> I am not using JavaScript, except for a minimal installation of MathJax to be able to render equations

This is the part I don't get. I know, many commenters on this site don't like Javascript, but a little Javascript isn't going to slow your site down. Conversely, you can completely avoid Javascript by doing a bunch of work on the server, yet slow your site just as badly as with Javascript (or even worse). It would be more productive to talk about the type of content rather than the arbitrary choice of technology used to create the page.