5
Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages 
of 950–1100 in Southeastern Alps 
and the Origin of these Jews
K l e m e n  J e l i n č i č  B o e t a *
1.01 Izvirni znanstveni članek 
UDK 94(4=411.16)"950/1100"
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta: Judje v Akvileji, judovske vasi v obdobju 950–1100 v Jugo-
vzhodnih Alpah in izvor teh Judov. Časopis za zgodovino in narodopisje, Maribor 
92=57(2021), 2–3, str. 5–37
Besedilo poskuša predstaviti judovsko življenje v Akvileji, s čimer na kratko prikaže 
tudi takratno judovsko prisotnost v Jugovzhodnih Alpah in drugih sosednjih regijah. 
Nadaljuje z opisom judovskega življenja v regiji po letu 452 n. št. v vseh regijah okoli 
kasnejše Notranje Avstrije do leta 950, da bi lahko razumeli kontekst in izvor Judov, ki 
so prebivali v kasnejših judovskih vaseh in drugih krajih Koroške, Štajerske in Kranjske 
do leta 1200.
Ključne besede: Judje v Akvileji, judovske vasi, Judenorte, Notranja Avstrija, Slovenija
1.01 Original Scientific Article 
UDC 94(4=411.16)"950/1100"
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta: Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages of 950–1100 in Southeastern 
Alps and the Origin of these Jews. Review for History and Ethnography, Maribor 
92=57(2021), 2–3, pp. 5–37
The text is trying to present the Jewish life in Aquileia, with which it briefly also pre-
sents the contemporary Jewish presence in Southeastern Alps and other surrounding 
regions. It continues with the description of Jewish life in the area after 452 A.D. in all 
 * Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, doktor zgodovinskih znanosti, Hudovernikova 8, 1000 Lju-
bljana, Slovenija, klemenyb@siol.net
r a z p r av e  –  s t u d i e s
6 ČASOPIS ZA ZGODOVINO IN NARODOPISJE 2021/2–3 • razprave – studies
the regions surrounding the later Inner Austria until 950 to understand the context 
and origin of Jews residing in later Jewish villages and other places in Carinthia, Styria 
and Carniola until 1200.
Keywords: Jews in Aquileia, Jewish villages, Judenorte, Inner Austria, Slovenia
Jews in aquilea and the surrounding regions
When in the second half of the year 12 B.C.1, king Herod the Great came to see 
Octavian Augustus in Aquileia2 to ask him to solve his family and succession 
problems, we can be certain that some Jews already lived in the city. At that 
time, Aquileia, founded as a Latin colony at an already existing important 
point of commerce in 181 B.C., was already serving an important military 
function, was an important administrative centre and an important trade 
port, also with the Levant. As the numerous Jewish tradesmen from many 
Jewish communities, which started to grow after the onset of Hellenism on 
the entire East Mediterranean coast from Cyrenaica, Egypt along the entire 
shore all the way to Asia Minor and Greece, were active also in long-distance 
sea trade, some of them, by the time Rome took control of the entire Mediter-
ranean, settled in the city too. In the next few generations, the Jewish com-
munity only grew and not only due to the fact that after the revolts of 70 A.D., 
115–117 A.D. and 135 A.D., the Roman market was flooded with a multitude 
of Jewish slaves. Also, with the rise of Christianity, we witness a general rise 
in the amount of converts to Judaism and especially the so-called God-fearers, 
who only partially adopted Jewish customs, sometimes in combination with 
Christian ones. The fact is, Aquileia was in imperial times one of the world’s 
largest cities with a population perhaps approaching 100 000 people,3 a me-
tropolis with numerous cults and religions of the entire Mediterranean basin, 
among which Jews and their sympathisers were one.
Even though the Aquileian Jews are often mentioned only at the time of 
Chromatius at the end of the 4th century, there are a few archaeological finds 
that come already from an earlier age. As, in general, there are very few ar-
chaeological data on Jewish diaspora in north-western parts of the Roman 
Empire, they aren’t many on Aquileia as well, yet they suffice to see the impor-
tance and size of the community. There certainly are data on Jewish presence 
in the wider region around Aquileia, including the Southeastern Alps, from 
the 2nd century onwards. East and north of it, in the area of Venetia et Histria, 
 1 Kapera, The Jewish Presence, p. 36. 
 2 Flavius, The Works of Flavius Jospehus, Book 16, Chapter 4, p. 15. 
 3 Hornblower, Spawforth, Eidinow, The Oxford Dictionary, p. 129. 
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages of 950–1100 in Southeastern Alps … 7
Noricum, Pannonia and Illyricum (or rather in the late Antiquity more spe-
cifically for the area Venetia et Histria, Noricum Mediterraneum, Savia and 
Pannonia Prima) of the 2nd, 3rd and the 4th century, we find several examples 
of Jewish presence. We have a Jewish cemetery in Salona (close to present-
day Split) from the 2nd and the 3rd century C.E., a Jewish tombstone from the 
3rd century from Senj, a synagogue in Mursa (Osijek) in the 3rd and the 4th 
centuries,4 oil lamps from the 2nd or the 3rd century C.E. in Muć in Dalmatia,5 
an inscription regarding a Jewish woman or a God-fearer in Pula from 3rd–
5th century6, and a Jewish community in Intercisa with some other findings 
elsewhere in Pannonia, namely in Szombathely, Estergom and Siklos,7 which 
is in complete accordance with the multicultural nature of the Roman Em-
pire, the part of which is also the already familiar pattern of Jewish presence 
above the narrow area of northern Mediterranean coast in all major centres 
of Latin speaking part of the Empire. From the 2nd–3rd century we also have 
an oil lamp with menorah from Flavium Fulfinum, present-day Omisalj and 
Njivice on the Croatian island of Krk, found in ruins of a rustic villa. The area 
of the mentioned Roman provinces was at that time located between the two 
areas of relatively denser Jewish presence; a wider area of the river Po Valley 
until the eastern part of the Friuli Lowlands, including Istria (Mediolanum, 
Brixia, Concordia, Aquilea) and the area on the right Pannonian bank of river 
Danube (Mursa and Intercisa). West of Aquileia, towards the interior of the 
Apennine Peninsula, Ravenna from early 5th century onwards, Milan from 
the 4th century, Brixia from the 4th century, and Concordia are just the most 
known examples,8 which enable us to reach a conclusion that despite the rela-
tively poor archaeological and textual historical material we can nevertheless 
speak of a dispersed and individual Jewish presence in the mentioned region 
in between; the Southeastern Alps.
In this region, at that time Aquileia’s hinterland, an oil-lamp with a me-
norah was found in Škocjan near Divača in the vicinity of Koper, which dates 
to 4–6th century C.E.9 In Carinthia, several Roman tombstones with Hebrew 
or Oriental sounding names were found, of which the Jewish identity of the 
deceased is most plausible at the tombstone of a Roman horseman named 
Aggaeus (name, used by Vulgata for the Hebrew name Hagay) from Virunum 
and the tombstone of Titus from Teurnia, whose wife was called Herodiana.10 
 4 Goldstein, Jews in Yugoslavia, p. 27. 
 5 Goldstein, Židovi na tlu Jugoslavije, p. 17.
 6 Simonsohn, The Jews of Italy, p. 107. 
 7 Scheiber, Jews at, p. 189
 8 Simonsohn, Ibid., pp. 105–106. 
 9 Knific & Sagadin, Pismo brez pisave, p. 68.
 10 Babad, The Jews in Medieval Carinthia, p. 16.
8 ČASOPIS ZA ZGODOVINO IN NARODOPISJE 2021/2–3 • razprave – studies
In Styria on the Leibnitz Field, several coins with Hebrew inscriptions were 
found, such as Iudea, Ascalon and Titus.11 Even though unsympathetic po-
lemical notes on Jews by the bishop Victorin from the second half of the 3rd 
century ‘do not enable conclusions on the eventual Jewish presence in the 
town’12 Poetovio (Ptuj), this could indeed confirm there was no Jewish com-
munity in town but individuals were, which would according to the size and 
importance of the town be quite logical. In favour of this speaks not only a 
fact that Jews are found almost in every larger Roman town and that this 
geographical region represented a transit area between the mentioned com-
munities of northern Italy and the Danube region but also the finds from 
Škocjan, Styria and Carinthia that point to Jewish individuals that reside far 
beyond larger centres very deeply in the countryside.
