“Here is a full and fascinating account of how people lived in the Mediterranean world in the first century of the Christian era. It is a book of history which tells, not of kings and battles and laws, but of families like that to which the reader belongs, who were living at the time of our Lord: the kind of houses they lived in, the clothes they wore, how they travelled and communicated with each other, their meals and schools and places of worship. It will be seen that their lives were much more like ours than we would have expected. It makes excellent reading. Dr.
Bouquet tells us that Pliny invented the omelette, that it seems likely quite as much lipstick was used then as now, that Nero’s wife had a herd of three thousand she-asses to provide a daily milk bath. Such relatively unimportant details are, nevertheless, interesting and give an extraordinarily vivid picture of ancient days. This will be an essential book for those interested in biblical literature and history and, covering not only Palestine but the Eastern Mediterranean, it should be required reading for anyone interested in this important period. Readers will be surprised to discover how much a part of the Roman Empire Palestine was and how greatly this relationship influenced everyday life. The illustrations are historically accurate, being based on contemporary sources, and they help to make the book come alive.” BOOK JACKET