Taking a fresh look at what the Greeks and Romans thought about Jews and Judaism, Peter SchAfer locates the origin of anti-Semitism in the ancient world. Judeophobia firmly establishes Hellenistic Egypt as the generating source of anti-Semitism, with roots extending back into Egypt's pre-Hellenistic history.

A pattern of ingrained hostility toward an alien culture emerges when SchAfer surveys an illuminating spectrum of comments on Jews and their religion in Greek and Roman writings, focusing on the topics that most interested the pagan classical world: the exodus or, as it...