A Jew in the Roman bathhouse : cultural interaction in the ancient Mediterranean / Yaron Z. Eliav.

"This monograph argues that Roman bathhouses were laboratories in which Jews interacted with Graeco-Roman culture. It tells the story of the Jews who frequented them, documenting their pleasures, anxieties, and concerns, and reconstructing their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about the activities t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Eliav, Yaron Z. (Author)
Language:English
Published: Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2023]
Subjects:
Baths, Roman.
Bathing customs > Rome > History.
Jews > Rome > Social life and customs.
Rome > Religious life and customs.
Civilization, Greco-Roman.
RELIGION / Judaism / History.
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Jewish Studies.
Bathing customs.
Jews > Social life and customs.
Rome (Empire)
History.
Genre:
History.
Physical Description:xv, 368 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm
Format: Book
Contents:
  • The miracle of water : the emergence of the baths as a cultural institution
  • The textual bath: physical realities and perceptions at a provincial Roman (-Jewish) public bathhouse
  • Earliest encounters : archaeology, scholarly debate, and the shifting grounds of interpretation
  • A sinful place? Jewish (Rabbinic) laws of and feelings about the Roman bath
  • Tsni'ut (Rabbinic modes of modesty) in the halls of promiscuity : mixed bathing and nudity in the public bathhouse
  • The naked Rabbi and the beautiful goddess : engaging sculpture in the public bathhouse
  • A social laboratory : status and hierarchy in the bathhouse
  • A scary place : the perils of the bath and Jewish magic remedies.