Antisemitism is not a single, static prejudice but a shifting historical phenomenon.

History · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Hostility toward Jews has evolved through centuries, transforming from ancient religious and cultural friction into the pseudoscientific racism of the 19th century. Understanding this history requires looking past the modern term to see how political, religious, and biological myths were weaponized to marginalize Jewish communities across different eras.

The roots of anti-Jewish sentiment trace back to the ancient Greco-Roman world, where it was primarily cultural and religious. In the Hellenistic Age, Jewish social segregation and monotheism—specifically the refusal to worship emperors or pagan gods—clashed with the polytheistic norms of the time. By the 3rd century BCE, writers like Manetho began circulating hostile narratives, portraying Jews as misanthropic or alien. These early tensions were often rooted in national xenophobia, as Jews were viewed as a distinct, unassimilated group within the Greek poleis.

Following the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, the divide between Judaism and the emerging Christian faith deepened. As Christianity sought to establish itself as a universal replacement for Judaism, theological rivalry turned political. Early Church Fathers, from St. Augustine to Martin Luther, developed a 'teaching of contempt,' framing Jews as rebels against God and responsible for the death of Jesus. This religious hostility led to legal segregation and the marginalization of Jews throughout the Middle Ages, often reinforced by myths like the Wandering Jew.

The 19th century introduced a radical shift with the emergence of 'scientific racism.' In 1879, Wilhelm Marr coined the term 'antisemitism' to describe a new, secularized form of hatred that targeted Jews based on supposed biological characteristics rather than religious practice. This ideology ignored conversion or assimilation, asserting that Jewish identity was fixed and inferior. This racialized framework culminated in the Nazi Holocaust, a period that eventually prompted the Roman Catholic Church to formally renounce its historical anti-Jewish teachings in the 1965 Vatican II declaration, Nostra aetate.

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