The oldest archaeological find pertaining to Aquileian Jews is mentioning 
the freed slave L. Aiacius Dama serving as por(it)tor at the custom-house in 
Aquileia and coming from the late 1st century B.C.13 As said, we can undoubt-
edly suppose among the Roman legionaries and accompanying civil servants 
and merchants a certain number of Jews, some slaves or freed slaves, and the 
mentioned Aiacius already comes from a segment of population outside of 
the military framework. In Aquileia, ‘a Jewish community existed already in 
the 2nd century CE’.14 In the 3rd and the 4th centuries, we can already with all 
certainty speak of an organized community with a synagogue, which is testi-
fied by a tombstone of a certain Ursacia, daughter of gerusarchos (dean) of 
the synagogue in Aquilea, found in a Jewish catacomb in Rome and written 
in Greek.15 Already before 1962, three oil lamps with menorah were found.16 
There is an epitaph concerning a Christian deacon of Palestinian, probably 
Jewish origin17 and an epitaph concerning Kaioynos Maioymites from Mai-
uma in Gaza with probable Jewish origin from the 4th century.18 Not only 
that the ‘expansion of Christianity in Aquilea was based on the missionary 
activity of Christian Jews’19 but the Aquilean church for a long time preserved 
certain characteristics of Judaism,20 in connection with which we find in town 
in the first centuries of Christianity a great number of Judeo-Christians that 
 11 GJ I: 155. 
 12 Bratož, Verske razmere v Petovioni, p. 324. 
 13 Simonsohn, Ibid., p. 105.
 14 Bratož, Kratek oris, p. 205.
 15 Craco Ruggini, Il vescovo Cromazio, p. 363.
 16 Avneri, Luzerne guidaiche, pp. 466–468. 
 17 Craco Ruggini, Ebrei e orientali, p. 262.
 18 Brusin, Orientali in Aquileia, pp. 62–63. 
 19 Bratož, Kratek oris, p. 205.
 20 Biasutti, Aquileia e la chiesa.
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages of 950–1100 in Southeastern Alps … 9
originally came from Alexandria.21 The great number of Jews in town and 
their, at least partial, connection with local Christians is proven also by a fact 
that the church building in the present-day Monastero next to Aquilea was 
built on the foundations of a synagogue.22 This or potentially some other of 
the synagogues in such a large city was certainly in operation until 388 C.E., 
when it was, according to the writings of St. Ambrose of Milan, burnt by the 
soldiers of Theodosius I as a part of retributions at the time of demise of the 
emperor Magnus Maximus (383–388), who supported the Jews and was by 
Theodosius defeated in battle of Poetovio earlier in the same year.23 Ambrose 
in his writing says Magnus Maximus, who was executed in Aquileia in 388, 
even became Jewish. The building obviously served relatively large Jewish 
community, though, there might still be some doubt whether the fire really 
broke out and destroyed that specific synagogue. The fact is, there are no 
traces of fire at Monastero and there are opinions that, indeed, no such act of 
violence occurred at all.24
The fact that the contemporary Aquileian bishop Chromatius (served 388–
408) with his ordinances demands forced segregation of Jewish and Christian 
communities, among others accuses Jews of perfidy and blasphemy, and di-
rects his wrath against Jews, heretics, mostly Arians, and the philosophers, 
namely pagans25, doesn’t attest only to the new atmosphere of religious ten-
sions in the late Antiquity. For the Jewish diaspora of Hellenic-Roman world, 
excellent relations with the surroundings are typical, where the Jews are inte-
grated into the general society, but are still preserving their separateness and 
are not hiding their distinctiveness.26 The Roman state based its official policy 
towards the Jewish faith on the principle of tolerance. The Jews had the right 
to possess their own organizations, autonomous administration and judi-
cial system and were excused of participating in pagan ceremonies or duties, 
which would demand violation of Jewish religious laws, such as worshipping 
of the emperor. Despite the preservation of clear social and cultural bounda-
ries and ideological self-sufficiency also the Jews did not reject people that 
desired to convert to Judaism and the Jewish sources of that period mention 
them with sympathy and sometimes even with admiration.27 Not only that 
people did convert to Judaism, but there were also a great number of people 
that were sympathetic towards Judaism and without changing their religion 
 21 Biasutti, Il cristianesimo, pp. 1–19.
 22 Cracco Ruggini, Il vescovo Cromazio, p. 353.
 23 Ibid. p. 363.
 24 McEachnie, Chromatius of Aquileia, p. 113. 
 25 Craco-Ruggini, Il vescovo Cromazio, pp. 373–379.
 26 Gruen, Diaspora, pp. 15–83.
 27 Goodman, Jewish proselytizing, p. 71.
10 ČASOPIS ZA ZGODOVINO IN NARODOPISJE 2021/2–3 • razprave – studies
even accepted certain Jewish customs. Such examples can be found among the 
Hellenes and the Christians and a certain part of antagonism towards Juda-
ism that appears in the early Christian literature certainly derives from here 
and is not directed against Judaism itself, but rather against Christians, who 
were mixing the two religions, since Judaism then was not only religion from 
which Christianity developed but also religion that was extremely vital and 
attractive for many.28 Christian writers from the 2nd to 5th centuries report that 
pagans also attended synagogues. Tertullian talked about pagans assimilating 
Jewish rituals and feasts, which was repeated by Cyril of Alexandria in the 
5th century. People moved between religious communities seeking whatever 
benefits they could glean.29 In general, the literary sources from that period 
emphasize and show the differences between the religious systems and are not 
covering the important common spaces of daily life. A textual representation 
of religious system is a representation of an ideal image, which excludes all 
those numerous examples of syncretism. In numerous cities of diaspora and 
of Palestine, Pagans, Christians and Jews lived on the same streets, shopped 
on the same markets, suffered the same diseases, epidemics and wars and 
usually spoke the same language. One of the examples is certainly the town 
of Edessa, where the analysis of magical texts clearly shows the intertwining 
of religious ideas and symbols, and even at the end of the 5th century we can 
observe that the entire population is celebrating a pagan festival.30
Certainly, in Aquileia pagans and perhaps Jews participated in major 
Christian festivals. It is certain the Christians did the reverse. One case of 
Jews participating in Easter Vigil is specifically mentioned by Chromatius.31 
Thus, the ordinances of Chromatius against the Jews, heretics and Hellenes 
can in general point to a prevention of the already mentioned syncretism of 
the entire Mediterranean, where the separation between the Jews and the 
Christians wasn’t that sharp, and present no contradiction to the idea that the 
city’s Jewish community continued into the 5th century. The syncretism and 
the elements of Judaism in Aquileian Christianity are confirmed also by the 
texts on apostolic symbols from around 370 C.E.32 These processes of strong 
cultural integration are clear also from the former synagogue in Monastero 
not only from the fact that the church was beforehand a synagogue and that 
the church didn’t erase all traces of its Jewish past, but also from the fact that 
the inscriptions on the mosaic f loor naming its donors are a combination 
 28 Lieu, History and theology, p. 88.
 29 McEachnie, Ibid. 79. 
 30 Drijvers, Syrian Christianity, p. 128.
 31 McEachnie, Ibid. 110–111. 
 32 Biasutti, Il cristianesimo, p. 38. 
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages of 950–1100 in Southeastern Alps … 11
of Hebrew names writen in Latin and Greek, a widely-spread phenomenon 
known from both Palestine and diaspora. The mosaic f loor is also replete 
with recurring interwoven motif known as the Solomon’s knot or seal, a sym-
bol that appears often in many Jewish structures of the period, for instance 
in Sicily or Ostia in Italy and Aegina in Greece. It is also found in mosaics 
of several private houses near the synagogue, a motif not found in numerous 
unearthed mosaics in Roman houses in a nearby, separate area of Aquileia.33 
Altogether, the 36 Greek and Latin inscriptions on Monastero mosaic name 
some 50 Jewish benefactors.34 One of them dedicated a part of the mosaic to 
Lord of Sabbaoth.35
Aquileia throughout the 4th century not only played an important politi-
cal role in the struggles between different contestants for the imperial throne 
or in the growth of the Church but also continued to have great economic 
significance. Ausonius (310–395) even placed it among the nine most famous 
cities of the Roman Empire at the time.36 This economic importance laid also 
with its industries, for instance, the textile industry and the art of dyeing the 
textiles and glass industry, to name just the two that the Jews were at the time 
dominant in within the Roman economy. This can to a much smaller degree 
also hold for metalworking as the state of Aquileian metallurgy as well as 
some inscriptions weighs in favour of it being performed by the Easterners 
who formed the bulk of the industrial work force, among which the names of 
slaves are common. Yet the art of dyeing textiles at the stage of development 
at which it was practised in Aquileia continued to be virtually and exclusively 
Jewish occupation. The fact that glassware was imported from Judea is at-
tested by some thirty samples of shards bearing the name Ennion, the Greek 
transliteration of the Hebrew name Anania, who is the best known of the few 
glassmakers whose names we know.37 The Edict of Maximum Prices issued 
in 301 A.D. by the emperor Diocletian specifically mentions the first class 
quality of the textile from Scythopolis, a centre of weaving and garment pro-
duction, which was also one of the centres of glassware production. The same 
edict also mentions only two categories of glassware; the vitri Iudaici or the 
Jewish glass and vitri Alexandrini, the Alexandrian glass, the production of 
which also was in the hands of the Jews. The importance of these two centres 
and Jewish predominance in textile and glassmaking industry, as well as the 
long tradition of Jewish involvement in these industries, is attested also in 
 33 Kurinsky, The Eight Day, pp. 281–282. 
 34 Maieron Lenisa, Aquileia, pp. 26–28.
 35 Craco-Ruggini, Il vescovo Cromazio, p. 366. 
 36 Gentili, Politics and Christianity, p. 193. 
 37 Kurinsky, Ibid. 278–279. 
12 ČASOPIS ZA ZGODOVINO IN NARODOPISJE 2021/2–3 • razprave – studies
other sources.38 St. Jerome, who resided in Aquileia between 370 and 374, and 
who addressed Chromatius in his texts, explicitly mentions that the Semites 
controlled the export of industrial products such as those made of glass, silk, 
and leather. He cited glassmaking as one of the trades, by which the Semites 
captured the Roman world.39
The ambiguity of the iconographic symbols in regard to them being in-
terchangeably ascribed to Pagan, Jewish or Early Christian context can be 
seen in numerous diaspora synagogues of the Roman period, completely in 
accordance with the general atmosphere of unclear boundaries between the 
religious communities. The synagogue in Delos, at least from the 1st century 
B. C.40 with blatantly pagan symbols is only one case in point.41 In Byzantine 
times, many motifs and patterns appear in both Christian and Jewish frame-
works.42 The same holds for general early Christian iconography, especially 
in its interchangeability with Jewish iconography, because of which such ex-
amples of art were automatically classified with Christian and not Jewish 
art. This is the case also with three glasswork remains connected to Aquileia 
with Old Testament themes, two of them from Aquileia proper, who were by 
some classified as early Christian. One comes from the museum in Concor-
dia, where one plate is decorated with an incised depiction of Daniel in the 
lion’s den. Another fragment features Abraham and Isaac in the foreground 
and the façade of the Jerusalem Temple in the background. The third one, a 
gold glass bottom of a bowl pictures Moses about to strike a huge desert rock 
to produce the flow of water.43 All the three objects might direct to the con-
clusion they were purchased by people of upper classes. In this sense, there is 
a strong possibility that the mosaic floor from another basilica in Aquileia, 
called Basilica del Fondo Tullio, which seems to have been devoid of Chris-
tian identification,44 actually also belonged to a synagogue. This is even more 
plausible, as the mosaic is almost identical to a mosaic in the synagogue at 
Sardis, specifically the semi-circular section of the floor laid at the foot of the 
