mediterranean World (Sheeld: Sheeld
Academic Press, 1993), pp. 24170 (264-68); N. de Lange, Prier et tudier Byzance, REJ
158 (1999), pp. 5159. Contrast L. Zunz, Die gottesdienstlichen Vortrge der Juden historisch
entwickelt (Frankfurt: J. Kaufmann, 2nd edn, 1892), p. 11.
4
Juster, Les Juifs dans lEmpire Romaine, I, pp. 372-74; A.I. Baumgarten, Justinian and
the Jews, in L. Landman (ed.), Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein Memorial Volume (New York: Ktav,
1980), pp. 3744 (38).
4 Tnr Grrr Scrirrrrs xn rnr Rxnnis
rabbinic Judaismwas intended in the Novella, is not known to have denied
any of these.
The modern reception of the Novella shows an ongoing struggle to
align the various aspects of the Novella in a coherent reading. Scholars
disagree on virtually every aspect of the Novella: the identity of those
who initiated the dispute, the context of the controversy, and Justinians
objectives. Above all the unhinged nature of the Novella always required
explanation where Justianian ventures into vehement criticism of Jewish
practices and beliefs. Krauss, for example, harmonised the disparate el-
ements of the Novella by shifting the focus of Justinian's ire from the
synagogue to the seat of rabbinic learning, the academy, where the emperor
would have attempted to prohibit the Mishna. The focus on the synagogue
was a clerical mistake in his opinion.
5
While his interpretaion failed to
convince, it demonstrates the problem of interpreting the Novella in a
coherent way.
An early answer to the problem relates the unbalanced composition
of the Novella to Justinians religious fervour. In this view, Justinian
addressed a controversy about the exclusive use of Hebrew (or Greek) as
the language of reading the Tora in the Byzantine Diaspora, while simul-
taneously seizing the opportunity to address other issues the Christianem-
peror had with Judaism.
6
The Preamble sets out the petitions to Justinian,
Chapter One his decree, Chapter Two details further prohibitions, Chapter
Three an expression of hope that access to the Scriptures in ones native
tongue contributes to choosing what is better, and an epilogue once more
setting out the punishments for those who defy God and Empire. It is not
implausible to maintain that the Novella has the permissable languages
for the Scriptures as a trigger for legislation, with a set of subsidiary or
supplementary objectives following from his Christian faith. It is true
that those prohibitions and exhortations which are unrelated to liturgical
languages do not receive a mention in the preamble. On the other hand,
there is the opening exhortation that the Hebrews are not to stick to
the bare letters (%2 3*$451 !#40-)-67.("* -451 8#'%%"0*(, p. 714 ll. 15-
16). Along these lines, the somewhat unhinged nature of the Novella is
the result of the emperors dislike of Jewish literalism. The main goal
5
S. Krauss, Studienzur ByzantischJdischenGeschichte, Jahresbericht der Israelitisch-
Theologischen Lehranstalt 21 (1914), pp. 60-62.
6
Juster, Les Juifs dans lEmpire Romaine, I, p. 369.
Jsriixs Novriix 146 s Corrrorxr. Jnxis 5
is the appropriate use of language for the Scriptures, but frequently the
facilitationof conversionto Christianity is identiedas a secondobjective.
7
In recent years some scholars promoted the second objective to the
primary one, in part because of the references to Jews grasping the true
meaning of the prophecies, inpart because a newsensitivity tothe hermeneu-
tic character of the Novella raised questions about the Novellas socio-
historical accuracy. After all, the Novella would not seem to portray Jews as
they might have been observed, reecting their concerns, discussions and
behaviour, but rather as they were perceived by their Christian opponents.
For Veltri, the question whether Greek is permissible in the synagogue
is a pretext to facilitate the conversion to Christianity, focusing on the
prohibition of rabbinic teaching. There never was a Jewish petition to
Justinian. The severe penalties against those who deny the resurrection
or the judgment, or the work of God, or that angels are part of creation in
the second chapter are literary topoi which reect the Christian perception
of Jews as informed by the New Testament rather than religious tenets
of Byzantine Jewry. Justinian's aim, in his view, was to facilicitate the
conversion of the Jews by removing the barrier of Jewish interpretation.
Most of this has little to nothing to do with the public reading of the Tora
or even with contemporary Judaism. Either the purport of the Novella is
rooted in the JewishChristian debate, or alternatively the Novella's facts
are fabricated in support of the emperor's own objectives. As such, his
references to Jewish practices and beliefs are hermeneutical.
8
But even on
7
So, e.g., M. Avi-Yonah, Geschichte der Juden im Zeitalter der Talmud (Berlin, 1962), pp.
246-56; A. Sharf, Byzantine Jewry from Justinian to the Fourth Crusade (New York, 1971), pp.
24-25; H. Schreckenberg, Die christlichen AdversusJudaeosTexte und ihr literarisches und
historisches Umfeld (1.11. Jh) (Europische Hochschulschriften, 23; Frankfurt am Main:
Peter Lang, 3rd edn, 1995), pp. 413-14; G. Veltri, Die Novelle 146 9)#* :&#"*/(: Das Verbot
des Targumsvortrags in Justinians Politik, in M. Hengel and A.M. Schwemer (eds.), Die
Septuaginta zwischen Judentum und Christentum (WUNT, 72; Tbingen: J.C.B. Mohr,
1994), pp. 116-30 (123); C. Barber, The Truth in Painting: Iconoclasmand Identity in Early-
Medieval Art, Speculum 72 (1997), pp. 10191036 (1034-35).
8
Veltri, Die Novelle 146, p. 118; L.V. Rutgers, Justinian's Novella 146 Between Jews
and Christians, in R. Kalmin and S. Schwartz (eds.), Jewish Culture and Society under the
Christian Roman Empire (Leuven: Peeters, 2003), pp. 385-407. For hermeneutic Jews in Late
Antique literature, see J. Lieu, Image and Reality: The Jews in the World of the Christians in
the Second Century (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1996); P. Fredriksen, Augustine and the Jews: A
Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism (New York: Doubleday, 2008).
6 Tnr Grrr Scrirrrrs xn rnr Rxnnis
the assumption that the Jews are straw men in the Novella, the problem of
its structure remains unsolved.
In this article I suggest that the Novellas structure becomes more
transparent and balanced when it is considered as Justinians legal re-
sponse to two Jewish parties with conicting claims and beliefs. Central to
this viewis the recognition that the second chapter addresses non-rabbinic
but contemporary Jewish beliefs and that Justinian addresses the claims
and accusations of repulsive interpretations and beliefs of both parties
who petition him. I will oer an interpretation which inexhaustively
appreciates the legal terminology of the Novella in the light of the other
Novellae, briey focuses on the nature of the conict about language and
nally reconsiders the second chapter of the Novella.
Novella 146 as a Novella
Since Justinian combined imperial with Christian authority, he rst de-
nes his position in legal and, whenever relevant, religious terms in the
prefaces to the Novellae.
9
An innovative emperor, he viewed legislation as
his God-given tool for mending legal or administrative inadequacies and
imposing religious orthodoxy on his subjects.
10
The tone is set immedi-
ately with the opening remark:
It was right and proper that the Hebrews (;&#"<4,1), when listening to the
Holy Books, should not stick to the bare letters (3*$451 !#40-)-67.("* -451
8#'%%"0*() but look for the prophecies contained in them, through which
they announce the Great God and the Saviour of the humanrace, Jesus Christ.
Such insistence on non-literal readings is not unique for this Novella. In
the preface of Nov. 97, he addresses nuptial contracts and malpractice,
rejecting the notion that equality is to be sought in words and bare letters
alone (=( >6%"-<4*1 %?(4*1 7"@ 8#'%%"0* 3*$451) and not in the things
themselves.
