These books have done much to help me understand ancient Judea & Palestine. If you can get only one, golly, I’d pick Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions by Roland de Vaux.
The List
- Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions by Roland de Vaux
- The Army of Herod the Great by Samuel Rocca
- Daily Life in Biblical Times by Oded Borowski
- Daily Life in Palestine at the Time of Christ by Henri Daniel-Rops
- The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism, edited by John J. Collins and Daniel C. Harlow
- Families in Ancient Israel by Leo G. Perdue, Joseph Blenkinsopp, John J. Collins, and Carol Meyers
- The Forts of Judaea 168 BC–AD 73: From the Maccabees to the Fall of Masada by Samuel Rocca
- From Eden to Exile: The Epic History of the People of the Bible by David M. Rohl
- Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews by Victor Tcherikover
- Herod’s Judaea: A Mediterranean State in the Classical World by Samuel Rocca
- A History of Israel, I: From the Exodus to the Fall of Jerusalem, 586 B.C. by Theodore H. Robinson
- A History of Israel, vol II: From the Fall of Jerusalem, 586 B.C. to the Bar-Kokhba Revolt, A.D. 135 by W.O.E. Oesterley
- History of Jewish Education from 515 B.C.E. to 220 C.E. (During the Periods of the Second Commonwealth and the Tannaim) by Nathan Drazin
- A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ (5 volumes) by Emil Schürer
- Jesus and His World: An Archaeological and Cultural Dictionary by John J. Rousseau and Rami Arav
- The Jewish War by Josephus
- The Jews Under Roman Rule: From Pompey to Diocletian, a Study in Political Relations by E. Mary Smallwood
- The Ruling Class of Judaea: The Origins of the Jewish Revolt against Rome A.D. 66–70 by Martin Goodman
- The Social History of Ancient Israel: An Introduction by Rainer Kessler
- Temples, Tithes, and Taxes: The Temple and the Economic Life of Ancient Israel by Marty E. Stevens
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