Identity and Cosmopolitism: the Jewish Politeuma of Alexandria

Abstract

Taking into account the well-known process of ethnic, cultural and linguistic fusion which constitutes the basis for the huge development of the city of Alexandria (and is in itself an impressive legacy of Alexander’s empire), it becomes important to understand up to what point would it be possible for a certain group to safeguard a distinctive identity – at a cultural, religious, and political level – within a space deeply marked by cosmopolitism and by the confluence of different sensibilities. The Macedonian and Greek communities, which were closer to the governing elite, would find a suitable formula of orienting their behaviour by using rules that derived from a common political and cultural identity – the so-called concept of politikoi nomoi. The Jewish community, which was as well important in the city, managed also to obtain, according to literary tradition, significant advantages from Alexander and the Ptolemies, especially the right to «live according to their ancestral laws». In this process of identitarian affirmation, a determinant role must had been played by the translation of the Torah by the Septuaginta, because it enabled the sacred text with the possibility of reaching a position comparable to the Greek nomoi, thus contributing to the establishment of a legal koine, which, even without ceasing to respect royal authority, would be central in daily life and in dealing with private conflicts.