{"product_id":"writing-on-the-wall-karen-b-stern-9780691210704","title":"Writing on the Wall: Graffiti and the Forgotten Jews of Antiquity","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhat ancient graffiti reveals about the everyday lives of Jews in the Greek and Roman world\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFew direct clues exist to the everyday lives and beliefs of ordinary Jews in antiquity. Prevailing perspectives on ancient Jewish life have been shaped largely by the voices of intellectual and social elites, preserved in the writings of Philo and Josephus and the rabbinic texts of the Mishnah and Talmud. Commissioned art, architecture, and formal inscriptions displayed on tombs and synagogues equally reflect the sensibilities of their influential patrons. The perspectives and sentiments of nonelite Jews, by contrast, have mostly disappeared from the historical record. Focusing on these forgotten Jews of antiquity, \u003ci\u003eWriting on the Wall\u003c\/i\u003e takes an unprecedented look at the vernacular inscriptions and drawings they left behind and sheds new light on the richness of their quotidian lives.\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJust like their neighbors throughout the eastern and southern Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, Arabia, and Egypt, ancient Jews scribbled and drew graffiti everyplace--in and around markets, hippodromes, theaters, pagan temples, open cliffs, sanctuaries, and even inside burial caves and synagogues. Karen Stern reveals what these markings tell us about the men and women who made them, people whose lives, beliefs, and behaviors eluded commemoration in grand literary and architectural works. Making compelling analogies with modern graffiti practices, she documents the overlooked connections between Jews and their neighbors, showing how popular Jewish practices of prayer, mortuary commemoration, commerce, and civic engagement regularly crossed ethnic and religious boundaries. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIllustrated throughout with examples of ancient graffiti, \u003ci\u003eWriting on the Wall\u003c\/i\u003e provides a tantalizingly intimate glimpse into the cultural worlds of forgotten populations living at the crossroads of Judaism, Christianity, paganism, and earliest Islam.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Karen B. Stern\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0691210705\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780691210704\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/03\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 312\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.15lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.90d","brand":"Karen B. Stern","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43983318417663,"sku":"9780691210704","price":27.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_382e871c-635d-4721-843a-609951afa676.jpg?v=1683265932","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/writing-on-the-wall-karen-b-stern-9780691210704","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}