Programme
What can we know of the society and culture of Jews of Roman Palestine generally or of the early rabbinic movement specifically at the end of the second and beginning of the third centuries? While we have relevant archaeological evidence and writings (primarily of non-Jews), there is arguably only one major literary source produced by Palestinian Jews themselves of the era. It is the early rabbis’ Mishnah (and arguably, perhaps some of Mishnah’s companion sources, notably in Tosefta).