E-text prepared by Richard Hulse
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
([http://www.pgdp.net])
from page images generously made available by
Internet Archive
([https://archive.org])

Transcriber’s Note

Most abbreviations have been expanded in tool-tips for screen-readers and may be seen by hovering the cursor over the abbreviation.

Footnotes are identified in the text with a superscript number and have been accumulated in a table at the end of the text.

Transcriber’s Notes are used when making corrections to the text or to provide additional information for the modern reader. These notes have been accumulated in a table at the end of the book and are identified in the text by a dotted underline. Hover the cursor over the underlined text to see the correction.

Outlines of Jewish History

SOME PRESS NOTICES

OF

ABOUT THE JEWS SINCE BIBLE TIMES.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

‘Her history impresses us with a sense of truthfulness and of fairness quite exceptional.’—THE ACADEMY.

‘A very readable and popular account of most things that ought to be known about the chosen people in their later development.’—SATURDAY REVIEW.

‘The result of careful study, and written with candour and moderation.’—PALL MALL GAZETTE.

‘A model of sober-minded terseness.... That freshness adds to the pleasure with which this useful and instructive book is sure to be read.’—GRAPHIC.

‘A book that should achieve deserved popularity.’—WESTMINSTER REVIEW.

‘Conscientiously written, and contains much information. Several portions are notably good.’—THE WORLD.

‘An eloquent and brilliant work of its kind.’—GLASGOW HERALD.

‘Pleasantly and impartially written.... We sincerely hope that Mrs. MAGNUS will execute her intention of carrying on the history of the Jews to the present day.’—JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.

‘Mrs. MAGNUS ... writes with considerable breadth. Her chapters are full of interest. Her estimates of Jewish character and of the causes of national pursuits and characteristics are very suggestive.’—BRITISH QUARTERLY REVIEW.

‘The Authoress is never unfair, even when the most melancholy tales of spoliation and grief are being told by her. She has succeeded in treating a very difficult subject with more than the profundity and exactitude that are the attributes of a solid history writer.’—PUBLIC OPINION.

‘A clear, spirited, and on the whole a fairly impartial narrative.... Taken altogether ... combine to form a work of rare interest.’—SCOTSMAN.

‘A distinct gain to general knowledge on the subject of the Jews.’—JEWISH WORLD.

‘Even after making all deductions, we must pronounce Mrs. MAGNUS’ history to be above all praise, and we trust that she will continue it down to the present day.’—JEWISH CHRONICLE.

‘To do the lady justice, she has succeeded where even Dean MILMAN has failed in making Jewish history interesting to the general reader. We have read it through from cover to cover with unflagging interest.’—THE LITERARY WORLD.

‘As interesting as a book of adventures or a novel, and much more profitable.’—MODERN REVIEW.

OUTLINES
OF
JEWISH HISTORY

B.C. 586 TO C.E. 1885

NOTE.

The late Jacob Abraham Franklin bequeathed by Will to five Trustees the sum of Five Thousand Pounds for the promotion of certain objects in connexion with the Advancement of Judaism.

One of these objects was the publication of religious treatises and text-books.

The Trustees, believing the present work to be in accord with the views of the benevolent Testator, defray the cost of its publication.

OUTLINES
OF
JEWISH HISTORY

FROM B.C. 586 TO C.E. 1885

WITH THREE MAPS

BY THE AUTHOR OF

‘ABOUT THE JEWS SINCE BIBLE TIMES’

REVISED BY

M. FRIEDLÄNDER, Ph.D.

LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1886

All rights reserved

For ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord

TO THE DEAR MEMORY

OF

EDWARD JANVERIN EMANUEL

PREFACE.

THESE Outlines of Jewish History are the result of a proposal which was made to me, some two years back, by the administrators of the Jacob Franklin Trust, to write a book which should tell the history of the Jews from Biblical times to the present day, in a form which should fit it for use in schools and homes. A right of reference to Dr. Friedländer, the learned Principal of Jews’ College, was one of the privileges of my commission, and the bringing to him of all my doubts and difficulties for decision has proved not only an advantage to my book, but a pleasure to me.

The trouble I have had in endeavouring to keep the book simple enough for youthful readers, suggests the possible presence of a weak point, and tempts me to forestall criticism by urging that I have, at least, been mindful on this head, and have patiently done my best. But so complicated a history, and so advanced a civilisation as that of the Jews, is not quite susceptible of entirely simpletreatment. ‘They stained their bodies with a plant called woad’ is a perfectly comprehensive if somewhat bald bit of history, ‘adapted to the use of schools,’ anent the ancient Britons. ‘In their schools they laid the foundations for the Mishnah’ would be a correct contemporaneous statement concerning the ancient Jews, but one that hardly lends itself to such comfortable brevity and simplicity of style. I can only plead that I have told the whole sad, beautiful, ‘heroic history’ of my race with the keenest sympathy; and I can only hope that the moral and the meaning of it all, which are so very clear to me, may be found to shine out between the lines.

