State and Society in Roman Galilee, A.D.132-212

In the second century A.D., Galilee fostered the formation of rabbinic Judaism. The society that flourished there has laid its mark on Judaism ever since, and it is a society that can be fully described through a large corpus of rabbinic writings. In this work, it becomes clear that the development of the independent and unique Jewish culture of Late Roman Palestine was encouraged by the Roman methods of administration, and that the rabbis can be best understood with a full appreciation of the world around them. The book examines Jewish society and administration in Galilee in the period between the Bar Kokhba war and the proclamation of universal Roman citizenship in A.D. 212. Along with epigraphic and archaelogical evidence, the author utilizes the extensive, heterogeneous rabbinic texts from that period to provide an overview of the customs and structure of a village society that is not possible for any other Roman province except Egypt. The author also uses the evidence to challenge common assumptions about the extent of rabbinic authority in Galilean society and its ability to change in response to social pressures.