11
In his Digests Justinian directs his ire at literal interpre-
tations of a legal nature with a vocabulary that does not discriminate
9
Cf. the opening of Nov. 140: A'%4, 0)%(?-)#4( B(C#D!4*1 4E+.( =0-*(, =F 4G !"5+)1
7"@ -H( =I)FJ1 8)(H( +*"+4K"@ K/#</( There is nothing more honorable among men
than marriage, from which spring children and remoter descendants... (p. 701 ll. 16-18).
10
M. Maas, Roman History and Christian Ideology in Justinianic ReformLegislation,
Dumbarton Oaks Papers 40 (1986), pp. 1731 (29-31).
11
Nov. 97, p. 469 l. 36. For 8#'%%"0* 3*$451, cf. 3*$451 !#40-)-67.("* -451 8#'%%"0*(
(Nov. 146, p. 714 l. 15) and 3*$451 +L !#40.K)*( -451 8#'%%"0*( (Nov. 146, p. 717 ll. 7-8).
Jsriixs Novriix 146 s Corrrorxr. Jnxis 7
between misleading jurists and Jewish interpreters.
12
In Nov. 146's preface,
the prophecies announce Jesus who fullled them, and if only the Jews
abandoned their literalism, they too would come to reason. For Justinian,
the greater good of recognizing the Saviour is inextricably linked to the
issue about scriptural translation that follows. Translation is the road to
understanding the Scriptures, which should go beyond the naked letter
to encompass the more divine sense.
13
From his perspective, there is no
discrepancy between the language selection of scriptural recitation and the
evil of the commentators.
The prefaces tend to open with a brief description of a case or issue,
and may refer to requests, petitions or supplications (!#40.$),0*1 and
M7)-)N/) which parties addressed to Justinian wherever relevant.
14
In the
reform novels, written during the time that Tribonian served as Justinian's
quaestor,
15
the novels are characterised by their long historical prefaces,
but the later ones do not refer to antiquity and simply refer to petitions as
the cause for the new law.
16
In this relatively late law, the emperor descibes
a fault-line within the Jewish communities with petitions as his source of
information (146, pp. 714-15):
12
E. Klingenberg, Justinians Novellae Concerning the Jews, in E. Goldman (ed.), The
Jerusalem 1994 Conference Volume (Jewish Law Association Studies, 8; Atlanta: Scholars
Press, 1996), pp. 7999 (97-99), referring (among other things) to Justinian's Digest, 1.3 and
the quotation of Celsus: Scire leges non est verba earum tenere, sed vim ac potestatem.
13
Nov. 146.3 (p. 717 ll. 7-9).
14
For the use of !#40.$),0*1, see I.G. Archi and A.M.B. Colombo, Legum Iustiniani
imperatoris vocabularium Novellae Pars Graeca (11 vols.; Milano: Cisalpino-La Goliardica,
19771989), VI, pp. 2899-2900. I. Avotins, On the Greek of the Novels of Justinian: A Supplement
to Liddell-Scott-Jones Together with Observations on the Inuence of Latin on Legal Greek
(Altertumswissenschaftliche Texte und Studien, 21; Hildesheim: OlmsWeidman, 1992),
p. 184 provides the legal meaning entrance upon an inheritance, its acceptance in
addition to those listed by Liddell, Scott and Jones. For petitions generally, see D. Feissel
and J. Gascou (eds.), La ptition Byzance (Centre de Recherche d'Histoire et Civilisation
de Byzance, Monographies, 14; Paris: Association des Amis du Centre d'Histoire et
Civilisation de Byzance, 2004).
For M7)-)N/, which occurs nine times, six of which in prefaces, see Nov. 2 pref. (p. 10 l.
24); 6 pref. (p. 36 l. 4); 30.9 (p. 232 l. 30); 83 pref. (p. 410 l. 11); 106 pref. (p. 508 l. 1); 133.2 (p.
669 l. 9); 139 pref. (p. 700 l. 18). See also -"51 -) -H( +)4%.(/( M7)-)<"*1 (10; p. 93 l. 33); for
M7)-)O" see 10 pref. (p. 92 l. 21) and epilogue as above; 18 (p. 130 l. 35); 133 pref. (p. 666 l. 17).
15
T. Honor, Tribonian (London: Duckworth, 1978), pp. 47-48, 57-58, 236-37.
16
Maas, Roman History and Christian Ideology, pp. 1731. For legal prefaces, see also
G. Ries, Prolog und Epilog in Gesetzen des Altertums (Munich: C.H. Beck, 1983).
8 Tnr Grrr Scrirrrrs xn rnr Rxnnis
However, although they have erred from the right doctrine till today, given as
they are to senseless interpretations, when we learnt that they dispute among
themselves we could not bear to leave them with an unresolved controversy.
We have learnt from their petitions, which they have addressed to us, that
while some hold on to the Hebrew language alone and want to use it in
reading the Holy Books others consider it right to admit Greek as well, and
they have already been quarreling among themselves about this for a long
time.
Justinian was an active legislator who did not like to leave things un-
resolved.
17
He acted as the nal court of appeal, but appeals could also
be addressed to him directly, in circumvention of the lower courts.
18
References to disputes between parties by the verb B%I*0&6-./, which
more than once triggered Justinian's legislative action, are a common
feature in the Novellae.
19
So too is the image of the benign emperor who,
tirelessly working for the greater wellfare of his subjects,
20
cannot bear to
leave them with an unresolved controversy, which is comparable to the
following words of Novella 82:
These considerations have rightly moved us to enact the present law, since we
consider the interests of our subjects and desire that legal conicts be decided
quickly and without delay.
21
17
Keenly aware of the inadequacy of previous laws, the Novellae reformmany previous
laws or address legal uncertainties. See, e.g., Nov. 73 Ch. 1 concerning safe deposits which
are only safeguarded by writing, the authenticity of which may be challenged and could
render the dispute undecided (B7#O-4,, cf. Nov. 146, Pref., p. 714 l. 22); witnesses, however,
could verify the authenticity of the document in question.
18
Gray, Palestine and Justinians Legislation, p. 269. This applies in general to all
Roman emperors, starting from Augustus. See F. Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World
(London: Duckworth, 1992).
19
See for example Nov. 73, Pref. and Epilogue (p. 364 l. 29; p. 369 l. 32); for further
examples, see Archi and Colombo, Novellae Pars Graeca, I, pp. 120-21; G. Lanata, Aliud
vates, aliud interpres: La Novella 146 de Giustuniano, i settanta, Aquila, in J.H.A. Lokin
and B.H. Stolte (eds.), Novella constitutio: Studies in Honour of Nicolaas van der Wal (Subseciva
Groningana, 4; Groningen: Egbert Forsten and Het Groningsch Rechthistorisch Fonds,
1990), pp. 117-30 (120).
20
See Nov. 78 pref. P!)*+2 +L B)< -* 7#)5--4( !)#@ -H( Q%)-.#/( R!67?/( &4,$),?%)(4*
Since we always think of improving the condition of our subjects (p. 384 ll. 3-6).
21
See Nov. 82: -"S-" Q%T1 )U7?-/1 )U1 -V( !"#?(-" (?%4( B(.0-60) -H( Q%)-.#/(
R!67?/( 76+4%.(4,1 7"@ &4,$4%.(4,1 "E-451 7"@ -W =!@ -"51 +<7"*1 )X74$' -) )Y("* 7"@
>Z+*" 7"@ K/#@1 [!'061 B("&4$J1 +*"$\)0C"* (p. 401 ll. 12-16).
Jsriixs Novriix 146 s Corrrorxr. Jnxis 9
That such self-representations involve some grandstanding is obvious, but
would Justinian go so far as to invent a legal conict to justify his decree?
In recent years it has been called into question whether Novella 146 is
one of the genuine legislative responses to issues that were brought to
Justinians attention, for the simple reason that it would seem counter-
intuitive for Jews to have ever petitioned Justinian.
22
The truth is that
such generalisations carry little value. Since records of proceedings were
not kept, we have no means to verify actual Jewish use of petitions and
litigation through the State courts, but the possibility cannot be ruled
out. In the previous century, Jews petitioned Theodosius II and gained
the favourable imperial decision of April 9, 423 , which banned the
occupation and burning of synagogues.
