Katell Berthelot
Biographic Data
| ID | 3871111 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Katell Berthelot |
| GIVEN NAMES | Katell |
| FAMILY NAME | Berthelot |
| SIGNATURE | BERTHELOT K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Aix-Marseille Université |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4114-1056 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 35 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 22 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 4 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Religion in the Roman Empire
Religion in the Roman Empire (RRE) aims to advance and document new and integrative perspectives on religion in the ancient world, combining multidisciplinary methodologies. Committed to interdisciplinarity and new approaches to the study of religion, it offers a space to take up recent, but still incipient, research to modify and cross the disciplinary boundaries of the History of Religion, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classics, Ancient History, J…
Conversion to Judaism and Hostility toward Jews in the Roman Empire: The Complementary Perspectives of Philo and Tacitus
Hellenistic texts on Jews hardly ever refer to people converting to Judaism. Roman authors’ criticism and condemnation of people who had converted to Judaism thus appears as a new feature of anti-Jewish discourse. The relative prominence of references to Judaizers and converts in Roman literary texts may be explained by the number and visibility of proselytes in Rome, but also perhaps by the perception, within certain Roman circles, of conversion…
La prééminence du droit dans le judaïsme antique à l’épreuve du cas hasmonéen
Cet article examine la question de la prééminence du droit (« the rule of law ») dans le judaïsme antique à l’aune du cas de la dynastie hasmonéenne, une lignée de prêtres qui, dans la Judée des ii e et i er siècles avant notre ère, s’emparèrent non seulement du sacerdoce suprême, mais aussi des pouvoirs politique et militaire. L’étude du Premier Livre des Maccabées , rédigé par un partisan des Hasmonéens, associée à la prise en compte de sources…
Michaël Girardin, La fiscalité dans le judaïsme ancien (vie s. av. J.-C: Paris, Geuthner (« Culture archéologique du judaïsme ancien »), 2020
Michaël Girardin propose dans ce livre une synthèse à destination d’un large public sur la fiscalité dans le judaïsme ancien, un sujet plutôt technique et peu traité jusqu’à la thèse de l’auteur, soutenue à l’Université de Metz en 2017 et publiée en 2022 chez Ausonius Éditions. L’ouvrage concis (avec un minimum de notes de bas de page) présenté ici est organisé de façon à la fois chronologique (chap. I sur la fiscalité achéménide, chap. IV sur la…
The Superiority and Universality of the Torah in Philo's Life of Moses 2.12–24: The Significance of the Roman Context
In the section of On the Life of Moses that deals with Moses as lawgiver, Philo praises the Torah as the most excellent legislation ever written and emphasizes its universal popularity among Greeks and barbarians alike. This article contends that these two claims are to a great extent novel compared to previous Jewish discourses about the Law. Earlier Jewish authors writing in Greek celebrated the Torahs superior wisdom but did not compare it to …
Legal engagement: The reception of Roman law and tribunals by Jews and other inhabitants of the Empire
The Roman empire set law at the center of its very identity. A complex and robust ideology of law and justice is evident not only in the dynamics of imperial administration, but a host of cultural arenas. Citizenship named the privilege of falling under Roman jurisdiction, legal expertise was cultural capital. A faith in the emperor’s intimate concern for justice was a key component of the voluntary connection binding Romans and provincials to th…
Jews and Their Roman Rivals: Pagan Rome's Challenge to Israel
Jews and Their Roman Rivals: Pagan Rome's Challenge to Israel
Coping with Empires before Rome: From Assyria to the Hellenistic Kingdoms
This chapter discusses the comparison of ancient empires leading to the identification of both similarities and differences as several Roman imperial characteristics are not unique to Rome. The very notion of empire has been debated intensely over the past decades, giving birth to numerous comparative studies of ancient and modern empires and to attempts at a general definition of the term. It highlights the growing acceptance of the idea that di…
The Challenge of Roman Law and Jurisdiction
This chapter explores Roman power, which was not simply about the military, but it also took a judicial form. As Clifford Ando has demonstrated, the imperial administrative and judicial system played an important role in the consensual adhesion to Roman rule of provincial populations. The chapter considers one of the factors that made Roman law and jurisdiction particularly challenging for the Jews, beyond its intrinsic connection with Roman rule…
To convert or not to convert: The appropriation of Jewish rituals, customs and beliefs by non-Jews
