The Riots Of 38 C.E

While the mockery of Agrippa was confined to the gymnasium, what followed in the theater had major consequences for the city's Jewish community. The combination of all these circumstances: the public location, the delivery of the mandata, the honors to Flaccus-transform the erection of images in the Jewish meeting-houses into a political act. The desecration and destruction of the meeting-houses lasted some days, after which Flaccus issued his infamous edict, punishing the Jews collectively in all aspects of their lives. Philo's language describing those phases of the riots of 38 C.E. is not metaphorical, but depicts a concrete situation with strong political content. As the Jews celebrated the holiday of Succoth in the fall of 38 C.E. Flaccus was arrested. The dynamic of the riots is intelligible only if territorial and demographic factors are considered together.Keywords: Alexandrian Jews; Flaccus' edict; Philo; riot of 38 C.E.