Three Jewish Roman Soldiers? in Germany? IN THE FIRST CENTURY BCE?

Three gravestones from ancient Mainz tell a remarkable story.
References:
Frühgeschichtliche Spuren der Juden in Deutschland : mit Nachbemerkungen der Herren: Professor Blaufuss-Nürnberg, Professor Behrens-Mainz, Professor Neeb-Mainz, Professor Oxé-Krefeld / S. Levi
sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.d...
lupa.at/15774/photos/2
www.rem-mannheim.de/blog/ein-...
lcdl.library.cofc.edu/
For recommended reading, please visit: henryabramson.com/recommended...
Interested in studying more deeply? Join our learning community of students, researchers and colleagues by becoming a Channel Member: / @henryabramsonphd
Online Courses:
Biblical Jewish History: From Abraham to Bar Kochba
Course information and registration here: henryabramson.com/course/bibl...
A Thousand Years of Ashkenaz!
Course information and registration here: henryabramson.com/course/a-th...
The Holocaust
Course information and registration here: henryabramson.com/course/the-...

[@richardokrent8445]

This is amazing. These tombstones where once translated to mean they were Syrians. I suspected they were Jews . One appears to be a trumpeter. If the tombs are prior to 100 bce then these are from the last period of the Republic. These tombs were put up by Legionary burial societies. Each man in the unit would chip in for the tombstone of the others.

[@tylermiller4182]

I would be interested to know more about Jewish naming customs among soldiers in the first centuries BCE and CE. I feel there might be something to Roman-era Jewish/Syro-Phoenician soldiers assuming the names of terrible things to instill fear in and hold power over their enemied in war. “Panther” as a soldier’s name, shows up in grave inscriptions and is attested as being common in literature within the same period. It would also be fascinating to know more about the likely highly syncretistic faith of these Romanized Judaeo-Syrian soldiers and how it related to later Second Temple Judaism. Great content as always!

[@zafirjoe18]

This is amazing . It also confirms somewhat the legend brought in the סמ״ע reiterated by R’ Yuzpah Shamash in his sefer מעשה ניסים. That on the Rhineland there was a Jewish settlement going back to before the destruction of temple. Maybe a Jewish garrison of some kind. The Chid”a brings this legend in his diary מעגל טוב.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

I really enjoy the writings of the Chid”a.

[@Shiranu17]

I've come across an interesting amount of Huguenot and Jewish influences around much of what once Aquitaine and Gascony; it would not surprise me at all to learn that there was a far larger Jewish population than we realize around the Bay of Biscay and the Balearic Sea than evidence shows simply due to centuries of crusades & wars wiping out physical evidence and crypto-Jews and French conversos disappearing into society and history. Learning Jewish history is becoming more and more as painful to me as learning indigenous American history; both in terms of it's content but also in terms of how much has been intentionally lost by the victor. I know it's common across history, but it just hits closer to home when it's... well, closer to home.

[@joshua6287]

Thanks for the video, really enjoy your work

[@zdzislawmeglicki2262]

Caius (or Gaius) is a Roman name, cf. Gaius Julius Caesar. The Roman army counted about 150,000 people at its peak. Since the service was voluntary and rewarded with Roman citizenship it attracted many from all around the empire, including, I bet, some Jews. So, I'd expect there should have been more Jewish legionnaires than just the three, but, of course, not every legionnaire would be rewarded with a fancy (and expensive) grave stone, and not every stone would survive two millennia either.

[@sumbarine]

they were mainly from italy

[@jasonoconner7863]

Neat! Thank you for the lesson Dr. !

[@stnger9]

Fascinating-thank you, sir.

[@Jsmith2024]

Very interesting! I had to send this link to a friend who is more knowledgeable than I am (but not as knowledgeable as the esteemed Dr!). Is the last five minutes really blank, or am I missing something?

[@uncleambient]

Fascinating. Thank you Dr.

[@robsellars9338]

Judging by the length of service these Jewish legionaires completed, it's likely they were given the high status of Roman citizen in which case these gravestones would have reflected that achievement. A huge a complishment for them after the Roman retributions of the Jewish revolts previously.

[@cheryldeboissiere1851]

Excuse me but there were no Roman Revolts in the BCE era, the two Revolts both have Common Era dates.

[@robsellars9338]

@@cheryldeboissiere1851 sorry! My mistake but my main point was that due to length of service they most likely had won their Roman citizenship and that would explain the nature of their tombstones. Also whilst there were no rebellions against Rome in the first century, there were rebellions against Jewish Hasmonean Princes, the most famous of which was by Herod the Great and his father who solicited the support of Rome militarily. It's extremely likely that his supporters may have been offered the chance to serve as Roman soldiers at this time. The Roman Legions were highly mobile and during Herod the Greats time, they had just started their colonization of southern France and Gaul. Thanks for the correction!

