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30 juillet 2021
- doi: 10.4000/books.efr.10143
- isbn: 9782728314645
- eisbn: 9782728314652
https://www.openedition.org/12554 , info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Mots-clés
Barbarian apologetics other Rome law Roman law Jewish law Palestinian rabbis stubborn and rebellious son death penalty execution religion droit romain droit juifs religion Classics History Law HIS002020 HBLASujets proches
Legislative acts Legislative enactments Acts, Legislative Enactments, Legislative Laws (Statutes)Citer ce document
Christine Hayes, « “Barbarians” judge the law », Publications de l’École française de Rome, ID : 10.4000/books.efr.10143
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In the ancient and late antique world, various peoples engaged in competitive ethnic apologetics. In so doing, they drew on central tropes of the civilized/barbarian dichotomy, first formulated by the Greeks, which valorized law as the definitive mark of a civilized people and bulwark against barbarian savagery. Invoking familiar tropes of the “barbarian repertoire” (described by Kostas Vlassopoulos), ancient and late antique writers adopted a double strategy of apologetics and redirection, defending themselves against the charge of barbarism and redirecting it on to their accusers. Palestinian rabbis participated in this competitive ethnic apologetics in two ways. First, they defended themselves from the charge of barbarism by neutralizing violent elements of biblical death penalty law. Specifically, they “barbarized” the stubborn and rebellious son of Deuteronomy 21, and they imported substantive and conceptual elements from Roman law in order to conform biblical executions to the Roman standard of a dignified and aesthetically pleasing death. Second, they redirected the charge of barbarism onto Rome through ironic narratives focused on the savagery of Roman emperors.