23
Following Justinian's Code of
534 , Jews had to go to the State courts in any litigation including
those that concern their superstition unless both parties involved in civil
aairs agreed to accept inner-Jewish arbitration.
24
Regardless of the much-
disputed ambiguity of this revision of the Code of Theodosian, the State
could get involved if inner-Jewish arbitration had failed, as the preface
suggests, with possible conicts about positions, ownership of community
facilities and the like as a consequence.
22
Veltri (Die Novelle 146, pp. 117, 122), followed by Rutgers (Justinian's Novella 146,
p. 388), argued that it is inconceivable that any Jew would have approached Justinian.
See also A. Scharf, Byzantine Jewry from Justinian to the Fourth Crusade (New York:
Schocken Books, 1971), pp. 24-25; Lanata, Aliud vates, aliud interpres, p. 120. In a similar
disadvantageous position, as W. Horbury mentioned to me, Christians sent petitions to
the emperor before the reign of Constantine.
23
Codex Theodosianus 16.8.26; Linder, Jews in Roman Imperial Legislation, p. 291.
24
Cod. Just. 1.9.8, revising Cod. Theod. 2.1.10; the former omits the word non in its
revision of the latter law, and consequently no longer excludes religious litigation from
the courts. Juster considers the omission a scribal error; others do not. The problem with
the omission of non is the law's explicit recognition of Jewish courts. See Linder, Jews
in Roman Imperial legislation, pp. 204-207; C. Brewer, The Status of the Jews in Roman
Legislation: The Reign of Justinian 527-565 CE, European Judaism 38 (2005), pp. 127139
(132-33).
10 Tnr Grrr Scrirrrrs xn rnr Rxnnis
Justinians Novellae frequently include the expression we learnt.
25
In
the context of the Novellae, and its frequent occurrences in the prefaces,
26
%"(C'(/ learn has a legal connotation,
27
as knowledge acquired in the
process of responsive legislation although not necessarily through any
formal judicial process, the result of which may be indicated by the verb
)R#O07/, while a decision is frequently indicated by 7#O(/. The summary
of the issue at hand is ostensibly derived from the petitions addressed
to him. Justinian's prefaces do sometimes invent or use historical data
selectively as a precedent for present legislation,
28
to conceal the innovative
nature of his legislation behind the references to antiquity, but there is
no similar evidence for contrived controversies in the prefaces. Nor is the
information concerning the language selection in scriptural recitation a
topic in the JewishChristian debate which the emperor evidently bor-
rowed from elsewhere. The reference to the use of Aquila's translation,
which was favoured by Palestinian rabbis, and widely used by Byzantine
Jewry for many centuries to come,
29
reinforces the impression that he had
information at his disposal. The Novellas conformation to legal language
25
See, e.g., Nov. 157, pref. (p. 733 ll. 19-20): P7 -H( )U1 Q%T1 +*"I?#/1 B(6()8%.(/(
!$6%%)$)50C"< -* 7"-W -2( %.06( -H( !4-"%H( 7"@ !#?1 8) -2( ]0#46(2( =!"#K<"(
=%'C4%)( -H( Q%)-.#/( B('F*4( K#?(/( We have learnt from reports made to us in
various ways that wrongs unworthy of our times are committed in Mesopotamia and
Osroena. The verb 8*8(^07/would seemto be synonymous with %"(C'(/. For _8(/%)(,
see Nov. 7 (p. 61 l. 12); 14 pref. (p. 106 l. 2); 32 pref. (p. 240 l. 2); 40 (p. 259 l. 9); 55 pref. (p. 309
ll. 7-8); 66 (p. 341 l. 31); 75 pref. (p. 379 l. 14); 82 (p. 406 l. 29); 87 pref. (p. 423 l. 17); 110, I (p. 520
l. 20), etc. A variant phrase is: `$C)( )U1 8(H0*( -J1 Q%)-.#"1 8"$6(?-6-41 It has come to
the notice of our Serenity (Nov. 115 Pref., p. 534 ll. 30-31).
26
See Archi and Colombo, Novellae Pars Graeca, IV, pp. 1650-51.
27
See the preface of Nov. 88 (p. 425 ll. 21-25): a<761 _("8K41 B7#4/%.(/( Q%H(
(-4S-4 b!)# =!@ -H( &"0*$)</( +6%40<c 7"Cd%)(4* !4$$'7*1 !#'--4%)() B()I\6 -*1
ed-60*1. f( +*)$\0"%)( "E-<7" -4*"S-"+L %"C?(-)1 =!*0,%&"<()*( !4$$W74*(g7"@ 8)(*7g
(?%h +*4#<0"* -"S-" +<7"*4( R!)$'&4%)(. This word does not occur in Avotins, On
the Greek of the Novels or in Idem, On the Greek of the Code of Justinian: A Supplement
to Liddell-Scott-Jones Together with Observations on the Inuence of Latin on Legal Greek
(Altertumswissenschaftliche Texte und Studien, 17; Hildesheim: OlmsWeidman, 1989).
For a selection of additional examples, see Nov. 3 pref. (p. 19 l. 9); 7 pref. (p. 51 l. 21); 26.3.1
(p. 206 ll. 22 and 30); 61 pref. (p. 329 ll. 24-25); 79 pref. (p. 388 l. 7); 137 pref. (p. 695 l. 13); 145
pref. (p. 711 l. 23).
28
Maas, Roman History and Christian ideology, p. 24.
29
N. de Lange, The Hebrew Language in the European Diaspora, Te!uda 12 (1996), pp.
111-37 (133).
Jsriixs Novriix 146 s Corrrorxr. Jnxis 11
and Justinians explicit references to the reasons for legislation, whether
suggestions from ocials around him or petitions from his subjects,
does not preclude the possibility that the controversy and petition of the
preamble have been invented for the occasion, but it renders the notion of
a wholesale fabrication less self-evident.
The Parties in the Conict
The petitions of the preamble suggest that more than one Jewish party
was involved,
30
but otherwise the text gives little away about the identity of
those who addressed Justinian. No location or name is given beyond the
appellation ;&#"541 Hebrew(s), which occurs six times in this decree,
31
but only once in the remainder of the Novellae.
32
The adjective :&#"i+)1
occurs twice and only in Novella 146.
33
The noun may have been used as a
mere synonym of j4,+"5k1, which is customary in Justinian's Codex, but
occurs in only two of the Novellae,
34
while the adjective j4,+"l7k1 occurs
in three.
35
Nowthe meaning of Jew and Jewish is as problematic as that of
Hebrew.
36
Even if the term Hebrews, as argued by some, carried subtle
connotations of geographical provenance, religious orientation (towards
the rabbinic Judaism) or language selection,
37
and even if we would restrict
such connotations to certain times or sources, it should be observed that
in Novella 146 both factions among the Jews are addressed as Hebrews,
30
a* "E-H( 8W# -H( !#40)(6()8%.(/( Q%5( !#40)$)\0)/( =%'C4%)(, with Hebrews
as antecedent.
31
Nov. 146 pp. 714 ll. 7, 14; 715 ll. 14, 15; 717 ll. 3, 28.
32
Nov. 139, preface, p. 700 l. 15: -4m1 B!V n*(+\41 -J1 7D%61 7"@ -4m1 ;&#"<4,1 -J1 -H(
o,#</( the inhabitants of the village of Syndya and the Jews in Tyre.
33
Nov. 146, pp. 715 ll. 3, 23.
34
Nov. 45 (p. 277, ll. 16 and 30) and 131 (p. 663 ll. 12 and 18).
35
Nov. 103 (p. 497 l. 2); 109 pref. (p. 517 l. 28); 115 (p. 541 l. 30).
