Ancient Israel

History of Education in Ancient Israel and Judah

Education is defined as, "teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible, but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, positive judgement and well-developed wisdom. Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation (see socialization)", then first formal education can b...

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Everyday Life in Ancient Israel

It is somewhat difficult for the average modern Catholic to transport himself back, in imagination, to the life of the Jewish race as it must have been lived in Old Testament times. Following the universal tendency of men to think that things must always have been as they are now in our own lives, we can only too easily think that the people of the...

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Women in Ancient Israel

The Apostle Paul urged wives to obey their husbands and husbands to love their wives. This simple exhortation neatly sums up the traditional idea of the family throughout Jewish history as pictured in the Bible. The man was the head of the house and the woman was the helpmate, but they were to work together for the benefit of each: the outcome was ...

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Herod's Palace in Masada

Herod built the fortress-palace of Masada on a huge rock plateau overlooking the Dead Sea in the barren, remote, Judea Wilderness....

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Great Theater at Ephesus

The ancient city of Ephesus is located outside the modern city of Selçuk on the Mediterranean coast of present-day Turkey. Although the region was settled as early as 5000 BC, the city whose ruins we see today dates from the 3rd BC and are the product of Hellenistic city planning and Roman renovations. Lysimachus, the Thessalian general of Alexand...

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Masada Palace

Herod's palace stood at the top of Masada and provided a spectacular view....

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Synagogues of Capernaum

Aside from various references to Capernaum in the Gospels, the earliest literary attestation of Capernaum is from Josephus, who refers to the village in connection with a fertile spring. The Jewish historian reports he spent a night there with a fever during the second year of the Jewish War. For centuries, Capernaum has traditionally been identifi...

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Masada Palace - another photo

Herod's ornate palace stood on the top of Masada....

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Delos Synagogue

Although it is one of the smallest of the Aegean islands (1.3 square miles), Delos has a long and storied history. Inhabited as early as the third millennium BCE, the island was celebrated in antiquity as the legendary birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. Not only did its cult attract throngs of pilgrims throughout the Classical and Hellenistic period...

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Storehouses of Masada

This photograph shows the remains of the 15 storehouses on the eastern side of Masada. The one on the left is as it was found by archaeologists; the others have been reconstructed. In the background above the storehouses, you can see the Dead Sea, which is partly dried up at this spot due to extensive mining of the minerals in the water. The mounta...

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