Thread by @AdlerYonatan

THE IMPERIAL CULT MEETS JUDAISM

What are Jewish ritual immersion pools doing adjacent to the Augusteum (temple dedicated to the cult of #Augustus) at Samaria-Sebaste?

The 18-month embargo on this article is over today, so I’ve posted it here:
academia.edu/62122869/The_I…
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Excavations conducted in the first half of the 20th century at Samaria-Sebaste uncovered an Augusteum, surrounded by additional Roman-era structures. In 1992, Dan Barag published a compelling hypothesis that these buildings were a royal compound belonging to Herod himself.
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ln my article, examine the function and historical significance of eight stepped pools discovered throughout this compound. I argue that these pools should be regarded as Jewish ritual immersion pools that date to the time of Herod the Great or his successors.
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This suggestion leads to the obvious question: How could Jewish ritual baths have coexisted in such close quarters with a pagan temple?
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I suggest that this ostensibly surprising juxtaposition of ritual structures has much to teach us about the pervasiveness and tenacity of Jewish adherence to Torah law at this time. Ample evidence dating from the Hasmonean era and onwards suggests that…
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…late Second Temple-period Jews as a rule were quite meticulous in observing the rules and regulations of the Torah. While it is not completely unheard of that Jews in the late Second Temple period might deliberately contravene Torah laws…
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…such violations appear to have been the exception rather than the norm. Perhaps nowhere else does the pervasiveness of Torah observance at this time come into such high relief as at the acropolis of Samaria-Sebaste….
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…where immersion pools were installed to allow Jews to continue performance of purificatory ritual immersions quite literally under the shadow of a pagan temple built by royal fiat. The presence of ritual immersion pools at this site attests to…
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…the ubiquity of adherence to Torah regulations even at a location where this would be least expected. Whether Herod himself ever immersed in any of these pools, or if they were used only by the Jewish entourages of Herod or his heirs…
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… the existence of these installations here demonstrates the extent to which devotion to Torah was deeply entrenched in contemporary Jewish society.
Where the imperial cult meets Judaism, the omnipresence and tenacity of Torah observance is manifest as nowhere else.
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