Jewish Graffiti in the Ancient Mediterranean World
Hundreds of examples of ancient graffiti of Jewish cultural provenance have been discovered in significant archaeological sites throughout the Mediterranean. To this point, historians have ignored these graffiti, which have appeared too commonplace for serious consideration. My research project, 'Graffiti and the Forgotten Jews of Late Antiquity,' argues, by contrast, that a systematic review of graffiti can illuminate otherwise lost evidence for the diversity of Jewish cultures in the Greco-Roman world. Receipt of an NEH fellowship would allow me to complete two penultimate phases of this research: first, to travel to specific archaeological sites to complete my photography of graffiti for a project database, and second, to complete drafts of the final three chapters of my related monograph-in-progress, tentatively entitled, 'Writing on the Wall: Graffiti and the Forgotten Jews of Late Antiquity,' which is presently under contract review with a major university press.
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