Eliav’s recent book on Jews and Roman Bathhouse. Princeton University Press.

In the first few centuries of the common era, hundreds of thousands of Jews lived in the Roman province called Judaea (which, during the second century, became Syria-Palaestina, or simply Palestine). A wide variety of ancient sources document the Jewish life that transpired in this region: archaeological remains such as synagogues and the art (mainly mosaics) displayed within them; documentary papyri and inscriptions; as well as literary segments devoted to Jews in the writings of Graeco-Roman and then Christian authors. But the richest evidence comes from the collection of texts known today as rabbinic literature, a group of some forty documents of various sizes produced between the 3rd and 7th centuries by the figures we now collectively call “rabbis.” This huge latter corpus of ancient writings — indeed, the largest group of Jewish texts that survived from Roman times — repeatedly alludes to public bathhouses: with over five hundred references to the baths and associated activities, the bathhouse is the best represented Roman institution in rabbinic material! Modern investigators have mostly ignored this treasure trove of information, partially because of linguistic obstacles — rabbinic texts generally employ Aramaic and Hebrew, languages outside the sphere of most classical experts — and also because of the entrenched misconception that the Jews in general, and the rabbis in particular, were an isolated community detached from the Roman world.

It is clear that Jews frequented Roman bathhouses like all other residents of the Mediterranean world. But how did they feel about the lifestyle and experiences that were customarily partaken in these institutions, many of which seem (to our modern eyes) diametrically opposed to Jewish norms? To name a few: Men and women attended these facilities together. Everyone left their clothes in changing room cubicles near the entrance to the building (known in Greek as the apodyterium, and in rabbinic terminology as “the room of the ’olyarin”), and strolled the baths mostly or fully naked. Needless to say, all this resulted in a promiscuous atmosphere and licentious behavior, well documented in Graeco-Roman and rabbinic sources alike. In addition, many bathhouses contained Roman statues, often of Greek and Roman divine figures, adding an idolatrous dimension that would seem quite damning for Jews, let alone rabbis.

In my current book — A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse: Cultural Interaction in the Ancient Mediterranean — I identify a subtle cultural process — which I call “filtered absorption” — that explains the interaction between Jews and Roman baths. In order to live as part of the Roman world while also maintaining their heritage and unique practices, Jews and rabbis continually identified and assessed features of their surroundings that were inconsistent with their convictions and way of life; these elements were then either rejected altogether or more often reframed to adapt to Jewish norms. This process of cultural negotiation, subversion, and appropriation was messy: never consistently regulated, never uniform, with great variation by time and place. But at the end of the day, filtered absorption allowed (at least some) Jews to live in peace with the surrounding culture, which from this perspective was also their culture. Rabbinic literature, and its abundance of views on the bathhouse and the activities that transpired within its walls, allows us to follow these dynamics, at least partially, and to explore the strategies and mechanisms at work as they took shape within the Jewish world. Far from promoting exclusivity and isolation, I see the rabbis and their literary corpus as engaging in a relentless process of cultural negotiation and appropriation.

Yaron Z. Eliav is Associate Professor in the Department of Middle East Studies at the University of Michigan. His book, A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse: Cultural Interactions in the Ancient Mediterranean, was recently published by Princeton University Press.

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