oxford handbook history terrorism

The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism

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The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism

The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism systematically integrates the substantial body of scholarship on terrorism and counterterrorism before and after 9/11. In doing so, it introduces scholars and practitioners to state of the art approaches, methods, and issues in studying and teaching these vital phenomena. This Handbook goes further than most existing collections by giving structure and direction to the fast-growing but somewhat disjointed field of terrorism studies. 

The volume locates terrorism within the wider spectrum of political violence instead of engaging in the widespread tendency towards treating terrorism as an exceptional act. Moreover, the volume makes a case for studying terrorism within its socio-historical context. Finally, the volume addresses the critique that the study of terrorism suffers from lack of theory by reviewing and extending the theoretical insights contributed by several fields - including political science, political economy, history, sociology, anthropology, criminology, law, geography, and psychology. In doing so, the volume showcases the analytical advancements and reflects on the challenges that remain since the emergence of the field in the early 1970s.

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• A. Modrowski, Kathleen (1)
• Abbas, Tahir (1)
• Abdelal, Rawi (7)
• Abdelal, Rawi E. (4)
• Aberbach, David (2)
• Abrami, Regina (1)
• Abrami, Regina M. (2)
• Abrams, Samuel (2)
• Acemoglu, Daron (8)
• Acharya, Amitav (2)

A Department of Homeland Security Emeritus Center of Excellence led by the University of Maryland

A consortium of researchers dedicated to improving the understanding of the human causes and consequences of terrorism

The oxford handbook of terrorism.

The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism systematically integrates the substantial body of scholarship on terrorism and counterterrorism before and after 9/11. In doing so, it introduces scholars and practitioners to state of the art approaches, methods, and issues in studying and teaching these vital phenomena. This Handbook goes further than most existing collections by giving structure and direction to the fast-growing but somewhat disjointed field of terrorism studies.

The volume locates terrorism within the wider spectrum of political violence instead of engaging in the widespread tendency towards treating terrorism as an exceptional act. Moreover, the volume makes a case for studying terrorism within its socio-historical context. Finally, the volume addresses the critique that the study of terrorism suffers from lack of theory by reviewing and extending the theoretical insights contributed by several fields - including political science, political economy, history, sociology, anthropology, criminology, law, geography, and psychology. In doing so, the volume showcases the analytical advancements and reflects on the challenges that remain since the emergence of the field in the early 1970s.

Publication Information

Chenoweth, Erica, Richard English, Andreas Gofas, and Stathis N. Kalyvas. 2019.  The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism . Oxford: Oxford University Press.  https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Oxford_Handbook_of_Terrorism.html?id=lu-MDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false

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Oxford Handbook

Carola Dietze

Oxford University Press

15 November 2021

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2 Terrorism and Theocracy: The Radical Resistance Movement against Roman Rule in Judea

Kai Trampedach is a professor of ancient history at Ruprecht Karls University in Heidelberg. He has published articles and books on the relationship of philosophy, religion, and theology to politics; political anthropology in the ancient world; Hellenistic and Roman Judaism; and political rituals and hagiography in late antiquity.

• Published: 10 February 2021
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This chapter discusses a case of ancient terrorism, the fight of the most radical branch of the Judean resistance movement against Roman rule in the first century ce by means of kidnapping and assassination. Ancient Judean terrorism was not only provoked by the foreign occupation, but also fed on the fertile ground of social antagonisms within Judean society. The zealot ideology of the Sicarii was fueled by theocratic, even apocalyptic beliefs, closely intertwined with radically egalitarian visions of society. Spectacular actions against the Roman Empire and its indigenous collaborators finally instigated the Judean War. Though modern terrorism has many different facets, the religiously motivated Islamic type shows parallels with the ancient Judean paradigm—in methods, but even more in ideology, which is based on comparable political and social conditions.

Terrorism is a term that, generally speaking, has little heuristic value with regard to ancient societies, and for this reason it plays hardly any part in scholarly discourse. This is true in particular if the term is used in the sense established in political or historical theory, according to which terrorism is a communicative strategy that seeks to provoke strong psychological effects (insecurity and dread, as well as sympathy) through the politically motivated use of spectacular violence, which is prepared by an underground organization, against a vastly superior opponent and in the long run aims at fundamental social change. 1 Although antiquity naturally saw many rebellions against all kinds of rulers, accompanied in part by considerable readiness to risk danger or to even sacrifice oneself, individual violent attacks against an established authority, which are designed and able to startle the public through their shocking impact, as well as mobilize them, can barely be traced. This is not surprising; before the invention of explosives, the development of specific characteristics that make modern society vulnerable to terrorist attacks, and the advent of modern mass media, terrorism was not a very viable political strategy.

Nevertheless, many handbooks and general surveys that approach the issue of terrorism from a historical perspective start with the depiction of an ancient event: the Jewish revolt against Roman rule in Judea (6–73 ce ). The Romano-Judean historian Flavius Josephus (37–after 94 ce ) in his historiographical works gives a relatively expansive account of the prehistory of the great Jewish revolt (66–70/73 ce ); 2 in his Bellum Judaicum he reports, among other things, that

a different species of bandits was creeping up in Jerusalem, those called sicarii : murdering people by day and in the middle of the city, and during the festivals, especially, mingling with the mob and concealing small daggers under their clothes, with these they would stab their foes. Then, when the latter had fallen, those who had committed the murders would take the part of those who were indignant at [the murder], so that they would go completely undiscovered by virtue of [their] credibility. First, then, Ionathes the high priest was butchered by them, but after him many were being done away with every day; and even more difficult than these calamities was the fear of them, with each [person] expecting death every hour, just as in war. They would scrutinize their foes from a distance; there was no trust even among approaching friends, but in the midst of their suspicions and efforts at security they would be done away with. Such was the alacrity of those who were plotting and their skill at concealing themselves. 3

