Follow That Crown

FSR, Inc.
Follow That Crown: Or, Rhetoric, Rabbis, and Women Patrons

Author(s): Susan Marks
Source: Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Fall, 2008), pp. 77-96
Published by: Indiana University Press on behalf of FSR, Inc.
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JFSR 24.2 (2008) 77-96
FOLLOW THAT CROWN
Or, Rhetoric, Rabbis, andWomen Patrons

SusanMarks
Although the stream of traditionconcerning Rabbi Akiba'swife

and her support forher husband does not on the surface resem
ble serious benefaction, this article reexamines these narratives
in lightof hints that connect her to otherwomen patrons of the
ancientworld. As these narratives linkAkiba'swife with a special
"city of gold" or "Jerusalemof gold" crown, elsewhere walled
crowns appear in associationwith other cities and other powerful
women. Meanwhile, rhetorical emphasis on the personal rela
tionship of Akiba and his wife, including his gift of this crown,
obscures recognition of her public patronage. Examination of
these tensions discloses importantaspects of the construction of
gender,money, and powerwithin rabbinic literature.
When is the story of a famous patron not the story of a famous patron? An
swer:when the patron is awoman, andwhen acknowledgingher patronage risks
reifyingher power to affect the substanceof the study thathermoney makes pos
sible.Rabbinic textsconcerning contributionsmade by Rabbi Akiba'swife skirt
recognitionof her acts asbenefaction. She appears in the various texts thatmake
up this streamof tradition,includingtheTalmud, as dutiful daughter andwife:'
I an earlier version of this paper at the 2003 annual of the Association for Jewish
presented meeting
Studies in Boston. I am grateful for the comments and constructive criticism participants at that
session offered. In addition, Iwould like to thank Maxine Grossman for reading and commenting
on
key drafts.
1
"The wife of Rabbi Akiba" appears in rabbinic literature as an unnamed woman. Carol
Toni Craven, and Ross Kraemer (editors of Women in Scriptures: A Dictionary of Named
Meyer,
and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the ApocryphalI Deuter o canonical Books, and the
New Testament [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000]) have recently modeled the variety of ways
that unnamed women feature in ancient texts. While Daniel Boyarin chooses to call her "Rachel,"
78 Journalof Feminist Studies inReligion 24.2
Rabbi Akiba was the shepherd of Ben Kalba Sabua. His daughter saw in
him that he was modest and outstanding. She said to him: "If I become
betrothed to you, will you go to the Academy?" He said to her: "Yes."
She became betrothed to him in secret, and she sent him away. Her
father heard [and] banished her from his house [and] forbade her with
a vow from [deriving] any benefit from his property.2
Although here, the Babylonian Talmud, tractateKetubbot, acknowledges that

Akiba'swife sent him to the academy to study, it simultaneously establishes
constraintson her financialability.
An alternative telling in tractateNedarim develops her role as wife and
depicts the attentions of the new groom:
The daughter of Kalba Sabua became engaged to Rabbi Akiba. Kalba
Sabua heard and cut her off from any of his property. She went and mar
ried him in the winter. They used to lie in the hay-barn, and he would
take hay out of her hair. He said to her, "Were I only able Iwould give
you a 'Jerusalem of Gold!"'
Elijah the Prophet came and appeared to them as a person crying out at
the door. He said "Give me some of your hay, formy wife is giving birth
and I have nothing for her to lie down on." Rabbi Akiba said to his wife,
"You see, there is someone who doesn't even have hay." She said to him,
"Go and sit in the House of Study."3
The attentive Akiba desires a "Jerusalem of gold" crown so that he can give it
to his wife. In both narratives, although his wife faces restricted finances, she
never hesitates in encouraging his Torah study.Both versions also include a
later scene showingAkiba returninghome with thousandsof disciples:
When he came back, he brought twenty four thousand students with
him. His wife heard. She was going out to meet him. Neighbors said
to her: Borrow clothes, dress and cover yourself. She said: "A righteous
man knows the needs of his beast." (Prov. 12.10). When she drew near
him, she fell on her face and kissed his feet. His attendants were pushing
her aside. He said to them. Leave her! Mine and yours are hers.4
he admits that "her name is only hinted at in the talmudic text" (Carnal Israel: Sex in
Reading
Talmudic Culture [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993], 151n31).
2
bKet 62b. I have adapted my translations of narratives concerning Akiba and his wife in
the Babylonian Talmud from Aryeh Cohen, Rereading Talmud: Gender, Law, and the Poetics of
Sugyot (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998), 101-2,129-30.

3
bNed50a.
4
bKet 63a. The parallel passage in bNed 50a is very similar: "He came with twenty four
thousand pairs of disciples. Everyone came out to receive him, and she also came out to meet him.
That rogue said to her, 'Where do you think you are going?' She said: 'A righteous man knows the
needs of his beast' (Prov. 12.10). She came to show herself to him. The rabbis were
pushing her
aside. He said to them, "Leave her be. That which ismine and that which is yours is hers!"
really
Marks: Follow That Crown 79
In both narratives,Akiba attributes all he has to hiswife. He honors her forher

supportof him.
An additional version from the Palestinian Talmud portrays the couple's
lateryears, inwhich Akiba has given her a "cityof gold" crown, just as he imag
ined in theBabylonianTalmudNedarim above:
Rabbi Akiba made a "city of gold" for his wife. The wife of Rabban Ga
maliel [the Patriarch] saw her and became jealous. Rabban Gamaliel's
wife came and reported Rabbi Akiba's gift to her husband. He said,
"Have you done for me what she did for him? Rabbi Akiba's wife sold
the very braids on her head and gave [the money] to him so that he
might be able to study Torah."5
Rabbi Akiba rewardedhis wife by giving her a "cityof gold" crown.As the al
lusion to Proverbs underscores, he, the righteousman, recognized her nefesh
(soul), her true nature, and he will see to her "needs."6Not only do we learn
of a contrast between the actions of Gamaliel'swife and Akiba'swife but the
narrative also emphasizes that such honors depend upon the relationshipof a
husband andwife.
This narrativeconsistently offers a domestic picture of the privatemarital
relationship and thus a domesticated version of their financialarrangements.
We might thereforehesitate to callAkiba'swife's acts public benefaction, except
for one detail in these texts screaming for acknowledgment: the crown called
"Jerusalemof gold" or "cityof gold." Such crowns appear elsewhere in the an
cientworld and alwaysdepict a community offering public honors to an individ
ual in exchange forpowerful patronage.This communal context challenges the
emphatic domesticity of the privatepresentationwherein such a crown belongs
to a husband who wishes to give it to his wife. Gold crowns and city crowns
elsewhere designatewomen patrons and other powerful females, revealing that
the "Jerusalemof gold"within these narrativesconforms to a pervasivemold in
signalingpublic recognitionof a significantgift from a powerfulwoman. None
theless, even as these narratives transmit the expected honors, they resist the
full implicationsof their gesture. The stories present important support by a
femalewhile simultaneouslyoutlining her financial incapacity.They describe
acts of benefaction by Akiba'swife while emphasizing the financialrestrictions
placed upon her.With hedges such as these the rabbisboth accept the custom
of celebrating gifts thatmerit crowns and eschew the concomitant recognition
of public authority for suchwomen. In otherwords, the currents in these texts
reflect conflictingneeds thatcannot be resolved logically,only rhetorically.
5
M. Paul,
pShab 6.1, 7d; translation adapted from Shalom. "Jerusalem?A City of Gold,"
Israel Exploration 17 (1967): 259-63, on 260-61.
Journal quotation
6
As translated in Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Soci
ety, 1985).
The domesticated presentation of the supportivewife and her "Jerusalemof

