The Cultural Milieu of Ancient Sepphoris

Abstract

Recent New Testament scholarship has rightly emphasized the significance of urban features at Sepphoris for gospels and Historical Jesus research. However, some of these studies have greatly exaggerated the quantity of evidence for Greco-Roman influence in the first-century city. Most of the architectural features associated with the Greco-Roman city are missing, evidence for use of Greek is minimal, and signs of pagans are rare. In light of this, questions about the influence of Galilee's Hellenistic milieu on the Historical Jesus must be reconsidered.

J D Crossan's Construct of Jesus' “Jewishness”: A Critical Assessment

“…Public architecture is of course more instructive as to the ruler's cultural orientation than that of the ordinary people (Reed 2000:43). And generally, archaeological investigations have revealed that Sepphoris was overwhelmingly inhabited by "Jews" (Chancey 2001;2002:79-80). The four "religious", or rather, ethnic indicators that have been found all over Galilee (lack of pork in the bone profile, miqva'ot, stone vessels, and burial in kochim or loculi tombs with ossuaries) are also present in the excavations conducted in Sepphoris.…”

The Use of Greek in Early Roman Galilee: The Inscriptional Evidence Re-examined

“…Cf. Reed 2000: 79-82, 94-95; Chancey 2001: 127-45; 1992: 84-91.…”