Jewish Studies

Loren R. Spielman

Jews and Entertainment in the Ancient World

[Juden und Unterhaltung in der Welt der Antike.]

2020. IX, 311 pages.

Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 181

154,00 €
including VAT
cloth
ISBN 978-3-16-155000-3
available
Also Available As:
Published in English.
In this book, Loren R. Spielman describes Jewish engagement with theater, athletics, horse racing, gladiatorial, and beast shows in antiquity. In his work he uses references to ancient Jewish actors and athletes, promoters and plays alongside analysis of rabbinic and other early Jewish critique of sport and spectacle.
Countering the traditional belief that Jews in antiquity were predominantly disinterested in the popular entertainments of the Greek and Roman world, Loren R. Spielman maps the varieties of Jewish engagement with theater, athletics, horse racing, gladiatorial, and beast shows in antiquity. The author argues that Jews from Hellenistic Alexandria to late antique Sepphoris enjoyed and exploited, or alternatively resisted and scorned, popular forms of public entertainment as they adapted to the political, social, and religious realities of imperial rule. Including references to ancient Jewish actors, athletes, promoters, and plays alongside analysis of rabbinic and other early Jewish critique of sport and spectacle, Loren R. Spielman describes the different ways that attitudes towards entertainment might have played a role in shaping ancient Jewish identity.
Authors/Editors

Loren R. Spielman Born 1975; 2010 PhD at the Graduate School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America; taught at Wesleyan University and the Jewish Theological Seminary; 2010–12 Schusterman Teaching Fellow; currently Associate Professor of Classical and Rabbinic Judaism, Portland State University.

Reviews

The following reviews are known:

In: Religious Studies Review — 48 (2022), pp. 406–407 (Michail Kitsos)
In: Review of Biblical Literature — https://www.sblcentral.org/ (01/2022) (Joshua Schwartz)
In: Journal for the Study of Judaism (JSJ) — 54 (2023), pp. 422–427 (Nicole Belayche)
In: Theologische Literaturzeitung — 146 (2021), pp. 903–905 (Günter Stemberger)
In: Bulletin for Biblical Research — 32 (2022), pp. 337–339 (Joshua W. Jipp)
More From Author / Editor
More About Subject
More About Series / Multi-volume Works