Can one call this terrorism? Several aspects support such a view, especially in consideration of the technique of unexpected, clandestine murder and the psychological effects of fear and suspicion that these attacks induced. The acts were also undoubtedly spectacular, not only because of the special publicity occasioned by the great festivals for which thousands of pilgrims flocked to Jerusalem, but also because of the calculated breach of taboo against killing men, especially Jewish men and during festivals, and finally because of the status of the victims. In the passage quoted above Josephus names only the first, very prominent, victim and conceals the number and status of further victims behind a thick veil of rhetoric. The Sicarii did not proceed at random but rather chose their victims deliberately, as indeed the logic of individual killings dictates. Josephus also reports elsewhere that they did not shrink from “collateral damage.” Their special method of attack, which he repeats in the Antiquitates Judaicae , meant that they could easily kill whomever they wanted. He adds: “They would also frequently appear with arms in the villages of their foes and would plunder and set them on fire.” 4 Assaults in the countryside, then, were part of the Sicarii’s repertoire. The enemies whose possessions the Sicarii plundered and set on fire, regardless of the consequences, belonged to the higher priesthood of Jerusalem. In those circles, rich men who collaborated with the Romans and commanded extensive landholdings in Judea and Galilee were sought out. Josephus, our source, himself belonged to this group that had every reason to be afraid of the Sicarii. A further passage in the Antiquitates Judaicae describes a third method of the Sicarii and confirms the findings so far:

Once more the sicarii at the festival, for it was now going on, entered the city by night and kidnapped the secretary of the captain Eleazar—he was the son of Ananias the high priest, and led him off in bonds. They then sent to Ananias saying that they would release the secretary to him if he would induce Albinus [the Roman praefectus who resided in Caesarea] to release ten of their number who had been taken prisoner. Ananias under this constraint persuaded Albinus and obtained this request. This was the beginning of greater troubles; for the brigands contrived by one means or another to kidnap some of Ananias’ staff and would hold them in continuous confinement and refuse to release them until they had received in exchange some of the sicarii . When they had once more become not inconsiderable in number, they grew bold again and proceeded to harass every part of the land. 5

Kidnapping in order to coerce the release of captive partisans is another method of the Sicarii, which, like the assassination of prominent officials, is also practiced by modern terrorists. To summarize thus far: the Sicarii committed murder, looted, and took hostages—in a bottom-up configuration, in full view, and for the benefit of a large public that reacted to the attacks with fear and insecurity but also with sympathy, as the constant flow of new members and their influence on the revolutionary movement show. Before discussing the ideology and the social background of the Judean terrorists, it is necessary to look more closely at the protagonists. What kind of people were they?

The Sicarii

The Sicarii had their origin in a resistance movement that developed firmer outlines when Judea was subsumed into the Roman Empire in 6 ce . Josephus names a certain Judas from Gamla in Galilee as the founding father of the Sicarii. Together with a Pharisee named Saddok, Judas called for resistance against the census, which the Romans conducted among the new provincial inhabitants in accordance with their general custom. 6 Judas was not only a sect-founding ideologue, he was also well versed in practical resistance. After the death of Herod in 45 bce he collected a sizable cohort of rebels, broke into the royal armory at Sepphoris, and attacked the sons of Herod (Herod Antipas and Philippos), or rather their delegates, when they wanted to take possession of their parts of the kingdom. 7 His father, Ezechias, had already fought against the authorities in a similar manner. The latter was characterized by Josephus as a bandit chieftain with royal ambitions who roamed Galilee and the bordering regions of Syria with his large gang until he was apprehended by the young Herod in c. 45 bce and killed together with many of his “bandits.” 8 The third generation also made a name for itself in the resistance movement: Josephus records that Judas’s sons Jacobus and Simon were put on trial and crucified under the prefect Tiberius Alexander (46–48 ce ). 9

Menahem, who at the start of the Jewish War in 66 ce captured the well-equipped fortress of Masada in a surprise attack, 10 was supposedly another son of Judas (though more probably a grandson). He then proceeded to Jerusalem, where, surrounded by a bodyguard, he conducted himself like a veritable king and took the lead in the uprising. But he soon lost this position, for when he was walking up to the Temple in the company of his bodyguard in order to pray, he and his retinue were attacked by the Zealots among the priests, who refused to accept his preeminence. They were supported by the people, who were throwing stones. After an attempt at resistance the Sicarii tried to flee. Menahem and some of his followers were apprehended and killed after undergoing a great number of tortures. 11

After this defeat the Sicarii retreated to Masada, where another descendant of Judas, called Eleazar, took over the leadership of the group. When, after a long siege and the construction of an elaborate ramp, the Romans finally conquered Masada in 73 ce , the last remaining site of the Jewish rebellion, they are said to have found almost exclusively dead bodies: the Sicarii, including their women and children, had collectively committed suicide in order to escape the slavery that threatened them. 12 But not all of the Sicarii remained in Masada to the end. Some fled to Egypt, others to Cyrenaica, where they continued their revolutionary activities among the Jewish communities, albeit without their leaders from Judas’s family. After they had killed some of the most distinguished men in Alexandria, who had opposed them, the Jewish community decided to extradite them—Josephus mentions that there were six hundred of them—and deliver them to the Romans. Others, who had fled into Egypt as far as Thebes, were taken captive there and executed together with those who had been arrested in Alexandria. Josephus records with admiration that even numerous tortures could not force these Sicarii to accept the emperor. 13

Thus, the Sicarii are the faction of the Jewish resistance movement that can be traced over the longest period, 120 years (45 bce –75 ce ); they were under the leadership of a family dynasty through several generations; and they fought against the foreign rule of the Romans and their Jewish collaborators, and even against other Jewish resistance groups, especially after the start of the great rebellion in 66 ce . They had their beginnings in guerrilla fighting (to use modern terminology) in the countryside, in Galilee and its neighboring regions. After Judea became part of the Roman province of Syria, Judas the Galilean, their leader, developed an ideology of resistance that Josephus termed the fourth “sect” or “philosophy” of Judaism. At the same time the group appears to have moved its center of activity to Jerusalem and gained numerous adherents, especially among young people. 14

Given that the terrorist activities of the 50s and 60s of the first century ce described above presuppose a conspiratorial mindset and secrecy, there must have been a very small, close-knit center around which formed a broader circle of sympathizers. 15 After the outbreak of the Jewish war, and especially after Menachem’s fall at Jerusalem, some of these sympathizers joined the core in Masada, which reverted to the guerrilla tactics of earlier times (but now, of course, in Idumaea), while others turned to other resistance groups with similar programs in Jerusalem; the last survivors attempted unsuccessfully to incite the Jewish communities of Egypt to resist the Romans with the same methods they had tried in Jerusalem.