seats of the elders at the far end of the synagogue.45 The atrium of the syna-
gogue of Sardis was completed between 360 and 380 A.D.46 It seems, there is 
no doubt there were thousands of Jews (and God-fearers) living in Aquileia 
 38 Ibid. 219–220, 251–263. 
 39 Ibid. 280. 
 40 Levine, The Ancient Synagogue, p. 107.
 41 Ibid. 128. 
 42 Ibid. 230. 
 43 Kurinsky, Ibid. 284. 
 44 Bertacchi, Nuovi elementi, pp. 48–76.
 45 Kurinsky, Ibid. 285. 
 46 Levine, Ibid. 263.
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages of 950–1100 in Southeastern Alps … 13
and its vicinity,47 confirmed among others by Greek inscriptions of the so-
called Syrians in Concordia48 that belonged to all classes of society, which, 
indeed, leads to a conclusion that in such a large city as Aquileia more than 
one synagogue, at those times serving also as a community centre in a wider 
sense, existed. Analysing certain features of the find, there is a possibility that 
even the earliest layer of mosaics in the main basilica of Aquileia, discovered 
in 1962, also belonged to a synagogue. This mosaic floor extends out to an 
undetermined end and is interspersed with the seal of Solomon. The entire 
system of buildings delineated by the layout of the f loor is reminiscent of 
complex such as with the synagogue of Dura Europos.49 The dedication to 
Theodoric, the fifth bishop of Aquileia (308–320), is so crudely imposed upon 
the overall design there is no doubt it was a later insertion, for instance, after 
the bishop’s death, and that the mosaic had to be in existence before 320. Of 
all the iconography on the huge mosaic, the large scenes depicting the story 
of prophet Jonah, which are clearly connected to the life of Jews in exile, are 
the only really clearly understood story on the entire mosaic. The proposition 
that an installation of such immensity could have been accomplished by a 
newly formed church organisation, after severe persecutions legalised only a 
few years earlier in 313, still in throes of divorcing from Arianism, strains the 
imagination. Just the financial dimension of such a feat demands a significant 
number of factors contributing the funds, which could hardly be earned in 
these few years after 313. A number of attempts have been made to relate the 
subjects of mosaic panels to Christian hierology. The encounter between a 
rooster and a turtle, however, is found both in Jewish and pagan contexts. 
An imposing figure of Victory and a figure of good shepherd were named as 
the most credible evidence of Christian orientation, yet the figure of Victory 
also appears in Jewish catacombs of Rome, while the figure of a good shep-
herd was also used to symbolise Moses in Jewish iconography or Hermes in 
pagan one and being relegated to a far corner of the mosaic is hardly a place 
in which the central figure of Christianity would be placed in a community 
just rescued from severe persecutions. Between the buildings once standing 
under the bell tower and the structure underlying the basilica lie ruins of a 
structure, assumed to have been baptismal fount, which replaced an even 
older such bath predating organised Christian presence, but that may rather 
be a Jewish ritual bath. The marble-lined pool has steps leading down, so the 
person entering can be fully immersed into the water, and is supplied by a 
conduit that fed the pool with fresh-flowing water as prescribed by Mosaic 
 47 Duval, Aquilee at le Palestine, p. 263.
 48 Forlati Tamaro, Iscrizioni greche, pp. 383–392.
 49 Kurinsky, Ibid. 283. 
14 ČASOPIS ZA ZGODOVINO IN NARODOPISJE 2021/2–3 • razprave – studies
law. In addition, both structures are oriented towards Jerusalem. So, perhaps, 
the story of St. Ambrose is correct and it was this synagogue that was burnt 
in 388, after which the building complex was transferred to Christians.50 In 
380 A.D., under Theodosius I, the Christianity became the official religion 
of the Empire, and in 381 there was a Church council in the city, which was 
considered to hold a stronger and deeper Orthodox tradition than Milan and 
at the council the Orthodox creed prevailed against the Arianism.51 Perhaps, 
indeed, after the fire, the building complex was simply assigned to the freshly 
victorious and by now very powerful Church, allied with the emperor Theo-
dosius I, and which was also already for a while receiving Jewish converts. 
The recent literature52 is also involved in a deep debate about many aspects 
of the basilica before 452. Lehman,53 among others, sees the mosaic scene of 
Jonah as the only Christian image there, and clearly says there is an unsettled 
debate about the years, in which all the so-called Theodore complex build-
ings were erected, spanning from mid-4th to mid-5th century,54 though there 
is some general agreement, the northern basilica, where today the medieval 
tower is standing, was built in 360/370 and the slightly smaller southern one 
in 400.55 Bratož also adds the church building isn’t mentioned at all until 320 
and that the majority opinion is, the Theodore inscription was added after his 
death, there are disagreements regarding the function of particular parts of 
the complex, that, indeed, the mediocre dimensions of the first episcopal seat 
cannot match the superb 1500 square metres large mosaics,56 and that even 
though the church mentioned in 345 as under construction can in all prob-
ability be identified with one the buildings at the site, there still are certain 
opened questions.57 What building the mosaics belonged to and other issues 
apparently aren’t settled and further archaeological excavations in the large 
tracts of unexcavated Aquileia might in the future reveal new conclusions on 
this matter and the general question of Jewish settlement in the city.
The overview of events and findings of diverse categories around the entire 
Mediterranean truly reveals a pattern of growing religious persecution of Jews 
in the years between 313 and 430 A.D. but at the same time we can even in 
this period until the end of the 5th century still reveal a high level of involved-
ness of Jews in all, even the highest levels of urban life all over the Empire. It 
 50 Ibid. 283–285. 
 51 Gentili, Ibid. 203. 
 52 Cuscito et Lehman, La basilica di Aquileia.
 53 Lehman, Die frühchristlichen Mosaiken, p. 162.
 54 Ibid. 172. 
 55 Zettler, Überlegungen, p. 244. 
 56 Bratož, La basilica di Aquileia, pp. 20–21.
 57 Ibid. 31.
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages of 950–1100 in Southeastern Alps … 15
seems that coexistence and conflict were only two sides of the same coin. This 
certainly hold true also for Aquileia, where even in times of Chromatius we 
still find some Jewish former city magistrates (honorati) and local landown-
ers (possessores). We find the Jewish influences even in the Aquileian Credo, 
transmitted to us by the ecclesiastical writer Rufinus of Aquileia (344/345–
411), born in Concordia. Also on the nearby island Grado, the Roman ad 
Aquae Gradatae, we find a tombstone of a wife of a Jewish imperial soldier 
from the beginning of the 5th century and other important personalities of 
clear Jewish origin.58 Apparently, as a part of dispersed Jewish settlement of 
the area, some Jews lived also in this port prior to 452, when Attila destroyed 
Aquileia and either killed or enslaved a large part of the population and the 
refugees swarmed Grado. It is in the Sant’Eufemia cathedral of Grado itself, 
partially built by these refugees, that we find under the f loor a tombstone 
from around 465 of a baptized Jew Peter, son of a Jew Olympos. From the text 
on the tombstone, we can assume that at the time a Jewish community (gens) 
was present in the town, of which Peter was the only one that converted and 
was one of the donors contributing to the building of the church and thus 
buried under its floor.59
early Middle-ages
Since after the siege of Aquileia by Alaric in 402 and the destruction of the 
city by Attila there are no further destructions of entire cities and devastated 
countryside and matters under Theoderic the Great relatively calmed down, 
we can assume that the Jewish community in the following generations, de-
spite conversions to Christianity and cultural integration, existed at least until 
the moment, when Istria came under the rule of Constantinople in 539. De-
spite the fact that the bloody war between the Byzantine and Eastern Gothic 
armies left the northern Italy exhausted and ready for conquest by Langob-
ards in 568, who at that time also again destroyed to a smaller degree rebuilt 
Aquileia, this destruction probably indeed again reduced and damaged but 
did not interrupt the Jewish presence in northern Italy.
This is in this period, characterized by an extremely severe lack of all 
preserved written sources, shown by a mention of the Jewish community in 
Pavia, the capital of Lombards, in 661.60 Even though in 568 the Langobards 
plunder and burn across Istria, which they repeat with the Avars and Slavs in 
 58 Maieron Lenisa, Grado, p. 72.
 59 Ibid.
 60 Roth, The History of the Jews of Italy, p. 41.
16 ČASOPIS ZA ZGODOVINO IN NARODOPISJE 2021/2–3 • razprave – studies
602, and the Slavs devastate Istria once more in 611, to which we must add the 
plague in 592,61 this destruction did not mean a total destruction of the entire 
population of Grado or the nearby countryside. It is a fact that in the wider 
vicinity of the area Jewish life does not end, since from not so remote Pola at 
the tip of Istria we have an inscription with Jewish content from 641.62 Also in 
Pavia, somewhere between 761 and 766, a religious discussion was conducted 
between the Christian scholar Peter of Pisa and a Jew, called Lullus or Julius, 
which was to Charlemagne reported in a letter by the English cleric Alcuin.63
From 791 there is a remarkable notice from the records of Concilium Foro-
juliense in Cividale, led by Paulin, the patriarch of Aquilea, in which it is spe-
cifically stated that Saturday, ‘quod Judaei celebrant’ (celebrated by the Jews), 
‘our countrymen observe as well’ (quod et nostri rustici observant),64 which 
attests to continued Jewish presence in the Aquileian countryside, where these 
rustics resided,65 though this may nevertheless signify not a remaining Jewish 
presence but rather a preservation of Jewish elements within the local popular 
Christianity. But of course, it is possible that some Jews remained in the area 
even in this time. It is a fact, though, that documents attest to the presence of 
a Sabbath cult in Friulian Christianity even as late as on the 3rd of April 1499, 
the time in which there are many Jewish communities in the area, and even 
in the year 1603.66 Extremely interesting, even though of legendary origin, 
is also the notice that in the 15th century Jews from Cividale celebrated their 
existence from already pre-Christian times.67 Thus, according to this legend, 
Jews lived in Cividale at least 2000 years before Christianity, on which should, 
according to the author from 1689, testify a tombstone that was made ‘120 
years after the Flood’ and was carrying a year 2052 Anno Orbis (1708 B.C.) 
written on it. Another author from 1794 speaks of a tombstone from 2072 
B.C. and mentions an ‘ancient’ document with Narvate as an old name for 
Cividale, which should in Hebrew mean ‘The city of God’. According to this 
legend Cividale was connected to Jerusalem and also had its own Temple with 
priests.68
At the time the Lombards got established in Friuli, the hilly and moun-
tainous areas to the east and north were at the end of the 6th century already 
called Sclaborum provincia, the province of Slavs. In the year 623, already a 
 61 Štih, Istra v času, pp. 2–16. 
