La conversión al judaísmo durante la Antigüedad tardía

Abstract

While Judaism went into decline as a political reality, the existence of the Roman Empire allowed it to attract a large number of proselytes. This fact, narrated by classical authors, is also attested in epigraphy. Traditionally, scholars have considered that Jewish proselytism stopped because of the two defeats against Rome (70 and 135), when the Jewish state disappeared. However, despite the laws against Judaizers, we still can observe some rare cases of people who converted to Judaism during Late Antiquity, even some Christians did it. The examples of deacon Leontius and Abraham the monk, during the last war between Byzantium and Persia (603-628), are paradigmatic. In addition, epigraphy also reveals a questionable case of a Goth who embraced Judaism, Sigismundus, in Theoderic's Italy.