History of the Jews in Carthage

Location of Carthage and Carthaginian sphere of influence prior to the First Punic War (264 BCE).
Trade routes of the Phoenicians.
Map of the tribes of Israel, seen, Tyre and Sidon are included in this area.

History of the Jews in Carthage refers to the history and presence of people of Jewish ancestry in ancient Carthage.

Carthage (from the Phoenician Kart-Hadasht, the "New City", written without vowels in Punic as Qrthdst) was a city in North Africa located on the eastern side of Lake Tunis, across from the center of modern Tunis in Tunisia. It remains a popular tourist attraction.

There are a number of varying opinions held by historians and scholars as to exactly when Jews came to Carthage and what role they played in the rise and subsequent life of the city, empire and culture associated with the name of Carthage and the Carthaginians, also known as the Punics.

The Jewish Encyclopedia has a lengthy article about the "Jews in Carthage"[1] tracing various links in sources or by Jews with Carthage:

The Jewish Virtual Library basing itself on sources from the Encyclopedia Judaica assert[2] that:

"There is no evidence of Jews in Carthage during the Punic period (before 146 B.C.E.); on the other hand, a number of modern scholars maintain that the expansion of the Phoenicians from Tyre and Sidon owed something of its impetus to the collaboration of Hebrews from the Palestinian hinterland. Substantial Jewish settlement is known only from the time of the Roman Empire. Its existence is shown from inscriptions (mainly on tombstones) and from literary sources, especially those of the Church Fathers. The majority of Jewish inscriptions from Carthage (discovered in a cemetery excavated near the city) show that the language of its Jews was Latin, although a few inscriptions are in Hebrew..."[3]

Various Christian and general scholars have written about the Jews in Carthage, such as in a Cambridge University Press study on "The Jews in Carthage and Western North Africa, 66 - 235 CE"[4] and others who have delved into the topic from a variety of perspectives ranging from conventional to controversial perspectives.

Carthage was founded from Tyre. According to the Bible, the city of Tyre and Sidon, were part of the tribe of Asher.

″even unto great Zidon; And then the coast turneth to Ramah, and to the strong city Tyre″[5]

The famous Arab historian and sociologist Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406 years), who himself came from Tunisia (former center of Carthage Power), in his books on the Berbers asserted that Berber to convert to Islam, professed Judaism. Berbers rules Kahina.

Geneticists believe that the Jews founded Carthage and lived in it.[6] Found mosaic synagogue and cemetery Carthaginian Jews. And Rabbi Isaac said:

″From Tyre to Carthage know all of Israel and his heavenly Father, from Tyre to the west and to the east of Carthage unaware of Israel″[7]

African Jews celebrate Mimouna, a holiday known for Carthaginian inscriptions CIS 270-275, 290, 4908, 4909, entitled mayumas, m' ms.[8]

See also

References

  1. Movers, Phönicier, ii. part i. 142, 144, 350; Böttger, Lexikon zu den Schriften des Flavius Josephus, p. 79; Neubauer, G. T. p. 411; Krauss, Lehnwörter, ii. 572; Delattre, Gamart ou la Nécropole Juive de Carthage, Lyons, 1895; Rev. Et. Juives, xliv. 2-28. "Carthage: Josephus; In the Bible and the Talmud; Jews in Carthage; Under the Arabs". Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  2. Encyclopedia Judaica / Jewish Virtual Library. "Carthage". Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  3. Monceaux, in: REJ, 44 (1902), 1–28; N. Slouschz, Hebraeo-Phéniciens et Judéo-Berbères (1908); idem, La civilisation hébraïque et phénicienne à Carthage (1911); Juster, Juifs, 1 (1914), 208, n. 8; G. Rosen, Juden und Phoenizier (19292); Mieses, in: REJ, 92 (1932), 113–35; 93 (1932), 53–72, 135–56; 94 (1933), 73–89; Baron, Social2, 1 (1952), 176, 374; Y. Levi, Olamot Nifgashim (1960), 60–78; M. Simon, Recherches d'histoire judéo-chrétienne (1962), 30–87. "Carthage". Encyclopedia Judaica / Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  4. Katz, Steven T (Editor); Setzer, Claudia. The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume Four: The Late Roman Rabbinic Period (pp. 68-75). Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  5. Joshua., 19:28-29
  6. North African Jewish and non-Jewish populations form distinctive, orthogonal clusters
  7. Maine., 110a
  8. Good, Robert McClive. The Carthaginian mayumas

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Jewish Encyclopedia. 1901–1906. 

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