Les Juifs de Phrygie et le service militaire de l'époque hellénistique à l'époque romaine

The Jewish population of Phrygia, region situated in western central Asia Minor, presents the peculiarity of being for the greater part from a foreign origin. Indeed, there were several thousand Babylonian Jews who were implanted there at the request of Antiochos III after the crushing of the Achaios’ usurpation, because of their loyalty and of their military qualities. It seems that the most important communities were implanted in Acmoneia, Hierapolis and Apamea. The arrival of Romans caused the problem of the Jewish participation in the recruitment of the republican then imperial troops. Romans chose ad hoc solutions which allowed the volunteers to serve in their army. These commitments constituted means of integration for the young Jews who, as their homologues of the surrounding zones, were sent almost everywhere to the Empire. The relations between Roman pagan soldiers and Phrygian Jews appear not to have been bad. The big change for the community ensued, here as somewhere else, from the implementation of a legislation of exclusion consecutive to the Christianization of the Empire, which drove away the Jews of the Roman army.