After the Romans destroyed the Second Temple of Jerusalem in the year 70 CE, most of the Jews from Palestine were dispersed throughout the Roman Empire. With this diaspora, increasing numbers of Jewish merchants became involved in international trade. Almost every mercantile center of the Mediterranean had its community of Jewish merchants who kept up regular communications with each other and with their old homeland.
According to material remains and historical sources, the Adriatic had an important role in Roman commerce. Although it is difficult to determine the exact time in which the individual Jewish communities in the diaspora were founded, archaeological findings date their existence on the eastern coast of the Adriatic to the period between the 2nd and the 5th century CE.