gold" appears incomplete in lightof otherwomen donors and reveals the deep
tensions in these rabbinic treatmentsof gender and financialsupport.The rhet
oric of the narrativessimultaneouslygivesAkiba'swife her crown and erodes its
significance.Tracking these tensions, and thus revisiting the submissiveAkiba's
wife, we find that these textsconstruct gender so that a richwoman of the com
munity might still recognizeherself in the storyof thewife of Rabbi Akiba, and
thus rabbinicauthorsmight preserve access tomonetary assets in the hands of
women. Meanwhile, this authorialconstruction offers only a constrained female
patronage and conceals thatwomen might wield financialpower.
Gender, Wealth, and Power

Recently, the traditionof Akiba and his wife has garnered attention for its
ambivalentpresentation of gender and romanticmarriage. These investigations
prove helpful, although they do not explore gender as it relates to financialpar
ticipation.A number of these scholarshave examined the literarystructuresof
the stories and the underlying understandings of gender and asceticism in the
first through the fifth centuries CE. They thereby reconsider these issues in
rabbinic literatureand specifically in the apparent love story of Akiba and his
wife.7 Daniel Boyarin interprets this story of Akiba'swife as being about the
"ideal"woman, who prefers her husband to absent himself and studyTorah, in
contrast to a regularwife, who would require thathe providemaintenance and
conjugal relations.8Aryeh Cohen, likewise,emphasizes elements of wish fulfill
ment in these narratives, explaining "this is the fantasy in all its glory Akiba
gives birth to twenty four thousand students/childrenwith the full complicity
of his wife, who has totally erased herself."9Akiba the scholar demonstrates
his superior self-control as he challenges the power of sexualityand finds the
perfect "fantasy"wife.
Sexual power is not the only importantdynamic of this story,however. Al
lusions to poverty and riches occurwith great frequency throughout the narra
tivesofAkiba and hiswife: Akiba'sbride grows up in a very rich family;when she
7
Yonah Frankel (Tyunim ba-'olamo ha-ruhani shel sipur ha-agadah [Tel Aviv: Hakibuts
Hame'uhad, 1981], 99-115 [Hebrew]) and Boyarin (Carnal Israel, 134-66) discuss the literary dy
namics of this particular story. Then Cohen Shulamit Valler (Women
(Rereading Talmud, 97-130),
and Womanhood in the Talmud, trans. Betty S. Rozen [Providence, RI: Brown
Judaic Studies,
1999], 51-76), and most recently, Jeffrey Rubenstein (The Culture of the Babylonian Talmud [Bal
timore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 2003], 102-22) interpret the literary aspects of this
as a series of seven stories.
story part of
8
Boyarin (Carnal Israel, 134-66) explores the theme of the celibate scholar that this "ideal"
wife makes possible.
9
Cohen revisits Boyarin's discussion, with to
(Rereading Talmud, 119-20) special attention
differences in versions found in bKet 62b-63a and bNed 50a.
marries, she sleeps in a hay barn; together the newlywedswitness more extreme
poverty; and at the end of the story,Akiba surroundshis wife with riches.The
power of wealth emerges as a persistent theme throughout.'0Moreover, be
cause this story also describes decades of support forAkiba's scholarship, these
financial themes include allusions tomonetary support for the rabbinicmove
ment. Finally, aswe observe the struggleswithin this stream of traditionboth
to affirm the important support that comes fromAkiba'swife, and simultane
ously to deny her access to thewealth of her father and husband,we recognize
intense concerns aboutwealth and power in relation to gender. By depicting
female financial ability as eviscerated, these narrativesdeterminedly occlude
the possibility of female power. Nevertheless, while placing constraints upon
the financialagency of the rebellious daughter, the storypreserves the fantasy
donor, the supportivewife.
We see lacunaeconcerning the financingof Akiba's studieswhen we com
pare his storywith the systems of patronage typicalof the ancientworld. Civic
institutionsand other associations depended upon systematicallyencouraging
wealthy individualsto take responsibilityfor expenses, in exchange for honors.
These supportersmight underwrite a building, a festival, a regularmeal, pro
tection, or other assistance, and the organizationdepended upon such gifts."
Serving a term as patron could severely strain a person's resources, but many
aspects of the culture reinforced expectations of participation, and in general,
such benefaction was mutually beneficial to patron and recipient alike. Jewish
synagogues, like other Roman-period associations, depended upon and hon
ored patronswho undertook financial responsibility for buildings or repairs.'2
The rabbinicmovement also relied on systems of patronage, includingvarious
appeals towealthy Jews and towealthy Romans.'3Despite acknowledging such
financial need and gifts elsewhere, rabbinic presentation of the wife of Akiba
10
In contrast, Tal lian (Mine and Yours Are Hers: Retrieving Women's History from Rab
binic Literature [New York and Leiden: Brill, 1997], 108) argues that poverty not wealth serves as
the focus. She argues for the historicity of the narrative and the city crown because the crown as an
serves no in the stories of Rabbi
"incidental detail specific purpose Aqiva's wife (on the contrary its
lavishness contradicts the poverty theme current in them)."
11 a Place in An
Philip A. Harland, Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations: Claiming
cient Mediterranean Fortress Press, 2003), 97-101.
Society (Minneapolis:
12
See section "Wealthy Women Patrons" below.
13
and Provincial in Later Roman Palestine
Hayim Lapin (Economy, Geography, History
Mohr Siebeck, 2001], 182) the "network of ties centered on
[T?bingen: explores patronage city
elites and extending outward into the village populations." Catherine Hezser (The Social Structure
of the Rabbinic Movement in Roman Palestine [T?bingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1997], 436) discusses
rabbis as patrons of their students, but also considers patronage ties with eminent Romans as trad
for the Roman's The earlier Lee I. Levine (The Rabbinic Class
ing "loyalty support." exploration by
of Roman Palestine in Late Antiquity [New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1989],
70) provides a selection of accounts of "regular trips made by... [rabbis] for the purpose of solicit
ing such support."
refrains from explicitly identifyingher as a patron. Instead, the storydescribes

