Jewish Studies

Babatha was a Jewish woman who lived in the province of *Arabia in the first half of the 2nd cent. ce. Her documents, composed in Nabataean, *Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek, were discovered hidden in a leather pouch in a cave near the Dead Sea. The date of the documents ranges from 96 to 134 ce. It is probable that Babatha died in the cave after taking refuge there during the *Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–5). The documents include marriage contracts, property transfers, and papers concerning a protracted lawsuit over the custody of Babatha's son by her first marriage. They are a precious source of evidence for the history of the region in the last years of the *Nabataean kingdom and the early years of the provincia Arabia, and for the cultural and legal history of *Jews in this period.

Subterranean cemeteries comparable to the early Christian catacombs of Rome. Jewish catacombs have been discovered in Beth She‘arim (Galilee) (2nd–4th cents. ce) and Rome (1st–5th cents. ce). They contain Jewish artwork (menorah) and many Jewish epitaphs, mostly composed in koine Greek and vulgar Latin. Recent radiocarbon dating suggests the Jewish catacombs of Rome may have inspired the early Christian ones.