But this is not the end of their historical impact. Two or three generations later the example of the Sicarii and Zealots inspired two further great revolts against Rome: the great Diaspora rebellion of 115–117, which started in Cyrenaica and spread to Egypt and Cyprus, and the Bar-Kochba rebellion of 132–136, which surprised the Romans in Judea and inflicted immense losses on them. Between them, these two rebellions led to the disappearance of those parts of the Jewish population (in Judea and Egypt) that until then had set the cultural tone in Judaism. They thus opened the way for a completely new orientation of Judaism. 16

Resistance Ideology

As mentioned above, Josephus connects the formation of a resistance ideology with the start of direct Roman rule in Judea. In 6 ce Augustus deposed the client ruler Archelaus, the son of Herod, and added Judea to the Roman province of Syria. At the same time he sent an equestrian named Coponius to Caesarea as prefect and invested him with the right to judge over life and death in the new part of the province. 17 In the Bellum Judaicum Josephus adds to this information:

In his term a certain Galilean man by the name of Judas incited the locals to rebellion, lambasting them if they were going to put up with paying tribute to Romans and tolerate mortal masters after God. This man was a sophist of his own particular school, which had nothing in common with the others. 18

In the Antiquitates Josephus names a Pharisee named Saddok as Judas’s fellow founder of this sect. According to this account, both held the view that the census, which the Romans conducted among the new provincial inhabitants in accordance with their custom, meant nothing but slavery, and the two sect leaders demanded that the people seize their freedom.

Josephus has Judas and Saddok argue for the likelihood of success by means of theological speculation: “that Heaven would be their zealous helper to no lesser end than the furthering of their enterprise until it succeeded—all the more if with high devotion in their hearts they stood firm and did not shrink from bloodshed that might be necessary.” 19 At this point Josephus cannot refrain from an authoritative comment: because the people had received this kind of talk with approval, the rebels’ movement became very popular, which planted the seed of the unspeakable suffering that struck the Judean people. Among these sufferings, Josephus lists uprisings and civil wars, loss of friends, the bandits’ looting campaigns, the assassinations of leading men, and the destruction of the Judean cities and the Temple of Jerusalem, for which he held Judas, Saddok, and their “fourth philosophy” responsible. He puts great weight on the observation that this group, which he included alongside the three traditional sects of the Essenes, Sadducees, and Pharisees, was an innovation within Judaism and that it was precisely the movement’s refusal to adhere to Jewish traditions that contributed decisively to the destruction of the covenant with God. At the same time he is forced to admit that the group had a large following, especially among young people.

A few chapters later Josephus mentions the ideology of the “fourth philosophy” led by the Galilean “sophist” Judas. Here he particularly emphasizes their passion for liberty:

This school agrees in all other respects with the opinions of the Pharisees, except that they have a passion for liberty that is almost unconquerable, since they are convinced that God alone is their leader and master. They think little of submitting to death in unusual forms and permitting vengeance to fall on kinsmen and friends if only they may avoid calling any man master. 20

Apart from these rather categorical pronouncements Josephus barely provides any information at all about the ideology or theology of the Sicarii. 21 In particular, the historian avoids relaying any theological justifications for individual acts of resistance on the part of the Sicarii. He is generally content to comment on the actions of the “bandits,” which he characterizes as reckless as well as disastrous, with expressions of indignation and disgust.

Yet the Sicarii, like all other known Jewish groups, naturally justified their actions on theological and biblical grounds, and it is equally certain that they did not see these justifications as innovations or as a rejection of tradition at all. As an apologist for Judaism, Josephus would have no interest in detailing those arguments of the Sicarii that referred to sacred scripture. Instead, he characterizes their ideology as a pretext for enriching themselves, stating that those men were only pretending to be concerned with the common good when in reality they aimed at private gain through looting and taking hostages. 22 Only their readiness to suffer finds his grudging respect in this context. 23 It does not seem to have crossed his mind that the selfish motives that he ascribes to the adherents of the “fourth philosophy” do not harmonize well with this last aspect.

If we connect Josephus’s already quoted statements about the Sicarii with the results of their actions, then the ideological positions of the Sicarii can be defined as follows.

They saw themselves as adherents of a radical interpretation of theocracy. This use of “theocracy” is controversial insofar as Josephus in his Contra Apionem characterizes the Jewish constitution as a whole by means of the neologism theokratía . Admittedly, Josephus disassociates the term from its utopian and anarchic content by postulating hierocracy—the rule of the priests—as the embodiment of Jewish theocracy as determined by tradition. 24 The Sicarii obviously thought differently: their definition of theocracy was designed to oppose any formal rule of humans over humans. Initially this meant against the foreign rule of the Romans (the source of all relationships of dominance in Judea), but then it also was against the power and property structures of Jewish society (regardless of whether they derived from Roman rule or traditional power relations, given that those two aspects largely overlapped). Their marked passion for freedom, which the Sicarii linked to their idea of the rule of God alone, served the same goal. 25

The Sicarii argued for an activist interpretation of theocracy. It is a commonplace of Jewish thought that the success of any action is dependent on the support of God, who can also work miracles in order to further his cause. The foundational texts illustrate that God’s actions in history are always comprehensible. God has made a covenant with the people of Israel, which commits Israel to observe the laws; in return, God must protect Israel. In this context political setbacks can be understood as God’s punishment for sin and apostasy. But this cannot be the last word. In the end, God will always save and exalt his people. Thus, for example, the speeches Josephus puts into the mouth of King Agrippa II shortly before the eruption of the rebellion and into his own mouth at the start of the Roman siege of Jerusalem show that the people of Jerusalem put their trust in God’s help ( symmachía toû theoû ) and thus appealed to known “historical” (i.e., biblical and postbiblical) analogies. 26 Caligula’s death, which saved the Jerusalem Temple from desecration, was of course also seen as a result of God’s intervention. The events of Exodus, the passage through the Sea of Reeds and the annihilation of Pharaoh and his army, contain the archetype, which was considered to be repeatedly confirmed throughout history.

