Life

The texts in this section deal, in one way or another, with the daily life of ancient Jews. Some are aspirational or prescriptive, describing how life should be lived. Others offer more matter-of-fact glimpses into daily life, beliefs, and practices. Still others are imaginative, envisioning life after death or in the eschatological future. These texts come from a broad array of literary, legal, and artifactual sources. Some offer direct, intentional descriptions, as in the apologetic writings of Philo and Josephus, which present (often idealized) descriptions of Jewish practice for non-Jewish audiences. Others provide a more indirect look at daily life, as in the rabbinic texts on labors forbidden on the Sabbath, including incidental descriptions of practices involved in agriculture and crafts. Combined with material artifacts, these sources offer a rich and variegated look at many aspects of the lived reality of Jews in the Greco-Roman world, from ritual observance to economic activity to the practice of medicine and magic.