ABSTRACT

This book analyzes social ideology and social relationships in late Second Temple Judaea, studying a range of archaeological material and sites to better understand both communal and individual trends in Jerusalem and its environs.

Using several different methodologies, the book brings to light new ideas about social trends such as individualism among Jews and Judeans during the late Second Temple period. It provides in-depth analysis of the social aspects of ritual baths, burial caves, ossuaries, and decorated oil lamps, as well as thorough examinations of the sites of Khirbet Qumran, Herod’s palaces, and Masada during the First Jewish Revolt against Rome.

Social Archaeology of the Late Second Temple Judaea is suitable for students and scholars interested in the history, society, and archaeology of the Jews in the Second Temple period as well as the social background of early Christianity, early Rabbinic Judaism, and Levantine archaeology.

chapter |9 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|21 pages

Ritual Baths, Imported Pottery, and Gentile Impurity

Judaean Ethnicity Markers in the Hasmonean Period

chapter 2|20 pages

Pure Individualism

Non-Priestly Purity, Religious Experience, and the Self

chapter 4|19 pages

Loculi and Ossuaries

The Family and the Individual in Judean Burial Caves *

chapter 5|22 pages

Art as Style

Why were Ossuaries and Southern Oil Lamps Decorated?

chapter 6|35 pages

The Archaeology of Sectarianism in Kh. Qumran

Spatial Organization, Ritual, Resistance, and Hierarchy

chapter 7|28 pages

Herod's Baths and Palaces

Judaean Identity, Court Society, and Royal Ideology

chapter 8|26 pages

Feasting Before the War

Social Structure and Organization of Masada's Rebels *

chapter |11 pages

Conclusions

The Judaean Individual within Judaean Society