In Antiquity, non-Jews appropriated Jewish rituals, customs and beliefs in a way that defied clear-cut categorization and thus challenged group boundaries. Whereas the scholarly debate has traditionally focused on whether the term “Godfearers” (theosebeis, metuentes) was adequate to describe such individuals, and whether such a category or group existed at all in the ancient world, my aim in this paper is different. I examine how ancient literary…
The Future of Rome: Roman, Greek, Jewish and Christian Visions
International audience
Reconsidering Roman power: Roman, Greek, Jewish and Christian perceptions and reactions
Among the imperial states of the ancient world, the Roman empire stands out for its geographical extent, its longevity and its might. This collective volume investigates how the many peoples inhabiting Rome’s vast empire perceived, experienced, and reacted to both the concrete and the ideological aspects of Roman power. More precisely, it explores how they dealt with Roman might through their religious and political rituals; what they regarded as…
Lived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Approaching Religious Transformations from Archaeology, History and Classics
The Lived Ancient Religion project has radically changed perspectives on ancient religions and their supposedly personal or public character. This volume applies and further develops these methodological tools, new perspectives and new questions. The religious transformations of the Roman Imperial period appear in new light and more nuances by comparative confrontation and the integration of many disciplines. The contributions are written by spec…
Judaism as “Citizenship” and the Question of the Impact of Rome
In the Crucible of Empire: The Impact of Roman Citizenship upon Greeks, Jews and Christians
Rabbinic Universalism Reconsidered: The Roman Context of Some Rabbinic Traditions Pertaining to the Revelation of the Torah in Different Languages
International audience
Michał Marciak, Izates, Helena, and Monobazos of Adiabene: A Study on Literary Traditions and History
L’ouvrage de Michał Marciak explore les différentes facettes d’une curieuse histoire rapportée par l’historien Flavius Josèphe au livre XX des Antiquités juives (§§17-96), celle de la conversion au judaïsme de la maison royale d’Adiabène, et plus exactement de la reine Hélène, femme de Monobaze Ier, de son fils Izatès II et du frère de celui-ci, Monobaze II. Le livre de M. Marciak, issu de sa thèse de doctorat (soutenue à Leyde en 2012), est la p…
Entre octroi de la citoyenneté et adoption: Les Modèles Pour Penser La Conversion Au Judaïsme À l'Époque Romaine
International audience
Regards juifs alexandrins sur les religions
Cet article analyse les discours de deux auteurs juifs alexandrins du tournant de notre ère, Philon et l’auteur de la Sagesse de Salomon, sur les cultes polythéistes de leur temps, en examinant successivement si ces auteurs développent une réflexion de type historique sur les religions, comment ils classent et hiérarchisent les différents cultes, leur réflexion sur l’attrait esthétique des images, l’usage qu’ils font des théories évhéméristes, le…
The Rabbis Write Back! L'enjeu de la « parenté » entre Israël et Rome-Ésaü-Édom
Au vu des parentés mythiques attestées dans la Bible d’une part, et dans le monde hellénistique de l’autre, l’identification de Rome avec Ésaü ou Édom ne reflète pas l’invention d’une parenté, mais plutôt la création d’une typologie, pour le moins paradoxale puisqu’elle implique une proximité et un lien intime entre Israël et Rome. Pour certains historiens, cette typologie ne ferait sens que dans le contexte de la christianisation de l’empire. L’…
La représentation juive de l'empire romain comme pendant et frère jumeau d'Israël: Avant-propos
L’histoire du peuple d’Israël dans l’Antiquité fut marquée par la confrontation répétée avec de grands empires : empires assyrien, néo-babylonien et perse, royaumes hellénistiques, empire romain. Ce dernier fut-il simplement un empire de plus dans l’histoire d’Israël, ou bien représenta-t‐il un défi particulier pour le judaïsme ? C’est la deuxième proposition qui nous semble devoir être retenue, d’une part à cause des succès militaires de Rome, q…
Revue d’histoire et de philosophie religieuses
Revue Biblique
Recherches de science religieuse
Lived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Approaching Religious Transformations from Archaeology, History and Classics
The Lived Ancient Religion project has radically changed perspectives on ancient religions and their supposedly personal or public character. This volume applies and further develops these methodological tools, new perspectives and new questions. The religious transformations of the Roman Imperial period appear in new light and more nuances by comparative confrontation and the integration of many disciplines. The contributions are written by spec…
The Canaanites who 'trusted in God: An original interpretation of the fate of the Canaanites in rabbinic literature
This article tackles the issue of the fate of the Canaanites at the time of the conquest according to some rabbinic sources which contain an unusual tradition, according to which some of the Canaanites obeyed God's will and left the Land that was to be given to the children of Israel. Acknowledging their merit, God gave them another land in Africa and allowed that the Land of Israel be called 'Canaan'. It is argued that this tradition does not me…