But how can God’s support be gained? While quietist circles generally sought to obtain the salvation of Israel through a pious lifestyle and through prayer, the Sicarii wanted to provoke, as it were, God’s intervention through their active combat. This was the “zealotic intensification,” to raise the stakes to balance on a knife’s edge, to drive the just fight against heathens and apostates to that extreme point at which God would have no choice but to fulfill his covenant obligation to Israel and liberate it from the claws of its oppressors. 27 This idea was fired by the Maccabee uprising, in which Jewish resistance against the Seleucid occupying force triumphed in the end despite initially being inferior in various respects, and which led to an independent Jewish state under the leadership of the Hasmoneans (168–63 bce ). 28

In order to achieve their goal of liberating Israel from human dominion, the Sicarii relied on the unconditional deployment of violence, regardless of the potential for collateral damage. The obverse of this attitude was their great readiness for self-sacrifice and their contempt for death, which the Sicarii demonstrated repeatedly in their conflicts with Judaic and Roman political authorities, and which culminated in the notorious mass suicide of Masada. 29 These attitudes were presumably founded on conceptions of death similar to those current among the Pharisees: postulating the immortality of the soul and promising those on the “good” side a reward of heavenly existence and reincarnation. 30

The Sicarii’s connection of a social purpose with their notions of theocracy is shown by a particularly impressive episode from the start of the Jewish War (66 ce ). At this time the Roman occupying forces had already fled Jerusalem or had been killed. A large mob of Sicarii, Josephus says, succeeded in driving the troops of King Agrippa from the Upper Town. Josephus continues:

The latter (sc. the sicarii ) attacked and then set fire to the high priest Ananias’ residence and the royal properties of Agrippa and Bernice. After that, they carried the fire to the archives, hurrying to obliterate the contracts of those who had lent out the money and to cut off the collection of the debts, so that they might add to their number the horde of those who had received assistance and raise up with impunity the deprived against the well-heeled. After those at the record-office had fled, they lit the fire. 31

Josephus here insinuates politically motivated action by claiming that in burning the debt archive the Sicarii were concerned with inciting the poor against the rich and with expanding their own following. But it hardly goes too far to find an additional, ideological motive in this action, especially in connection with the burning of the residences of the Jewish leaders: by destroying the internal political and social hierarchies and through “a new, divinely sanctioned distribution of property,” 32 they aimed to reinstate the egalitarian order and solidarity demanded by the Torah and thus to assert the rule of God, which is directed against any human dominion.

It is likely that the Sicarii were also motivated by eschatological and apocalyptic ideas that were widely held in contemporary Judean society. 33 During the episode that was to end in his assassination, Menahem, the leader of the Sicarii, walked up to the Temple shortly after he had had the high priest Ananias and his brother Ezechias executed to pray in the full consciousness of his power—“an imposing (or pompous) figure decked out in royal clothing,” according to Josephus 34 —and he was followed by a throng of armed Zealots. This may point to a messianic claim on his part, for which there are other indications that will not be discussed here for reasons of space. 35

The Social Breeding Grounds of Terrorism

In order to assess terrorism as a historical and sociological phenomenon and to understand terrorists in their motivation, it is necessary to look closely at the society that provided such fertile ground for the protagonists and their deeds. What social structures, and what grievances, favored the genesis of terrorism? Four aspects are particularly pertinent in regard to the Judean population of the Roman province of Syria: the generational conflict; the conditions of the rural population; the elites’ weak authority; and the elites’ duplicity. Finally, an important indicator of the mental and social state of affairs is the sensitivity with which the Judeans reacted to the violation of their national religious symbols or rituals.

A leitmotif of Josephus’s depiction of the history and prehistory of the Jewish War are the adolescent firebrands who reacted to real or supposed trespasses and provocations with uncontrolled emotion and thus contributed repeatedly to the rapid escalation of conflicts with the occupying power. During the actual rebellion, this tendency toward violence increased in significance. Josephus tells, for example, of the mood in Jerusalem after the Romans recaptured Galilee:

These harangues of John’s corrupted a great part of the young men, and puffed them up for the war; but as to the more prudent part, and those in years, there was not a man of them but foresaw what was coming, and made lamentation on that account, as if the city was already undone; and in this confusion were the people. 36

In this conflict, Josephus adds a few sentences later: “Those that were for innovations, and were desirous of war, by their youth and their boldness were too hard for the aged and prudent men.” 37 With implicit reference to Thucydides and Polybius, Josephus provides an anthropological explanation for the youths’ hotheadedness: it was an age-appropriate expression of insufficient maturity and cultivation and a lack of reserve and sober-mindedness. 38

But on close inspection this explains nothing, unless it is supplemented by sociological analysis. Since the exposure of children and other forms of birth control were subject to religious taboo in Judea, 39 Judean society consisted of a population that was unusually young and dynamic compared to other societies and that was also subject to markedly traditional and patriarchal authority structures. 40 At the same time, many young men had poor prospects for a sustainable livelihood that would enable them to start a family. These dissatisfied young men constituted a potential for disturbance, which could easily be mobilized against any change in existing circumstances.

The social situation, especially in the countryside, was marked by stark contrasts. This too is largely due to the specific conditions of Judea. In the Roman Empire, the rural populations, which did not partake in polis structures, were as a rule underprivileged. 41 Unlike poor city populations, these inhabitants of the Empire could not easily obtain justice or even a hearing, and moreover they did not benefit from the euergetism of city elites, the distribution of part of their wealth to the community. 42 The Temple’s autonomy and the associated privileging of the Jerusalem priesthood largely prevented the formation of genuinely Jewish cities in Palestine and thus an improvement of the legal and social conditions of the rural Jewish population within the structure of the Roman Empire. Significantly, it was in those places that did nonetheless develop the beginnings of an autonomous urban life, such as the Galilean cities of Sepphoris and Tiberias, that Roman rule was better accepted than among the rural population. 43 In addition to Josephus, the parables of Jesus in particular reveal the widespread poverty among smallholders, which contrasted with expansive land holdings, especially in Galilee. Furthermore, the tenancy system, which was employed on most estates, allowed the tenants to exploit dependent laborers to the extreme, especially if the owner was absent. Additionally, the already substantial tax burden increased again as a result of direct Roman administration. In the course of provincialization a sizable poll tax was added to the tax on crop yield, as were a variety of transport tolls and local taxes, a measure that naturally put the poor under disproportionate pressure. 44 Yet it was not only the rural population of Palestine that had grounds for discontent but—as shown, for example, by the studies of Stephen Mitchell and Susan Alcock—also that of Anatolia and Greece. 45