her as an understanding and supportivewife and never presents her as dissatis
fiedwith lackof formal recognition, as she relies on her husband to take care
of her "needs."
IfAkiba'swife herself does not ask formore official recognition, however,
the crown on her head does. The "Jerusalemof gold" challenges us to look
beyond the romanticvignette of Akiba and his wife and recognize the veiled
discussion of patronage. In the story of Rabbi Akiba and his wife, this crown
with citywalls appears as a "cityof gold"or a "Jerusalemof gold."Elsewhere in
the ancientworld, such a "muralcrown" (coronamuralis) appears to symbolize
support forAntioch, Ephesus, or Rome. Turreted crowns and other gold crowns
appear on statues or in inscriptionswithin thematerial remainsof a number of
ancient communities.Archaeological and epigraphic evidence provide numer
ous glimpses of crowns belonging to civic and organizational contexts.'4Con
temporaneous city crowns celebrate the power of thosewho wear them. The
importanceof these crowned females alerts us to the ingenuousnessof rhetori
cal claims for the poverty and isolationof Akiba'swife while she serves as such
amajor supporterof his study and of the rabbinicmovement. The way that city
crowns and even other gold crowns signify power and largess in the ancient
world reveals conflicting impulses in the rabbinicnarrative thatwould portray
Akiba'spatron as both generous and powerless.
I do not appeal to archaeological evidence in order to unearth the "his
torical" basis of the story of Rabbi Akiba. After all, this story moves as a fairy
tale from haystacks to the creation of twenty-four thousand scholars,much as
Rumpelstiltzkin turns straw into gold. Itmakes no sense to treat this story as
historical. Instead, I examine the situations thatproduced such narratives.We
know that the rabbinicmovement valued study and produced numerous texts
and disciples.We know that crowns, including those similar to the one appealed
to by Akiba, existed outside these narratives.Thus we can examine how such
crownsmight relate to rabbinicpatronage and how earlier crowns did or did
not constrainTalmudic authorswho chose to include this symbolic image in
a story about theirmovement. While literaryanalyses continue to be essential
to understanding how Talmudic authors shaped presentations of theirworld,
we must also consider the historical nuances of the symbols that these authors
received. Fragmented as we find the archaeological record concerning such
14
Recently, Tal lian ("'Jerusalem of Gold' and the Historical Kernel in the Stories of R. Aqi
va'sWife," in A Woman in ed. T. Cohen and J. Schwartz
Jerusalem: Gender, Society, and Religion,
Ingeborg Rennert
[Ramat-Gan: Center for Jerusalem Studies Publications, Bar Ilan University,
2002], 33-46 [Hebrew]) has also argued for the importance of considering Greco-Roman archaeo
logical evidence
to understand this city crown. Although her argument does not focus on power
and wealth and thus differs with that of the present article, she does refer to the Tyche crown, also
discussed below.
thingsas gold crowns, these fragmentsnevertheless help us interpretsignificant

items in rabbinicnarratives.
Building on thework of Bernadette Brooten,'5bothMiriam Peskowitz and
Cynthia Baker use archaeologicalevidence to revisitTalmudic texts.Each au
thor emphasizes evidence that had been overlooked because of our own era's
preconceptions about gender. Peskowitz argues that archaeology consistently
presumes the importanceof largebuilding projects and ignores tinypieces of
looms and other domestic evidence that tell a great deal about the gap be
tweenwomen's labor and the rabbinic (re)presentationof this labor."6 Baker
suggests thatpreconceptions about the necessity of secludingwomen clouded
scholars'ability to interpret the evidence for houses and narratives thatoffered
no such secluding space.'7Each author revisited sources thathad alreadybeen
unearthed, althoughnot fullyunderstood. So too, this articlewill revisitwebs of
power and patronage that includedwomen. Reconsideration ofmaterial crowns
and benefaction by women allows for a new examination of rabbinic stories
about Akiba'swife and her support for her husband, revealing the rhetorical
framingof female support that successfully conceals all hint of power.
Wealthy Women Patrons

Our own search forwomen likeAkiba'swife benefits fromnew studies that
have demonstrated the importanceof female benefactors for "pagan,"Jewish,
andChristian institutions.18 For instance, examinationof women supportersof
the imperialcult in firstcenturyCE inAsiaMinor indicates thatwomen could
hold offices in their own right. Stephen Friesen has observed that about 20
percent "of the individualsknown to have held provincial highpriesthoods in
Asia were women."''9He highlights the importanceof the economic contribu
tionof these priestly officeswherein "wealthyindividuals,who sometimes lived
elsewhere, fulfilled their responsibilities for a year by paying certain expenses
and by performing cultic acts at major festivals, perhaps only once during a
15 in the Ancient
J. Brooten, Women
Bernadette Leaders Synagogue: Inscriptional Evidence
and Background Issues (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1982). Brooten's pioneering work on inscriptional
evidence of women's leadership roles led to important reconsideration of all aspects of women's
in early Judaism.
participation
16
Miriam Peskowitz, Spinning Fantasies: Rabbis, Gender, and History (Berkeley and Los
University of California Press, 1997), 77-94,154-71.
Angeles:
17 in An
M. Baker, Rebuilding the House of Israel: Architectures of Gender Jewish
Cynthia
(Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002), 15-33.
tiquity
18
I put "pagan" in quotation marks since no ancient person would have referred to her/his
as
practice pagan.
19
Stephen Friesen,
Twice Neokoros: Ephesos, Asia, and the Cult of the Flavian Imperial
(New York and Leiden: Brill, 1993), 91. Here he builds on the work of R. A. Kearsley,
Family
"Asiarch, Archiereis, and the Archiereiai of Asia," Greek Roman and Byzantine Studies 27 (1986):
183-92.
term of office."20The financialneed of the cult made benefaction by women

