Review article
https://doi.org/10.34075/cs.55.2.3
Jewish Religious Community in Salona
Ivan Matijević
orcid.org/0000-0002-9417-4698
; Faculty of philosophy, University of Split, Split, Croatia
Abstract
According to the contents of Peregrine’s inscription erected in 382 in the cemetery basilica at Manastirine, G.B. de Rossi assumed the existence of a Jewish religious community and its cemetery in Salona (coemeterium legis Iudaicae). His thesis was strengthened when F. Bulić found a fragment of a sarcophagus depicting a menorah dated to the beginning of the 4th century on Gospin Otok, about a hundred meters east of the Salonitan city walls. The presence of Jews in Salona is also indicated by some other finds: a ceramic lamp depicting a 4th century menorah, then a gem depicting a menorah, a shofar, an etrog and a lulava dating between the 4th and 7th centuries. However, direct evidence for the existence of a Jewish religious community is a fragment of an inscription mentioning three religious groups: Romans, Jews, and Christians. Such
order corresponds to the time when Christianity was not yet affirmed and therefore the inscription should be dated to the end of the 3rd or beginning of the 4th century. Finally, the tombstone inscription of the Samaritan woman No [---] who died in 539 and originates from the still unknown village of Pit [---] must also be mentioned. It is impossible to determine whether she belonged by faith to Christians or Samaritans.
Keywords
Salona; Jews; Christians; cemetery; inscription
Hrčak ID:
240729
URI
Publication date:
22.7.2020.
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