Jewish names in Egypt in the Early Roman period

Abstract

In this article I claim that in the Roman period, biblical names used by Jews became very limited in comparison with their variety in the Ptolemaic period. I argue that they are mainly represented by the names of the three patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - and of Jacob's son - Joseph. These four names constitute 73% of all biblical names male Jews used in the early Roman period, before the Jewish revolt in 115-117 A.D.