Conversion to Judaism and Hostility toward Jews in the Roman Empire

Abstract

Hellenistic texts on Jews hardly ever refer to people converting to Judaism. Roman authors’ criticism and condemnation of people who had converted to Judaism thus appears as a new feature of anti-Jewish discourse. The relative prominence of references to Judaizers and converts in Roman literary texts may be explained by the number and visibility of proselytes in Rome, but also perhaps by the perception, within certain Roman circles, of conversion to Judaism as a betrayal of Roman values. Tacitus best illustrates this trend. This article seeks to shed light on his hostile remarks on converts through a comparison with Philo’s highly positive comments on proselytes. The comparison reveals surprising points of agreement between the two authors and helps us understand what was at stake in the phenomenon of conversion and how it could generate tensions between proselytes and their native environment.