HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF THE JEWS IN CLASSICAL GREEK AND ROMAN SOURCES

Abstract

Despite the many studies that dealt with the emergence of the Jewish religion, mystery still surrounds many aspects of this origin and many stages of its development, to the extent that it is difficult to give a definitive opinion regarding the origins or sources of the Jewish religion and the truth of many of the stories it contains, not to mention its ideas, jurisprudence, and teachings, which fall within the scope of Jewish theology. There was no doubt that the reason for this ambiguity is not limited to the confusion of information provided by the original sources of this religion, such as the Torah and the Talmud, in its Babylonian and Palestinian parts, and even in the Greek and Roman references that dealt with the path of this religion, its origins and its branches, because of its association with authorities, some of which are hostile and others friendly to the Jews, may give our study a certain feasibility, or it may take it away, if we follow the scientific method accurately, from the circle of repeated studies, the aim of which is often purely educational or experimental, as was the case with most studies presented by students or novice academics.