ABSTRACT

This collection of papers combines important archaeological and textual evidence to examine diverse aspects of religion and society in Roman Palestine.

A range of international experts provide an unprecedented look at issues of acculturation, assimilation and the preservation of difference in the multicultural climate of Palestine in the Roman period.

Key themes include:

* the nature of ethnicity and ritual
* the character of public and private space in Jewish society
* the role of gender and space
* the role of peasants
* the impact of Roman rule
* ritual and the regional framework of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Religion and Society in Roman Palestine will be relevant to ancient historians, interpreters of the historical Jesus and subsequent Jesus movements, and those interested in the development of Judaism from Qu'ran to the rabbis.

chapter 1|6 pages

CONSTRUCTING THE WORLD OF ROMAN PALESTINE

An introduction

chapter 2|21 pages

FIRST CENTURY JEWISH GALILEE

An archaeological perspective

chapter 4|12 pages

THE GALILEAN RESPONSE TO EARLIEST CHRISTIANITY

A cross-cultural study of the subsistence ethic

chapter 5|7 pages

LANGUAGE AND WRITING IN EARLY ROMAN GALILEE

Social location of a potter’s abecedary from Khirbet Qana

chapter 6|14 pages

DIONYSOS AND HERAKLES IN GALILEE

The Sepphoris mosaic in context

chapter 7|33 pages

THE FIRST-CENTURY SYNAGOGUE

Critical reassessments and assessments of the critical

chapter 8|10 pages

CITY COINS AND ROMAN POWER IN PALESTINE

From Pompey to the Great Revolt

chapter 9|16 pages

IMAGINED HOUSEHOLDS

chapter 10|17 pages

GENDER, DIFFERENCE, AND EVERYDAY LIFE

The case of weaving and its tools

chapter 11|16 pages

WHY SCROLL JARS?

chapter 12|8 pages

QUMRAN AND THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

The contention of twelve theories

chapter 13|19 pages

OPENING UP OUR VIEW

Khirbet Qumran in a regional perspective