 62 Leon, Book Review, p. 357.
 63 Roth, Ibid, 69.
 64 Biasutti, Il Christianesimo, p. 33.
 65 Maieron Lenisa, Grado, p. 72.
 66 Biasutti, Il Christianesimo, pp. 34–35.
 67 Roth, Ibid. 9.
 68 Vivian, Le lapidi ebraiche, pp. 89–90.
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages of 950–1100 in Southeastern Alps … 17
first Slavic state structure under prince/king Samo is organised and it was 
bordering the Lombard territory in Valcanale. For some 300 years, there was a 
linguistic continuity between old Slovenian and Slovak, Moravian and Czech 
dialects to the north. Even though the linguistic border until 1500 moved 
further southwards, the local Jews, who didn’t live in the remaining Slove-
nian language areas but were a part of a network of communities across the 
three lands and the coast, at least to some degree stayed in touch with the 
language. In the discussed region, until 950, there might be no settled Jews, 
yet, concluding from the signs of Jewish life in the regions around, these Jews 
might have been travelling through this region in the years 600–950 as well, 
and potentially, even though we have no sources to confirm it, somewhere, 
even settled, perhaps just for shorter periods of time.
The first datum of Jews in the Alpine areas after the retreat of the Roman 
state, arrives from the beginning of the 9th century, when the Archbishop of 
Salzburg Arno (798–821) sends to a certain count a request for a ‘medicum 
iudaicum vel sclavaniscum’ (Jewish or Slavic physician),69 ‘which probably 
means a Jew, who lived in the land of Slavs’.70 Here it seems the notice relates 
to the nearest land of Slavs to Salzburg, therefore Carantania. Also, Yosip-
pon from the 10th century mentions that ‘numerous tribes went to reside’ in 
Illyria (Sham alu shvatim rabim lishkon),71 which can be, though, related to 
a wide area stretching from Dalmatia up to Carinthia, as we know of Jews 
from both areas.
On the southern side of the Alps, we hear of a Jewish merchant in Treviso 
already in 806, though only in passing. He was Isaac, travelling to Char-
lemagne together with an elephant presented to him by the Caliph Harun 
al-Rashid.72 In 905, the Jewish merchants are mentioned together with the 
Christian ones in the grant of king Berengar of Italy to the bishopric church 
of Treviso. This grant was confirmed by emperor Otto III in 991 and 996 as 
well as by the emperor Henry II in 1014, in each of which Jewish merchants 
are again explicitly mentioned with the Christian ones.73 A Jewish landowner 
is present in Treviso in 972.74 His name was Issac and was a previous owner 
of one of the grants in the area between Treviso and Vicenza of emperor Otto 
I (962–973) to monastery Innichen. One trade route from Treviso, through 
 69 Reg I, 1, note. 
 70 Lohrmann et al., Wirtschafts, p. 21.
 71 C. XIV – in Mieses, Di Jiddische Sprache, p. 284. 
 72 Wenninger, Iudei et ceteri, p. 234. 
 73 Ibid. 225. 
 74 Wadl, Geschichte der Juden, p. 18. 
18 ČASOPIS ZA ZGODOVINO IN NARODOPISJE 2021/2–3 • razprave – studies
the port of which the trade was also conducted by Venice, also lead through 
Valcanale and Carinthia towards the Danube and Bohemian lands.75
If in the 7th and 8th centuries we can count on occasional trade contacts 
between Sclavinia (‘Land of the Slavs’), Friuli and Istria, in the 9th century, 
after the consolidation of Carolingian presence, we speak of development of 
even long-distance traffic and trade. In addition to the trade routes through 
Alps between Italy to Salzburg, Regensburg and on the ‘Venetian highway’ 
through Carinthia and Styria, here in one direction we speak of trade from 
Byzantium through Bulgarians and Pannonia all the way to Moravia and in 
the other direction of a part of an extensive trade between Asia and Europe, 
which was from the Caspian Sea via Ukraine and the Carpathian Mountains 
directed to the Frankish West.76 The famous Radanites from 846, who trav-
elled to India and China, and that ‘speak Persian, Romean, Arabic, Frankish, 
Spanish and Slavonic. From the West they carry castrates, female slaves, boys, 
silk, furs and swords … and on their way back bring musk, aloe, camphor, 
cinnamon and other products of the East’,77 certainly are connected to one 
of the branches of these trade routes going through old Carantanian area to 
the Adriatic, as are the merchants mentioned in Raffelsttäten toll order on 
the northern side. There, in addition to the communities from Champagne, 
Franche-Comté and Lorraine, and the communities of Rhineland, namely the 
medieval Loter and Ashkenaz (if we accept that the designation Ashkenaz at 
that time meant Germany and not the Slavic lands78), we can locate the old-
est Jewish settlements in Bavaria, especially Regensburg from the beginning 
of the 10th century onwards, and in Prague, either on the border or already 
within the so-called Knaan. It is here, at the border region between Ashkenaz 
and Knaan that in 904–906 the Jews are specifically mentioned in the 9th 
article of the Inquisitio de thelonensis Raffelstettensis, regulating the trade 
along the Danube between Bavaria and the eastern lands on the territory of 
present-day Austria and famously naming ‘Mercatores, id est iudei et ceteri 
mercatores… (Merchants, i.e. Jews and other merchants…).79 In addition to 
understanding that the opinion that until recently prevailed in almost entire 
academic world that the Jews, including those from the Latin world, predomi-
nated in the slave-trade, is actually merely an ‘ideé fixe, for which the time 
has come to part with’,80 and that nevertheless Jews did participate in such 
a trade, as is nevertheless clear also from Raffelsttäten text and Koblenz toll 
 75 Wenninger, Iudei et ceteri, p. 234. 
 76 Kosi, Potujoči sredni vek, p. 20.
 77 Lohrmann, 1000 Jahre, p. 287. 
 78 Das, Wexler, Pirooznia et Elhaik, The Origins of Ashkenaz, pp. 2–4. 
 79 Reg I, 1. 
 80 Toch, Jews in Europe, p. 63, Toch, Peasants and Jews.
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages of 950–1100 in Southeastern Alps … 19
