Bibliography on the Romaniote Jewry

The Romaniote culture is firmly rooted in both Jewish and Greek civilisations. Even if we cannot give a facile explanation of Romaniote Judaism as a continuation of Jewish Hellenism, there are still clear parallels. The ancestors of the Romaniotes were the first Jews to reach Europe from Palestine; Greece became their new homeland. Worth mentioning is the Jewish Community of Chalkis which represents the oldest uninterrupted european jewish community in existence. The Ianniote Romaniote oral History tells us that the first Romaniotes who arrived in Epirus were slaves on a ship. While the Romaniote liturgy represents the oldest form of Jewish worship to appear in Europe and had a significant influence to other european jewish rites the Romaniote culture and its Judaeo-Greek made great Contributions to other european jewish cultures. The Use of a non-hebrew and even non-semitic language in the Liturgy of the Synagogue appeared at first time with the Greek language in this Judaeo-Greek culture. Despite the importance of the study of this old jewish community the Romaniotes have become to one of the most neglected fields in Jewish Studies. The cultural contributions of Romaniote Jewry to the emerging cultures of Eastern Europe are generally unrecognised by modern scholarship. Great efforts have to be made to change the present state of Jewish studies on that topic. In short, this book lists the secondary literature on Romaniote Judaism. Academic publications and relevant works on Romaniote Judaism written in a total of 12 languages represent a unique collection of works covering all of the aspects and fields of inquiry related to this millennia old Jewish-Greek culture. They have been selected to help develop a holistic perspective. Overall, it can be said, that the works included here cover a period from Antiquity, through the Middle Ages, the centuries that followed, to the present day. The earliest work dates from 1832 and the most recent from 2016. This collection of academic writings offers comprehensive information about various fields such as language, history, liturgy, etc. concerning the Romaniote culture and represents an incredible resource for interested readers and researchers.