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I'm interested in the history of Jewish proselytizing, esp. in the era @00 BC - 100 AD

Thats a short window youre asking about, but Jews prosletyzed until it bcame punishable by death, around 400 AD.

Thanks for the link to that article. Very interesting.

I just picked those dates (200 BC - 100 AD) because I was under the impression --- and it may not have been an accurate impression --- that that's when most of the proselytizing was done. Roughly the same era as the spread of the very popular Septuagint translation of the books of the Law and the Prophets around the Mediterranean-wide civilization and beyond.

My knowledge is so limited I'm probably not even expressing my questions very well.

I am aware that there were sizeable Jewish communities outside of the Roman Empire, e.g. in Ethiopia, Iraq, Iran and along the Silk Road as far as the Indus and maybe as far as the western edges of China. What about them? Being outside of Roman Empire control, did they continue to proselytize?

And though you said conversion to Judaism was outlawed in 07, it must be noted that the Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine in 406, asnd Rome was sacked in 410. That ushered in an era of political disintegration lasting several hundred years, during which in much of the former Western Empire, nobody really was "in charge." Wouldn't that have opened a door (or as they say, a "window of opportunity") for Jewish activity?

I'm just pondering out loud. As I said, I know very little about this. That's why I'm interested.

Thanks again.

Thanks for the link to that article. Very interesting.

I just picked those dates (200 BC - 100 AD) because I was under the impression --- and it may not have been an accurate impression --- that that's when most of the proselytizing was done. Roughly the same era as the spread of the very popular Septuagint translation of the books of the Law and the Prophets around the Mediterranean-wide civilization and beyond.

My knowledge is so limited I'm probably not even expressing my questions very well.

I am aware that there were sizeable Jewish communities outside of the Roman Empire, e.g. in Ethiopia, Iraq, Iran and along the Silk Road as far as the Indus and maybe as far as the western edges of China. What about them? Being outside of Roman Empire control, did they continue to proselytize?

And though you said conversion to Judaism was outlawed in 07, it must be noted that the Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine in 406, asnd Rome was sacked in 410. That ushered in an era of political disintegration lasting several hundred years, during which in much of the former Western Empire, nobody really was "in charge." Wouldn't that have opened a door (or as they say, a "window of opportunity") for Jewish activity?

I'm just pondering out loud. As I said, I know very little about this. That's why I'm interested.

Thanks again.