order from the 11th century,81 it seems understandable the Jews participating 
in such travelling merchant companies partly also originated in the areas 
these companies were travelling through. It seems the Jews from Raffelsttäten 
toll order may have included Jews living on imperial side of the border and 
on the other side of it, who haven’t travelled with their goods all the way to 
the Iberian Peninsula on land but have rather went to different ports on the 
Adriatic,82 also through former Carantania, from 976 onwards raised to the 
Dutchy of Carnithia, to Friuli and also Treviso. In the named text we also 
find two individuals named Ysac and Salaman, where it is interesting that the 
two are designated as noblemen from the surrounding area, which shows not 
only ‘that Jews were settled in the area of present-day Upper Austria already 
around 900, but that above all they belonged to the leading stratum’.83
If the origin of Jews from the western and northern edges of later Carin-
thia is sufficiently clear, the question of origin of Jews that arrived through 
Slavonic lands and Pannonia is more complex. Knaan is in this sense men-
tioned for the first time in Yosippon from the beginning of the 10th century 
and from that period on Knaan occurs in the sources very often. Up to the 
middle of the 13th century the boundary between Ashkenaz and Knaan ran 
along the Thuringian and Bohemian forests along a line of Magdeburg, Erfurt 
and Regensburg, and in these border cities the Jewish communities were at 
least partially Knaanic. Even in Vienna and probably in other cities of Austria, 
a part of the Jewish population was Knaanic. The great scholar Rabbi Isaac, 
son of R. Moses, the author of Or Zarua, lived for a while in Vienna and is 
regarded as one of the highlights of Knaan. The Jewish communities of the 
Elbe basin, Bavaria and Bohemia are designated as western Knaan and the 
settlement that simultaneously to this one developed among the eastern Slavs 
in Kievan Russ, eastern Knaan. Up to what measure Yiddish and Knaanic 
lived along each other is not completely clear, but it seems that by the middle 
of the 15th century Yiddish was already victorious.84 Some speakers of this 
Knaanic, in sources mentioned for the area of Bohemia, Slovakia, Poland 
and Ukraine, knew no other language, also said in the famous letter to the 
community in Thessaloniki from around 1000 ‘knows neither Hebrew, nor 
Yavanic, nor Arabic, only the language of Knaan that the people of his native 
land speak…’.85 Bohemia had famous rabbis, who spoke old Czech and some 
students, who spoke the language, were visiting yeshivas in France and Ger-
 81 Wenninger, Iudei et ceteri, pp. 228–231. 
 82 Ibid. 241–242.
 83 Lohrmann, 1000 Jahre, p. 287.
 84 Weinreich, History of the Yiddish, pp. 80–81.
 85 Ibid. 87. 
20 ČASOPIS ZA ZGODOVINO IN NARODOPISJE 2021/2–3 • razprave – studies
many, where old Czech words even entered the commentaries of Gershom 
ben Yehuda (960–1028) and Rashi (1040–1105) as well as of commentaries of 
rabbis in Bohemia and Moravia.86 As the data demonstrate, ‘during the Mid-
dle Ages West Knaan played a major role in the Jewish settlement of Central 
and Western Europe’.87
Ibrahim Ibn Yaqub approximately in 965 mentions Jews and Muslims 
from Hungary in his report on merchants in Prague,88 there were Jews in 
the salt mine upon the river Saale in eastern Germany,89 and there is also 
evidence of such Jewish trade of that period from Bohemia and Poland. The 
responsa of Rabbi Judah of Mainz, who died around 1070, mentions Jews that 
trade between Hungary and Mainz and some Jewish settlements were in Hun-
gary at least already in the 12th century based on trade routes with Austria, 
which includes trade connections with Ptuj, Völkermarkt and Judenburg, 
and as the responsa literature shows, Jewish commerce between Hungary and 
neighbouring lands was based on informal partnerships (chevruta), a form of 
Jewish trade associations, familiar also from Western Europe and Genizah 
of Cairo.90
Chasdai ibn Shaprut, a vizier in Cordoba, in his letter to Jewish Khazars 
around 955 mentions Jews in Hungary that were in touch with the land of 
Russ91 and two Jews, Mar Josef and Mar Shaul, who were members in the 
delegation of a Slavic king Hunu (or Duku) in the land at the lower stream of 
the river Donoi.92 Ibn Shaprut has sent his letter to the Khan Josef through 
Croatian, Hungarian, Russian and then Bulgarian Jews,93 in which he explic-
itly states that the letter reached him thanks to the king of Gvalim, who are 
El-sqlab,94 apparently meaning ‘Dalmatians, who are Slavs’, as the Arab writ-
ers were with this name (gebl or jebl being ‘rock’ in Arabic) designating the 
mountainous coast of Dalmatia, with which Iberian and other Arabs were in 
commercial contacts. Ibn Khaldoun describes the eastern shores of Adriatic 
as the Saqalib Coast (The Coast of the Slavs) and Ibrahim Ibn Yaqub, who 
traveled through the lands of the Southern Slavs around 965, names the Cro-
ats as Saqalib, i.e., Slavs.95 In Split, there are serious assumptions that Jews 
 86 Van Straten, The Origin of, pp. 263–264. 
 87 Beider, A Dictionary, p. 209. 
 88 Berend, At the Gate of Christendom, p. 61.
 89 King, Migration and Linguistics, p. 422. 
 90 Berend, Ibid. 110–113. 
 91 Marcus, The Jew in the Medieval World, pp. 227–232.
 92 Graetz, History of Jews, IV, p. 18.
 93 Kriwaczek, Yiddish Civilisation, p. 48.
 94 Eventov, HIstory of Jews of Yugoslavia, p. 42.
 95 Ibid. 429.
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages of 950–1100 in Southeastern Alps … 21
settled in the town already in the 7th century together with other inhabitants 
of Salona, who moved to the former palace of Diocletian.96
A look at the system of rivers in eastern and central Europe shows clearly 
that western Knaan is an offshoot of Yavan, the Greek world.97 One side the 
Jews of Byzantium continued their path northwards along the Danube and 
through the Vltava connected to the Elbe basin, while on the other side they 
reached the Vltava through the Balkan Peninsula, Adriatic Sea, Alpine valleys 
of Carinthia along the line of ‘Jewish villages/settlements’ and the Danube in 
Austria. In the 10th century, we therefore already witness Jewish communities 
in Prague, Meissen, Merseburg, Halle and Magdeburg and the Old Synagogue 
in Prague was following the Romanic, i.e., Byzantine, custom as late as the 
19th century.98 It was in the Danube basin that the meeting point of Jews 
from Byzantium, Italy, the Rhineland, and Knaan occurred.99 With all this, 
the mentioned meeting function of the old-Carantanian region, being on the 
western edge of Western Knaan, becomes very obvious.
In addition to these, another cultural-ethnical component of first Knaanic 
and then Ashkenazi Jews is important. We hear of Jewish communities on the 
shores of the Black Sea100 and the Crimean Peninsula in a long period from 
the 1st century B.C. until the 7th century101 and it was these communities, 
who were the first to make contact with the waves of into Europe arriving 
nomadic clan groups, first of all Scythians and then Sarmatians, Alans, some 
Goths, Huns, Avars, Bulgarians, Khazars, and Hungarians. From a very lim-
ited number of sources, it is clear that in contact with these clan/tribal groups 
mixing and conversion to Judaism occurred as well. Some of the Alans have 
according to the Schechter Letter from the Genizah of Cairo ‘respected the 
laws of the Jews’. On a tombstone, found in Partenit, the most important of the 
coastal cities of the Crimean Goths, a name ‘Herefridil ha-Kohen’ was found, 
being a Germanic name with a hereditary Hebrew priestly designation.102 The 
10th century Abbot Heriger of the Abbey of Lobbes in today’s Belgium wrote 
that the Huns claimed to be proud of their Jewish origin, which can possibly 
point to a presence of a certain number of Judaised Turkic-Mongolian (Uralo-
Altay) nomads.103 That the Khazar king Bulan embraced Judaism in 861 and 
with him some members of the Khazar upper classes is a well-known fact and 
 96 Goldstein, Židovi na tlu Jugoslavije, p. 115.
 97 Weinreich, Ibid. 83.
 98 Ibid. 82–83.
 99 Ibid. 333. 
 100 King, Ibid, 423. 
 101 Van Straten, Ibid. 256–257. 
 102 Kriwaczek, Ibid. 44.
 103 Ibid. 45–46. 
22 ČASOPIS ZA ZGODOVINO IN NARODOPISJE 2021/2–3 • razprave – studies
from the land of Russ, we possess a Khazar Jewish document from around 930 
from Kiev, where, by the way, we encounter also personal names Pesach and 
Chanukah,104 both later on appearing in Slovenian lands as well. Chanuka, 
being a unique name in the entire Central and Western Europe and has pos-
sibly arrived from the Middle East,105 is mentioned in connection to Slovenj 
Gradec, Maribor and Völkermarkt in years 1328, 1338, 1347, 1374, 1384, and 
1391,106 while Pesach, which very rarely appears in bilingual Slavic-German 
regions and often in Slavic areas,107 is mentioned in connection to Ptuj, Gori-
zia, and Triest in years 1360 and 1364.108 It appears, it is in connection to 
mentioned Turkic-Mongolian tribal structures that, by all means a fantastic 
legend, written in the Chronicle of the 95 Dominions from the period of Al-
bert III, was composed, which speaks of twenty-two Jewish princes that were 
supposed to rule Austria before the arrival of Christianity,109 as the names 
on the list clearly show a Turkic origin.110 Of a rather more certain meaning 
are the archaeological finds from the southern edge of Pannonia, the place 
of Celarevo in the vicinity of Novi Sad, where an Avarian burial ground was 
unearthed, next to which also graves with Jewish artifacts were located. Next 
to graves from the end of the 8th and the beginning of the 9th century some 450 
pieces of brick were found, into which Jewish symbols like menorah, shofar 
and etrog were carved, but also lulav and small stars of David. In some places 
even Hebrew inscriptions Jerusalem and Israel were found. In the vicinity of 
the burial ground, later on, a large settlement, in which both communities 
resided, was uncovered. The findings point to a Mongolian descent also for 
the Jewish group, though with certain differences in comparison to Avarian 
characteristics. It is a fact that these pagans and Jews shared the same settle-
ment and graveyard.111
‘Jewish villages’ and other Judenorte
Despite the offensive of Hungarians from 862 onwards and especially between 
894 and 955, when Pannonia was devastated and the Hungarians through 
Carniola even invaded Italy, the trade did not die out and after the renewal 
 104 Wexler, The Ashkenazic Jews, p. 140.
 105 Beider, Ibid. 81. 
 106 Jelinčič Boeta, Judje na Slovenskem, pp. 237, 239, 265, 266, 273.
 107 Wexler, Ibid, 139–140. 
 108 Jelinčič Boeta, Judje na Slovenskem, pp. 301, 317, 318. 
 109 Mieses, Ibid. 278–279.
 110 Kriwaczek, Ibid. 51–52.
 111 Bunardžić, The Menoroth, Goldstein, Jews in Yugoslavia, p. 28. 
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages of 950–1100 in Southeastern Alps … 23
of Empire with the Ottonian dynasty we can witness strengthening of old 
commercial routes in directions known from Carolingian times. With final 
settlement of the Hungarians and their final defeat on the 10th of August 955 
along the river Lech by Otto the Great, King of the Eastern Franks, which 
brought to the creation of new marches, for instance, Carantanian and East-
ern March (Ostarrichi), the trade in larger volume returns also to Pannonia. 
