Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Toward a New Jewish Archaeology - Softcover

Fine, Steven

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521145678 ISBN 13: 9780521145671

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2010

Synopsis

Art and Judaism During the Greco-Roman Period explores the Jewish experience with art during the Greco-Roman period-from the Hellenistic period through the rise of Islam. It starts from with the premise that Jewish art in antiquity was a "minority" or "ethnic" art and surveys ways that Jews fully participated in, transformed, and at times rejected the art of their general environment. Art and Judaism focuses upon the politics of identity during the Greco-Roman period, even as it discusses ways that modern identity issues have sometimes distorted and at other times refined scholarly discussion of ancient Jewish material culture. Art and Judaism, the first historical monograph on ancient Jewish art in forty years, evaluates earlier scholarship even as it sets out in new directions. Placing literary sources in careful dialogue with archaeological discoveries, this "New Jewish Archaeology" is an important contribution to Judaic Studies, Religious Studies, Art History, and Classics. The Revised Edition includes a new introduction, additional images, and color plates.

About this title

About the Author

Steven Fine is Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University and director of the Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies.

Review

"A rich and important work that will be central to all future discussions of ancient Jewish art and Judaism." -- Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"Praiseworthy for its near encyclopedic coverage and its insights into the evolution of late ancient Jewish material culture and theology, the book's supreme virtues reside in its humane and refreshing methodology." --Kalman P. Bland, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research

"In Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Today a New Jewish Archaeology, the author takes his readers along on a stimulating intellectual journey revealing that ancient Jewish art does indeed exist and it is as diverse and multivalent as the individuals who made, commissioned, viewed, and, most importantly, have studied it." - Lisa A. Hughs, University of Calgary, The Classical Bulletin

"...a landmark book which both signals a fundamental transformation in its field and is at the same time the performer of a great element of the change. The study of Jewish art and archaeology in antiquity will not be the same after it...." -- Jaś Elsner, Oxford University

"Praiseworthy for its near encyclopedic coverage and its insights into the evolution of late antique material culture and theology, the book's supreme virtues reside in its humane and refreshing methodology....Steven Fine's Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World is both learned and lovable." -- Kalman Bland, Duke University .

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0521145678
• ISBN 13: 9780521145671
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 298