The “Jewish Question” in the Mirror of Ancient Philosophy

Abstract

This article provides the vision of the “jewish question” in so far as the latter can be illustrated by the opinions of ancient philosophers and authors with semiphilosophical interests. The article rests upon the collections of texts supplied by T.Reinach and M.Stern, the starting point being one of the first works of S.Luria, the prominent Russian researcher of antiquity. Up to my mind, there existed no consistent and centralized antisemitic policy in antiquity. Far from being homogenous, the attitude of ancient philosophical and semi-philosophical socium towards jews and Judaism compared with that of other ancient intellectuals appears, however, to be marked in its positive aspect by a higher level of reflexion and by intention to find out productive elements in judaism and in monotheistic paradigm. Such attitude is peculiar to many adherents of platonic and pythagoreic tradition, particularly to Numenius; from the historic-philosophical and from historic-cultural points of view it appears to be more perceptive and decidedly tolerant.