Late antiquity culminated in shocking episodes of violence both against and by Jews, accompanied by the spread of stories and rumors that would profoundly shape Jewish reputations among Christians and, in time, Muslims. This lecture situates these events within the longue durée dynamics of inter-imperial competition in the Near East and its deep insinuation into everyday social relations, intensifying long-standing intergroup hostilities and producing novel solidarities. Jews occupied a prominent place in both the lived realities and imaginative constructions of these encounters, decisively shaping their fortunes in late antiquity and their legacy in the centuries that followed.