important.2'Reit van Bremen, who explores patterns of cultic and civic involve
ment, notes thatafter the firstcenturyCE, "wehave hundreds, rather than just
a handful of texts,"thatwitness women's public role.22
Gentile women also supported Jewish and, later,Christian institutions.
ShellyMatthews searches formotivation behind the emphasis on female bene
faction in textsby Josephus and inActs. She notes that given satiresby Juvenal
targeting foreign cults, one might rather expect that Josephus and Luke would
play down relationswith Gentile women. In light of this,Matthews observes:
"The repeated return to this topos in these twoworks is an indication that the
prominent Gentile woman associatedwith aminority community could serve
a positive rhetorical function.However strong the sentiment ridiculingGentile
women's involvement in 'foreign'religionswas, it stands in tensionwith theview
that such involvementwas acceptable."23 Matthews emphasizes that the rheto
ricof such textsprovides a sense of legitimationforwomen supportersof Jewish
and Christian institutions. InAcmonia inAsia Minor, a synagogue inscription
credits Julia Severa, high priestess of the imperial cult: "Themeeting place,
which was built by Julia Severa."24This institutionwillingly received support
from Julia Severa and publicly acknowledged her as a patron. In other words,
both literaryand inscriptionalevidence attest to a traditionof giving by Gentile
women inwhich they served a variety of communities and in turn received ap
propriate honors.
Such a tradition appears in connection with Christian women as well.
While Gentile women continue to support Jewish andChristian institutions,by
the fourth centuryCE, Christianwomen also dedicated theirwealth in signifi
cantways. Olympias of Constantinople received praise forher benefaction from
JohnChrysostom;Melania the elder supportedRufinus of Aquileia; andMar
cella of Rome provided support for Jerome.25Despite differences among early
20
Friesen,Twice Neokoros, 92.
21
Friesen notes
that the "highpriesthood" was
separate from the provincial council, which
appears to have been governed by men.
22
Reit van Bremen, The Limits of Participation: Women and Civic Life in the Greek East in
the Hellenistic and Roman Periods (Amsterdam: Gieben, 1996), 10.
23
First Converts: Rich Pagan Women
Shelly Matthews, and the Rhetoric of Mission in Early
and (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001), 63-64. See also her
Judaism Christianity
discussion of Juvenal, Sat 6.542-47,1-5, 64.
24
Walter Ameling, Judaicae Orientis: Vol. 2, Kleinasien
Inscriptions (T?bingen: Mohr Sie
beck, 2004), inscription 168 = Lifshitz 33 = CIJ 766; translation from Harland, Associations, 228.
25
Gail C. Streete, "Women as Sources of Redemption and Knowledge in
Early Christian
Traditions," inWomen and Christian ed. R. S. Kraemer and M. R. D'Angelo (New York:
Origins,
Oxford University Press, 1999), 335. Here, Streete builds upon the work of Peter Brown, The Body
and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in (New York: Columbia
Early Christianity
University Press, 1988), 144-45. at that time, Brown that this was some
Ironically, suggested
Christian leadersconcerning acceptable roles forwomen within the structureof

the church, these clergywelcomed their female patrons.
Traditions of patronage for various institutionsby Gentile and Christian
women provide a significantcontext for considering the possibility of benefac
tion by Jewishwomen. These examples underscore the prevalence and reward
of such traditionsof benefaction, both from the perspective of the giver and
of the institution.Rabbinic institutionswould have shared the same financial
needs of these other contemporaneous institutions.
Talmudic literature elsewhere teaches us of a woman with disposable
wealth offering to supportTorah study.The case of the sisterof Rabbi Tobi ben
RabbiMattenah, for example,describes awoman who had intended a gift toher
brother the scholar.As ithappens, she changed hermind abouther gift because
the other brother "weptbefore her, saying:Now [peoplewill] say [that]one is
a scholarand the other isno scholar."26 While the familydynamicsmay remain
puzzling, and although she did not ultimately become the patron of her first
brother, the text presents her as having the capacity.ShulamitValler observes
her "positionof power."27 She alone appears tomake decisions concerning how
to dispose of herwealth. In fact,Valler has traced a series of Talmudic allusions
towomen who take charge of their own financialconcerns: "Despite laws that
placed women in total economic dependence and aworldview that regarded
negotiationswith men and going to court as improper towomen, both Babylo
nian and JerusalemTalmuds reportaboutwomen who knew the businessworld
and showed independence and expertise in business transactions."28 Thus rab
binic accounts joinother Jewish,Christian, and "pagan"evidence in recognizing
the availabilityof women who might serve as patrons. Ironically,in lightof this
evidence for financial independence,we observe that sister of Rabbi Tobi ben
RabbiMattenah demonstrates the capacity to give,while she chooses to forgo
the opportunity. In other words, she finds herself in the exact opposite situa
tion asAkiba'swife, who seizes the opportunity although explicitlydenied the
capacity.Meanwhile, evidence ofwomen high priests of "pagan"cults and other
donors offers numerous examplesofwomen with the opportunityand capability
tomake substantialgifts andwho in turn received public recognition for their
generosity.
that "separated them from the rabbis of Palestine and .. . from the of the
thing Jewish leadership
Diaspora."
26
bBB 151a.
27
Shulamit Valler, "Business Women in the Mishnaic and Talmudic Period," Women in Ju
daism: A 2, no. 2 (2001): 1-71, esp. par. 53. Valler describes the sister
Multidiciplinary Journal
of Rabbi Tobi ben Rabbi Mattenah as vis-?-vis "the [second] brother's weak
especially powerful
stance. He does not demand or threaten but weeps. This makes him someone to be
pitied."
28
Ibid., par. 13.
86 Journialof FeminiistStudies inReligion 24.2
Epigraphic and Material Crowns Associated with Patronage

In contrast to the domesticity of Akiba's private recognition of his wife,
elsewhere, the community publicly acknowledges the gifts that sustain it. In
scriptions record public presentations to such patrons. Recalling the impor
tanceof female patrons explored above,we learn that certain associationshon
ored women patronswith golden crowns.While most of the gold crowns need
not be interpreted as city crowns, they nevertheless help establish the role of
crowns inhonoring patronage.A Greek inscriptionfromPhocee from the third
centuryCE describes awoman receiving such a crown:
Tation, daughter of Straton son of Empedon, having erected the assem
bly hall and the enclosure of the open courtyard with her own funds,
gave them as a gift to the Jews. The synagogue of the Jews honored Ta
tion, daughter of Straton son of Empedon, with a golden crown (chruso
stephano) and the privilege of sitting in the seat of honor.29
This inscription leaves some ambiguity about Tation's relationship to Straton,