KATIE MAGNUS.

July 1886.

DATES OF CHIEF EVENTS AND CHIEF PEOPLE.

CONTENTS.

BOOK I.

B.C. 586 TO A.C. 70.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE SWORD.

CHAPTER I.

THE JEWS IN BABYLON.

[1.] Babylonian Exiles

[2.] Persian Conquest of Babylon

[3.] The Influences of the Exile

[4.] How Cyrus’s Permission was received

[5.] The End of the Exile

CHAPTER II.

THE RETURN TO PALESTINE.

[1.] The Rebuilding of the Temple

[2.] The Samaritans

[3.] The Feast of Purim

[4.] Ezra the Scribe

[5.] The Work of Ezra and Nehemiah

CHAPTER III.

LIFE IN PALESTINE.

[1.] Condition of the People

[2.] Literary Labours

[3.] Alexandrian Jews

[4.] The Septuagint

[5.] Under Egyptian Rule

[6.] Under Syrian Rule

[7.] Home Rule

CHAPTER IV.

THE MACCABEAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.

[1.] Antiochus Epiphanes

[2.] Antiochus’s Tyranny

[3.] Resistance of Mattathias

[4.] Chasidim and Zaddikim

[5.] The Success of Judas Maccabeus

[6.] Institution of Hanucah

[7.] Treaty with Rome

CHAPTER V.

PALESTINE UNDER NATIVE RULE.

[1.] Death of Judas Maccabeus

[2.] Jonathan the Maccabee

[3.] Simon, the First of the Priest-King Dynasty

[4.] The Sons of Simon

[5.] Reign of John Hyrcanus

[6.] His Last Years

CHAPTER VI.

JUDEA DURING THE REMAINDER OF THE RULE OF THE ASMONEANS.

[1.] Rival Factions, Pharisees and Sadducees

[2.] How they got their Names

[3.] Their Tenets and Position, Religious and Political

[4.] State Quarrel with the Pharisees

[5.] The Essenes

[6.] Reign of Alexander Jannæus

[7.] After the Death of Alexander Jannæus

CHAPTER VII.

A NEW DYNASTY.

[1.] Antipater the Idumean

[2.] Rome arbitrates

[3.] Antipater’s plans

[4.] The Sanhedrin

[5.] The Fall of the Asmonean House

CHAPTER VIII.

REIGN OF HEROD.

[1.] Antipater’s ‘Desire’ fulfilled

[2.] How Herod strengthened his Position

[3.] Herod as Husband

[4.] Herod as Father

[5.] Herod as King

[6.] The End of Herod’s Reign

[7.] Hillel: a Contrast

CHAPTER IX.

JUDEA BEFORE THE WAR.

[1.] Herod’s Will

[2.] Judea sinks into a Roman Province

[3.] Jesus of Nazareth

[4.] Jews in Egypt and Syria

[5.] Birth of Christianity

[6.] Reign of Herod Agrippa

[7.] Caligula and the Jews

CHAPTER X.

THE WAR WITH ROME.

[1.] Agrippa II.; Roman Governors

[2.] Vespasian sent to Judea

[3.] Preparations for Defence

[4.] Josephus

CHAPTER XI.

THE END OF THE WAR.

[1.] The Defence of the Provinces

[2.] Affairs in Jerusalem

[3.] The War Party and the Peace Party: their Leaders

[4.] The Siege of Jerusalem

[5.] A Mediator sent: Terms proposed

[6.] The Destruction of the Temple

BOOK II.

A.C. 70 TO 1600.

DARKNESS.

CHAPTER XII.

AFTER THE WAR.

[1.] Titus completes his Conquest

[2.] Masada

[3.] What became of the Chief Actors

[4.] What became of the Country and the People

[5.] Salvage

[6.] Jochanan ben Saccai; the Schools

[7.] An Unforeseen Result of the War: Jewish Christians

CHAPTER XIII.

THE REVOLT UNDER HADRIAN.

[1.] Conquered Jews in the West

[2.] Contemporary Jews in the East

[3.] Under Trajan

[4.] The Policy of Hadrian

[5.] The Jews in Revolt: their Leader

[6.] Akiba, the Romance of his Youth

[7.] Akiba, the Romance of his Age

[8.] Hadrian’s Resolve accomplished

CHAPTER XIV.

THE REVIVAL OF THE SCHOOLS: THEIR WORK.

