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To King Ptolemy, greeting from . . . who lives in Alexandrou Nesos. I have been
wronged by Dorotheos, (a Jew who lives in the) same village. In the 5th year, according to
the financial calendar, on Phamenoth . . . (as I was talking to) my workmate, my cloak
(which is worth . . . drachmai) caught Dorotheos’ eye, and he made off with it. When I saw him (he fled) to the Jewish synagogue (holding) the cloak,
(while I called for help). Lezelmis, a holder of 100 arourai, came up to help (and
gave) the cloak to Nikomachos the (synagogue) verger to keep till the case was tried.
Therefore I beg you, my king, to command Diophanes the strategos (to write to the)
epistates telling him to order Dorotheos and Nikomachos to hand over the cloak to him,
and, if what I write is true (to make him give me the) cloak or its value; as for the
injury . . . If this happens, I shall have received justice through you, my king. Farewell
(CPJ 1.129, dated 218 BCE, Alexandrou-Nesos).
|
In the incident described above, an unnamed woman had her cloak stolen by a certain
Dorotheos. When Dorotheos was caught in the act, he made off to the synagogue, with the
woman in hot pursuit. Following the intervention of Lezelmis, the cloak was deposited with
Nikomachos, the attendant of the synagogue, until the matter could be officially resolved.
In view of an inscription granting asylum rights
to an Egyptian synagogue, it would seem that Dorotheos fled to the synagogue in order to
seek asylum. As was usual in such cases, an official of the asylum-granting institution
received the suppliant until the question of guilt could be fully determined.
As a side note, Nikomachos is referred to as a nakoros, Doric for neôkoros
or "temple warden."
"Those who shelter any of the Jews, whether old people or
children or even infants, will be tortured to death with the most hateful torments,
together with their families. Any who are willing to give information will receive the
property of those who incur the punishment, and also two thousand drachmas from the royal
treasury, and will be awarded their freedom. Every place
detected sheltering a Jew is to be made unapproachable and burned with fire, and shall
become useless for all time to any mortal creature" (3 Macc 3:27–29).
|
But after the previously mentioned interval of time the scribes
declared to the king that they were no longer able to take the census of the Jews because
of their immense number, though most of them were still in the country, some still
residing in their homes, and some at a place; the task was
impossible for all the generals in Egypt (3 Macc 4:17–18).
|
While commentators have had difficulty interpreting these two passages, in view of the
other evidence that Egyptian synagogues possessed the right of asylum, it seems likely
that both refer to synagogues serving in this capacity. This is seen especially by the
above use of the word "place" (topos), which was frequently used
as shorthand for "sacred place" or "place of asylum" in Greek
writings. |
