Eloquently, learnedly, persuasively, Gruen invites the reader of his new book to consider familiar evidence from the Jewish past from a new—one might say a non-diaspora—perspective. His point is simple, but its historical implications are profound. As he observes, in the nearly four hundred years that stretch between Alexander the Great…and the emperor Nero…Jews could be found in large numbers, and in well-established communities, throughout the Mediterranean. Neither military compulsion nor the vicissitudes of captivity had brought most of them to those places. To state the point a little differently: the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in 70 C.E. did not cause the second diaspora. Many ancient Jews—probably most ancient Jews—had by that point lived outside the land of Israel for centuries. They did so, evidently, because they wanted to do so.

[Gruen’s] book reminds us that, remarkably, there was a time in history when there was no anti-Semitism. Its virulent strain only broke out in the terrible race riot in Alexandria of 38 CE, when the Romans were already ruling the city and the Jews and the Egyptians were vying for their favor—and their jobs. Gruen’s fine book is obviously the labor of a lifetime.

Mr. Gruen, a specialist in the history of the Hellenistic period and author of the magisterial volume The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome, explores the complex and often ambiguous place of Jewish communities in the classical world and the ways in which Jewish literary culture grew and flourished in this diaspora. He argues forcefully that Greece and Rome were not the unrelenting oppressors that Jewish tradition makes them out to be.

Gruen’s greatest contribution is that he sees the events…of Jewish history and the literature produced by Hellenistic Jews against the backdrop of events of contemporary non-Jewish history and culture… I have seldom read a book on such a controversial topic that is so full of common sense—and so readable.

Gruen convincingly demolishes whatever remains of the polarized picture of Jews either faithful to their traditions and longing for Jerusalem or swallowed up in a hostile, alien culture… [A] learned and lively presentation of the evidence as well as the theme.

Rather than seeing Jews as passive or as mere victims of hostile forces, Gruen presents a complex picture of large and dynamic communities unafraid to assert their Jewish identity while interacting with other groups in Rome, Alexandria, and Asia Minor… This is a rich, novel, and accessible approach to the realities of one of history’s most important diasporas.

Erich Gruen is a fresh, creative, and arresting voice, whose work is truly paradigm-shifting. The prevailing scholarly paradigm has viewed the Jews as on the defensive, nervous in their cultural engagement with Hellenistic culture. This book powerfully challenges that scholarship: I expect it to be discussed for years to come. Gruen’s expertise shines through on every page. This is a major intellectual achievement.