Reconsidering Roman power: Roman, Greek, Jewish and Christian perceptions and reactions
Among the imperial states of the ancient world, the Roman empire stands out for its geographical extent, its longevity and its might. This collective volume investigates how the many peoples inhabiting Rome’s vast empire perceived, experienced, and reacted to both the concrete and the ideological aspects of Roman power. More precisely, it explores how they dealt with Roman might through their religious and political rituals; what they regarded as…
The Rabbis Write Back! L'enjeu de la « parenté » entre Israël et Rome-Ésaü-Édom
Au vu des parentés mythiques attestées dans la Bible d’une part, et dans le monde hellénistique de l’autre, l’identification de Rome avec Ésaü ou Édom ne reflète pas l’invention d’une parenté, mais plutôt la création d’une typologie, pour le moins paradoxale puisqu’elle implique une proximité et un lien intime entre Israël et Rome. Pour certains historiens, cette typologie ne ferait sens que dans le contexte de la christianisation de l’empire. L’…
Philo of Alexandria and the Conquest of Canaan
According to the Torah, the Hebrews were commanded either to expel or to exterminate the Canaanites who were living in Canaan at the time of the conquest. Philo seems to feel rather ill-at-ease about the literal meaning of these biblical passages. Besides allegory, he uses four hermeneutical strategies: 1) to pass over the problematic texts in silence; 2) to play with the meaning of certain Greek words; 3) to justify the destruction of the Canaan…
Poseidonios d'ApamÉE Et Les Juifs
In this article I have tried to show that both Strabo's text (16.2.34-46) and Diodorus' text (34-35.1.1-5) about the Jews can be attributed to Posidonius of Apamea and that they do not contradict each other; nor do they contradict Josephus' testimony in the Against Apion (2.79), where it is very difficult anyway to determine what exactly goes back to Posidonius. His vision of the Jews can be summarized as follows: although he considered Moses as …
L'interprétation symbolique des lois alimentaires dans la Lettre d'Aristée: Une Influence Pythagoricienne
La mise en cause et la défense de la «Philanthropie» des lois juives au Ie et au XVIIIe siècles de notre ère
Au XVIII e siecle, face au retour de l'accusation de misanthropie originellement formulee dans la litterature de l'epoque hellenistique et romaine, se developpe a nouveau une apologie de la «philanthropie» des lois de Moise, qui d'une part s'inscrit dans la continuite de l'apologie de Philon ou de Flavius Josephe, et d'autre part s'en distingue radicalement, car elle interprete la notion biblique du ger, de l'etranger resident, dans un sens oppos…
Poseidonios d'ApamÉE Et Les Juifs
In this article I have tried to show that both Strabo's text (16.2.34-46) and Diodorus' text (34-35.1.1-5) about the Jews can be attributed to Posidonius of Apamea and that they do not contradict each other; nor do they contradict Josephus' testimony in the Against Apion (2.79), where it is very difficult anyway to determine what exactly goes back to Posidonius. His vision of the Jews can be summarized as follows: although he considered Moses as …
L'idéologie maccabéenne
Cet article explore la question des ideologies maccabeennes (dans leur diversite), ou d'une ideologie maccabeenne de la resistance qui se declinerait sur deux modes, celui de la resistance armee et celui du martyre. Alors que 2 Maccabees valorise la voie du martyre, 1 Maccabees defend plutot celle de la resistance armee, et une certaine tension polemique est perceptible entre ces deux options. En s'interrogeant sur la posterite de ces deux ideolo…
Philo of Alexandria and the Conquest of Canaan
According to the Torah, the Hebrews were commanded either to expel or to exterminate the Canaanites who were living in Canaan at the time of the conquest. Philo seems to feel rather ill-at-ease about the literal meaning of these biblical passages. Besides allegory, he uses four hermeneutical strategies: 1) to pass over the problematic texts in silence; 2) to play with the meaning of certain Greek words; 3) to justify the destruction of the Canaan…
The Qumran Library Project at the Éditions du Cerf (Paris)
Philo’s Perception of the Roman Empire
Philo’s perception of Rome is less positive than has generally been argued. Although Philo appreciated the pax romana and the religious freedom generally enjoyed by Jews in the Roman Empire, he was nevertheless critical of Rome. In particular, he rejected the idea that the Roman empire was the outcome of divine providence and would last forever. He opposed the spiritual kingship of Israel to the worldly and transitory dominion of Rome. Moreover, …
The Canaanites who 'trusted in God: An original interpretation of the fate of the Canaanites in rabbinic literature
This article tackles the issue of the fate of the Canaanites at the time of the conquest according to some rabbinic sources which contain an unusual tradition, according to which some of the Canaanites obeyed God's will and left the Land that was to be given to the children of Israel. Acknowledging their merit, God gave them another land in Africa and allowed that the Land of Israel be called 'Canaan'. It is argued that this tradition does not me…