With all this lively trade between the East and the West that was passing 
through the Danube region and the Eastern Alps, some of these trade routes 
led to the territory of wider Carantania, where Karnburg and Maria Saal 
already represent important local centres and certain settlements already re-
ceived market rights, such as Ptuj (977, perhaps in 890), Friesach (1016), Vil-
lach (1060), Judenburg (1103),112 among which Friesach existed at least from 
860 and Villach from 878.113
For Jewish traders, who had to cross the region of Southern Alps, for which 
existed already in the Roman times established roads, due to security and 
organizational reasons a whole system of outposts and trade settlements de-
veloped, where traders not only rested but also conducted commerce with 
the local ruling class. And a sign of that certainly are the along important 
trade routes positioned ‘Jewish villages’ in Eastern Alps. ‘This chain of posts 
commences with Judendorf next to Villach, leads through Judendorf next 
to Klagenfurt and then next to Maria Saal and Judendorf by Friesach all to 
Judenburg. Here the path splits: one leads through Judendorf by Tamsweg to 
Salzburg and Regensburg, the other through Judendorf by Steyr until Jude-
nau by Tulln’.114 On the way to Hungary are located Ždovlje – Seidolach and 
Ždinja ves – Seidendorf115 and then Völkermarkt (Forum iudeorum) and, 
of course, the already mentioned Judendorf (Ždovše) by Maria Saal. In the 
northwest direction we find Jewish villages in the Salzburg region, but also 
in the northeast direction, i.e., in Middle and Upper Styria. In addition to 
Judenburg, mentioned already in 1074–1087,116 we also have ‘villa que nun-
cupatur ad Judeos’ or Judendorf by Graz from 1147117 and 24 km south of it 
Judendorf near Hausmannstätten, and then Judindorf by Murau from 1120,118 
for which Wenninger119 explains, that Friesach is meant, with which, though, 
 112 Kosi, Ibid. 30. 
 113 Wadl, Zur Geschichte der Juden, p. 96.
 114 Wadl, Geschichte der Juden, p. 19.
 115 Kranzmayer, Ortsnamen buch II, p. 204. 
 116 Zahn UB I, 91. 
 117 Zahn UB I, 272. 
 118 Zahn UB II, 129. 
 119 Wenninger, Die Siedlungsgeschichte, p. 210.
24 ČASOPIS ZA ZGODOVINO IN NARODOPISJE 2021/2–3 • razprave – studies
Krawarik120 doesn’t agree and locates the ‘village’ near Neumarkt. In addition, 
there is Judendorf by Leoben, mentioned in 1269.121
Furthermore, if we examine the map, we discover that in addition to the 
Jewish villages there are also other kinds of so-called ‘Jewish places’ (Jude-
norte), such as Judenberg (Jewish Hill) in southern Burgenland on the way 
from Radkesburg to Jennersdorf on Raba River and the nearby Judengraben 
(Jewish Trench),122 as well as numerous other localities in both Austrias, Salz-
burg region, Bavaria, Franconia and even Saxony. Altogether there are more 
than 50 such locality names and the list is all but finished. And as shown by 
Wenninger,123 all these settlements appear nowhere else than on the eastern 
border of the Frankish state, first Carolingian and then Ottonian, i.e. on the 
junction points of the eastern trade in Bavaria and Franconia already in the 
8th century at the consolidation of Frankish presence, while in Carantania, 
Salzburg and Saxony only from the 9th century onwards. Thus, we find in 
the names of these places the suffix ‘hof ’ (for instance, Judenhof, meaning 
Jewish Court) almost exclusively in Franconia and Bavaria, while localities 
with the suffix ‘dorf ’, ‘vas’ or ‘ves’ (meaning ‘village’) only in Saxony and in 
the interior of the Alps eastwards of Tyrol. Only Judendorf by Steyr is at the 
northern Alpine slopes.
On the age of the Jewish villages on the old-Carantanian territory testi-
fies the fact that they all appear in the area of old settlement and not later 
colonization,124 and that all the places with the suffix ‘dorf ’ were founded 
before 1100,125 which also holds true for the Slovenian suffix ‘vas’ or ‘ves’.126 
Along all the presented diversity in the character of these ‘Jewish villages’, 
they represented only small settlements or even mere trading posts, which 
were not necessarily permanently populated or only Christians resided in 
them after the foundation of urban settlements, to which the Jews moved, or 
were even just cemeteries.
Analysing the three Jewish villages with Slovenian name,127 we discover 
that the names Ždovlje – Seidolach (or in literary Slovenian Židovlje), Ždinja 
ves – Seidendorf (Židinja vas), and Ždovše – Judendorf (Židovišče) can indeed 
be etymologically derived from the Slovenian word ‘Žid’ (Jew) and not, as for 
instance in cases of Ždovlje – Seidolach and Ždinja ves – Seidendorf from the 
 120 Krawarik, Die Judendörfer, p. 426.
 121 Brunner, Geschichte der Juden, p. 75.
 122 Wenninger, Die Siedlungsgeschichte, p. 203. 
 123 Ibid. 206.
 124 Neumann, Zur frühen Geschichte, p. 369.
 125 Kranzmayer, Ortsnamenbuch I, pp. 87–89.
 126 Grafenauer, Zgodovina, p. 166.
 127 Čop, Nedoslednosti v rabi, pp. 89–90.
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages of 950–1100 in Southeastern Alps … 25
dialect word ‘žida’ or in German ‘Seide’, meaning ‘silk’. Also Kranzmayer128 
states that they are older than their German versions and are deriving from 
the Slovenian word ‘Žid’, which is confirmed by Neumann,129 and by Pohl.130 
Krawarik,131 indeed, can on the basis of its settlement historical develop-
ment not identify Seidendorf with the rest of the ‘Jewish places’ but the fact 
that a document from 975 mentions only ‘Slavic farms’ in the place does not 
necessarily mean that there never was a Jewish settlement there, as it is not 
necessary that all the so-called Judenorte developed from permanent Jewish 
settlements or courts (hof) the author mentions with other settlements. Due 
to the strategic position of the locality, there could, perhaps, be only a tem-
porary seasonal trading post or a fair, whose existence cannot be confirmed 
by studying the land-register and construction data. Additionally, the same 
toponym appears in its Slovenian and German form also with Ždinja vas in 
Lower Carniola.
In case of Friesach, where ‘qui dicitur vi(ll)a iudaeorum’ is already named 
in 1124,132 which should according to Wadl be read as ‘via’ and not ‘villa’ and 
would thus confirm the existence of a community within the town already 
at that time,133 and then ‘villa que dicitur Judendorf ’ in 1144,134 the Jews are 
explicitly mentioned within the town already on the 1255 V 12,135 while the 
existence of a ‘Jewish village’ can be presumed already in the 10th century.136 
In case of Friesach in 1144 and Klagenfurt in 1162, it is already clear Jews 
no longer resided within the Jewish villages, as Judendorf by Friesach was 
for the needs of collecting the tithe donated to the city hospital137 and the 
monastery St. Georgen am Längsee in 1162 collected the tithe ‘ad Judendorf 
IV mansorum’ (four houses in Judendorf),138 i.e. in the Jewish village next to 
Maria Saal, which means that Jews certainly didn’t live there anymore, as they 
weren’t bound by ecclesiastical tithe.139 And even though the Jewish village 
 128 Ortsnamenbuch II, p. 204.
 129 Die Juden in Villach, p. 411.
 130 Koroška, p. 51.
 131 Krawarik, Ibid. 438.
 132 MC III, 605/I. 
 133 Wadl, Zur Geschichte, p. 96.
 134 MC 1896: 307. 
 135 MC IV, 2591. 
 136 Neumann, Zur frühen Geschichte, p. 373.
 137 MC III, 777. 
 138 MC III, 2745. 
 139 Neumann, Zur frühen Geschichte, pp. 368–369.
26 ČASOPIS ZA ZGODOVINO IN NARODOPISJE 2021/2–3 • razprave – studies
with a cemetery next to Villach is mentioned for the first time in 1331140 it is 
already clear in 1255 that Jews reside within the city itself.141
Furthermore, as examples show, Jewish villages were founded only where 
at the time there was no existing market or city settlement, which later on did 
or did not develop and thus in some cases represent a sort of predecessors of 
urban settlements in the region.142 Judenburg exists at least from 1074–1088, 
while Judendorf by Tamsweg in western Salzburg region at least from 970–
980,143 which testifies to a Jewish presence prior to receiving the market rights 
and holds true also for Graz, mentioned for the first time in 1128, that is 19 
years before the Jewish village is mentioned in 1147, when Graz still didn’t 
hold the market rights. In the time this Jewish village was mentioned, Jews al-
ready lived in Graz.144 Next to Tamsweg the ‘Jewish village’ is named between 
the years 1130–1135, even though Tamsweg becomes a market town only in 
1246. The notice of a Jewish village next to Klagenfurt arrives from 1162, 
which is before the town was mentioned as a market town (1193–1195), and 
can only be referring to Maria Saal,145 where at that time Jews can no longer be 
found. As it appears, it is necessary, as said, to date the appearance of Jewish 
villages into the 10th century,146 which would somehow be consistent with the 
cessation of Hungarian danger. This would mean that these Jewish villages 
are older than the market towns, to which they ‘belong’. Krawarik is setting 
the appearance of Jewish villages near Villach into the late 10th century,147 
near Neumarkt or Murau between 970 and 980.148 The same dating is set also 
for Seidolach – Ždovlje, Seidendorf – Ždinja ves and Judendorf (Ždovše or 
Židovišče) near Maria Saal.149
And thus in 1103 Judenburg is already ‘mercatus’, in which Jews lived from 
the time of founding the place named after them.150 The same holds true for 
Völkermarkt, named in a source from 1105–1125 as ‘ forum iudeorum’.151 We 
even possess a preserved tombstone from 1130, bearing an inscription that 
‘Shabtai, parnas, who was killed in Ungrabn in 4890 after the creation, gave 
his soul for the honor of his name and was all his days innocent and fair v.v.d.l. 
 140 Ibid. 374. 
 141 MC IV, 2598. 
 142 Popelka, Der Name Judendorf, p. 60, Neumann, Zur frühen Geschichte, p. 371.
 143 Krawarik, Ibid. 412.
 144 Brunner, Ibid. 77.
 145 Neumann, Zur frühen Geschichte, pp. 369–370.
 146 Popelka, Ibid. 59, Neumann, Zur frühen Geschichte, p. 371. 
 147 Krawarik, Ibid. 420. 
 148 Ibid. 429.
 149 Ibid. 439.
 150 Neumann, Zur frühen Geschichte, p. 37.
 151 MC, annex I–IV, 520a–3048. 
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages of 950–1100 in Southeastern Alps … 27
(let strike them and rise his blood upon his enemies)’. According to Babad, the 
text testifies on a persecution of Jews in Völkermarkt, after which not many 
Jews were left in the town and the name was therefore changed from ‘Juden-
markt’ (Jewish market) to ‘Volchenmarkt’ (People’s market).152 Disregarding 
the question whether the inscription points to a collective persecution of Jews 
or only to an individual attack on one person, this tombstone also suggests 
an existence of a community, to whose leader the tombstone is dedicated. It is 
interesting ‘that with the word mercatus on old-Carantanian soil Judenburg 
(1103) and Völkermarkt (1105–1126) are those, mentioned for the first time’,153 
while the fact that in the vicinity of Judenburg and Völkermarkt no Jewish 
villages are recorded shows that both market settlements by all probability 
developed from an older pre-market trade settlement, i.e., Jewish village, in 
which the Jews after the foundation of a market simply stayed.
