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Home > The Foundation for Jewish Studies > Why Did Jewish Art Flourish in Late Antiquity?
Podcast: The Foundation for Jewish Studies
Episode:

Why Did Jewish Art Flourish in Late Antiquity?
Category: Religion & Spirituality
Duration: 00:46:39
Publish Date: 2018-04-23 09:42:47
Description:

Speaker:  Rabbi Lee Levine

Program Series:  Rabbi Joshua O. Haberman Distinguished Scholar Series

Location:  Ohr Kodesh Congregation, Chevy Chase, MD

Date: November 21, 2017

The study of ancient Jewish art is a relatively new field fueled by ongoing archaeological discoveries. Only in Late Antiquity (third to seventh centuries CE) did Jewish art begin to flourish in a dramatic fashion. By the Byzantine era (fourth to seventh centuries CE), religious symbols, biblical motifs and even clearly pagan mythological motifs - especially the zodiac signs and the image of Helios - graced many synagogue mosaic floors in ancient Palestine. 

This lecture focuses on the political, social and religious reasons for such a dramatic change, and likewise addresses the variety of ways Jewish communities, which were wholly autonomous and diverse, grappled with such developments.
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