Ptolemy of Alexandria on the Jews
Claudius Ptolemy is a well-known figure from classical antiquity as he was - in the tradition of Aristotle (in whose ideas of natural philosophy he himself was a believer) - a true polymath in that he was a poet, musical theorist, mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and geographer.
He is often venerated as one of the greatest as well as one of the most prolific, scientific minds of his age as well as having his name associated with - although somewhat incorrectly (as Ptolemy's is the only work of ancient astrology we have although we know there were others before him) - the geocentric theory, which as every school child knows was later disproved and replaced by the more accurate heliocentric model but never-the-less is in itself a remarkable leap forward in astronomy compared to what had been believed previously.
A little known fact - which should also be impressed upon the reader - is that Ptolemy is credited with having founded modern trigonometry about which he wrote extensively in his work: 'Almagest'. As such Ptolemy should be viewed as one of the greatest minds of his time and all the more remarkable a critic of the jews for it.
This aspect of Ptolemy's work is largely unknown in so far as he exhibited an equally strong and strident distaste for the jews and their religion. He writes in his Tetrabiblos ('Four Books') as follows:
'India, Ariana, Gedrosia have familiarity with Capricorn and Saturn; therefore the inhabitants of these countries are ugly, unclean, and bestial. The remaining parts of the quarter situated about the centre of the inhabited world, Idumaea, Coele Syria, Judaea, Phoenicia, Chaldaea, Orchinia, and Arabia Felix, which are situated toward the north-west of the whole quarter, have additional familiarity with the north-western triangle, Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius, and, furthermore, have as co-rulers Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury. Therefore these peoples are, in comparison with the others, more gifted in trade and exchange; they are more unscrupulous, despicable cowards, treacherous, servile, and in general fickle, on account of the aspect of the stars mentioned. Of these, again, the inhabitants of Coele Syria, Idumaea, and Judea are more closely familiar to Aries and Mars, and therefore these people are in general bold, godless, and scheming. The Phoenicians, Chaldaeans, and Orchinians have familiarity with Leo and the sun, so that they are simpler, kindly, addicted to astrology, and beyond all men worshippers of the sun.' (1)
In the above I have deliberately not extracted Ptolemy's comments about the inhabitants of Judea from their context precisely because in doing so we risk potentially opening an avenue for jews and philo-Semites to attack an anti-jewish interpretation of Ptolemy. This is because Ptolemy is seemingly making general comments about several different groups of people all once and relating their behaviour and inclinations back to astrological influences.
As such jews and philo-Semites might argue that we should dismiss what Ptolemy has to say about jews, because he is making generalisations from astrology rather than being an impartial observer. However the problem with such an argument is that it ignores that Ptolemy was a mathematical thinker and as such was well aware of the need for independent observation for the validation of his theories, which could then be linked via evidence to other phenomena.
To simplify: Ptolemy worked throughout all his numerous works on the principle of relating what could be objectively observed about a subject or object to what his intellectual system suggested was the cause. In essence: Ptolemy's linking of behaviour and beliefs to astrology is only his rationalisation and theory as to causation of that behaviour and those beliefs. It does not effect the validity of the observations themselves, which are independent of Ptolemy's astrological rationalisations for them.
Once we understand this then we can see that at a stroke we can eliminate the most rhetorically and intellectually powerful argument against considering Ptolemy a learned and ardent critic of the jews as a people.
Another potential counterargument that could be offered in the charge that he did not know the people he was talking about may also be eliminated from consideration when we understand that Ptolemy was an Alexandrian and as such was at the heart of the most cosmopolitan city in the Roman Empire.
Furthermore Alexandria was the unofficial capital of jewish culture in the ancient world and as such Ptolemy would have been deeply and consistently exposed to the jews, their culture and jewish religion as well as that of the other people he describes.
As such then we can see that Ptolemy is describing the jews and others as he experienced them in Alexandria and in his travels around the Empire. He was hardly an untraveled or uneducated buffoon talking about matters he did not observe personally.
The last of the potential counterarguments against placing Ptolemy in the Roman and Greek tradition of intellectual critics and opponents of jews and Judaism is the notion that Ptolemy was vilifying all barbarians (i.e. non-Romans and non-Greeks). This is one of the reasons that I have reproduced the whole passage with its further commentary about the Phoenicians and Chaldaeans. In so far as what Ptolemy says about them is positive not negative: indicating that Ptolemy is not being xenophobic as some of my opponents may try to argue, but rather is making a personal judgement based on research, observation and experience with the nations he describes.
We may further deal a body-blow to the claim of xenophobia by pointing out that Ptolemy specifically draws a deliberate and quite definite positive/negative distinction between the people of Judea, southern Syria and Idumea [the land of Edom] (all three the proverbial homeland and traditional battleground of the tribes that came to make up the jews) and those of Phoenicia and Chaldaea.
As such we can see that Ptolemy is generally describing the people of the Eastern empire as a merchants and obsessed with the material things in life: while this isn't a positive thing in Ptolemy's view it is never-the-less something he can accept as being part of their nature. He makes clear that in his view the Phoenicians and Chaldaeans are to be respected, because in spite of everything that they may be in the market place: they are fundamentally a pious people who worship the sun in various forms regularly.
When Ptolemy talks about the inhabitants of Judea, southern Syria and Idumea: he makes no such positive clarification, but in direct contrast states that they are bold godless schemers.
This hardly complementary now is it?
However we may go even further to state that Ptolemy here is very specifically identifying the jews as the primary inhabitants as far as he was aware of Idumea, southern Syria and Judea in so far as he refers to the inhabitants as 'godless'. This is effectively the old Greek and Roman argument in relation to Judaism - or as Juvenal memorably put it the 'worship of the air' - (2) in that it was held to be atheism as the jews worshipped no statues or idols (at least in theory) in their temples and as such were to pagans of the time almost completely unique in their perceived 'godlessness'.
I am unaware of any other Greek or Roman author suggesting that the inhabitants of Syria or Idumea were 'godless' for example - especially with northern Syria and Arabia Felix being historic strongholds of Semitic paganism - so we may reasonably assume that the attribution of 'godlessness' may be taken as suggesting the presence of a significant jewish population (i.e. the followers of Judaism) in these territorial confines (with whom Ptolemy had come into contact in Alexandria), which is not unreasonable in the slightest.
If we assume this then we can see that Ptolemy is actually specifically referring to the jews as a people as being bold godless schemers - a description not markedly dissimilar to those written by Strabo, Apollonius Molon and Seneca the Younger I might add - then we can see that what Ptolemy is actually saying is akin to stating: 'beware of the jews'.
That this warning is attached by Ptolemy to the avariciousness, immorality and physical cowardice we can see as particularly powerful as it transforms a simple condemnation of a group as defined by their religion: into the condemnation of a whole people (the jews) for effectively being unscrupulous capitalists and scheming cowards as well as exhibiting an early form of chutzpah (brow-beating people with their flexible notions of what ever the truth of that moment is).
Thus we can see Ptolemy of Alexandria for what he was: one of greatest mathematicians and astronomers of his age while also being a hard-line and virulent opponent of both jews and Judaism.
References
(1) Ptol. Tet. 2:3.65-66
(2) Juv. 14