But it is not necessary that all ‘Jewish villages’ were pre-market settle-
ments, which was shown in case of Villach and Friesach already by Neu-
mann.154 For the 13th century, it is already clear the Jews no longer live neither 
in Judendorf at Friesach nor next to Villach, but already in the cities them-
selves. Villach becomes a market in 1060 and in 1016 Friesach, whose Jewish 
village also came into existence in the 10th century. Taking into account that 
appealing of the inhabitants of the village Judendorf by Villach in the 15th and 
the 17th century to older rights points to a non-peasant nature of first (Jew-
ish) inhabitants, it can be assumed that Jews first settled in the village, even 
though we possess no explicit sources for that, which they later abandoned 
in favour of the market and preserved within the village only the cemetery, 
mentioned in 1331 and confirmed by two tombstones from the 13th century.155 
With Friesach, it seems that Judendorf has from its beginnings served only 
as a cemetery, which Rudolf von Liechtenstein on Nov 5, 1352156 promised to 
protect. It appears that Jews already at the beginning settled in both places 
and not next to them.157
Among the Jewish villages, Seidendorf – Ždinja ves and Seidolach – 
Ždovlje, mentioned already in 1246 represent a special case. They do not 
develop into market or urban settlements and by the time of forming the 
market settlements in the 12th century die out as Jewish settlements. Also in 
case of Maria Saal that ‘causes greatest problems’ with dating, we can see that 
the appearance of Jewish villages cannot be explained with one single cause, 
 152 Babad, Ibid. 18–19. 
 153 Melik, Mesto, p. 301.
 154 Neumann, Zur frühen Geschichte, pp. 374–375.
 155 Neumann, Die Juden in Villach, p. 382.
 156 Neumann, Zur frühen Geschichte, p. 369. 
 157 Wadl, Zur Geschichte, p. 96. 
28 ČASOPIS ZA ZGODOVINO IN NARODOPISJE 2021/2–3 • razprave – studies
as the settlement Maria Saal clearly already existed, when the Jewish village 
was founded. Due to the fact that Maria Saal was located as an important ec-
clesiastical centre in the immediate vicinity of Karnburg, the early medieval 
civitas Carantana, and following a German toponym for the Field Zollfeld 
there also existed a toll station, which could by any means represent a reason 
for early Jewish settlement in the area,158 even though a mere presence of ec-
clesiastical center and a secular court in the immediate vicinity certainly can 
represent a sufficient economic impetus for arrival and settlement of traders.
There are also three so-called Jewish places that we can add to the pre-
sent list in the literature. Two of these are located along the river Raba in a 
present-day Hungary right across the border with Slovenia, a few kilometres 
along the way forth from the already attested Judenberg and Judengraben 
in South of Austrian Burgenland, located along the trade route of the time, 
namely the former village and a present-day neighbourhood of Szentgotthard 
called Zsida – Židovo (At Jews’) and some kilometre south of it a small vil-
lage called Zsidahegy – Židovski vrh (The Jewish Peak), both having also a 
Slovenian toponym.
Also the third locality is in complete accordance with the model presented 
by Wenninger (1985). Ždinja vas near Novo mesto was, judging by its name, 
formed prior to 1100, i.e., before the town of Novo mesto was established, it is 
located near the river Krka immediately next to the junction where the trade 
route turns to Novo mesto itself and on the southernmost boundary of the 
Empire at the time. In addition, remnants of a Roman road are clearly visible 
under the village.159 Additionally, the present-day name is identical to the 
Slovenian name of the ‘Jewish village’ in Carinthia, which is also clear from 
the German name preserved from the 13th and the 14th centuries that do not 
differ greatly from the name Seidendorf: Sittichsdorf and Sittingendorf in 
1250, Sydingendorf in 1252, Sidingendorf in 1321, and Sidendorf in 1365,160 
though we have no record of Jews settling in the town of Novo mesto after it 
was founded.
‘From the first notice of a name ‘Jewish village’ next to Friesach (1124) 
exactly 100 years pass until Jews are mentioned in Friesach (1224) and an-
other 105 years pass until 1329 that the first Jew is mentioned by name’. Even 
though in Villach we find a tombstone from already 1130 the Jews of Villach 
are mentioned only in 1255. First individual naming can be traced only to 
1301 and the mention of a Jewish village in 1331. In Völkermarkt, which is 
in 1105–1126 once called a Jewish market and from which we possess one 
 158 Wadl, Geschichte, p. 20.
 159 Savnik, Krajevni leksikon, p. 547.
 160 Kos, Gradivo, pp. 696–697.
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages of 950–1100 in Southeastern Alps … 29
tombstone from 1130, Jews are mentioned in documents only in 1292.161 That 
there is no Jewish village next to St. Veit, can be explained by the fact that it 
was transferred into the ownership of the Duke only in the 12th century and 
became important when these villages were no longer being established.162 
Even though already in the middle of the 13th century Jews in town are so 
numerous to be mentioned in the town statute, the first mention of an indi-
vidual is found only in 1356.163 But, as the examples show, these large time 
gaps between the individual testimonies in no way lead to conclusion that 
there were almost no Jews in the area.
At this time, also news on Jews from Friuli resurfaces. One is the Jew-
ish tombstone of Tabor family from Aquilea, dated to 1140,164 which affirms 
more than just individual Jewish presence, as surely someone must burry the 
deceased one and carve the tombstone. Some remarks in the response litera-
ture hint also at the possibility that some Jews resided in Aquileia in times of 
Benjamin of Tudela in the years 1165–73.165 In addition, the book Or Zarua 
mentions for 1239 that a bet din had a court meeting in Cividale,166 which can 
bring us to an assumption, an organised community already had to be there, 
meaning it existed for already a few years before it was mentioned, perhaps 
already in 1200 or, due to the regional importance of Cividale, even before 
that. Also in Maribor, there is a possibility that some Jews resided there a few 
years before the town is mentioned as a forum in 1209.167 With Ptuj, due to 
the regional importance of the town on the trade route with Pannonia, there 
is also a possibility, Jews lived there before 1286, when they are mentioned 
for the first time.168 The same holds for Ljubljana, in which Valvasor in 1683 
mentions that the Jews rebuilt their synagogue in 1213 and in 1290 there was 
a conflict with their non-Jewish neighbours, which might indeed be possible, 
even though it cannot be confirmed with the preserved historical sources.169
As examples show, we can reliably speak of a not so sparse Jewish settle-
ment in Carinthia and Styria already in the 10th and 11th centuries, which ar-
rived from the Italian and other directions along the trade routes through the 
Alps to Bavaria, Eastern March and the Danube region. Jews along the com-
merce routes establish trading posts that later on either wither (Seidendorf, 
 161 Neumann, Zur fruhen Geschichte, p. 376.
 162 Wadl, Geschichte, p. 20.
 163 Neumann, Zur frühen Geschichte, p. 376.
 164 Stafuzza, Gli Ebrei, p. 120.
 165 Roth, Ibid. 76. 
 166 Zenarola Pastore, Cividale del Friuli, p. 34. 
 167 Jelinčič Boeta, Medieval Jewish, pp. 170–171. 
 168 GJ II 2: 650. 
 169 Jelinčič Boeta, Judje na Slovenskem, pp. 73–74. 
30 ČASOPIS ZA ZGODOVINO IN NARODOPISJE 2021/2–3 • razprave – studies
Seidolach, Ždinja vas) or acquire market rights (Judenburg, Völkermarkt), 
settle within the established settlements (Tamsweg and Graz) or in the already 
existing ones (Friesach, Villach, Ptuj) or settle alongside an important centre 
temporarily (Maria Saal). Until the end of the 12th century, we thus certainly 
encounter permanent Jewish settlements in Villach, Friesach, Völkermarkt, 
Judenburg and possibly to some degree also in Aquileia, Cividale, Ljubljana, 
Maribor, and Ptuj. Then Jews already settle within larger market centres, they 
no longer reside in Jewish villages, and new, numerous Jewish communities 
are being formed within many new towns and cities that start to appear in 
the region, especially in the 13th century.
sources
GJ – Germania Judaica. Bd. I: Von den ältesten Zeiten bis 1238. Tübingen: Elbogen, I., 
Freimann, A. & Tykocinski, H. 1963. Bd II: Von 1238 bis zur Mitte des 14. Jahrhunderts. 
Tübingen: Zvi Avneri. 1968. Bd III: 1350–1519. Tübingen: Breuer, M., Guggenheim, Y. 
& Maimon, A. 1995.
MC – Monumenta Historiae Ducatus Carinthiae.
Reg I – Regesten zur Geschichte der Juden in Österreich im Mittlealter I.
Zahn UB – Zahn Josef, Urkundenbuch des Herzogtums Steiermark im Mittelalter. Wien 
1893.
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JUDJE V AKVILEJI, JUDOVSKE VASI V OBDOBJU 950–1100 V 
JUGOVZHODNIH ALPAH IN IZVOR TEH JUDOV 
Povzetek
V Akvileji so Judje zabeleženi že v prvem stoletju pred našim štetjem, ko je bilo mesto že 
pomembno vojaško in upravno središče, prav tako je bila že pomembno pristanišče, ki je 
trgovalo tudi z Levantom. Akvilejska judovska skupnost se je nahajala na robu pogostejše 
judovske prisotnosti v Italiji in od Grčije navzgor po Jadranu, vendar je znake judovske 
prisotnosti moč opaziti tudi na Koroškem in Štajerskem. Akvilejska skupnost je v na-
slednjih stoletjih rasla, o čemer priča kar nekaj arheoloških najdb, razumevanje takratne 
gospodarske dejavnosti v mestu in področja, v katerih so bili Judje še posebej aktivni. 
