ABSTRACT
Rome unified the Jews by destroying Jewish factions most inimical to its existence but which might have been fatal to Jewish survival. As Romans regarded the rule of law as essential to the survival of the empire, so also Jews regarded halakha (law) at all levels as essential to the survival of Judaism, now there was no Temple in Jerusalem – and no Jerusalem except in memory. Halakha became the driving force of Jewish education. Yet the spirit of the Law was in many ways not far removed from the Graeco-Roman culture from which Jews in varying degrees aimed to separate themselves. Though Greek culture was nominally shunned, it continued to influence Jewish life and rabbinic thought. After 138 CE, when the Antonine age began, the survival of Judaism depended on a philosophy of submission and self-conquest. In this period, a parallel philosophy, of Stoicism – associated with thinkers such as Zeno, Cleanthes, Chrysippus, Seneca, Musonius Rufus, Epictetus and especially Marcus Aurelius – became popular in the empire. Though the empire tolerated many forms of religion, Stoicism was notable for its emphasis on ethics. In its ethical concerns, tannaitic literature – particularly tractate Avot in the Mishna – is close to contemporary 1st and 2nd century CE Stoics, notably Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius.