[1.] One of History’s Miracles

[2.] The Schools: their Work

[3.] The Masters of the Schools

[4.] The Moral Influence of the Schools

[5.] The Political Influence of the Schools

[6.] The Literary Influence of the Schools

CHAPTER XV.

CHRISTIANITY A STATE RELIGION.

[1.] How it spread among the Heathen

[2.] The First Christian Emperor

[3.] Constantine legislates on the Subject; its Effects

[4.] Jews in the East under Persian Rule

[5.] Julian the Apostate

CHAPTER XVI.

THE BREAK-UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE: SOME OF ITS CONSEQUENCES.

[1.] Political Changes

[2.] Social Changes

[3.] Monks and Saints

[4.] How Jews became Traders

[5.] The Slave Trade

[6.] Jews as Slave Owners

[7.] Church Councils

[8.] Eastern Jews

[9.] War between the Persian and the Byzantine Empires

CHAPTER XVII.

THE RISE OF MAHOMEDANISM.

[1.] The Koran or the Sword

[2.] What Mahomed learnt from the Jews

[3.] Islam

[4.] Likenesses between Islam and Judaism

[5.] Differences between Islam and Judaism

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE CONQUESTS OF THE KALIPHS: EFFECT, RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL, ON THE JEWS.

[1.] Progress of Mahomedanism

[2.] Gaonim

[3.] Spain in the Hands of the Mahomedans

[4.] The Karaite Movement

[5.] Mahomedan Causes for Karaism

[6.] The Leader of the Karaite Movement

[7.] What became of the Sect

[8.] Good out of Evil

CHAPTER XIX.

LIFE UNDER THE KALIPHS.

[1.] Jews in the East

[2.] Close of the Schools; some Scholars

[3.] Jews in the West

[4.] The Policy of the Early Kaliphs

[5.] Some Effects of this Policy

CHAPTER XX.

JEWS IN SPAIN (710–1150).

[1.] ‘Like a Dream in the Night’

[2.] The Jew Schools

[3.] The first Nagid of Spain

[4.] Another Nagid: troubles in Granada

[5.] Revival of Catholicism in Spain

[6.] Effect on the Jews

[7.] The Almohade Dynasty of Kaliphs

CHAPTER XXI.

JEWS IN SPAIN, CONTINUED (1150–1492).

[1.] Under Catholic Kings in Spain

[2.] The Toledo Synagogue

[3.] The Downward Slope to Death

[4.] The Marannos or New Christians

[5.] An Effort at Argument

[6.] The Inquisition

[7.] Objects and Functions of the Inquisition

[8.] Some Statistics of the Inquisition

[9.] Edict of Expulsion

[10.] Abarbanel’s Intercession

CHAPTER XXII.

JEWS IN CENTRAL EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

[1.] General Position of European Jews

[2.] Jews become Money-lenders

[3.] Charges of Usury

CHAPTER XXIII.

JEWS IN CENTRAL EUROPE, CONTINUED.

[1.] The Crusades

[2.] Glimpses of Better Things

[3.] Life in France till the Expulsion thence

[4.] Expelled from France

[5.] Treatment of Jews in the German States

CHAPTER XXIV.

JEWS IN ENGLAND (1066–1210).

[1.] The First Seventy Years

[2.] ‘Saints’ and Supplies

[3.] Accession of Richard

[4.] Treatment by Richard

[5.] Under John

CHAPTER XXV.

JEWS IN ENGLAND, CONTINUED (1216–1290).

[1.] The Next Fifty Years

[2.] The Caorsini

[3.] The First Jewish M.P.’s

[4.] Another Device for raising Money

[5.] Under Edward I.

[6.] Some Ironical Legislation

[7.] Dishonest Jews

[8.] Efforts at Conversion

[9.] Expulsion of Jews from England

BOOK III.

A.C. 100 TO 1500.

STARLIGHT.

CHAPTER XXVI.

CONCERNING JEWISH LITERATURE AND LITERARY MEN.

[1.] Starlight

[2.] How the Stars shone

[3.] Piyutim

[4.] A Specimen Planet

CHAPTER XXVII.

SOME FIXED STARS.

[1.] Solomon ibn Gabirol

[2.] ‘Rashi’

[3.] Ibn Ezra

[4.] A Great Traveller

[5.] Jehudah Halevi

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE GREATEST OF THE FIXED STARS, MAIMONIDES (1135–1204).

[1.] Early Days in Spain

[2.] Life in Exile

[3.] Becomes a Court Physician

[4.] Court and other Employment

[5.] His Writings

[6.] His Character

[7.] The End of his Life

CHAPTER XXIX.

DARKNESS BEFORE THE DAWN.

[1.] The Stars die out

[2.] Whither the Exiles went