Language:
Dutch
Year of publication:
2002
Titel der Quelle:
Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift
Angaben zur Quelle:
56,4 (2002) 273-279
Keywords:
Jews History
;
Jews History
;
Jews Sports
;
History
;
Antisemitism History To 500
Abstract:
Sports clubs in the late Roman and Byzantine Empires were identified by specific colors. The main factions were the Blues and the Greens, and the lesser ones were the Reds and the Whites. The Blues and the Greens were always in conflict. Sources describe the Jews as siding with the Blues, and the Greens are invariably engaged in anti-Jewish actions, but they do not explain why. Attempts to shed light on this issue with the help of social science theories on group conflict. The Jews had reserved seats in the hippodrome amongst the Blues. Like other groups (e.g. butchers, goldsmiths), they liked to sit together. At the time of the Emperor Zeno, at a game in Antioch in 490, a fight broke out between the Greens and the Blues. Many Jews were murdered and their bodies were burned. Hearing about the event, the Emperor asked why only the bodies of the murdered Jews were burned, and not all the other Jews at the site. States that the Jews were never the cause of the riots that erupted, but they were always victims of the violence.
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