[@mahoneytechnologies657]

I lived in Mainz and never knew its history! Thanks!

[@charlesedwards5333]

Well you must know what happened in 1096, right?

[@nicholasshannon1071]

Can you do a video about Akhenaten and the Letters of Amarna? I read that his father bought a Mitanni princess but died before she arrived. I read somewhere that she married Akhenaten instead, who turned Egypt monotheistic. Could it be that the Egyptian nobility was planning to build a larger empire through a royal marriage and attempted to make conciliatory attempts to welcome the monotheistic peoples of Israel that were caught in between? Is it a possibility that is the mystery behind the strangest Pharoah in history? That might paint a story of an incredibly rare and radical attempt at peace and progressive inclusion in an age of brutal warfare and slavery.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Good idea!

[@denizalgazi]

Fascinating! 👍

[@stubronstein9932]

I was expecting Chef John!!! No recipe but interesting video all the same. 🙃

[@laurenannkattner7030]

Wow! Very interesting.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

I think so too!

[@npgibson69]

Always fascinating, Dr. A question regarding the Jewish community in Egypt: During the Siege of Alexandria, how many Jews sided with Cleopatra/Caesar and how many supported Ptolemy/independence from Rome? I understand there was a very large community at that time; which side did they support?Does anyone have a source to share?

[@stephenchappell7512]

They might have swopped sides at an opportune moment like their king Herod

[@stephenchappell7512]

I suspect they would have been pro-Roman anti-Ptolemaic given their history up to that point

[@nicholasshannon1071]

thank you for sharing with us

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Thanks for watching!

[@dgetzin]

That sculpture bust wasn’t Josephus? That’s disappointing - I had been thinking his sideburns were totally significant - Hellenistic Levitical compromise -shaving and all.

[@MichaelAlberta]

Thank you Dr!

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

With great pleasure!

[@Rovtful]

Fascinating

[@obsessed2247]

haha that joke - I love this guy

[@izzykhach]

Can they exhume the sekeltons to determine whether they were semitic? How about traces of DNA?

[@SonofLiberty-zw7op]

Another day, another tidbit of history that is, in the words of Mr. Spock and of the distinguished Dr. Abramson, fascinating. But....hmmmmmmmm.......no hummus...no Chinese...no potatoes. Wonder what they ate.

[@roc7880]

I wonder whether the Jewish resistance in the wars against the Romans was supported by Jewish soldiers in Roman armies who knew tactics arms and even locations.

[@kevinbaileyjr9433]

❤❤

[@menachemsalomon]

I never pictured Josephus with a white beard. A black beard, perhaps, but not with a white beard, looking like a rabbi.

[@mayaangelou1751]

Nice Roman Boys! But they don't look Druish?

[@Viewer163]

Very interesting story. But it seems to me, that these soldiers were more likely Syrian or Aramaic. The Jews had some problems to service in the Roman army. Firstly Kashrut and Shabbat. But ok, these problems could by solved, the Kashrut rules probably weren't so hard at that time and we have Jews service in modern armees or in Israel, also at Sabbat. But there was other main problem for the Jews - official worship of the Roman gods and emperror and his family as gods.

[@zafirjoe18]

Josephus tells us about Jewish mercenaries hired for fighting in the Roman army, “…insomuch that these privileges (given by Seleucus Nicator )continue to this very day:(by the Romans)an argument for which you have in this, that whereas the Jews do not make use of oil prepared by foreigners, they (the Jewish mercenaries of these foreign armies)receive a certain sum of money from the proper officers belonging to their exercises as the value of that oil; ..” (Antiquities 12:3) Meaning it was common to pay the mercenaries back in the day with oil the equivalent of what would be owed to them in coin. The Jewish mercenaries were paid in money instead as they would not want to deal in what was forbidden for them. Now this is amazing considering that Shemen Aku”m which is a rabbinic decree never really took hold and was abolished by the Sanhedrin of Rabbi Yehuda Nesiah grandson of Rabbi Yehuda the prince . And is the only Mishnah (Avodah Zara 37a) to be added after its compilation. And this Sanhedrin were called בי דינא דשרו משחא ( Gittin 72b). Considering that the mercenaries most probably weren’t the most zealous to their religion they wouldn’t even infract on a Rabbinic decree of foreign oil . Although it was a eventually abolished as pas aku”m was, only yayin aku”m is today still in effect. So these mercenaries were probably more frum then the satmar Rebbe.😊

[@jeanbarbera8875]

Have you heard of panthera it's a roman tomb stone like these in the video. Supposedly it's Jesus real dad

[@karlschreiber9286]

Yes fascinating. If high ranking soldiers could be jews in believe? Mogontiacum, Mayence or Mainz was called the second Jerusalem.

