Jews in the Iberian Peninsula in Roman times

Roman Spain does not figure among those locations in the Mediterranean diaspora which have enough literary, archaeological and epigraphic evidence for us to reconstruct a coherent account of the history of its Jewish communities.What we actually have is tiny fragments of information leaving us with an all too deficient patchwork portrait.No wonder, then, that in studies of the Mediterranean Diaspora the Iberian Peninsula used to go almost unnoticed.2 Since the days of Luis Garcia Iglesias, who in 1973 published his fundamental syn thesis on the Jews in Roman Spain,3 the available material has not become more plenti ful.David Noy's recent re-edition of the Jewish inscriptions4 does not go beyond the stock on which the Spanish scholar had already based his study.There are, however, a few items of new evidence (both archaeological and epigraphic) that either contribute or may contribute to our limited knowledge.To link these items to the well-known primary evidence, to add some considerations with respect to the latter and to present an up-todate assessment of controversially discussed material, thus providing a fresh survey of Jewish presence in Roman Spain, are the aims of this article.Until the first century, Jews left hardly any traces on the Peninsula,5 and it is not until the fourth century that their traces take some real shape.The existence of Jewish com munities is inferred from Paul's intended missionary voyage to Spain.6 Yet, apart from the summary allusions to Jewish presence έπἱ τῆ ς οἰκουμένης, none of which explicitly mentions Spain,7 the extremely poor literary and epigraphic evidence only introduces us to individual persons or points to trade relations between the coastline, including the offshore islands, and Judaea.An isolated piece of evidence -an amphora, tentatively i 2 3 4 5 6 7 Earlier versions o f this article were read at Heidelberg and Barcelona.I am indebted to a number o f colleagues at both universities who offered helpful encouragement and advice.O f course, all errors in content remain my own.See, e.g., Smallwood 1976, where no more than a single sentence touches the Jews o f Roman Spain.For an inspiring recent survey on Jews and Jewish communities in the Roman Empire, see Williams 2000.Garcia Iglesias 1973.For a recent article on the situation o f the Jews in Roman Spain, see Rabello 1996.N oy 1993:177-88 and 222-24 (three texts not considered Jewish).If not indicated otherwise, references are always to his numbering o f inscriptions.On the biblical texts and much later legends and traditions alluding to an early Jewish pres ence, see Garcia Iglesias 1973:331-37; Koch 1977.