The Rabbinic Imagination, the Greco-Roman Novel, and the Dangerous Gentile Female
01-13-2026
International Social Science Journal (Chinese Edition)
No.3, 2025
The Rabbinic Imagination, the Greco-Roman Novel, and the Dangerous Gentile Female
(Abstract)
David Stern
The influence of Greco-Roman erotic narrative on rabbinic literature focuses on Greek romance and Parthenius’s Fatal Attractions Though rabbinic texts do not directly adopt these genres, their motifs—such as the tension between beauty and piety, or the gentile female as seductress—permeate the narratives and exegesis of the Talmud and Midrash. Taking the interpretation of the “beautiful captive woman” law in Deuteronomy as an example, rabbis metaphorically equated the threat of Hellenistic culture with dangerous gentile female.