The fact that the Jewish rural population resisted this oppression much more obstinately, that it offered shelter to brigands and Zealots and that it itself took part in great numbers in the rebellions can only be explained with reference to the alternative reality that God had proclaimed to these people through the Torah and his prophets. The constant violation of the divinely granted social order of Israel drove them onto the barricades. A deviant reality that was felt to be godless and unjust formed the seedbed in which messianic hopes and apocalyptic visions thrived, and it inspired social utopias in which God himself—singlehandedly, so to speak—ensured equitable standards. 46

Recent archaeological studies provide additional illustrations of the unique attitude of the Jewish rural population in Palestine. An analysis of pottery from many different Palestinian sites shows that in the period from the late second century bce until 70 ce the Jewish population progressively used more locally produced goods—first oil and wine, then storage jars and cooking vessels, and finally even oil lamps and utilitarian pottery. “Household Judaism,” as Andrea Berlin terms this phenomenon, which she has studied in great depth, enriched daily life with a ritual dimension informed by the endeavor to sanctify everyday life.

Yet at the same time, the continual tightening of purity rituals, which can also be measured by the distribution and increase of ritual baths ( mikwe’ot ) in Palestine, had political implications. According to Berlin, the almost complete rejection of imported pottery in the Jewish settlements of Galilee betrays a hostile attitude toward the Roman presence, an attitude that needed little provocation to turn into open resistance. 47 The cultivation of a unified simple and traditional Jewish lifestyle can thus be read as a political statement: “Where they shop and how they dine, what they buy and what they avoid, the regular visits to the miqveh and local synagogue—all reflect a newly emphatic expression of ethnic identity and distinct lifestyle.” 48

The lifestyle of the rural population was substantially different from that of the Jewish upper class, as seen, for example, in the furniture excavated in the magnificent houses of the Upper City of Jerusalem. 49 These circles, consisting essentially of the higher priesthood, surrounded themselves with the luxury goods of the Roman world just like other provincial elites. But in contrast to them, the Jewish priestly elite did not, as numerous conflicts proved, possess the necessary authority to control affairs in their province in cooperation with the Roman administration which regularly was inclined not to intervene too much. Yet, in the case of an emergency the priestly elite could rein in neither youthful “firebrands” nor agitated crowds.

Martin Goodman has extensively investigated the reasons for this weak authority, arguing that it was “because they could not claim a monopoly of any of the crucial marks of distinction generally accepted as worthy of respect by their fellow Jews.” 50 The leading priests even shared their ancestry with thousands of other priests who remained excluded from power. In the eyes of the Romans, the criterion that unquestionably distinguished the ruling class and qualified it for its role was wealth. However, in the context of Jewish culture, this wealth could not be converted into authority but was regarded either as meaningless or even as an obstacle to salvation, especially since this wealth was frequently acquired by exploiting the poor, rural population. 51 In addition, the priesthood was divided within itself along multiple lines. An intensified competition for the office of high priest, especially after the removal of Caiaphas from office in 37 ce and exacerbated from 59 ce onward, led, as Josephus reports, to increased tensions within the priestly elite. In these contests, it seems, Sicarii or people with similar “terroristic” methods were exploited as supporters. 52

The priesthood of Jerusalem could not and would not accept the offers of integration that the Roman Empire had made available to provincial elites. 53 Furthermore, the laws of purity, by which priests were constrained with particular strictness, prevented social communication and interaction with the prefect and officers of the Roman army stationed in the region. Unsurprisingly, under these circumstances a relationship of mutual trust could not develop between Roman administrative staff and the Jewish provincial elite. Open or concealed resistance thus remained a perpetual temptation. Accordingly, it was a radical group of the priestly elite that finally gave the signal for the uprising by declaring that gifts or sacrifices by non-Jews should no longer be accepted and by discontinuing sacrifices made to the emperor and the Roman people. 54

The Judeans were very sensitive regarding assaults against symbols, which they saw as expressions of their identity. During a raid against bandits who had assaulted one of the emperor’s freedmen, a soldier found a Torah scroll in a village, tore it up, and threw it into the fire. Josephus describes the reaction of the Jewish population:

And the Judeans, as if their entire countryside had been incinerated, were devastated: as if being drawn together by some instrument (their reverence for the divine), by one proclamation, they all ran together to Cumanus in Caesarea, begging that he not leave unpunished the one who had thus committed outrage against God and their law. He [Cumanus] deemed it best, since the mob was not resting unless it found satisfaction, to bring forward the soldier. He directed that he be led off to his death through the middle of those who were laying the charges. And the Judeans withdrew. 55

This incident is reminiscent of events in more recent history, when Islamic groups freely and sometimes violently vented their outrage against the (assumed or real) “desecration” of the Koran at the hands of American soldiers in Guantanamo or Afghanistan or against caricatures of their prophet, which they considered blasphemous. In the case described above, the prefect was able to prevent the eruption of open violence by accommodating the outraged crowds as far as possible, that is, by making the perpetrator run the gauntlet and executing him. In other, similar cases, he did not succeed. 56

Conclusion: Terrorism Then and Now

The Sicarii in their thoughts and actions came very close to that which is today called “terrorism”—whether in their methods or their aims, in their ideology, or in the social conditions. The surprising modernity of the Judean circumstances becomes particularly conspicuous in comparison to modern phenomena. 57 As the mass protest of the last example shows, the self-consciousness and mindset of the Judeans strongly resembles the current situations in some Muslim countries. 58 A sense of inferiority expressed through sensitivity toward the violation of national religious symbols and rituals is paired with a consciousness of superior religious identity. This contradiction feeds both Judean terrorism of the first century ce and the religious, specifically Islamist, terrorism of our own day. 59 Besides the permanent readiness to agitate against (supposed) disparagements of their sacred scripture (or that of the prophet[s]), the following characteristics of Judaea during the rebellions are also reminiscent of Arab countries and Pakistan: demographic upheavals, with crowds of young men who have few prospects for their future in a markedly patriarchal society; stark social inequalities that keep a great part of the population in poverty; and finally, unpopular elites, who on the one hand consolidate their internal dominance through collaboration with the foreign superpower, but on the other enter into tactical alliances with resistance groups.

