West Bloomfield Lecture Series: Jews and Judaism in Antiquity

In this lecture, we will consider how we identity and define ‘Jewish’ art by looking at the problem from the perspective of the past. In particular, we will explore the art from the catacombs of the Jewish community of Rome, one of the largest and most prominent diaspora communities of its time. Visual artifacts such as the sarcophagi from the catacombs (dating from the 2nd to the 5th c. CE) shed light on the types of images and symbols used and viewed by ancient Jews.