Both Greek and Latin authors from the early Roman Empire (100 B.C.E.-300 C.E.) used their diverse interactions with Jews along with Hellenistic ethnographic works to develop ideas about the province of Judaea, the religious beliefs of Judaism, and the cultural practices of Jews. Fortuitously, the late Menachem Stern collected most of these Greco-Roman writings in his multi-volume, monumental work, Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism (1976-1984). Many scholars of the Roman Empire, Second Temple Judaism, and Early Rabbinic Judaism utilize Stern’s bountiful collection to draw conclusions about Roman and Jewish interactions and Jewish religious and cultural practices, but because of its vast offerings and other source books like the Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum (1957-1964), it is difficult for researchers to analyze the whole corpus of Greek and Latin writings on Jews and Judaism. This bestrewed approach makes most scholars unaware of broad trends within the Greco-Roman understanding of Judaea, Judaism, and Jewish cultural practices. 
Digital tools provide an interesting solution to this problem. Text-mining programs like Voyant assist in the analysis of large textual corpora by calculating word-frequency and identifying word associations while simultaneously eliminating unnecessary words (conjunctions, articles, etc.) through stop word functions. Since ancient sources sometimes include altered texts, due to epitomation and intertextualization, quantitative analysis alone leads to deceptive statistical results. By applying qualitative methods, eliminating fragments affected by intertextual and epitomation problems, to the corpus before beginning the process of text-mining, it minimizes the effects of textual problems on quantitative data. Word frequencies in both the Greek and Latin works, therefore, more accurately demonstrate the main kinds of information non-Jews knew about Judaea, Judaism, and Jewish cultural practices in the early Roman Empire. Manipulation of computational tools can further show temporal and regional variations within the collection. 
Digital analysis of Greek and Latin writings on Jews and Judaism reveal several important trends. First, it is very clear that Greco-Romans knew a variety of information about Judaea, the religious beliefs of Judaism, and the cultural practices of Jews. Word frequencies reveal a diverse understanding of Jewish practices and beliefs among Greek and Latin authors which varied by region. For example, writers who lived or spent significant time in Italy, tended to provide more variegated information compared to writers from the Levant. This interesting comparison seems to highlight possible differences in how Diaspora communities and Judean communities interacted with their Greco-Roman neighbors. 
Second, it is possible that Greek and Latin authors obtained some of their information, though not all of it, directly from Jews. An anecdotal and most likely fabricated story in Sifre Devarim 344 tells of a plot by Roman officials to learn about the Torah by pretending to convert to Judaism. Despite its clear fictitious nature, an analysis of Greek and Latin texts demonstrated interesting similarities to Jewish texts. In a rather unique parallel, for example, both Plutarch (Quaestiones Convivales 4.4.4-4.6.2) and the Bavli (b. Kiddushin 49b; b. Bekhorot 41a, 43a) associate the Jewish avoidance of pork with the idea that pigs contract leprosy. 
In a third trend apparent in the chronological analysis of Greek and Latin writings, Greco-Roman knowledge of Judaism seems to reflect contemporary changes in Jewish practices and beliefs. Throughout the years leading up to the series of Jewish revolts in the first and second century C.E. (the First Jewish Revolt, 67-73 C.E., the Second Jewish Revolt or Kitos Revolt, 115-117 C.E., and the Bar Kokhba Revolt, 132-135 C.E.), Greco-Roman knowledge tends to focus more on geography rather than Jewish religious or cultural practices. After the initial revolt, there is a slow shift in emphasis from geographic ideas to cultural and religious practices within Greek and Latin works. The emphasis on Jewish practices among Greek and Latin authors possibly indicates more concrete conceptions of Jewish identity within Rabbinic Judaism rather than the earlier, diverse Second Temple Judaism. 
Finally, word frequency in Greek and Latin sources could indicate how Roman authorities reinforced concepts of Jewish identity within the empire. In the first half of the first century C.E., Jewish sources sometimes indicate that not all Jews practiced circumcision (Josephus, Antiquitates Judaicae 20.38-44), but by the Bar Kokhba Revolt, Jewish revolutionaries enforced circumcision (Tosefta Shabbat 15.9). Many factors could contribute to this shift, but Roman imperial authorities in the latter years of the first century C.E. used circumcision to enforce their collection of the fiscus Iudaicus (Suetonius, Domitianus 12). Interestingly, the prominent frequency of circumcision in Greek and Latin writings from the second half of the first century C.E. indicate Roman reinforcement of the concept. 
A digital analysis of the Greek and Latin writings about Judaea, Judaism, and Jewish culture provides a novel yet simple way to reanalyze Greco-Roman interactions with Jews and Judaism and Jewish religious and cultural practices. In addition to indicating broad trends, text-mining tools such as Voyant highlight important information which can help scholars understand the development of Jewish identity within the context of Roman Empire.

A video of the presentation is available using the link below:
https://youtu.be/Y0Sreg8metM

Jews in the Roman World: Using Digital Tools to Understand the Intersection of Religion, Empire, and Culture

The international conference #DHJewish - Jewish Studies in the Digital Age will bring together more than 60 scholars and heritage practitioners to discuss how the digital turn affects the field of Jewish Studies. The conference is organised by the [Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH).](https://www.c2dh.uni.lu/) 

[For more information, and a PDF download of the program, please see also here.](https://www.c2dh.uni.lu/events/dhjewish-jewish-studies-digital-age) 



In order to meet other participants and for informal chats in the breaks, join us in our [wonder.me room](https://www.wonder.me/r?id=73a12756-8d93-4871-9374-143253bfbf59).