36
H. Solin, Juden und Syrer im westlichen Teil der rmischen Welt, ANRW II 29, 2
(1983), pp. 647-51. Contrast R.S. Kraemer, On the Meaning of the Term Jew in Graeco-
Roman Inscriptions, HTR 82 (1989), pp. 3543, on which see Van der Horst, Ancient
Jewish Epitaphs, pp. 68-70. See also A.T. Kraabel, The Roman Diaspora: Six Questionable
Assumptions, JJS 33 (1982), pp. 445 64.
37
D. Noy, Jewish Inscriptions of Western Europe. II (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1995), p. 12; G. Harvey, The True Israel: Uses of the Names Jew, Hebrew, and Israel in
Ancient Jewish and Early Christian Literature (AGJU, 35; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996), pp. 267-73;
idem, Synagogues of the Hebrews: Good Jews in the Diaspora, in S. Jones and S. Pearce
(eds.), Jewish Local Patriotism and Self-Identication in the Graeco-Roman Period (Sheeld:
Sheeld Academic Press, 1998), pp. 13247 (135).
12 Tnr Grrr Scrirrrrs xn rnr Rxnnis
which resolutely undercuts any specic connotation for the termHebrew
as a party of linguistic or religious preference in this context.
38
The Novella refers three times to liturgical language preferences, twice
in the preface and once in the ocial decree of the rst chapter. The
conict centers on the use of Hebrew versus Greek, but its mono- or
bilingual nature remains vague: is the conict about Hebrewversus Greek,
or Hebrew versus Hebrew and Greek? We do know that the Novella still
presumes a Hebrewreading practice, whether or not universal in character,
thus ruling out the oft-repeated opinion that Justinian prohibits the use
of Hebrew altogether. Admittedly, an anonymous synopsis of the Novels
produced in the ninth or tenth century suggests as much, but the more
contemporary sixth-century abridgement of the Novels by Theodoros
Hermopolitanus calls for a bilingual reading practice in which the Hebrew
recitation should be followed by a translation into Greek or any other
vernacular.
39
The Epitome by Athanasios of Emesa, compiled between 572
and 577 , refers to a recitation in Greek or any other language alongside
Hebrew (!"#W -2( p&#"l72(),
40
which could impy a bilingual practice, but
as it follows the summary that the Jews (;&#"<4*1) are permitted to read
the Holy Scriptures as they wish in Greek, Latin or any other language
commoninany place, it would seemto convey that any language is allowed
in addition to Hebrew, hence imply a monolingual practice that varies
from place to place.
The Novella does not permit any rm conclusion about the monolin-
gual or bilingual nature of the reading practice Justinian prescribed. On
the one hand, the verb !"#"$"%&q()*(, used for Greek in this connection,
does not mean to addwhich would imply a bilingual practicebut
to use.
41
The same verb is used when Justinian decrees that there shall
38
Pace Rutgers, Justinian's Novella 146, p. 399: Hebrews were not just Jews. They were
Jews who knew Hebrew.
39
A. Linder, The Jews in the Legal Sources of the Early Middle Ages (Detroit: Wayne State
University Press, 1997), pp. 154, 32.
40
D. Simon und Sp. Troianos (eds.), Das Novellensyntagma des Athanasios von Emesa
(Frankfurt am Main: Lowenklau-Gesellschaft, 1993), p. 130 (3.5); see also n. 69 above.
41
Colorni, Luso del greco, p. 51 n. 222, followed by Lanata, Aliud vates, aliud
interpres, p. 121. See Nov. 146, p. 715 ll. 2-5 and ll. 7-12. The possibility of reciting a Hebrew
text translitterated into Greek characters, as Rabello mentions (Rabello, Giustiniano, Ebrei,
Samaritani, p. 816, must be deemed unlikely in the context of hearers (-451 B74\4,0*()
which imply an oral delivery, not a script of writing (p. 715 ll. 7-12).
Jsriixs Novriix 146 s Corrrorxr. Jnxis 13
be no license to the commentators which they have, who employ the
Hebrew language alone to falsify it at their will: %k(6( -2( :&#"i+"
!"#"$"%&q(4,0*. Consequently, the verb does not imply a bilingual read-
ing practice. On the other hand, Codex Marcianus reads !#40$"%&q()*( to
add instead, a reading the editors of the Novellae have not deemed original
at this point. Both the Latin translation of the Authenticum and Codex
Laurentianus, which is otherwise considered less authoritative than Codex
Marcianus, support the former reading.
42
Still, the existence of the reading
!#40$"%&q()*( suggests that the Novella was understood by some to refer
to a bilingual practice, as did Theodoros Hermopolitanus. Moreover, the
Novella refers to the wish of the Greek-speaking Jews to use Greek as well
(4M +L 7"@ -2( p$$6(<+" !"#"$"%&'()*( BF*4S0*),
43
which would seem to
preclude a monolingual Greek recitation unless we assume that 7"@ means
indeed at this point.
44
This variation in textual history and reception history should not be
neutralised too easily. Even if Justinian would seem to refer to a bilingual
preference, that only follows if a single community is in view. Were
Justinians objectives to transcend any particular local conict, as well
may point to practices that vary from community to community, hence
suggest practices that vary between monolingual and bilingual readings.
There is in fact support for such variety in the Novella, for Justinian
explicitly orders to change the language according to context when he
permits the use of Greek, or Italian, or simply all the other languages,
changing language and reading according to the dierent places (r 7"@
-H( s$$/( [!$H1, -451 -?!4*1 0,%%)-"&"$$4%.(61 -J1 8$D--61 7"@ -J1
+* "E-J1 B("8(D0)/1).
45
Accordingly, the Novella neither prohibits nor
prescribes a bilingual practice.
42
See Lanata, Aliud vates, aliud interpres, pp. 121-22; edn. Schll and Kroll, p.
715 l. 5. For an account of the textual history of the Novellae, see T.G. Kearley,
The Creation and Transmission of Justinians Novels, Law Library Journal 102 (2010),
pp. 377-97. The Authenticum reads tradere, which is typical for its 7"-W !k+"1
style of translation and almost certainly reects the reading !"#"$"%&'()*(; for the
Authenticum's translation strategy, see H.J. Scheltema, 'Subseciva XI: Das Athenticum',
Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 31 (1963), pp. 275-279; Idem, Opera minora ad iuris historiam
pertinentia (Groningen: Chimaira, 2004).
43
Contrast the qualications %?(61 and %k(6( for the Hebrew-speaking Jews.
44
So De Lange, The Hebrew Language, p. 134.
45
P. 715 ll. 13-21.
14 Tnr Grrr Scrirrrrs xn rnr Rxnnis
The novel describes the preference for Hebrew among some Jews in
terms that suggest Hebrew was more than a scriptural language: some
hold on to the Hebrew language alone and want to use it for the reading
of the Holy Books.
46
This description is not a tautology, but contains two
complementary clauses in contrast to that of their opponents: others are
of the opinion that Greek may also be used.
47
Discounting the notion
that they stuck to Hebrew as a vernacular, Hebrew apparently had an
enshrined status as the language of the liturgy. Where might this have
been the case, and where might it have been opposed by Greek-speaking
Jews? The situation can reasonably be envisaged for both the Diaspora and
Palestine. Because the novel is addressed to the praetorian prefect of the
East, the law applies to a wide geographical area that spans the Eastern
Balkans, Asia Minor and the Levantine including Palestine. Although
Hebrew lost ground as a vernacular almost everywhere in the second
century, it underwent a revival as a learned and liturgical language.
48
As a
liturgical and academic language, Hebrew was to last in the long term but,
unsurprisingly, the revival came with jolts and tugs, as is evident from the
appearance and disappearance of Hebrew inscriptions in Southern Italy
during the rst millennium .
49
In Egypt, Hebrew papyri appear from
the beginning of the fth c. in a cultural revolution among Jews in the
Diaspora.
50
Hebrew eventually made inroads in the Byzantine heartland
as well, but our evidence unfortunately dates from a later period, and we
know next to nothing about the use of Hebrew in Asia Minor around this
time.
