November 2-3, 2015
MAPPING THE JEWISH DIASPORA OF LATE ANTIQUITY

University of Haifa and Tel Aviv University

The full Program 

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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2015

University of Haifa, Aviva and Sammy Ofer Observation Galley, 30th Floor, Eshkol Tower

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2015

Tel Aviv University, Drachlis Hall, Gilman Building, Room 496

8:45 WELCOME AND LIGHT REFRESHMENTS

9:00-10:00 OPENING SESSION
Chair: Jonathan Ben-Dov, University of Haifa
Greetings: Gur Alroey, Head of the School of History, University of Haifa
Eyal Ben-Eliyahu, University of Haifa
Keynote Lecture: Isaiah Gafni, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Jewish Diaspora and Post-Temple Realities: Continuity and Change

10:00-11:30 ASIA MINOR AND THE BALKAN
Chair: Hillel Newman, University of Haifa
Yunus Demirci, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Mapping the Jewish Diaspora in Roman and Late Roman Asia Minor in Light of Archeaological and Literary Evidence: Continuity and Change
Alexander Panayotov, University of Aarhus, Denmark
Jewish Everyday Life in the Early Byzantine Balkans

11:30-12:00 Break

12:00-13:30 BEYOND BABYLONIA
Chair: Isaiah Gafni, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Geoffrey Herman, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Beyond Babylonia: Traces of Jewish Life Throughout the Sasanian Diaspora
Sergey Minov, University of Oxford
Syriac Christian Literature as a Source for the History and Culture of Jewish
Communities of Northern Mesopotamia

13:30-15:00 Break

15:00-16:30 ARABIA
Chair: Michael Lecker, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Christian Julien Robin, CNRS
Ḥujr Ākil al-Murār (c. 440): A King of Arabia Converted to Judaism?
Oded Irshai, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Profile of the Jews of Provinicia Arabia: Normative or Not?

9:00-11:00 NORTH AFRICA AND EGYPT
Chair: Yuval Shahar, Tel Aviv University
Noah Hacham, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Egyptian Jewry after Trajan: The Papyrological Evidence
Hillel Newman, University of Haifa
The Jews of Egypt and North Africa in the Orbit of the Land of Israel
Karen Stern, Brooklyn College
Jews of Roman North Africa in Light of New Archaeological Evidence

11:00-11:30 Break

11:30-13:30 ROME AND WEST EUROPE
Chair: Youval Rotman, Tel Aviv University
Leonard Rutgers, Utrecht University
The Jews of Ancient Rome: How Diasporic Were They Really?
Hagith Sivan, University of Kansas
Island Jews: Diaspora Tales from Crete to Minorca
Eyal Ben-Eliyahu, University of Haifa
The Geography of the Oikoumene and the Geography of the Jewish Diaspora
According to the Rabbinic Literature

13:30-15:00 Break

15:00-17:00 NETWORKS AND COMMUNICATIONS IN THE ANCIENT JEWISH DIASPORA
Chair: Lee Israel Levine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Doron Mendels, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Paul’s Epistles and Luke’s Acts as Evidence of the Split Jewish Diaspora
Arye Edrei, Tel Aviv University
The “Split Diaspora” Revisited: Additional Material and Thoughts
Yair Furstenberg, Ben-Gurion University
The Patriarch Diaspora Network: Imperial and Rabbinic Perspectives

17:00-17:20 Break

17:20-18:00 CONCLUDING LECTURE
Chair: Tessa Rajak, University of Oxford
Ross Kraemer, Brown University
What Remains: Perils and Prospects of Mediterranean Diaspora Inscriptions

18:00-19:00 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUDING REMARKS