Ritual Murder And The Worship Of An Ass

Abstract

We know today that Caepio’s downfall was due to a specific constellation of party politics. This makes all the more remarkable the role that his sacrilege plays in the tradition that has come down to us – a tradition which clearly goes back ultimately to the political propaganda literature of that period. Since the Renaissance, scholars have investigated the fable of Jewish (and Christian) worship of an ass and more than a dozen hypothesis have been proposed to explain its genesis. We know of two Greek writers who speak of the Jewish cult of an ass’s head one hundred and fifty years before Tertullian, viz. Damocritus and Apion. Both follow the same source, but are independent of one another; and these two supply our only testimony to the ritual murder.Keywords: Apion; Caepio’s downfall; Damocritus; Greek writers; Jewish cult; political propaganda literature; renaissance; ritual murder; Tertullian; worship of an ass