Poleg potrjenih ostankov ene sinagoge obstaja možnost za še dve sinagogi, kar bi ustrezalo 
potrebam tako velike skupnosti. Tamkajšnji Judje so bili že zgodaj povezani s krščanstvom, 
kar je očitno tudi iz tega, da so ostanki ene sinagoge ohranjeni v kasnejši cerkvi. Zapisi o 
Judih v mestu se nadaljujejo vse do začetka 5. stoletja. 
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages of 950–1100 in Southeastern Alps … 35
Po Atilovem uničenju mesta leta 452 in po langobardski osvojitvi Furlanije je v regiji vse-
eno moč zaslediti dokaze o prisotnih Judih. V notranjosti, se pravi na Kranjskem, Koro-
škem in Štajerskem sicer nimamo nobenih tovrstnih sledi, vendar kažejo viri na nemalo 
teh v vseh okolišnjih regijah. Tako so Judje omenjeni v Benečiji, Salzburgu, Bavarskem, 
Zgornji Avstriji in Panoniji, pri čemer pa ne gre zgolj za posameznike, temveč tudi za že 
oblikovane skupnosti, ki so bile medsebojno povezane, naj bo to preko trgovskih mrež 
in judovskih trgovskih združb ali pa preko intelektualne izmenjave med učenjaki, kot na 
primer med slovansko govorečimi Judi na Češkem in Moravskem in tistimi v nemških in 
francoskih deželah. Glede na trgovske poti iz Podonavja in Panonije do Jadrana ali Itali-
je, ki so vodile čez naše ozemlje, je povsem verjetno, da so ti Judje, del katerih je govoril 
slovanska narečja, potovali tudi preko tega območja že pred letom 950, ko smo že gotovi, 
da so se ti Judje pri nas tudi nastanili.
Po letu 950 so namreč prav v sklopu teh trgovskih mrež in poti vzdolž celotne vzhodne 
meje Svetega rimskega cesarstva nastale tako imenovane judovske vasi, trgovske posto-
janke ali celo stalne naselbine, kar velja tudi za naše ozemlje, ter nekaj tako imenovanih 
judovskih krajev, na primer, kraja Velikovec in Judenburg, ki sta prvi tržni naselbini na 
starokarantanskem ozemlju. Ena teh vasi, morda najstarejša, je pod imenom Židovišče 
ali Ždovše nastala poleg Gospe Svete, druge pa v bližini Brež, Beljaka in Gradca. Poleg 
teh so nastale še Ždinja vas in Ždovlje na Koroškem in še ena Ždinja vas poleg Novega 
mesta. Usoda teh vasi, ki so vse nastale pred letom 1100, je sicer bila različna, vendar ta 
celotna mreža judovskih skupnosti predstavlja začetek judovske diaspore kasnejše Notra-
nje Avstrije, se pravi najprej Koroške, Štajerske, Kranjske in nato še Goriške ter Trsta. V 
tem smislu je morda smiselno razumeti, da so tudi Judje v Čedadu, Ljubljani, Mariboru 
in Ptuju tu živeli že okoli leta 1200 ali celo prej.
JEwS IN AqUILEA, JEwISH VILLAGES Of 950–1100 IN 
SOUTHEASTERN ALPS AND THE ORIGIN Of THESE JEwS 
Summary
According to records, Jews lived in Aquileia as early as the first century BC, when the city 
was already an important military and administrative centre, as well as important port 
trading also with Levant. The Aquileian Jewish community was located on the edge of a 
more frequent Jewish presence in Italy and from Greece northward along the Adriatic, 
but signs of Jewish presence can also be found in Carinthia and Styria. The Aquileian 
community grew in the following centuries, as evidenced by several archaeological finds, 
an understanding of the economic activity in the city at the time, and areas in which Jews 
were particularly active. In addition to confirmed remains of one synagogue, there is the 
possibility of two more synagogues, which would correspond to the needs of such a large 
community. Aquileian Jews there were associated with Christianity from an early age, 
which is also evident from the fact that the remains of one synagogue are preserved in a 
later church. Records of Jews in the city continue until the start of the 5th century. 
After Attila’s destruction of the city in 452 and the Lombard conquest of Friuli, there is 
still evidence of Jews present in the region. In the interior, i.e. in Carniola, Carinthia and 
Styria, there is no such evidence, but sources point to many Jews in all nearby regions. 
Thus, Jews are mentioned in Venice, Salzburg, Bavaria, Upper Austria and Pannonia, 
not only individuals but already established communities that were interconnected, be it 
through trade networks and Jewish trade associations or through knowledge exchange 
between scholars, such as between Slavic-speaking Jews in Bohemia and Moravia and 
36 ČASOPIS ZA ZGODOVINO IN NARODOPISJE 2021/2–3 • razprave – studies
those in German and French countries. Given the trade routes from the Danube region 
and Pannonia to the Adriatic or Italy that led through the Slovenian territory, it is quite 
probable that these Jews, some of whom spoke Slavic dialects, also travelled through this 
region before 950, when we know for certain that these Jews settled here.
After 950, as part of these trade networks and routes, so-called Jewish villages, trading 
posts or even permanent settlements were formed along the entire eastern border of the 
Holy Roman Empire, which also includes the Slovenian territory, as well as some so-called 
Jewish settlements, for example Velikovec and Judenburg, which are the first market set-
tlements in the Old Carantanian territory. One of these villages, perhaps the oldest, was 
founded under the name Židovišče or Ždovše next to Gospa Sveta, while others were 
founded near Brežice, Villach and Graz. Other settlements founded were Ždinja vas and 
Ždovlje in Carinthia and another Ždinja vas next to Novo mesto. The fates of these villages, 
all founded before 1100, vary, but this whole network of Jewish communities represents the 
beginning of the Jewish diaspora of later Inner Austria, i.e. first Carinthia, Styria, Carniola 
and then Gorizia and Trieste. In this sense, it may make sense to understand that Jews in 
Cividale del Friuli, Ljubljana, Maribor and Ptuj also lived here around 1200 or even earlier.
JUDEN IN AqUILEA, JüDIScHE DöRfER VON 950–1100 IN 
SüDöSTLIcHEN ALPEN UND DER URSPRUNG DIESER JUDEN 
Zusammenfassung
In Aquileia werden Juden bereits im ersten Jahrhundert v. Chr. verzeichnet, als die Stadt 
bereits ein wichtiges Militär- und Verwaltungszentrum und bereits ein wichtiger Hafen 
war, der auch den Levante-Handel betätigte. Die jüdische Gemeinde von Aquileia stand 
am Rande einer häufigeren jüdischen Präsenz in Italien und von Griechenland bis zur 
Adria, aber auch in Kärnten und der Steiermark sind Spuren jüdischer Präsenz zu erken-
nen. Die Aquileia-Gemeinschaft wuchs in den folgenden Jahrhunderten, wie zahlreiche 
archäologische Funde, ein Verständnis der damaligen wirtschaftlichen Aktivitäten der 
Stadt und Gebiete, in denen Juden besonders aktiv waren, belegen. Neben den bestätigten 
Überresten einer Synagoge besteht die Möglichkeit zweier weiterer Synagogen, die den 
Bedürfnissen einer so großen Gemeinde entsprechen würden. Die dortigen Juden wurden 
schon früh mit dem Christentum in Verbindung gebracht, was daran zu erkennen ist, dass 
in der späteren Kirche Reste einer Synagoge erhalten sind. Aufzeichnungen über die Juden 
in der Stadt dauern bis zum Beginn des 5. Jahrhunderts.
Nach der Zerstörung der Stadt durch Attila im Jahr 452 und der Eroberung Friauls durch 
die Langobarden gibt es noch immer Spuren von Juden in der Region. Im Landesinneren, 
also in Krain, Kärnten und der Steiermark, haben wir keine solchen Spuren, aber Quellen 
weisen auf viele davon in allen umliegenden Regionen hin. So werden in Venedig, Salz-
burg, Bayern, Oberösterreich und Pannonien Juden genannt, nicht nur Einzelpersonen, 
sondern auch bereits etablierte Gemeinschaften, die miteinander verbunden waren, sei 
es durch Handelsnetzwerke und jüdische Handelsvereine oder durch den geistigen Aus-
tausch zwischen Gelehrten, etwa zwischen slawisch- sprechende Juden in Böhmen und 
Mähren sowie in deutschen und französischen Ländern. Angesichts der Handelswege von 
der Donau und Pannonien an die Adria oder Italien, die durch unser Gebiet führten, ist 
es sehr wahrscheinlich, dass diese Juden, die teilweise slawische Dialekte sprachen, auch 
vor 950 durch dieses Gebiet reisten, als wir bereits feststellten, dass diese Juden sich bei 
uns angesiedelt haben.
Klemen Jelinčič Boeta, Jews in Aquilea, Jewish Villages of 950–1100 in Southeastern Alps … 37
Nach 950 entstanden innerhalb dieser Handelsnetze und -wege entlang der gesamten 
Ostgrenze des Heiligen Römisches Reich Völkermarkt und Judenburg, die ersten Markt-
siedlungen auf dem Gebiet der Altkarantanien. Eines dieser Dörfer, vielleicht das älteste, 
wurde unter dem Namen Židovišče oder Ždovše neben Unserer Maria Saal gegründet, 
andere in der Nähe von Breže, Villach und Graz. Darüber hinaus entstanden Ždinja vas 
und Ždovlje na Koroškem und ein weiteres Ždinja vas neben Novo mesto. Das Schicksal 
dieser Dörfer, die alle vor 1100 entstanden, war unterschiedlich, aber dieses ganze Netz-
werk jüdischer Gemeinden stellt den Beginn der jüdischen Diaspora des späteren Inne-
rösterreichs dar, zuerst Kärnten, Steiermark, Krain und dann Görz und Triest. In diesem 
Sinne mag es sinnvoll sein zu verstehen, dass hier um 1200 oder noch früher auch Juden 
in Čedad, Ljubljana, Maribor und Ptuj lebten.