51
If waxing rabbinic inuence, or if not specically rabbinic, a more
widely sustained process of Hebraisation stand behind the Novella, the
original conict could have been anywhere in the realm. Justinian refers
46
P. 715 ll. 2-5: 4M %L( %?(61 _K4(-"* -J1 .&#"i+41 I/(J1 7"@ "E-t 7)K#J0C"* !)#@ -2(
-H( M)#H( &*&$O/( B(q8(/0*( &4N$4(-"*.
47
P. 715 l. 5: 4M +L 7"@ -J( p$$6(O+" !"#"$"%&q()*( BF*4S0*.
48
N. de Lange, The Revival of the Hebrew Language in the Third Century , JSQ 3
(1996), pp. 34258.
49
See M. Williams, The Jews of Early Byzantine Venusia: The family of Faustinus I,
the Father, JJS 50 (1999), pp. 3852.
50
V. Tcherikover, Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum (3 vols.; Cambridge, MA: Magnes Press,
Hebrew University, and Harvard University Press, 19571963), vol. I, p. 102.
51
N. de Lange, AThousandYears of HebrewinByzantium, inW. Horbury (ed.), Hebrew
Study from Ezra to Ben-Yehuda (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1999), pp. 147-61.
Jsriixs Novriix 146 s Corrrorxr. Jnxis 15
with some uncertainty to 4M !"# "E-451 B#K*I)#)75-"* r !#)0&\-)#4* -,KV(
r+*+'07"$4* !#40"84#),?%)(4*, those whoare calledamong themArchipherek-
itae, or possibly Presbyters or Didascaloi,
52
perhaps reecting some of
the terms used in dierent parts of his Empire while creating a Jewish
parallel to similar listings of ecclesiastical authorities like bishops, monks
and clergymen. Some of these terms, namely B#K*I)#)75-"* (= !"#$ %&#)
and +),-.#/0*1, originated in Palestine, they could have been exported,
which +),-.#/0*1 evidently was (see below). Perhaps more signicantly, we
have no indication that Hebrew was used in Asia Minor during the early
centuries . Paul, who hailed from Asia Minor, and the early Christians
used the Septuagint or revisions thereof. Written Greek translations were
explicitly permitted by the Tannaim, a permission which was challenged
but never revoked by the Amoraim. The identication of selected names in
the Table of Nations (Gen. 10) with areas of the Graeco-Roman world has
been brought up in the Yerushalmi to legitimize the use of Greek in these
Hellenistic areas.
53
R. Meirs reported visit to Minor Asia signals that he
did not nd a megilla written in Hebrew.
54
While circumstantial in nature,
the evidence suggests that a dearthof Hebrewwas longstanding inthis area
well into the Byzantine era. From a regional and long-term point of view,
the use of Greek for Scriptural readings was probably widespread before
the practice caved in to a Hebrew-only one.
Given Justinian's antics, it may seem today that only the faction advo-
cating the use of Greek could reasonably have believed to stand a chance of
success, forcing their opponents to follow suit and le their own petition
in response. But the Novella does not indicate who took the initiative
to petition the emperor and such generalisations are of little use. At a
local level, it all depends on who were in control of the synagogue, and
who challenged which customs, which may have gone either way and no
evidence currently in our possession can sway the argument.
The Prohibitions
52
The term B#K*I)#)75-"* may be honoric: Linder, Jews in Roman Imperial Legislation,
p. 411 n. 8. See also Rabello, Giustiniano, Ebrei, Samaritani, II, p. 823 n. 19; Levine, The Ancient
Synagogue, pp. 407-408.
53
y. Meg. 1.11(8),71b; see my Rabbis, Language and Translation in Late Antiquity, Ch. One,
The Family of Languages, forthcoming.
54
t. Meg. 2.5; cf. y. Meg. 4.1, 74d; b. Meg. 18b; b. Ber. 36.8. See also Lieberman, !'$()'
*+)%$, , V, p. 1143.
16 Tnr Grrr Scrirrrrs xn rnr Rxnnis
Reading Novella 146 is odd for the distinct windows it provides on con-
temporary Judaism. On the whole, Justinian places as much emphasis
on proper biblical interpretation as on the use of Bible translations in
the synagogue. The Novella opens with reference to Jewish adherence
to the bare letters and chapter three deals entirely with the hope that
the Jews shall turn from the bare letters to the better matters. All this
is perhaps not surprising, but requires explanation. However, the focus
on interpretation and recitation is compounded with some of Justinians
more surprising dos and donts: the prohibitions of the deuterosis in
chapter one and three specic beliefs in chapter two. How to account for
the presence of these distinct elements in one Novella?
Scholars have argued that the true context of the Novella is the
JewishChristian debate, which hinged on the proper interpretation of
Scripture, rather than Bible recitation and translations.
55
Justinian had
realised that Jews were not going to be won over to the Christian inter-
pretation of the deeper meaning of the prophecies, hindered as they were
by their deuterosis, or Oral Tora. Thus the prohibition of the Oral Tora is
the counterpart of the decisionthat the Hebrews are to read the Scriptures
in their vernacular so that they will understand the Holy Books and they
shall live and act according to them (p. 715 l. 21).
It is true that the rabbis, rattled by the Christianclaims that the Church
represents the true Israel under recourse to the Septuagint, bolstered their
claimto truthby their unique possessionof the Oral Tora. This companion
to the Written Tora is their mysterion that came without a translation.
The apologetic use of the notion of the Oral Tora was not missed on
Christian authors. As early as the 4th c. a counter-claimis attested in the
Tractatus super Psalmos 2.2-3 by Bishop Hilary of Poitiers, who claimed that
anesoteric oral tradition, reaching back to Moses, informed the translation
of the Septuagint.
56
Justinian's sentiments stand in a Christian tradition
when he dismisses the +),-.#/0*1 as an invention of men in their chatter,
55
Baumgarten, Justinian and the Jews, pp. 39-40. So also Parkes, The Church and
the Synagogue, p. 253; S. Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews (New York and
Philadelphia: Columbia University Press and the Jewish Publication Society of America,
2nd edn, 1952), pp. 11-13.
56
M. Bregman, Mishnah and LXX as Mystery: An Example of Jewish-Christian
Polemic in the Byzantine Period, in L.I. Levine (ed.), Jews and Judaism in Byzantine-
Christian Palestine (Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2004), pp. 333-42.
Jsriixs Novriix 146 s Corrrorxr. Jnxis 17
exclusively of earthly origin, words that are reminiscent of Jerome's ideas
about the Mishna as a human invention.
57
On this reading, the contrast between the deuterosis and the trans-
lated Scriptures makes sense within the rst chapter, but the same cannot
be said for the second chapter. Long considered a conundrum, this chapter
introduces a subject that does not t well withinthe Novella's general focus:
And if there are some people among them who shall attempt to introduce
ungodly nonsense, denying either the resurrection or the last judgment or
that the angels exist as God's work andcreation, we want these people expelled
from all places, and that no word of blasphemy of this kind and absolutely
erring from that knowledge of God shall be spoken.
Why did Justinian make a point of these beliefs, and why here? The rabbis
do not deny any of these notions. Indeed, some scholars have argued
that this chapter attacks virtual Jews moulded after the New Testament's
and Josephuss portrayal of the Sadducees to highlight their erroneous
ways.
58
Whether on his own or in consultation with some clerical advisers,
Justinian constructed a Judaism informed by the New Testament and his
advisors rather than by real-life observation. Admittedly, such a stereo-
typical attack would come as no surprise from an active legislator wont
to have late-night discussions with theologians,
59
but its prominent and
seemingly isolated position within the Novella begs the question what
it is doing there. Perhaps Justinian merely projected unacceptable beliefs
that some Christians may have held on an external party, the Jews, in
his endeavours to dene Christian orthodoxy, as he was wont to do, and
to eectively exclude heresies by making these notions part of the old
adversarys belief. As there is no hint whatsoever in the Novella for such
concerns with contemporary Christianity, the question what triggered its
inclusion remains unanswered.