The fight against the system draws its strength from a divine revelation, which is thought to be absolutely binding and which postulates a society governed by justice and solidarity. 60 In these circumstances, zealotic intensification is a real possibility. Resistance fighters and terrorists suppose that divinely ordained living conditions and freedom cannot be achieved through prayer alone; rather, one must commit oneself wholeheartedly to fight for them, and then God will join the fight. 61 Furthermore, authoritative theological speculation promises special rewards in the afterlife to those who sacrifice themselves in the fight on God’s behalf. Inspired by this transcendental message, resistance then as now follows the rules of asymmetric warfare, of which terrorism represents an extreme version.

Translated from the German by Jessica Romney .

See the extensive discussion about the definition of terrorism in Alex P. Schmid and Albert J. Jongman, Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, & Literature (New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers, 1988), esp. 1–28. According to Martha Crenshaw, “Introduction: Reflections on the Effects of Terrorism,” in Terrorism, Legitimacy, and Power: The Consequences of Political Violence , ed. Martha Crenshaw (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1983), 2–3, “a basic definition would include the following attributes: the systematic use of unorthodox violence by small conspiratorial groups with the purpose of manipulating political attitudes rather than physically defeating an enemy. The intent of terrorist violence is psychological and symbolic, not material. Terrorism is premeditated and powerful violence, employed in a struggle for political power.” The reflections of Ariel Merari, “Terrorism as a Strategy of Insurgency,” in The History of Terrorism from Antiquity to Al Qaeda , ed. Gérard Chaliand and Arnaud Blin (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), 12–51; Peter Waldmann, Terrorismus: Provokation der Macht (Hamburg: Murmann, 2011) 14–24; and the first chapter in Carola Dietze, Die Erfindung des Terrorismus in Europa, Russland und den USA, 1858–1866 (Hamburg: Hamburger Edition, 2016), are also particularly helpful.

The Bellum Judaicum (BJ) appeared between 77 and 79, whereas the Antiquitates Judaicae (AJ) were completed c. 94 ce . These two works, produced in Rome at an interval of about fifteen years, overlap in their depiction of the background of the great Judean rebellion; at the same time, they frequently contain different emphases in matters of detail, and occasionally even contradictions.

Josephus, BJ 2.254–257. This translation, and that of other passages from Josephus’s Bellum Judaicum , book 2, is taken from Steve Mason, Flavius Josephus Translation and Commentary , Vol. 1B, Judean War 2 (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2008) . Sicarii literally means “knifers,” from the Latin sica , which is a type of dagger. According to the plausible conjecture of Martin Hengel, Die Zeloten: Untersuchungen zur jüdischen Freiheitsbewegung in der Zeit von Herodes I. bis 70 n. Chr ., 3 rd ed. (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011) , 48–53, the word sicarii was originally employed by the Roman authorities and only later became a term of self-definition as a badge of honor (on the analogy of “Protestant” or “Huguenot”). Outside of Josephus the Sicarii also appear in the Talmud and in Acts 21:38.

Josephus, AJ 20.187. This translation, and that of other passages from Josephus’s Antiquitates Judaicae , books 18–20, is by Louis H. Feldman (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965).

Josephus, AJ 20.208–210.

Josephus, BJ 2.118; AJ 18.4. Although the introduction of a new tax system among semi-barbarian tribes in border regions of the Roman Empire, which was a requirement of their provincialization, occasionally provoked disturbances (Tacitus, Annals 6.41; Cassius Dio, 54.34.36, 56.18.13), most provincials subjected themselves to the repeated tax assessments without objection. On the other hand, the resistance to it in Judea, sparked by the census, resorted to biblicistic arguments, as shown in Hengel, Die Zeloten , 131–145.

Josephus, BJ 2.56; AJ 17.271–272.

Josephus, BJ 1.204.

Josephus, AJ 20.102.

Josephus, BJ 2.408, 433–434.

Josephus, BJ 2.434–438.

Josephus, BJ 7.252–406.

Josephus, BJ 7.407–419. On “the madness of the sicarii which further attacked, like a disease, the cities around Cyrene,” see Josephus, BJ 7.437–442.

Josephus, AJ 18.9–10 emphasizes the group’s popularity and their large, mostly adolescent following. In general, see the convincing reconstruction of “a dynasty of leaders” by Uriel Rappaport, “Who Were the Sicarii?,” in The Jewish Revolt against Rome: Interdisciplinary Perspectives , ed. Mladen Popović (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2011) , 323–342, at 330–334.

The relationship between Sicarii and Zealots should be understood in a similar way: zealotry is the common denominator of the individual resistance groups, which were frequently in fierce competition, of which the Sicarii were a particularly radical faction; see Hengel, Die Zeloten , 378–402.

David C. Rapoport, “Fear and Trembling: Terrorism in Three Religious Traditions,” American Political Science Review 78 (1984) : 669 rightly emphasizes the historical importance of the movement: “Zealot-Sicarii activities inspired two more popular uprisings against Rome in successive generations, which resulted in the extermination of the large Jewish centers in Egypt and Cyprus, the virtual depopulation of Judea, and the final tragedy—the Exile itself, which exercised a traumatic impact on Jewish consciousness and became the central feature of Jewish experience for the next two thousand years, altering virtually every institution in Jewish life. It would be difficult to find terrorist activity in any historical period which influenced the life of a community more decisively.”

See E. Mary Smallwood, The Jews under Roman Rule: From Pompey to Diocletian; A Study in Political Relations (Leiden: Brill, 1976) , 107–110; Werner Eck, Rom und Judaea: Fünf Vorträge zur römischen Herrschaft in Palaestina (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007), 23–27.

