Duke Leto

Hear ye O crowd of wisdom! Distinguished poster outhouse has cited E.P. Sanders assertion that 400,000 Jews came to the Temple at Jerusalem every year in multiple threads in support of some point or other about Historical Jesus that I can't be bothered to take an interest in.

When challenged on this point given that the number is insane, he dug in on E.P. Sanders' alleged authority and has not budged an inch. See this thread.

Review the arguments briefly and then tell us how big YOU think the Pilgrimage actually could have been.

Some points:

400,000 is the same size as Woodstock.
The medieval population of Jerusalem, about the same size as classical Jerusalem in terms of area, stayed around 15,000-25,000.
The Ottoman Census of the area that is now Israel counted 700,000 total in 1800.
The population of modern Jerusalem is 800,000.
The estimated population of the Roman Empire at this time is between 40 and 60 million. The area comprising modern Israel was just 0.5% of the Roman Empire and was not exclusively Jewish.
outhouse states a figure of 8 million Jews worldwide in the 1st Century CE, out of a total world population of 150-300 million. The total number of Jews on Earth in 2012 is about 14 million out of a population of 8 billion, although admittedly the ranks have thinned out quite a bit owing to unfortunate events best not discussed.

steve_bnk

From ruins we know the temple size. You can estimate how many per day could pass thru and how long a sacrifice would take.

As a WAG 500 a day for 1 week Passover would be 3500. i voted 10,000.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passove..._korban_Pesach

'...In Israel, Passover is the seven-day holiday of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, with the first and last days observed as legal holidays and as holy days involving abstention from work, special prayer services, and holiday meals; the intervening days are known as Chol HaMoed ("Weekdays of the Festival"). Diaspora Jews historically observed the festival for eight days, and most still do.

When the Temple in Jerusalem was standing, the focus of the Passover festival was the Passover sacrifice (Hebrew korban Pesach) also known as the "Paschal Lamb"). Every family large enough to completely consume a young lamb or wild goat was required to offer one for sacrifice at the Jewish Temple on the afternoon of the 14th day of Nisan,(Num 9:11) and eat it that night, which was the 15th of Nisan (Exodus 12:6). If the family was too small to finish eating the entire offering in one sitting, an offering was made for a group of families. The sacrifice could not be offered with anything leavened,(Exodus 23:18) and had to be roasted, without its head, feet, or inner organs being removed (Exodus 12:9) and eaten together with unleavened bread (matzo) and bitter herbs (maror). One had to be careful not to break any bones from the offering, (Exodus 12:46) and none of the meat could be left over by morning (Exodus 12:10Exodus 23:18).

Because of the Passover sacrifice's status as a sacred offering, the only people allowed to eat it were those who had the obligation to bring the offering. Among those who could not offer or eat the Passover lamb were: An apostate (Exodus 12:43), a servant (Exodus 12:45), an uncircumcised man (Exodus 12:48), a person in a state of ritual impurity, except when a majority of Jews are in such a state (Pesahim 66b), and a non-Jew. The offering had to be made before a quorum of 30 (Pesahim 64b). In the Temple, the Levites sang Hallel while the priests performed the sacrificial service. Men and women were equally obligated regarding the offering (Pesahim 91b)...'

Iskander

Sanders doesn’t say that 400000 Jews came to the temple at Jerusalem every year.


Sanders estimated the population of Jerusalem at Passover to be between 300000 to 400000 in a good year.


Rome’s permanent population was 1250 000 and Alexandria held an even larger population.


Tacitus, a pagan historian , says that during the siege the population of Jerusalem was 600 000, obviously exaggerating the number of Jews and Gentiles that had sought refuge there, but it may be that he inflated the number by only 300 000 , otherwise the status of Tacitus as a historian is dead and rotting.


Why are you regurgitating a digested thread?

Nobody knows how many people were crowded in Jerusalem and its surroundings during Passover.

Duke Leto

Could I have made the poll in the old thread? If so I apologize.