Did Jews actually hold any of the beliefs Justinian accused them
of? Some scholars thought that some Jews probably did and argued that
Sadducaean concepts may have lingered on, as they also may have had an
57
Baumgarten, Justinian and the Jews, p. 42.
58
So Veltri, Die Novelle 146, pp. 119-20; Rutgers, Justinian's Novella 146, p. 405. For
the New Testament, see Mat. 22.23; Marc 12.18; Luke 20.27; Acts 23.8.
59
Gray, Palestine and Justinians Legislation, p. 252, citing Procopius, De bello gothico
3.32.9.
18 Tnr Grrr Scrirrrrs xn rnr Rxnnis
impact on the early Karaites.
60
This aspect should be viewed in a wider
context of similar charges as Justinians in rabbinic literature itself, such
as the locus classicus of m. San. 10.1 with its charge against denial of the
resurrection, also commonly ascribed to the Sadducees.
61
But the notions
challenged by Justinian and the rabbis should not be ascribed to the
Sadducees too rashly.
A highly theologically charged dispute between Cain and Abel, sup-
plemented to and interwoven with the translation of Gen. 4.8 in targumic
literature, has often been aligned with the dierences of opinion between
Sadducees and Pharisees.
62
In its various guises, the targumic tradition has
60
Rabello, Giustiniano, Ebrei, Samaritani, p. 824 n. 23.
61
H. Sysling, Tehiyyat Ha-Metim: The Resurrection of the Dead in the Palestinian
Targums of the Pentateuch and Parallel Traditions in Classical Rabbinic Literature (TSAJ, 57;
Tbingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1996), p. 125; J. Kalman, Repeating His Grandfathers Heresy:
The Signicance of the Charge That Job and Esau Denied the Resurrection of the Dead
for Understanding Rabbinic Polemics, in L.M. Teugels and R. Ulmer (eds.), Midrash and
Context: Proceedings of the 2004 and 2005 SBL Consultation on Midrash (Judaism in Context,
5; Piscataway: Gorgias, 2007), pp. 1-15.
62
For the Targums, see J. Ramon Daz, Dos notas sobre el Targum palestinense,
Sefarad 19 (1959), pp. 13336; P. Grelot, Les Targums de Pentateuch. Etude comparative
daprs Gense 4,3-16, Semitica 9 (1959), pp. 5988; R. le Daut, Traditions targumiques
dans le Corpus Paulinien?, Biblica 42 (1961), pp. 2848; G. Vermes, The Targumic Version
of Genesis IV 3-16, Aluos 3 (19611962), pp. 82114; M. McNamara, The New Testament and
the Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch (AnBib, 27; Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1966), pp.
156-60; A. D. Macho, Deux nouveaux fragments du TargumpalestinienNewYork, inStudi
sul lOriente e la Bibbia oerti a P. Giovanni Rinaldi (Geneva: Studio e Vita, 1967), I, pp. 175
178; J. Bowker, The Targums and Rabbinic Literature: An Introduction to Jewish Interpretations of
Scripture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969), pp. 132-41; A. Dez Macho, Un
nuevo fragmento del Targum palestinense a Genesis, Augustinianum 9 (1969), pp. 120
23; S. Isenberg, An Anti-Sadducee Polemic in the Palestinian Targum Tradition, HTR
63 (1970), pp. 433444; A. Braver, The Debate Between a Sadducee and a Pharasee in the
Mouths of Cain and Abel, Beth Mikra 44 (1971), pp. 583585 (Hebrew); G.J. Kuiper, The
Pseudo-Jonathan Targumand Its Relationship to targumOnkelos (Rome: Gregorian University
Press, 1972), pp. 49-67; A. Rodriguez Carmona, Targum y resurrecin: Estudio de los textos
del Targum Palestinense sobre la resurrecin (BTGran, 18; Granada: Facultad de Teologa,
1978), pp. 30-47; Shinan, -&./0#)'/ 1% -'20!, pp. 303-304, 346; B. Chilton, A Comparative
Study of Synoptic Development: The Dispute between Cain and Abel in the Palestinian
Targums and the Beelzebul Controversy in the Gospels, JBL 101 (1982), pp. 553562; J.
Ferrer i Costa, Estudi de la interpretaci targmica de Gn 25,29.32.34. Tres textos de
polmica antisaduce, Associaci Bblica de Catalunya 23 (1983); J. Bassler, Cain and Abel in
the Palestinian Targums, JSJ 17 (1986), pp. 5664(9); B.B. Levy, Targum Neophyti 1: A Textual
Study, (Lanham: University Press of America, 19861987), I, pp. 105-109; U. Glemer,
Jsriixs Novriix 146 s Corrrorxr. Jnxis 19
Cain and Abel dispute the last judgment, the world to come, and reward
and punishment.
63
In the version of Targum Neoti, where two dierent
strands of the tradition come together (which we do not have to date and
disentangle for the present purpose), the second of these reads as follows:
Cain spoke up and said to Abel, There is no judgment and no judge, and
there is no other world, and no giving of good reward to the righteous, and
there is no exacting of vengeance from the wicked. Abel spoke up and said to
Cain, There is judgment and there is a judge, and there is another world,
and there is giving of good reward to the righteous, and there is exacting
of vengeance from the wicked in the world to come. The two of them were
disputing over the business of this matter on the surface of the eld when
Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
The similarity between these topics and those of the PharisaicSadducean
disagreements was not lost on scholars, which played a prominent part
in dating the various targumic versions of this dispute, although the
dispute has also been viewed as anti-Epicurean, anti-Gnostic, anti-Karaite,
anti-Pharisaic, anti-Edomite and anti-Christian.
64
And for the sake of
completeness, a Cairo Geniza version has been considered polemicizing
against Hellenized Jews or Judaized Christians.
65
In Shinans view, how-
ever, we have here a topos of heresy rather than a specic accusation in
contemporary polemics.
66
Should the disputed views necessarily be ascribed to Sadducees, or if
not against them, be considered a controversy long done and dusted? Mere
tradition, and especially self-denition in the face of an adversary, may
indeed explain the selection of these topoi as an echo from the past. Had
neither Jew nor Christian of any particular bent adhered to the disputed
Entstehung und Entwicklung der Targume zum Pentateuch als literarkritisches Problem, dargestellt
am Beispiel der Zusatztargume (unpublished Ph.D. Diss. University of Hamburg, 1988), pp.
296-339; J. Kugel, Cain and Abel in Fact and Fable, in R. Brooks and J. J. Collins (eds.),
Hebrew Bible or Old Testament? (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1989), pp. 16790;
D. Shepherd, Translating and Supplementing: A(nother) Look at the Targumic Versions
of Genesis 4.316, JAB 1 (1999), pp. 12546.
63
See further TargumMal. 3.6 (below) and the PalTgs to Gen. 25.34 (29): Sysling, Tehiyyat
Ha-Metim, pp. 104-35; C.T.R. Hayward, A Portrait of the Wicked Esau in the Targum of
Codex Neoti 1, in M. McNamara and D. Beattie (eds.), The Aramaic Bible (Sheeld: JSOT,
1994), pp. 291309.
64
See Shinan, -&./0#)'/ 1% -'20!, pp. 303-304, 346.
65
Bassler, Cain and Abel, p. 62; cf. p. 58.
66
Shinan, -&./0#)'/ 1% -'20!, p. 346; Hayward, A Portrait of the Wicked Esau, p. 300.
20 Tnr Grrr Scrirrrrs xn rnr Rxnnis
views, because the promoted views had been universally accepted, their
prominent place in the rabbinic traditions may still be an expression of
self-denition.
67
But there is a limit to the plausibility and stretch of this
argument, both in general and in particular. In particular, the assumption
that the controversy lost its relevance when the sects of the Pharisees and
Sadducees disappeared from the scene of history is overly schematic,
68
while it is also questionable that these views were strictly Sadducaean. In
general, the argument of self-denition should be checked against the
possibility that some contemporaries actually held the denounced articles
of faith. If some would deny the last judgement, the World to Come
or reward and punishment, there is a very real reason to disseminate
these traditions in the synagogue to challenge contemporary dissidents in
propagandizing style.
