The Jewish People in Classical Antiquity: From Alexander to Bar Kochba Review

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(More customer reviews)A must read for any serious, or even half-serious student of the Bible or of the Palestinian history of 2000 years ago. Helps you understand some of the actors in the drama and how they affected and in turn were affected by the events of those years.You may know that Herod killed some of his sons, but did you know that he had 10 wives?After you find how he was treated when he was a young upstart, you almost feel sorry for the guy; you can almost understand his reactions.Despite the hundreds of characters in the story, so many of them with the same name, the reading is easy and smooth.In the last chapter, dealing with the first Jewish war, the story reaches a crescendo like a popular thriller.Here you view the Jews inside the Jerusalem walls, divided in three factions, furiously fighting and killing each other and burning their own food supplies; outside the Roman army is encamped, waiting for orders from one or other of their four emperors who were elected that year (some lasted less than a month before they were assassinated in the Senate,) and in the meantime hauling trees from ten miles away to crucify the escapees from the city. The only disappointment in the book is that so little is known and could be written about the revolts in 115 and 135AD.

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