Antiochus III’s Edicts to Jerusalem: Between Imperial Stress and Local Agency

Antiochus III’s Edicts to Jerusalem: Between Imperial Stress and Local Agency

Harvard University, April 20–21, 2023

Rotem Avneri Meir and Julia Rhyder (co-organizers)

Join diverse scholars of Second Temple Judaism and Hellenistic history as we reassess Antiochus III’s decrees to Jerusalem and their significance for understanding Jewish history in the initial years of Seleucid hegemony in Judea. Drawing on recent studies of ancient empires that emphasize the importance of local elites and their lifeways, this two-day symposium aims to shed new light on the imperial dynamics captured in the edicts and their importance for reconstructing Jewish-Seleucid relations.

Symposium Program:

THURSDAY, APRIL 20	Chair: SHAYE COHEN Harvard University	1 :30 p.m. – 1 :45 p.m. Welcome and Introduction 1 :45 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. The Gerousia of Jerusalem: Who Were the Judean Elites in Early Hellenistic Times? Sylvie Honigman, Tel Aviv University
		2:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. Break
	Chair: DAVID STERN Harvard University	3:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. The ‘Charter for Jerusalem’ and the Seleucid Conquest of the Southern Levant: Problems of Authenticity and Exemplarity Benedikt Eckhardt, University of Edinburgh 4:15 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. Antiochus Ill and Jerusalem -A Seleucid Paradigm? Paul Kosmin, Harvard University
FRIDAY, APRIL 21	Chair: ANGELA KIM HARKINS Boston College Representing the Journal of Ancient Judaism, publisher of the proceedings	9 a.m. – 10 a.m. Purity, Cult;·and Empire: The Proclamation of Antiochus III Concerning the Temple and City of Jerusalem Julia Rhyder, Harvard University
		10 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Break
	Chair: ANNETTE YOSHIKO REED Harvard University	10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. The Afterlife of Antiochus’ Edict in Hasmonean Ideology Rotem Avneri Meir, University of Helsinki/Harvard University 11 :15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Between Resistance and Collaboration: Architecture, Archive, and the Politics of Memory Anathea Portier-Young, Duke Divinity School

This event is co-sponsored by Ancient Studies at Harvard and the Center for Jewish Studies. Its proceedings will be published in a special issue of the Journal of Ancient Judaism.