as the genitive (touEmpedonos) could mean either his daughter or his wife.30
Likewise, synagogue here might be a particular institution,or stand as the gen
eral term for "community."And Tationmay or may not have been Jewish her
self. The inscriptiondoes not say, and aswe saw above, Gentile women also
served as benefactors for synagogues.3' In any case, we find a third-century
CE inscription that describes a woman supporting a Jewish community and
receiving a gold crown. There may even have once been a crown shape formed
in the dedication stone itself,within the inscription, although the evidence is
ambiguous.32 Additionally,we observe a probable linguisticconnection between
a "chrusostephano,"as it appears in the inscriptionconcerning Tation, and city
crowns, to the explorationof the PalestinianTalmud, justprior to itsdiscussion
of the crown of Akiba'swife. In thispassage of the PalestinianTalmud, theRab
bis of Caesarea associate the city of goldwith the strangeword prustkulin. Saul
Lieberman argues that thisword iscertainlygarbled, but since p's often replace
c'swe should interpret it as a corruptversion of theGreek words: chruso steph
ano.33We see his suggestion at work in JacobNeusner's English translation:
29
Inscriptiones, inscription 36 = Lifshitz 13 = CIJ 738; translation from Ross
Ameling,
Shephard Kraemer, ed., Women's in the Greco-Roman World: A Sourcebook (New York
Religions
and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 163, 661.
30
Kraemer (Women's Religions, 163) notes that Louis Robert "presents cogent evidence that
more
'daughter of. ..' is the far likely reading."
31
Pietervan der Horst ("Inscriptiones Judaicae Orientis: A Review Article," Journal for the
36 [2005]: 65-83, on 78) remarks that "it is not clear to me . . .
Study of Judaism quotation why
Ameling
assumes that Tation herself was Jewish rather than an outsider."
32
Ameling, Inscriptiones, inscription 36.
33
Saul Lieberman, HaYerusalmi Ki-Feshuto (Jerusalem: Darom Publishing Co., 1935), 102.
Fig. 1. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection, Malibu, California, Statue
of a Seated Cybele with the Portrait Head of her Priestess, about 50 CE, m-ar
ble (H: 63 3/4 xW:27 9/16 xD 25 3/8 in.).
"Rabbisof Caesarea say'A crown' [onwhich Jerusalem is incised] ." In the case
of Tation, the public gift of a gold crown proclaims her importance. Note, more
over, that the crown does not merely mark her as wealthy. This crown marks its
wearer as a patron.
Numerous communities presented crowns to their benefactors in order to
honor them. "By the Hellenistic period," explains Joan Connelly, "three stan
dard public honors were awarded priestesses: gold crowns, reserved seats in the
theater, and portrait statues.'~3 We find a wonderful statue in the Getty Villa
in Malibu of such a priestess from first-century CE Rome wearing not just a
crown but a crown with city walls (fig. 1). The crowned and seated figure also
has the cornucopia of the goddess Cybele. The statue thus appears to honor
goddess and priestess together. Moreover, the statue's face appears to be an
34
Jacob Neusner, ed., The Talmud of the Land of Israel, 35 vols. (Chicago: University of Chi
cago, 1982), 11:189.

35 a Priestess
Joan B. Connelly, Portrait of (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
2007), 203.
individualizedportrait.36 The combination of individualand generic recognition

recalls this dynamicwithin the patronage system as awhole. Just as communi
ties honored the assistance and supportof mortal individuals,they also honored
the support of divine protectors whose patronage brought with it safety and
well-being. The 1.6m-tall statue served as a very public honor to both priestess
and goddess.
Patron goddesses wearing crowns symbolizing the cities they sustain ap
pear east,west, north, and south of Jerusalem,aswell as before, behind, and be
yond the centuries inwhich Akiba's story is set. The "Jerusalemof gold" crown
commemorates one city of many. Shalom Paul noted turreted crowns on the
heads of female deities, and on two "prominentAssyrianwomen" in a ninth- to
seventh-century-BCE carved relief,when he sought to understand the item
"one city of gold weighing 215 (shekels)"mentioned in an inventory list be
longing to anUgarit queen.37He also found that the "cityof gold" that appears
in rabbinic textshelped explain the significanceof these seventh-century-BCE
crowns.38 He indicated that the "expensivegolden crowndonned only by promi
nentwomen" in rabbinicsources "accordsverywell with the fact that inUgarit it
is found amongst the possessions of the queen of thatcountry."Itwould be even
more helpful to use this ancient evidence as a backdrop forwhat comes later.
The power associatedwith queen and deitywho wears such awalled crown can
help understandwhat great honor such a crown can convey.The associations
with Cybele inRome in theWest, aswell aswith anUgaritic queen and deities
in the East, suggest a far-flungneed for cities to findprotectors, implying that
the crowns' symbolismmay never have been mere wealth.
If the turretedEastern examplesmark earlier instances of such a crown
associatedwith divine protection, certainlyTyche of Antioch stands as themost
famousWestern example. Numerous statues from the early centuries of the
Common Era echo the famousTyche of Antioch, firstmade around 300 BCE
by Eutychides of Sicyon.39In such statues,Tychewears a crownwith citywalls.
Her support and protection became so famous that this crowned Tyche, the
goddess of Fortune, captured the imaginationof her contemporaries, and one
finds such citypersonifications springingup elsewhere, in associationwith other
36
This art historians
has caused to speculate about who she might have been. Margarete
Bieber connected the style to Antonine of the second century CE and
portraits argued that the
statue likely depicts the earlier Empress Livia (The Statue ofCybele in
the]. Paul Getty Museum
[Malibu: Getty Museum, 1968], 15-17). The current label produced by Getty curators and educa
tors now
places the statue in the first century CE and leaves open the identity of the "individual of
status"
high being honored.
37
Paul, "Jerusalem," 261.
38
Ibid., 259.
39
Christine Kondoleon, Antioch: The Lost Ancient City (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univer
assoc. with the Worcester
sity Press in Art Museum, 2000), 120. For reference to see
Eutychides,
Pausanias 6.2.6-7.
cities. In a series of fourth-century-CEstatuettes (designed to attach to a rod)

honoring various cities, both Tyche of Antioch and Tyche of Alexandriawear
mural crowns that echo the earlier Tyche by Eutychides of Sicyon.40Tyche's
crownwas thus associatedwith successful cities at least through the fourth cen
turyCE. In all these places, a city crown appeared associatedwith protection
and support.
In some of these centuries, themighty Artemis of AsiaMinor appears, as
well, with a fabulously tallwalled crown.A marble statue of the goddess, also
tall (2.92m), found in the administrativebuilding inEphesus, dating from the
firstcenturyCE, appearsnow at the archaeologicalmuseum in the nearby town
of Selcuk. This statue of Artemis Ephesia exhibits a crown bearing unmistak
able columns, pediments, and other details of her city.4'The prosperous city of
Ephesus thrivedunder the protection of thiscrownedArtemis. The appearance
of somany city crowns associatedwith goddesses, queens, and priestesses in so
many locationsunderscores that the crown implies not onlywealth but rather
wealth used toward thewell-being of the community.Pliny, in hisNatural His
tory,mentions gold and city-wall crowns given tomen deserving of honor for
variousheroic deeds, although he does notmention such crowns in association
with women.4' Nonetheless, the gold crown signals protection and care. Ar
chaeological evidence of city crownsworn by divine protectors of their cities,
togetherwith a gold crown used to honor human actions benefiting the com
munity, indicates that crowns signified a range of honors.Nowhere else do we
see crowns indicatingonlywealth or recognitionby a spouse or familymember.
They repeatedlypoint towardmobilized wealth used to benefit the community
and recognized as such.
Revisiting Rabbinic Texts

