Galilee in the Late Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods, Volume 1


Book Description

Drawing on the expertise of archaeologists, historians, biblical scholars, and social-science interpreters who have devoted a significant amount of time and energy in the research of ancient Galilee, this accessible volume includes modern general studies of Galilee and of Galilean history, as well as specialized studies on taxation, ethnicity, religious practices, road systems, trade and markets, education, health, village life, houses, and the urban-rural divide. This resource includes a rich selection of images, figures, charts, and maps.




Galilee Through the Centuries


Book Description

This volume presents the papers given at the Second International Conference on Galilee in Antiquity held at Duke University and the North Carolina Museum of Art in 1997. The goal of the conference was to examine the significance of Galilee and its rich and diverse culture through an extended period of time. Several of the papers have been revised since the conference and in light of continuing discussion. Furthermore, three new papers have been added to the collection, for a total of 25 contributions.




Galilee in the Late Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods, Volume 2


Book Description

This second of two volumes on Galilee in the Late Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods focuses on the site excavations of towns and villages and what these excavations may tell us about the history of settlement in this important period. The important site at Sepphoris is treated with four short articles, while the rest of the articles focus on a single site and include site plans, diagrams, maps, photographs of artifacts and structures, and extensive bibliographic listings. The articles in the volume have been written by an international group of experts on Galilee in this period: Christians, Jews, and secular scholars, many of whom are also regular participants in the twenty site excavations featured in the volume. The volume also features detailed maps of Galilee, a gallery of color images, timelines related to the period, and helpful indices. Together with Volume 1: Life, Culture, and Society, this volume provides the latest word of these topics for the expert and nonexpert alike.




Jews, Pagans, and Christians in the Galilee


Book Description

This volume holds 21 chapters arranged in chronological order from the Hellenistic to the Byzantine periods, each of them based on the results of archaeological excavations or field surveys conducted by the author during the past 25 years. It is a summary of field work as well as summaries of studies carried out in Galilee during the last 100 years. Further, it is a study of the Galileans and their material culture during the 1000 years between the third century BCE and the seventh century CE, a long period of time in which the foundation for both the Jesus movement and Mishnaic Judaism were built. This book gives scholars of religion, history, and archaeology much new and concentrated information, much of which has never been previously published.Mordechai Aviam was for 11 years the District Archaeologist of the Western Galilee for the Israel Antiquities Authority. He is an adjunct professor in residence at the Center for Judaic Studies in the University of Rochester.







The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity


Book Description

The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity is the first comprehensive reference book covering every aspect of history, culture, religion, and life in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East (including the Persian Empire and Central Asia) between the mid-3rd and the mid-8th centuries AD, the era now generally known as Late Antiquity. This period saw the re-establishment of the Roman Empire, its conversion to Christianity and its replacement in the West by Germanic kingdoms, the continuing Roman Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Persian Sassanian Empire, and the rise of Islam. Consisting of over 1.5 million words in more than 5,000 A-Z entries, and written by more than 400 contributors, it is the long-awaited middle volume of a series, bridging a significant period of history between those covered by the acclaimed Oxford Classical Dictionary and The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. The scope of the Dictionary is broad and multi-disciplinary; across the wide geographical span covered (from Western Europe and the Mediterranean as far as the Near East and Central Asia), it provides succinct and pertinent information on political history, law, and administration; military history; religion and philosophy; education; social and economic history; material culture; art and architecture; science; literature; and many other areas. Drawing on the latest scholarship, and with a formidable international team of advisers and contributors, The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity aims to establish itself as the essential reference companion to a period that is attracting increasing attention from scholars and students worldwide.




The Archaeology of Ancient Judea and Palestine


Book Description

The regions that compose the current state of Israel and the emerging state of Palestine have yielded a wealth of fascinating archaeological evidence, from the Dead Sea Scrolls found in a cave in 1947 by a Bedouin searching for a lost sheep, to the remains of Roman camps and King Herod's luxurious palaces at the besieged city of Masada. The authors begin with introductions to the complicated and turbulent history of the region in which a series of invaders, including Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, and Macedonians conquered and ruled over its people. The long reign of the Romans in the area is given particular attention-a reign that produced the infamous client rulers Herod the Great and Pontius Pilate, as well as two Jewish revolts against their Roman overlords, both of which met with brutal suppression. Lewin also analyzes eighteen ancient city-sites, including the familiar, such as Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and the less well-known, such as Herodion, with its extravagant palace-fortress, and Scythopolis, with its Roman temples and baths. This book provides an enlightening overview of a region that continues to capture the attention of the world.




The Memory of the Temple and the Making of the Rabbis


Book Description

When the rabbis composed the Mishnah in the late second or early third century C.E., the Jerusalem Temple had been destroyed for more then a century. Why, then, do the Temple and its ritual feature so prominently in the Mishnah? Against the view that the rabbis were reacting directly to the destruction and asserting that nothing had changed, Naftali S. Cohn argues that the memory of the Temple served a political function for the rabbis in their own time. They described the Temple and its ritual in a unique way that helped to establish their authority within the context of Roman dominance. At the time the Mishnah was created, the rabbis were not the only ones talking extensively about the Temple: other Judaeans (including followers of Jesus), Christians, and even Roman emperors produced texts and other cultural artifacts centered on the Jerusalem Temple. Looking back at the procedures of Temple ritual, the rabbis created in the Mishnah a past and a Temple in their own image, which lent legitimacy to their claim to be the only authentic purveyors of Jewish tradition and the traditional Jewish way of life. Seizing on the Temple, they sought to establish and consolidate their own position of importance within the complex social and religious landscape of Jewish society in Roman Palestine.




A Companion to Late Ancient Jews and Judaism


Book Description

An innovative approach to the study of ten centuries of Jewish culture and history A Companion to Late Ancient Jews and Judaism explores the Jewish people, their communities, and various manifestations of their religious and cultural expressions from the third century BCE to the seventh century CE. Presenting a collection of 30 original essays written by noted scholars in the field, this companion provides an expansive examination of ancient Jewish life, identity, gender, sacred and domestic spaces, literature, language, and theological questions throughout late ancient Jewish history and historiography. Editors Gwynn Kessler and Naomi Koltun-Fromm situate the volume within Late Antiquity, enabling readers to rethink traditional chronological, geographic, and political boundaries. The Companion incorporates a broad methodology, drawing from social history, material history and culture, and literary studies to consider the diverse forms and facets of Jews and Judaism within multiple contexts of place, culture, and history. Divided into five parts, thematically-organized essays discuss topics including the spaces where Jews lived, worked, and worshiped, Jewish languages and literatures, ethnicities and identities, and questions about gender and the body central to Jewish culture and Judaism. Offering original scholarship and fresh insights on late ancient Jewish history and culture, this unique volume: Offers a one-volume exploration of “second temple,” “Greco-Roman,” and “rabbinic” periods and sources Explores Jewish life across most of the geographic places where Jews or Judaeans were known to have lived Features original maps of areas cited in every essay, including maps of Jewish settlement throughout Late Antiquity Includes an outline of major historical events, further readings, and full references A Companion to Late Ancient Jews and Judaism: 3rd Century BCE - 7th Century CE is a valuable resource for students, instructors, and scholars of Jewish studies, religion, literature, and ethnic identity, as well as general readers with interest in Jewish history, world religions, Classics, and Late Antiquity.