This book has wonderful photographs, and information on, an ordinary woman’s life: betrothal, marriage, mothering, divorce, etc. It also includes sections on the clothing and jewelry women wore, occupations such as professional mourning, prostitution and sorcery, and their more public roles in society: worship, leadership, dance, etc. It covers the entire Bible, not just Jesus’ time.

"This book does not set out to clarify a woman’s daily life. It is a compilation of scholarly essays divided into Literary Approaches (e.g., women visited the cross due to the prophecies, not grief), Historical Reconstructions (e.g., exorcisms), and Actualizations (e.g., modern Japanese women, earlier forced into sex for the military, parallel the ostracism of the bent-over woman in Luke).

This book first covers the stages of a woman’s life - betrothal, marriage, infertility, childbirth, reactions to the birth of a daughter and widowhood. It then focuses on their cultural place - how much they could talk to men, proper behavior in public, legal status, occupations open to them, etc. Last it considers prostitutes, slaves, sorceresses and converts. It does not cover their daily life.

I haven't gotten it yet! (5/24/08)

There is a 65-page essay in this on home and family, that subdivides into the courtyard, the house, household articles (beds, couches, tables, ovens, storage vessels, drinks, oil, dishes, baskets & mats, lamps), food (minimal), the family, betrothal and marriage, the married woman, pregnancy and childbirth, childhood and adolescence, death/burial/mourning, widowhood/levirate marriage/divorce.

A 32-page booklet with fabulous pictures and useful information, geared to 8-12 year olds but wonderful for adults that know little of biblical culture. Sections relating to women in Jesus’ time include: Clothing, the house, home life, marriage, children and food. Each page has small subdivisions – for example, the house has mlling, fetching water, baking bread, ovens, washing clothes and rest.

These are modern recipes that Mary herself may cooked- if she had the money, in some cases. Each entry is preceded with a biblical verse, and a short culinary/biblical background. Chapters (appetizers, entrees, etc.) include recipes on traditional dishes women cooked as well, such as Passover’s bitter herb salad. The back has modern information, such as where you can buy specialty ingredients.

Incredibly boring,detailed, expensive and useful. Irreplaceable, literally – there’s nothing else like it. Chicken coops, courtyard gardens, olive presses complete with diagrams, cleaning wool, etc. How poor people lived, crafts, what women could do and how they sold it, etc. 500 very dry pages.