R ena N. L auer . Colonial Justice and the Jews of Venetian Crete

On March 29, 1516, the Venetian Senate ordered all Jews residing in the city to move behind the gates of the Ghetto Nuovo. The mandate stipulated that they would be watched by Christian guards twenty-four hours a day and restricted by a nighttime curfew. Jews were free to traverse Venice’s streets, squares, and canals during the daytime hours, but they were compelled to return to their segregated space at sunset. The word “ghetto” has its origin in early sixteenth-century Venice. Its etymology recalls the foundry (getto in Italian) on the outskirts of Venice, where authorities established the Jewish ghetto complex. Jewish quarters long predate the establishment of the Venetian ghetto, including in Venice’s Mediterranean colonies. By 1334, Venice’s Maggior Consiglio compelled Jews living in Candia, the capital of its overseas colony of Crete, to reside in a Jewish quarter, or Judaica. In Rena N. Lauer’s Colonial Justice and the...

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