The yellow Magen David is one of the most well-known symbols of the #Holocaust (tho not the most well-understood).
Intended to stigmatize & degrade, AND also to aid in segregation & deportation, this Nazi-era Jewish badge followed a long history of similar forced markers.

A 🧵 In 1215, spurred by a growing concern that good Christians might accidentally "mingle" w/ Jews & Muslims (which could be ruinous!), the 4th Lateran Council decreed that Jews & Muslims living in Christian provinces must be made distinguishable in public "by a difference of dress"

Yesterday, I came across this infographic made for National Geographic, as part of the promotion for Killing Jesus (2015).
Here's why everything on it is wrong.
A 🧵 Let's start w "Pharisees":
"Pharisees were afforded the luxury of wearing fine fabrics like silk and linen."
"Afforded the luxury"? What does this mean? Pharisees weren't paid a salary from some central body, nor were they given permission to wear things prohibited to others.
2/

If you are looking at any aspect of the New Testament in relation to Jewish dress behaviour in the Second Temple / NT period and you're not engaging with recent scholarship on this topic, you're in danger of replicating BAD tropes.

So, a hopefully helpful research 🧵...
1/12 Loucille Roussin's "Archaeological Remains & The Evidence from the Mishnah" (1994)
+
Shaye Cohen's "Those Who Say They Are Jews and Are Not" (1993)
are two great places to start, but don't stop there.
2/12