Why was there such a large Jewish population in the Roman Empire by the first century AD?

[JodelDiplom]

Phonecian is placed in the Caanite sub group of the Semitic languages along with hebrew and appear to once have been very close. 800 years of seperation and loan words from their African and Greek neighbours probably made Punic quite different though.

Like Dutch and German perhaps?

 

[Geriander]

Like Dutch and German perhaps?

The Dutch and Germans live right next to each other so the comparison might fit Israel and Tyre. Carthage on the other hand is seperated by a significant sea voyage for several centuries and would have much more contact with the people of that region than with Tyre. English and German may be a more apt comparison by 146 BC.

 

[pithorr]

Wasn't actually Aramaic a lingua franca for all Semite tribes in the Near East that time?

 

[Geriander]

Wasn't actually Aramaic a lingua franca for all Semite tribes in the Near East that time?

It was but it was even further removed from Punic than Hebrew. The theory that Carthaginians would feel close kinship with the Jews and therefore adopt the religion seems sketchy.

 

[Sarmatia1871]

The theory that Carthaginians would feel close kinship with the Jews and therefore adopt the religion seems sketchy.

More than that, it is complete nonsense from the 1920s, and I have no idea why we are even discussing it.

 

[pithorr]

I'm not even sure if the Carthaginians remembered who the Jews were

 

[Barsoom]

Wasn't actually Aramaic a lingua franca for all Semite tribes in the Near East that time?

It was the lingua franca for a huge area including the Levant and Mesopotamia. As these had been urbanized for centuries, I have no idea why you would use the word tribes.

I'm not even sure if the Carthaginians remembered who the Jews were

Carthage delivered an annual tribute to the temple of Melqart in Tyre. It also attempted to send a relief force when the mother city was attacked by Alexander the Great. Clearly, relations were close enough that Carthaginians were aware of the political forces in Tyre's region. The areas where the Jews lived were close by and regular trading partners of Tyre, so it would be strange if Carthaginians were not informed of events there.

As the Jews' religion evolved away from Canaanite polytheism towards first henotheism and later monotheism, their neighbors probably paid attention, partly in order to monitor trade and politics and partly because they had shared the original polytheism. When the Jews began telling stories of war against Canaanites, they must have wondered, as this was the Phoenicians' name for themselves (the Carthaginians used it until the 4th century AD). In this respect it seems more logical to me that Jewish scripture offended Carthaginian sensibilities than that it attracted them. There is in any case no evidence of conversion in the area of Carthage until well after the Roman conquest and, as I said earlier, in northern Africa the Jewish religion seems to have appealed to Berbers rather than Carthagians.