A Classical Ethical Problem in Ancient Philosophy and Rabbinic Thought: The Case of the Shipwrecked
The story found in Sifra Behar 5.3 and in the Babylonian Talmud, Baba Meṣi'a 62a, about two persons traveling in a desert and having a quantity of water that allows only one of them to reach civilization and survive, is well known and frequently referred to in books and articles dealing with Jewish ethics. The rabbinic texts raise the question: Should the travelers share the water and die together, or should the person who owns the water drink it…
Revue d’histoire et de philosophie religieuses
Revue Biblique
Recherches de science religieuse
Revue des études juives
The Rabbis Write Back! L'enjeu de la « parenté » entre Israël et Rome-Ésaü-Édom
Au vu des parentés mythiques attestées dans la Bible d’une part, et dans le monde hellénistique de l’autre, l’identification de Rome avec Ésaü ou Édom ne reflète pas l’invention d’une parenté, mais plutôt la création d’une typologie, pour le moins paradoxale puisqu’elle implique une proximité et un lien intime entre Israël et Rome. Pour certains historiens, cette typologie ne ferait sens que dans le contexte de la christianisation de l’empire. L’…
La représentation juive de l'empire romain comme pendant et frère jumeau d'Israël: Avant-propos
L’histoire du peuple d’Israël dans l’Antiquité fut marquée par la confrontation répétée avec de grands empires : empires assyrien, néo-babylonien et perse, royaumes hellénistiques, empire romain. Ce dernier fut-il simplement un empire de plus dans l’histoire d’Israël, ou bien représenta-t‐il un défi particulier pour le judaïsme ? C’est la deuxième proposition qui nous semble devoir être retenue, d’une part à cause des succès militaires de Rome, q…
Michał Marciak, Izates, Helena, and Monobazos of Adiabene: A Study on Literary Traditions and History
L’ouvrage de Michał Marciak explore les différentes facettes d’une curieuse histoire rapportée par l’historien Flavius Josèphe au livre XX des Antiquités juives (§§17-96), celle de la conversion au judaïsme de la maison royale d’Adiabène, et plus exactement de la reine Hélène, femme de Monobaze Ier, de son fils Izatès II et du frère de celui-ci, Monobaze II. Le livre de M. Marciak, issu de sa thèse de doctorat (soutenue à Leyde en 2012), est la p…
Entre octroi de la citoyenneté et adoption: Les Modèles Pour Penser La Conversion Au Judaïsme À l'Époque Romaine
International audience
Regards juifs alexandrins sur les religions
Cet article analyse les discours de deux auteurs juifs alexandrins du tournant de notre ère, Philon et l’auteur de la Sagesse de Salomon, sur les cultes polythéistes de leur temps, en examinant successivement si ces auteurs développent une réflexion de type historique sur les religions, comment ils classent et hiérarchisent les différents cultes, leur réflexion sur l’attrait esthétique des images, l’usage qu’ils font des théories évhéméristes, le…
Rabbinic Universalism Reconsidered: The Roman Context of Some Rabbinic Traditions Pertaining to the Revelation of the Torah in Different Languages
International audience
Judaism as “Citizenship” and the Question of the Impact of Rome
In the Crucible of Empire: The Impact of Roman Citizenship upon Greeks, Jews and Christians
To convert or not to convert: The appropriation of Jewish rituals, customs and beliefs by non-Jews
In Antiquity, non-Jews appropriated Jewish rituals, customs and beliefs in a way that defied clear-cut categorization and thus challenged group boundaries. Whereas the scholarly debate has traditionally focused on whether the term “Godfearers” (theosebeis, metuentes) was adequate to describe such individuals, and whether such a category or group existed at all in the ancient world, my aim in this paper is different. I examine how ancient literary…
The Future of Rome: Roman, Greek, Jewish and Christian Visions
International audience
Reconsidering Roman power: Roman, Greek, Jewish and Christian perceptions and reactions
Among the imperial states of the ancient world, the Roman empire stands out for its geographical extent, its longevity and its might. This collective volume investigates how the many peoples inhabiting Rome’s vast empire perceived, experienced, and reacted to both the concrete and the ideological aspects of Roman power. More precisely, it explores how they dealt with Roman might through their religious and political rituals; what they regarded as…
Lived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Approaching Religious Transformations from Archaeology, History and Classics
The Lived Ancient Religion project has radically changed perspectives on ancient religions and their supposedly personal or public character. This volume applies and further develops these methodological tools, new perspectives and new questions. The religious transformations of the Roman Imperial period appear in new light and more nuances by comparative confrontation and the integration of many disciplines. The contributions are written by spec…
Philosophy (22 works) · Art (19 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (19 works) · History (18 works) · Archaeology and Historical Studies (17 works) · Judaism (17 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (12 works) · Theology (12 works) · Humanities (11 works) · Philosophy (11 works)