Now that archaeological and epigraphic evidence for crowns have raised
the possibility that the rabbinic crown called a "cityof gold" ('ir shel zahav)
or a "Jerusalemof gold" (yerushalayimdedahaba') alludes tomore thanmere
wealth, we return to consider the rabbinic texts inwhich such a crown appears.
Just asmaterial evidence presented women and goddesses protecting and sup
porting their communities, an overview of this crown in rabbinic sources pres
ents amuch-respected object. Iwill firstconsider the appearanceof this crown
in legalmaterials addressing the Sabbath andwedding processions before revis
40
of Constantinople and Tyche of Rome wear helmets instead (Kondoleon, Antioch,
Tyche
116-17).
41
Selahattin Ruins and Museum (Istanbul: Net Turistik
Erdemgil, Ephesus: Yayinlar,
1986), 149.
42
Pliny, Natural History
22.4 (trans. W. H. S. Jones; Vol. 6 LCL; Cambridge,
MA: Harvard
University Press, 1951).
90 Jouirnalof Feminist Studies inReligion 24.2
iting the narratives that depict Akiba and his wife. References to a "Jerusalem
of gold" or a "city of gold" appear in:
* Mishnah, Tosefta, and both Talmuds concerning Sabbath regulations
* Both Talmuds, as they interpret prohibitions concerning wedding

processions
* Narratives concerning Akiba and his wife in Babylonian Talmud

tractates Ketubbot and Nedarim (as seen earlier), as well as addi
tional explorations of their later life together in Palestinian Talmud
Shabbat and Avot de Rabbi Natan version A.43
A significantchallenge to interpreting thismaterial, however, is that almost all

references to city crowns reflect back toAkiba and his wife in one way or an
other. Even legislativematerial uses them as a touchstone. Thus each text re
flects the other as might a carnival hall of mirrors, and I do not claim to see be
yond these reflections.Whether the crown alwaysbelonged to the taleof Akiba
and his wife, or joined it at some later point, I instead consider the rhetorical
use of crowns thatenter and reenter their storywith such frequency.44
For themost part, texts in the firstgroup I examine (those thatdiscuss Sab
bath observance) affirm the importanceof women who wore crowns.Texts de
scribe "prominent"or "important"(chasuva)women, not justwealthy women.
The Mishnah has prohibited numerous types of headgear. It prohibits the car
rying of a "city of gold" de jure. But the wearing of a "city of gold" is accepted
de facto.45As the Babylonian Talmud reviews this discussion, it first explains
the crown: "AJerusalemof gold [yerushalayimdedahaba'] such a Rabbi Akiba
made for his wife."46This statement suggests that there is little danger that a
woman will remove such a crown from her head and transgress laws concern
ing carryingon the Sabbath: "RabbiEliezer reasons: 'Whosepractice is it to
go out with [a] city of gold ['ir shel zahav]? A prominent woman, and such will
not remove it for display."'47
The rabbisdecide that theymay accept thewear
ing of such a crown on the Sabbath because an important woman is unlikely to
remove her "cityof gold" and thusbreak rulesprohibiting carryingon the Sab
43 as a
In Avot de Rabbi Nat?n version B, chap. 12, it is known crown (ketershel
only golden
zahav).
44
As far as the versionsin the
Babylonian Talmud are concerned, Cohen, Valler, and Ruben
stein all that the version from bKet that does not include the crown occurs later than bNed
imply
that does, arguing that the story of Rabbi Akiba in bKet is but one of seven heavily edited stories
about absent scholar-husbands that belong together. Ilan (Mine and Yours Are Hers, 42) argues in
the opposite direction, that the "more fanciful Ketubbot tradition was tamed and modified in the
Nedarim version."
45
mShab6.1.
46
bShab 59a-b.
47
Ibid., 59b.
bath.Moreover, this discussionwithin the BabylonianTalmud has offered the

associationof this crownwith thewife of RabbiAkiba tohelp identify it and the
kind of women who wore it.
In the second set of texts (those thatdescribewedding processions), discus
sion of crowns is less complete. Since the narrativesshowAkiba declaring to his
new bride thathe wishes she couldwear a "Jerusalemof gold,"we might won
derwhether suchwas typical for a bride. In this case, however,we would then
have to askwhen we would expect to find such brides or weddings. Although
the twoTalmuds interpret the earlierMishnah and Tosefta as referring to city
crowns,no suchmention occurs in extantversions of these texts. Inotherwords,
we have no evidence for a "cityof gold" associatedwith weddings at the time
of theMishnah. In fact, only one reference to a crown "of gold" (shel zahav),
not a "cityof gold" ('ir shel zahav), appears, and it appears in only one Tosefta
manuscript (the Erfurt manuscript). The othermanuscript (theVienna manu
script)prohibits "gold-embroideredsilks"for the crown.48Interestingproblems
materialize in considering the textual transmissionof theTosefta.The twoman
uscripts of the Tosefta providemixed up, or criss-crossingdescriptions.While
theVienna manuscript prohibits "gold-embroideredsilks"for the crown of the
bride, the Erfurtmanuscript prohibits these for the huppah (marriagecanopy)
of the groom, and vice versa,with theErfurtmanuscript prohibiting crowns "of
gold"and theVienna manuscript prohibiting gold for the groom'shuppah. This
may mean theywere different descriptionsof the same item, or itmay be a later
error.Only the later, amoraic-period texts, the two Talmuds, see the "cityof
gold" in these different descriptions.49Lack of evidence forgold crowns atwed
dings during the time of theMishnah argues against supposing such a practice
for the earlier era inwhich the narrativeof Akiba and hiswife is set.
Alternatively,we might conclude thatwomen in late antiquitywore "city
of gold" crowns at theirweddings, for the Babylonian and PalestinianTalmuds
understood thispassage as prohibiting "acity of gold":"Whatare 'crownsworn
by brides'?A 'cityof gold.'"50Nevertheless, recognizing that the later rabbis,
theAmoraim, could imagine a "cityof gold" crown atweddings, perhapswhen
such crowns belonged to the brides, the bride'smother or her family,does not
48 a decree crowns for brides. And what are the

"In the war against Titus they made against
sorts of crowns which made their decree? Gold/Gold-embroidered silks. But she may
against they
go forth in a cap of fine wool" (tSot 15.8).
49 in the Palestin
One small word, city (Hr) distinguishes the city of gold ('ir shel zahav)
ian and Babylonian Talmud from the crown of gold (shel zahav) in the Erfurt manuscript of the
Tosefta, the Vienna manuscript describes silk (zehoriot muzhavot).

