Dialogue and altercatio in the anti-Jewish polemic literature

The dialogue, mostly used by philosophers in the Greco-Roman tradition, was adapted as a form of religious debate particulary suitable for the controversy. Polemic literature adversus Iudaeos began in the 2nd century, and had its climax between the 5th and 7th centuries, after more than 200 years of a pause. In this study, the caracteristics of the dialogues and the dialogical forms of the anti-Jewish polemic are analyzed: intertextuality is the most remarkable feature. An analysis of the terminology used in all literary forms both in Greek and Latin is also carried out. The underlying actual interaction of the anti-Jewish dialogues is related to the mise-en-scene and the presentation of the spacial and temporal context.