Steve wrote:
> I can't resist commenting on this since I've just finished reading an
>interesting book called "Jesus and the Forgotten City: New Light on
>Sepphoris and the Urban World of Jesus" by Richard A. Batey (1991, Baker
>Book House, Grand Rapids, MI). Batey has a PhD from Vanderbilt and
>served as administrative director of the University of South Florida's
>excavation of Sepphoris and is a professor at Rhodes College.
>
> The book discusses the archaeological investigation of the large city
>of Sepphoris which existed a scant 4 miles from Nazareth. It was built
>by Herod Antipas during Jesus's boyhood (and the author speculates that
>he and Joseph may have worked on its construction as carpenters) and
>served as the capital for Galilee and Peraea during Jesus's life.
>
> Batey describes Sepphoris as a "burgeoning Greco-Roman metropolis
>boasting upwards of thirty thousand inhabitants - Jews, Arabs, Greeks,
>and Romans." [p. 14].
>
> I think he makes a good case that Jesus was not a "country bumpkin"
>and was exposed as a child and young adult to a great deal more than
>is generally thought.
Thank you all for enlightening me on this issue. I guess I will be a
little more careful in the future concerning what language or languages
Jesus spoke.
glenn
Foundation,Fall and Flood
http://members.gnn.com/GRMorton/dmd.htm