although gold-embroidered
If one seeks to harmonize all these descriptions, then perhaps all envisioned a silk crown embroi
a silk crown one that as
dered with a
city of gold. Such might
resemble Pliny described being "of
multi-colored silk steeped in Such is the latest form taken by the luxury of our women"
perfumes.
21.8). Or perhaps these earlier, disparate texts should not be harmonized.
(Pliny, Natural History
50
bSot 49b. See also pSot 9.15 46a (24b & c).
92 Journialof FemlinistStudies inReligion 24.2
tell us whether the tale of Akiba and his bride refers to a practice prior to and
contemporaneouswith transmittersof this story,orwhether the stream of tra
dition concerningAkiba and his wife influenced a new practice of wearing the
family "citycrown"atweddings. Did authorsof various narrativessituateAkiba
as following the trend forweddings? Or did the stories of his wife set a new
trend? Such questions return us to our hall of mirrors.We may learn little of
realpractice, but at the very leastwe observe the importanceof city crowns as
possiblewedding crowns to the authorsof both the PalestinianTalmud and the
BabylonianTalmud.
Ultimately, the third set of texts (stories of Akiba and his wife) provides
themost detailed attention to this crown. Ifwe return to the narrative in the
PalestinianTalmud that claimsAkiba gave hiswife this crown,we see themost
explicit connection between his wife's active benefaction and her crown:
Rabbi Akiba made a "city of gold" ('ir shel zahav) for his wife. The wife
of Rabban Gamaliel [the Patriarch] saw her and became jealous. Rab
ban Gamaliel's wife came and reported Rabbi Akiba's gift to her hus
band. He said, "Have you done for me what she did for him? Rabbi
Akiba's wife sold the very braids on her head and gave [the money] to
him so that he might be able to study Torah."'"
For one thing, this narrative records the tradition that later in life both Akiba
and hiswife were wealthy.Avot de RabbiNathan also alludes to thisgolden time
inAkiba's lifewhen "hiswife used to go about in golden sandalsand in a city of
gold ['irshel zahav]."52In addition, however, the narrative from the Palestinian
Talmud concerningGamaliel presents contemporaries of Akiba and hiswife as
having understood that the crownworn byAkiba'swife signifiedhonor for com
munity service aswell aswealth. Gamaliel'swords attest to a direct connection
between this crown and financialsupportof this scholarlycommunity.
In light of reminiscences of Akiba's success and his wife's crown,we recall
the stories of the poor Akiba and his need for a patron. The two different ver
sionsof thatepisode-one with thewish for a crown53and one without54-allow
us to see differingways of telling this story.Nevertheless, in each,Akiba lacked
the financialwherewithal to embarkon his studyof Torah. In each, hiswife sent
him to study,somehow supplyingwhat he needed. And in each, he succeeds be
yond expectations.His wife's supportallowed him to traintwenty-four thousand
students, or even pairsof students.55All accounts agree concerning the generos
51
260-61.
pShab 6.1, 7d; translation adapted from Paul, "Jerusalem,"
52
Avot de Rabbi Natan A, ch. 6; translation 261. See also
adapted from Paul, "Jerusalem,"
Avot de Rabbi Natan version B, chapter 12, which includes sandals and a crown known only as a
crown.
golden
53
bNed50a.
54
bKet 62b.
55
Ibid., 62b-63a, twenty-four thousand students; bNed 50a, twenty-four thousand pairs.
ityof Akiba'swife.While none actuallymentions money, they all vaguely allude

to her service.The PalestinianTalmudmentions that she sold her braids.56In
Babylonian Talmud, tractatesKetubbot andNedarim, we learn thather father
had forbiddenher access to her inheritance.57 Yet somehow,Akiba had enough
to sustainhimself and his students.No one in academic life imagines that the
income fromwell-invested braids could fund somany years of study. Itmight
be significantthat in theversion in tractateKetubbot her fathercuts her off only
after she has encouragedAkiba to go and study, so one might conclude that she
had previouslyhad access to her ownwealth.58She had been rich,but then she
became poor. In any case, theworn appearance of Akiba'swife encourages us
to suppose that she has been working her fingers to the bone for him. This text
insistsupon her supportbut refuses all financialspecifics.
Moreover, both accounts from theBabylonianTalmud supplyan alternative
explanation for the laterwealth of Akiba in the formof reconciliationbetween
Akiba and hiswealthy father-in-law.According to tractateKetubbot:
Her father heard that a great man had come to town. He said: "Iwill
go to him, perhaps he will invalidate my vow [to forbid my daughter
any benefit from my estate].".. . [Rabbi Akiba] said to him: "With the
knowledge that he was a great man, would you have made your vow?"
He said to him: "Rabbi, even one chapter, even one halakhah. He said
to him: I am he. He fell upon his face and kissed his feet and gave him
half his wealth."59
Such an ending allows for an explanationof the ultimatewealth of Rabbi Akiba

without recourse to hiswife's assets. It solves the question of how he might have
acquired a gold crown for hiswife, but it tells us nothing of the twenty-four in
terveningyears.The narratives tell us thatAkiba's father-in-lawdid not provide
support for these crucial years. These traditionsdo not answerwhether the
crownmerely honors the intended beneficence of Akiba'swife or her substan
tial financialcontribution.Nevertheless, ultimately, albeit in a backhanded and
incompleteway, these textsdo consistently name Akiba'swife as benefactor.
Finally, the imageof twenty-four thousand students suggests a community
associatedwith Akiba, so thatAkiba'swife's support and her receipt of a city
crown cast her as a supporterof the community.Like the inscriptionof Tation,
or the statues of Cybele, Artemis, and Tyche, a crown appears in conjunction
with communal success. The "cityof gold" crown reverberateswith these pos
sibilities. Since the narrative so consistently conceals all connection of Akiba's
56
For an exploration of rabbinic discussions of selling hair, see Ilan, "'Jerusalem of Gold' and
the Historical Kernel," 35.
57
bNed 50a and bKet 62b.
58
bKet 62b.
59
Ibid., 63a. Alternately, "Kalba Sabua went and asked to be relieved of his vow, and he was
released" (bNed 50a).
94 Journalof Feminist Stuidies inReligion 24.2
wife with financialpower, I see two conflicting, althoughnotmutually exclusive,