[@kevinbaileyjr9433]

Sorry 😞 sorry 😞 don't understand I only understand kinda about the 3 seats in the church's to also and do care and respect

[@delfimoliveira8883]

Do you think that Pantera the Roman soldier found in Germany can be related whit the Pantera that Celsus stated to be the father of Jesus of Nazareth?

[@cheryldeboissiere1851]

My overview of Celsius was he was actually indulging in a form of comedy that also served as rhetoric. Catullus looks to be the master of this form of insult. Thus, writing that the Virgin Mary was a prostitute was just comic styling. Celsius is right, a woman who is bearing a child that has yet to sleep with her husband is adulterous. Turning her into a prostitution definitely work. As for Pantera, tomb at all, I have a strong feeling that a lot of guys were called Pantera especially when they didn’t know who their father was. I am basing this on Spartacus whose mother was a bought slave provide to the mine workers as a prostitute. With Spartacus as a guide, I don’t think finding a grave within the name Pantera proves anything about Celsius’s bad joke. Barabbas is a Jewish way to declare a man was the offspring of a prostitute and some unknown customer. Bar-abbas means of the fathers, a definite clue to no one know which guy. Pantera is, I think and only my opinion, the equivalent of Barabbas. Celsus was being a comedian but also right in saying if God is the father, how many other guys slept with her?

[@ready1fire1aim1]

Here are seven differences between "Ruach Elohim" and "Ruach Yahweh" as they appear in the Names of God (NOG) translation of the Bible: 1. "Ruach Elohim" is first mentioned in Genesis 1:2, where it is translated as "God's Spirit." "Ruach Yahweh" is first mentioned in Judges 3:10, where it is translated as "the LORD's Spirit." 2. "Ruach Elohim" is used throughout the Old Testament to describe the Spirit of God in general, while "Ruach Yahweh" is often used specifically in reference to the Spirit of God acting in a prophetic or empowering way, as in Judges 14:6 where Samson is "filled with the Spirit of Yahweh" to defeat a lion. 3. "Ruach Elohim" is sometimes used to describe the breath of life given to all creatures, as in Job 34:14-15 where it says that if God were to "gather back his breath [ruach]," all life would perish. "Ruach Yahweh" is not used in this sense. 4. In some passages, the two terms are used interchangeably. For example, in Isaiah 61:1, the Spirit of the Lord [Ruach Yahweh] is said to be upon the prophet, while in Ezekiel 11:5, the same phrase is translated as "the Spirit of God [Ruach Elohim] came upon me." 5. "Ruach Yahweh" is associated with the creation of humans in Genesis 2:7, where it says that Yahweh "breathed the breath [ruach] of life into [Adam's] nostrils." "Ruach Elohim" is not used in this context. 6. "Ruach Yahweh" is associated with the work of the Messiah in Isaiah 11:2, where it is said that "the Spirit of Yahweh will rest on him." "Ruach Elohim" is not used in this passage. 7. "Ruach Elohim" is used in the New Testament to refer to the Holy Spirit, as in Luke 3:22 where the Spirit descends on Jesus at his baptism "in bodily form like a dove." "Ruach Yahweh" is not used in the New Testament.

[@ready1fire1aim1]

Here are seven more differences between "Ruach Elohim" and "Ruach Yahweh" in the Names of God (NOG) translation of the Bible: 1. "Ruach Elohim" is used in Psalm 51:11 where David asks God not to take his Spirit away from him, whereas "Ruach Yahweh" is not used in this context. 2. "Ruach Yahweh" is associated with dreams and visions in Numbers 12:6, where it says that Yahweh spoke to Moses in a dream and a vision, "but not like [He spoke] to [His] servant Moses, who had a close relationship with [Yahweh]." "Ruach Elohim" is not used in this passage. 3. "Ruach Elohim" is used in 1 Samuel 10:10 where it says that the Spirit of God came upon Saul and he prophesied along with a group of prophets. "Ruach Yahweh" is not used in this context. 4. "Ruach Yahweh" is associated with judgment in Isaiah 4:4, where it says that Yahweh will "wash away the filth of Zion's people...by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning." "Ruach Elohim" is not used in this context. 5. "Ruach Elohim" is used in Job 33:4 where Elihu says that "the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life." "Ruach Yahweh" is not used in this passage. 6. Ruach Yahweh" is associated with the exodus from Egypt in Isaiah 63:14, where it says that "the Spirit of Yahweh led [the Israelites] through the desert." "Ruach Elohim" is not used in this context. 7. Ruach Elohim" is used in 1 Corinthians 2:10-11 where Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit revealing God's wisdom to believers. "Ruach Yahweh" is not used in this passage.

[@kevinbaileyjr9433]

☮️ 🕊 ☮️ 🕊 🏳️‍ sorry 😞 I'm scared okay

[@basilfaulty6895]

I think Israel would benefit from open borders.

[@adamyitzhak9907]

Possibly the father of jesus

[@charlesedwards5333]

Fascinating

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Ty