Josephus, BJ 2.118.

Josephus, AJ 18.5.

Josephus, AJ 18.23.

All the same, it emerges also from other passages in Josephus’s Bellum Judaicum that the idea of exclusive divine rule and desire for freedom were the central motives of the Sicarii: BJ 2.433, 7.323, 7.410, 7.418. For his far-reaching silence about the religious and ideological thinking of the resistance movement, see Gottfried Mader, Josephus and the Politics of Historiography: Apologetic and Impression Management in the Bellum Judaicum (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2000) , 12–13.

Josephus, AJ 18.6–10.

Josephus, AJ 18.23–24

Josephus, contra Apionem, 2.164–165, 185–188, 193–194; see Kai Trampedach, “The High Priests and Rome: Why Cooperation Failed,” in Between Cooperation and Hostility: Multiple Identities in Ancient Judaism and the Interaction with Foreign Powers , ed. Rainer Albertz and Jakob Wöhrle (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2013) , 251–265, esp. 251–252.

Religious and political motives on the part of the rebels are impossible to distinguish: religious autonomy as theocracy can only be achieved through a national fight for freedom; see Hengel, Die Zeloten , 93–127; Chaliand and Blin, The History of Terrorism , 57.

Josephus, BJ 2.390–395, 5.375–419.

Rapoport even considers this point to be the true concern of the rebels: “Fear and Trembling,” 670.

The significance of the Maccabean example for the Zealots/Sicarii has already been brought out in a highly convincing argument by William R. Farmer, Maccabees, Zealots, and Josephus: An Inquiry into Jewish Nationalism in the Greco-Roman Period (New York: Columbia University Press, 1956), esp. 125–158; see also Rappaport, “Sicarii,” 339–340; Kai Trampedach, “Between Hellenistic Monarchy and Jewish Theocracy: The Contested Legitimacy of Hasmonean Rule,” in The Splendors and Miseries of Ruling Alone: Encounters with Monarchy from Archaic Greece to the Hellenistic Mediterranean , ed. Nino Luraghi (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2013) , 231–262.

See Rappaport, “Sicarii,” 333f. Even though Josephus’s account of the Roman conquest of Masada and the obliteration of the besieged appears implausible in some of its dramatic details, there can be no doubt, if one also considers the archaeological evidence, that there was mass suicide among the Sicarii; see Shaye J. D. Cohen, “Masada: Literary Tradition, Archaeological Remains, and the Credibility of Josephus,” in Journal of Jewish Studies 33 (1982): 385–405.

Josephus, BJ 2.163–165, AJ 18.14; see BJ 3.375; see also Apionem 2.218. Tacitus already saw a connection between notions of death and readiness for martyrdom among the Judeans: “They hold that the souls of all who perish in battle or by the hands of the executioner are immortal. Hence a passion for propagating their race and a contempt for death” ( Histories 5.5.3). See Hengel, Die Zeloten , 268–270 and 90–92, on the dogmatic dependence of the Zealots/Sicarii on the Pharisees (Josephus, AJ 18.23; see above).

Josephus, BJ 2.426–427.

Hengel, Die Zeloten , 361.

See Neil Faulkner, Apocalypse: The Great Jewish Revolt against Rome, ad 66–73 (Stroud and Charleston: Tempus, 2002) , 80–104; Vasily Rudich, Religious Dissent in the Roman Empire: Violence in Judea at the Time of Nero (Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2015) , 10–67.

Josephus, BJ 2.444.

See Rappaport, “Sicarii,” 336; Hengel, Die Zeloten , 230–311; Faulkner, Apocalypse , 109.

Josephus, BJ 4.128–129.

Josephus, BJ 4.133; translation by William Whiston (Cambridge, 1737).

Mason, Flavius Josephus , 186 n. 1409; Mader, Josephus and the Politics of Historiography , 69–72.

See Christina Tuor-Kurth, Kindesaussetzung und Moral in der Antike: Jüdische und christliche Kritik am Nichtaufziehen und Töten neugeborener Kinder (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2010).

See Alexei M. Sivertsev, Households, Sects, and the Origins of Rabbinic Judaism (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 21–24.

See François Jacques and John Scheid, Rome et l’intégration de l’Empire 44 av. J.-C.–260 ap. J.-C. , vol. 1, Les structures de l’empire romain (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1990), 220–221, 247–248.

The alms of the rich ( tzedakah ), which in Jerusalem were able to improve the lot of the poor and which made the holy city a center of begging (see Joachim Jeremias, Jerusalem zur Zeit Jesu: Eine kulturgeschichtliche Untersuchung zur neutestamentlichen Zeitgeschichte [Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 3 1962], 132–135), also appear to have made scarcely any impact in the countryside.

See Brunt, “Josephus on the Social Conflicts in Roman Judaea,” 285.

See Emilio Gabba: “The Social, Economic and Political History of Palestine 63 bce–ce 70,” in The Cambridge History of Judaism , vol. 3, The Early Roman Period , ed. William Horbury (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 107–110, 136–137, 155–156.

Stephen Mitchell, Anatolia: Land, Men, and Gods in Asia Minor , vol. 1 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), 195–197, 225–226, 244–245, 253–257; Susan E. Alcock, Graecia Capta: The Landscapes of Roman Greece (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 19–24, 71–92; see in general Gil Gambash, Rome and Provincial Resistance (New York: Routledge, 2015).

See Faulkner, Apocalypse , 109–119.

Andrea Berlin, “Romanization and Anti-Romanization in Pre-Revolt Galilee,” in The First Jewish Revolt: Archaeology, History, and Ideology , ed. Andrea M. Berlin and J. Andrew Overman (London and New York: Routledge, 2002), 57–73; Andrea Berlin, “Jewish Life Before the Revolt: The Archaeological Evidence,” Journal of the Study of Judaism 36 (2005) : 417–470; Andrea Berlin, “Identity Politics in Early Roman Galilee,” in The Jewish Revolt against Rome: Interdisciplinary Perspectives , ed. Mladen Popović (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2011) , 69–106; Andrea Berlin, “Manifest Identity: From Ioudaios to Jew; Household Judaism as Anti-Hellenization in the Late Hasmonean Era,” in Between Cooperation and Hostility: Multiple Identities in Ancient Judaism and the Interaction with Foreign Powers , ed. Rainer Albertz and Jakob Wöhrle (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013) , 151–175.