ways to describe the symbolic force of this crown as it appearswithin narratives
aboutAkiba and hiswife. On one hand, the rhetoricof theTalmud intentionally
moves our attention from support of other civic and community organizations
towardsupport forTorah study in a bid to compete with these others for limited
resources. In this interpretation,despite the romanticappeal of this story, the
wealth of Rabbi Akiba'swife turns out to be anything but incidental.Akiba's
wife is a virtuouswoman with the rightpriorities, and shewill access herwealth
in order to supportAkiba and his community.The focus on city crowns, re
calling the patronage of wealthy women in surroundingcommunities, suggests
that rabbiniccommunities could find such involvement acceptable andwish to
benefit from gifts by women as other "pagan,"Jewish, and Christian commu
nities did. The Talmudic rhetoricpresents the "cityof gold" crown associated
with Akiba'swife asmarking her support forTorah study insteadof other ways
she might have disposed of her wealth. It does not discuss many options for
benefaction, but it does vividly portray the communal and personal reward for
supporting institutionsof rabbinic learning.
On the other hand, the narrativesmay instead aim to erase the financial
implications of this crown and the acts of patronage associatedwith it, and
instead relegate power over suchweighty symbols to male heads of rabbinic
households, who can bestow or withhold honor within private and domestic
relationships.The strandsof this storymay includemention of a crown because
beautiful city crowns capture the imaginationof storytellers,or because they
help celebrate the support and protection of the institutionsheld dear by the
community,or because they vividly "cap"a narrativeabout patience rewarded.
In this case, theymay have unintentionally referenced female patrons and acci
dentally preserved associationswith women who actedwith financialauthority.
The crown in these storiesmay not suggest rabbinic recognition of financially
powerfulwomen somuch as it preserves an unintended connection towomen
outside the communitywho wielded such power andwere thushonored.
The problem with the first explanation is that the story does not preserve
quite enough evidence of Akiba'swife's financialpower to portrayher as a cred
ible patron.Nevertheless, the problem with the second explanation is that the
narrativesprovide toomuch of a vision of Akiba'swife as supporter of Torah
study to allow for there being no connection between this crown and the sup
port given by a female patron,Akiba'swife. Ultimately,we find,partial explana
tions coexist in this ambiguous rhetoricalpresentation.The impulse to compete
for resources stands in tensionwith gestures thatundermine female power.The
tendency to cede all financialpower tomen stands in opposition to the need to
appeal to financialassets controlled bywomen. These warringmotivations pull
the narrative in different directions at different moments, and thereby reveal
concerns about the construction of gender to themodern reader.The hybrid
rhetoric exposes ways that concerns aboutmoney and power shape presenta
tionsof gender.
Constraining Women Patrons

These texts struggle to domesticate wealth associatedwith women. That
these narrativesportray awealthy patron as only her husband'swife and father's
daughter challenges the possibility thatwomen with independentwealth and
powermight determinewho could study.Rabbinic sources constrain the threat
that accompanies such power, evenwhere a city crown appears.They focus on
the devotion and support offered by Akiba'swife, rather than the power she
might havewielded. In other words, these narrativesemphasize the results of
Akiba'swife's patronage, but not her agency. The negation of her wealth by
her fatherblocks her ability to act as patron and her financialcapabilityall but
disappears from the story,unless one considers the real costs of Torah study.
Although some significant support has somehow been given, we cannot trace
the extent of her gift back to her. The rhetoricof this narrativecarefully limits
her autonomy,vaguely depicting her support of the valued institutionof study
without ever having to assign her a name.
Only our consideration of archaeological evidence in addition to rabbinic
textsdemonstrates the complicated significancesof a symbol like the city crown
and its uneasy situationwithin Talmudic narratives.Material and textual evi
dence together indicate that city crownswere notwindow dressing, but, rather,
conveyed the power of divinity or mobilized wealth. Traces of real,material
crowns locate these rewardswithin particular traditionsof gendered benefac
tion on the community'sbehalf.Whether overall these rabbinicpresentations
of Akiba'swife's crown serve, on the one hand, to recast such crowns as support
for the community of rabbis rather than some other organization, or on the
other hand, to make an attempt at erasing the symbolic importance of such
crowns, these tracesof real crowns remain.When, for instance, the Palestinian
Talmud includesGamaliel'swife, it shifts thisbalance towardpolemical encour
agement of benefaction.Akiba'swife's storypresentsAkiba'swife and her crown
as symbolizingan honor thatnot allwomen attained.We quickly recognize that
Gamaliel'swife could have been supportive likeAkiba'swife. She could have
earned a crown. But she was not supportive, and thus she did not reap the re
ward. The crown exists in these textsnot only as an article of jewelrybut also
as an inspirationto the devoutwomen of the rabbiniccommunity.Or rather, it
exists as a constrained inspiration,for although elsewhere such crowns belong
to powerfulwomen, the texts concerningAkiba'swife highlight her generosity
rather thanher capability.In light of other city crowns that honorwomen for
their agency,we witness the rhetoricalcontributionof these rabbinicnarratives
in creating an enduring set of gendered relationshipsthat limit female financial
ability and power.The contrast between material evidence for city crowns and
rabbinic rhetoricaluse of themmakes visible constructions of gender in this
instanceand encourages us to lookbeyond narrative traditions inorder tomore
fullyunderstand dynamics involvinggender, power, andwealth.

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Follow That Crown: Or, Rhetoric, Rabbis, and Women Patrons

Or, Rhetoric, Rabbis, andWomen Patrons

Although the stream of traditionconcerning Rabbi Akiba'swife

Although here, the Babylonian Talmud, tractateKetubbot, acknowledges that

Sugyot (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998), 101-2,129-30.

In both narratives,Akiba attributes all he has to hiswife. He honors her forher

The domesticated presentation of the supportivewife and her "Jerusalemof

Gender, Wealth, and Power

refrains from explicitly identifyingher as a patron. Instead, the storydescribes

thingsas gold crowns, these fragmentsnevertheless help us interpretsignificant

Wealthy Women Patrons

term of office."20The financialneed of the cult made benefaction by women

Christian leadersconcerning acceptable roles forwomen within the structureof

Epigraphic and Material Crowns Associated with Patronage

This inscription leaves some ambiguity about Tation's relationship to Straton,

cago, 1982), 11:189.

individualizedportrait.36 The combination of individualand generic recognition

cities. In a series of fourth-century-CEstatuettes (designed to attach to a rod)

Revisiting Rabbinic Texts

University Press, 1951).

* Mishnah, Tosefta, and both Talmuds concerning Sabbath regulations

* Both Talmuds, as they interpret prohibitions concerning wedding

* Narratives concerning Akiba and his wife in Babylonian Talmud

A significantchallenge to interpreting thismaterial, however, is that almost all

bath.Moreover, this discussionwithin the BabylonianTalmud has offered the

48 a decree crowns for brides. And what are the

Tosefta, the Vienna manuscript describes silk (zehoriot muzhavot).

ityof Akiba'swife.While none actuallymentions money, they all vaguely allude

Such an ending allows for an explanationof the ultimatewealth of Rabbi Akiba

wife with financialpower, I see two conflicting, althoughnotmutually exclusive,

Constraining Women Patrons

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