Which heretics among the Jews may have ascribed to these de-
nounced views? We should note that Justinian included a third article of
heresy which does not feature in the targumic versions: the denial that
angels are God's creation. This latter denial subtly diers from the New
Testament portrayal of Sadducaean beliefs. At stake here is not the belief
in angelic beings per se, but in their dependence on God as his creation;
this latter element is invariably picked up in the medieval reception of
the Novella.
69
The Sadducees, who probably never denied the existence
of angels but the beatic afterlife of the righteous as angels, never made
this specic point as far as we know (Acts 23.8 is our only source in this
regard).
70
The dierence is subtle yet decisive, for the creation of angels
is not a topic in the SadduceePharisee opposition, but in the rabbinic
67
See E. Iricinschi and H.M. Zellentin, (eds.) Heresy and Identity in Late Antiquity
(TSAJ,119; Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008).
68
See M. Goodman, Sadducees and Essenes after 70 CE, in S.E. Porter, P. Joyce
and D.E. Orton (eds.), Crossing the Boundaries. Essays in Biblical Interpretation in Honour
of Michael D. Goulder (Leiden: Brill, 1994), pp. 347-56.
69
See Linder, Legal Sources of the Early Middle Ages, pp. 32-33 (Theodoros Hermopoli-
tanus); pp. 36-37 (Athanasios of Emesa); pp. 57-58 (Collectio Tripartita); pp. 110, 121-22
(Basilica); p. 155 (Synopsis).
70
Acts 23.8 is the only source for the Sadducean denial of angels, which, as D. Daube,
On Acts 23: Sadducees and Angels, JBL 109 (1990), pp. 49397, plausibly suggests, should
not be understood as a wholesale denial of the existence of angels but as the denial of the
beatic afterlife of the righteous as angels. However, later recipients of the NT may have
understood this text as a straightforward Sadducean denial of the existence of angels.
Jsriixs Novriix 146 s Corrrorxr. Jnxis 21
portrayal of the heresy of the Two Powers.
71
There is ample evidence that
Gods creation of angels, or their independent existence, represents an
issue in rabbinic literature, but one which has no bearing on the belief
system of the Sadducees but on what we may loosely term gnostic notions
of a divided spiritual realm, in which Gods control over and creation of all
angels was challenged.
The three disowned beliefs are closely interrelated, even though Jus-
tinians third does not feature in the Targums. Bodily resurrection and
a nal day of reckoning complement each other in the doctrine of retri-
bution and resurrection, which rst appears in apocalyptic circles of the
second c. (see Dan. 12.2).
72
Early Christianity, if not Jesus himself,
already believed that the resurrection would be followed by a nal day
of judgement.
73
But not everyone shared these beliefs. These beliefs were
challenged by dualists who held that spirit and matter could not truly
coexist. Whoever deniedbodily resurrectionhadlittle time for a nal day of
reckoning. The correlation between both concepts is negatively expressed
in an opinion which Targum Jonathan ascribes to the House of Israel,
rather than either Cain or Esau, in Mal. 3.6: But you, House of Israel, you
think that whoever dies in this world has his judgement ceased.
74
Whoever
the targumist had in mind, it was not an insignicant group. For gnostics,
resurrection was not an eschatological event but at best a metaphor for
the ight of the soul from the body.
75
Justinians third notion points to
believers in a divided heavenly realm, who extended the docetic challenge
to Gods creation to the denial that angels are created. The reference to
heretics in Gen. R. 1.7, who claimed that two powers created the world,
springs to mind. Who the minimin the rabbinic references to many powers
71
On this heresy, and the creation of angels, see A.F. Segal, Two Powers In Heaven: Early
Rabbinic Reports about Christianity and Gnosticism (Leiden: Brill, 1977).
72
J.N. Bremmer, The Rise and Fall of the Afterlife: The 1995 Read-Tuckwell Lectures at the
University of Bristol (London: Routledge, 2002), p. 43.
73
K.J. Madigan and J.D. Levenson, Resurrection: The Power of God for Christians and Jews
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), p. 20.
74
See R.P. Gordon, The Targumists as Eschatologists, SVT 29 (1978), pp. 113-30, who
argues that TgJon reects the situation prior to the destruction of the Second Temple.
75
Madigan and Levenson, Resurrection, p. 228. For views on creation, see also
E.P. Meijering, God Cosmos History. Christian and Neo-Platonic Views on Divine
Revelation, Vigiliae Christianae 28 (1974), pp. 248-276.
22 Tnr Grrr Scrirrrrs xn rnr Rxnnis
are remains obcure, since our rabbinic sources are hardly interested in
proper descriptions.
76
There is some epigraphical evidence that the variations inthe beliefs of
beatic afterlife at the turnof the CommonEra didnot vanishaltogether in
the early rabbinic period,
77
but persisted for many centuries. A number of
epitaphs is at odds with the belief in life after death, such as an inscription
from Jerusalem which states: No one can go up [from the grave].
78
Some
inscriptions appear to distinguish between the %$. and the */%., with the
former being laid to peace and the latter being wished eternal life.
79
The
concepts of astral immortality, bodily ascension to heaven, and a shadowy
existence in the underworld still may have had their believers during the
classical rabbinic period. Targumic traditions attest to a largely suppressed
form of astral immortality, without bodily resurrection, whereas others
reect the belief that the righteous had become angels.
80
According to
one of the Jewish Palestinian Aramaic poems, Moses complains at Adam's
tomb that he has to die because of the latter's sin, whereuponAdam, stirred
from his sleep by Moses's power, ironically retorts from his grave that
Moses had been marked for death in the Tora that preceded him by two
thousand yearsthe very Tora which he boasted to have brought down to
earth.
81
This tradition reects the old belief in a state of shady existence
in the netherworld. Another of these Aramaic poems reects the same
76
See Y.Y. Teppler, Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in Conict in the Ancient World
(TSAJ, 120; Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007), Ch. 5.
77
For the epigraphical evidence, see the survey by P.W. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish
Epitaphs: An introductory Survey of a Millennium of Jewish Funerary Epigraphy (300 bce700 ce)
(CBET, 2; Kampen: Kok Pharos, 1991), pp. 114-26.
78
F.M. Cross, A Note on a Burial Inscription from Mount Scopus, IEJ 33 (1983), pp.
245-46. See further Van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs, p. 121.
79
J.S. Park, Conceptions of Afterlife in Jewish Inscriptions: With Special reference to Pauline
Literature (WUNT, 121; Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000), p. 152.
80
See, e.g., TgJon Judg. 5.31; 2 Sam. 23.4; Isa. 30.26; TosTg 1 Sam. 17.43; TgPsJ Gen. 5.24;
Num. 25.12. See W.F. Smelik, On Mystical Transformation of the Righteous into Light
in Judaism, JSJ 26 (1995), pp. 12244; J.H. Charlesworth, The Portrayal of the Righteous
as an Angel, in G.W.E. Nickelsburg and J.J. Collins (eds.), Ideal Figures in Ancient Judaism
(Septuagint and Cognate Studies, 12; Chico: Scholars Press, 1980), pp. 13551; G.W.E.
Nickelsburg, Resurrection, Immortality, and Eternal Life in Intertestamental Judaism and Early
Christianity (Cambridge, : Harvard University Press, expanded edn. 2006).
81
See Sokolo and Yahalom, !3#4/ &.3 '#&%, no. 40, p. 242. The irony is twofold,
because Moses boasts that he brought down Tora from heaven.
Jsriixs Novriix 146 s Corrrorxr. Jnxis 23
belief of the grave as an eternal prison as the epitaph referred to above: the
angel of death consigns its victims to never-ending imprisonment when
he overturns villages and destroys cities / and makes them desolate of
residents; / He constrains the population in his prison / He imprisons
them forever and ever, and to use the explicit chire of death, he places
the maggot in their clothes.
