When Did The Jewish Diaspora Exist?

Diaspora, being a Greek word, as its general meaning goes, means scattering. So in the light of that interpretation, Jewish Diaspora refers to all those Jewish communities, who have settled in different parts of the world over a stretch of more than thousands of years.

It dates back to 800 years before Jesus Christ's birth when the people of Judah in northern Palestine were taken as prisoners in Babylon, situated near the River Tigris and Euphrates, which is the modern Iraq. After remaining in captivity for almost two centuries, a great number of those prisoners' descendants chose to remain behind and formed a community of their own, which was known as Diaspora, which continued to be important until the middle of the eleventh century.

The second great diaspora period happened after Alexandar the Great died in 323 B.C. when Jews chose exile over the hateful option of living under Greek authority imposed by the successors of the great leader.

But the greatest and biggest diaspora took place in A.D. 70 when the army of Titus (an emperor of Rome) quelled a revolt on the behalf of nationalists and also demolished the temple in Jerusalem.

Add Comment

Report