Berlin, “Identity Politics,” 104.

Nahman Avigad, Discovering Jerusalem (Oxford: Blackwell, 1984), 81–165; see Jeremias, Jerusalem zur Zeit Jesu , 106–114.

Martin Goodman, The Ruling Class of Judaea: The Origins of the Revolt against Rome, ad 66–70 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987) , 117.

A particularly radical and vivid formulation of the capacity of wealth to prevent salvation is ascribed to Jesus of Nazareth: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25, Matt. 19:24, Luke 18:25, NIV).

Josephus, AJ 20.179–181, 205–207, 213–214, 216–218.

See Trampedach, “The High Priests and Rome,” 258.

Josephus, BJ 2.409.

Josephus, BJ 2.230–231. In his parallel account at AJ 20.113–117, Josephus relates a slightly different version of events: that Cumanus, after taking counsel with his friends, beheaded the soldier, thus preventing another uprising.

See, e.g., those episodes reported by Josephus that contain alleged assaults against the Torah or the Temple: BJ 2.169–174, 175–177, 224–227 = AJ 18.55–59, 60–62; 20.106–112; Seth Schwartz, Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 bce to 640 ce (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2001) , 59–62.

Rapoport convincingly emphasizes the modernity of the Zealots/Sicarii, “who appear almost as our true contemporaries because they seem to have purposes and methods that we can fully understand. By means of provocation they were successful in generating a mass insurrection, an aim of most modern terrorists, but one that has probably never been achieved.” “Fear and Trembling,” 660.

Not only in Muslim countries but also in Israel, albeit only as a marginal phenomenon: see Ami Pedahzur and A. Arie Perlinger, Jewish Terrorism in Israel (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009).

The common denominator of “terrorist” movements of a particular type is understood in the sense of Pedahzur and Perlinger, Jewish Terrorism , xiv: “We argue that religious terrorism is not a one-faith phenomenon. In fact, identical patterns of radicalization and the uses of terrorism can be traced to any counterculture that adheres to a totalistic ideology, be it religious or secular.”

Other historical instances of this constellation are discussed in Kai Trampedach and Andreas Pečar (eds.), Theokratie und theokratischer Diskurs: Die Rede von der Gottesherrschaft und ihre politisch-sozialen Voraussetzungen im interkulturellen Vergleich (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013) .

Or they assume that it is possible through fighting against godless oppressors to open the way for the advent of the Messiah: Uriel Rappaport, “Jewish-Pagan Relations and the Revolt against Rome in 66–70 ce ,” in The Jerusalem Cathedra 1 , ed. Lee I. Levine (Jerusalem and Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), 81–95, esp. 83: “Nourished by suffering, frustration, and tension (which it augmented), messianism portrayed Rome not as a necessary and bearable evil, which may have been the view of many Jews, but as an evil that was subject not only to elimination but even to replacement by the messianic kingdom, whose advent was inevitable.”

Berlin, Andrea M. “Identity Politics in Early Roman Galilee.” In The Jewish Revolt against Rome: Interdisciplinary Perspectives , edited by Mladen Popović , 69–106. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2011 .

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Berlin, Andrea M. “ Jewish Life Before the Revolt: The Archaeological Evidence. ” Journal of the Study of Judaism 36 ( 2005 ): 417–470.

Berlin, Andrea M. “Manifest Identity: From Ioudaios to Jew; Household Judaism as Anti-Hellenization in the Late Hasmonean Era.” In Between Cooperation and Hostility: Multiple Identities in Ancient Judaism and the Interaction with Foreign Powers , edited by Rainer Albertz and Jakob Wöhrle , 151–175. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013 .

Faulkner, Neil . Apocalypse: The Great Jewish Revolt against Rome, ad 66–73 . Stroud and Charleston: Tempus, 2002 .

Goodman, Martin . The Ruling Class of Judaea: The Origins of the Revolt against Rome, ad 66–70 . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987 .

Hengel, Martin . Die Zeloten: Untersuchungen zur jüdischen Freiheitsbewegung in der Zeit von Herodes I. bis 70 n. Chr. 3 rd ed. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011 .

Mader, Gottfried . Josephus and the Politics of Historiography: Apologetic and Impression Management in the Bellum Judaicum . Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2000 .

Mason, Steve . Flavius Josephus Translation and Commentary . Vol. 1B, Judean War 2 . Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2008 .

Rapoport, David C. “ Fear and Trembling: Terrorism in Three Religious Traditions. ” American Political Science Review 78 ( 1984 ): 658–677.

Rappaport, Uriel . “Who Were the Sicarii?” In The Jewish Revolt against Rome: Interdisciplinary Perspectives , edited by Mladen Popović , 323–342. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2011 .

Rudich, Vasily , Religious Dissent in the Roman Empire: Violence in Judea at the Time of Nero . Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2015 .

Schwartz, Seth . Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 bce to 640 ce. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001 .

Smallwood, E. Mary . The Jews under Roman Rule: From Pompey to Diocletian; A Study in Political Relations . Leiden: Brill, 1976 .

Trampedach, Kai . “Between Hellenistic Monarchy and Jewish Theocracy: The Contested Legitimacy of Hasmonean Rule.” In The Splendors and Miseries of Ruling Alone: Encounters with Monarchy from Archaic Greece to the Hellenistic Mediterranean , edited by Nino Luraghi , 231–259. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2013 .

Trampedach, Kai . “The High Priests and Rome: Why Cooperation Failed.” In Between Cooperation and Hostility: Multiple Identities in Ancient Judaism and the Interaction with Foreign Powers , edited by Rainer Albertz and Jakob Wöhrle , 251–265. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013 .

Trampedach, Kai , and Andreas Pečar , eds. Theokratie und theokratischer Diskurs: Die Rede von der Gottesherrschaft und ihre politisch-sozialen Voraussetzungen im interkulturellen Vergleich . Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013 .

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