82
Throughout this poem death is irreversible
while the afterlife and God receive no mention whatsoever.
83
That the nal
couplet suddenly and unexpectedly refers to the reward good deeds bring
about smacks of a late revisionof the original poem, and evenso, these nal
lines still do not envisage what form the reward takes. As is to be expected,
such glimpses of non-rabbinic views on death and the hereafter remain
rare.
More typical of what we know to represent contemporary rabbinic
beliefs is a poem which entails a discussion between body and soul and
Gods retort that both will be sentenced together on the day of nal
reckoning, views which are rmly located in the rabbinic outlook on
the hereafter. But elsewhere, too, there are hints of alternative views.
Flesher has demonstrated that the author responsible for the compilation
of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan seems to have ruled out explicit references
to the resurrection of the dead, even when they were present in his
sources;
84
exactly why he omitted such references remains unclear, but that
alternative understandings of beatic afterlife were in play is plausible.
Some Jews, including rabbis, denied the resurrection altogether. Most
prominent among their ranks was Elisha ben Abuya, who came to the
conclusion that there is no reward and no resurrection of the dead.
85
Elisha may well have become a chire for heresy,
86
but whatever Elisha's
82
M. Sokolo and Y. Yahalom, 1!#%& 5#! &2)*& 1% -&&/#! -&#&% :!3#4/ &.3 '#&%
'&+.6&3* *$)"'3 (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1999), no. 58.
83
See M. Kister, */)14 *#&% 1% */1)43 -&+3&* - !3#4/ &.3 '#&%, Tarbiz 76 (2008), pp.
105-84.
84
P.V.M. Flesher, The Theology of the Afterlife in the Palestinian Targums to the
Pentateuch: A Framework for Analysis, in J. Neusner (ed.), Approaches to Ancient Judaism:
New Series. XVI (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1999), pp. 147.
85
y. Hag. 2.1, 77b; cf. Qoh. R. 7.16.
86
J. Maier, Geschichte der jdischen Religion (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1972), pp. 209-
10; D. Boyarin, Border Lines: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity (Philadelphia: University
of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), p. 142. Cf. Segal, Two Powers, p. 96: ...the term two powers
in heaven became a completely conventional, stereotypic term. It no longer referred to
24 Tnr Grrr Scrirrrrs xn rnr Rxnnis
personal views really were, these traditions point to belief notions which
some rabbis once shared with the Sadducees or later exponents of similar
beliefs.
It follows that Justinians second chapter was probably not directed
against the Sadducees as a chire for the perdious beliefs of the Jews, for
Sadducees did not deny the creation of angels whereas others, particularly
gnostics, or otherwise heretic Jews, did. Certainly it cannot have been
adressed at rabbinic Jews, although Justinian did not discriminate between
rabbinic Judaism and other Jewish factions, all of whom he simply called
Hebrews in the Novella. Whatever their preferences and beliefs, they
remained a single category of heretics for him. And yet we may identify
the objects of his prohibitions. Justinians contrast of the deuterosis with
the translated Scriptures in the rst chapter obviously took aim at the
camp that sought to impose a Hebrew-only recitation on Greek-speaking
communities. Conversely, it stands to reason that the second chapter had
the Hellenist faction in its sight which held views about resurrection and
creation that rabbinic Judaism had come to discard but which had been
credible in the Graeco-Roman world before Christianity came to power.
The division of the prohibitions over two chapters corresponds to the two
factions that petitioned him.
Where did he glean these data from? His sources will always remain
a matter of speculation, whether we deem the situation his Novella refers
to ctional or not. But following the legal model, it is likely that each of
the Jewish factions included in what must have been desperate petitions
incriminating information about the opposition. The party accused of
suppressing a Greek translation would have found itself in a very dicult
position to defend to the Greek-speaking emperor, but could have hit
back by pointing out that their adversaries maintained a conception of
afterlife, justice and creation which contradicted not only rabbinic thought
but also central tenets of Christian faith. That would provide the most
natural explanation for the inclusion of this chapter in the Novella. By way
of contrast, their opponents could point to the rabbinic concept of the Oral
Tora that had come to undermine the revelation of the Septuagint and
the parity of Christian claims with Jewish ones to representing the true
one group (if it ever did) and became relevant to a whole series of groups, becoming a
homologous term with those who say there is no power in heaven and those who say
there are many powers in heaven.
Jsriixs Novriix 146 s Corrrorxr. Jnxis 25
Israel. When Justinian wrote that he had learnt from their petitions, he
learnt more about contemporary Judaism than the conict that required
his attention in the rst place.
The self-image of Justinian as a benign Emperor certainly masks his
less than magnanimous attitude towards his Jewish subjects. But even
one not particularly known for his pro-Jewish attitudes adheres at this
point to both the legal genre and judicial procedures, advocating a middle
course which even permits the use of Aquilas version, although of a gentile
(=heathen) nature.
87
Aquilas translation was still widespread in Justinians
time.
88
These aspects of the law are far less imaginary or tendentious than
its claims of Jews given to senseless interpretations. The Novella is not
caesaropapism, but legal consequentialism.
A Balancing Act
Our increased awareness of the importance of literary images in the
creation of a Christian identity, in which the Jews may well be straw
men, should not close our eyes for the realities from which that identity
emerged.
89
The distortive prism on Judaism in Christian literature does
not rule out reality. Christians were well aware of the synagogue, which
according to third and fourth century Church Fathers proved so attractive
to many of their coreligionists that they even attended their services. Nor
were they unaware of the centrality of reading the Scriptures on Shabbat.
90
Evenif the Novella wouldhave toldus more about the Christianperception
of the Jews than about their internal disagreements, this assumption does
not warrant the conclusion that Justinian invented an internal Jewish
controversy about the suitable languages of Bible recitation as a pretext
for his hidden agendas.
Justinian's decree, despite its bias, reects a judicious balance between
the demands of two parties. It provides a legal place for Greek without
87
The word B$$?I,$41, foreigner, used to describe Philistines in the , here stands
for non-believer in contrast to those Jews who produced the Septuagint as if illuminated
by a prophetic grace.
88
See now N. de Lange, The Greek Bible Translations of the Byzantine Jews, in
P. Magdalino and R. Nelson (eds.), The Old Testament in Byzantium (Washington, DC:
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2010), pp. 39-54.
89
See also S.J. Shoemaker, Let Us Go and Burn Her Body: The Image of the Jews in
the Early Dormition Traditions, Church History 68 (1999), pp. 775823 (783-86).
90
W. Horbury, Early Christians on Synagogue Prayer and Imprecation, in Idem, Jews
and Christians in Contact and Controversy (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1998), pp. 226-43.
26 Tnr Grrr Scrirrrrs xn rnr Rxnnis
denying Hebrew its liturgical role, and gives permission to use also
Aquila's translation, although he was a gentile and in some readings
diers not a little from the Septuagint. Justinians accommodation of
a literal translation endorsed by the rabbis looks like a concession to
the Hebraists, while he comes down in favour on the Hellenists' side
otherwise. Even so, the use of Hebrew, whether alone or accompanied
by a translation, is upheldin stark contrast to the prohibition of the
+),-.#/0*1 and the demand to expel all those who adhere to both non-
rabbinic and non-orthodox Christian beliefs about resurrection, the last
judgement, and the existence of angels. Consequently, Colornis sense
that the Novella is witness to the rabbinic inuence on reading practices
and that it can be construed as part of the process of Hebraisation of
the Jewish Diaspora still has much going for it. In spite of Justinians
less than enthusiastic perception of Jewish practices, the Novellas legal
terminology and judicious verdict show that Colornis take should not be
dismissed as naive. Justinians give and take, while obviously ltered by his
own Christian convictions, was informed by the allegations that had been
dropped at his door by the Jewish parties involved.

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