Nostalgia Sunday – Everyday Roman-era Artifacts

April 24, 2011 - 7:47 PM by Rachel Neiman

This weekend sees the end of Passover as well as the Easter holiday. Consequently, both the History Channel and National Geographic have been running shows about the Jewish origins of Christianity — a topic that, when growing up, was everyday dinner conversation at our house. And, subsequent to watching a bunch of these shows back to back, my brain is filled with images of reenactments by dusty-bearded actors and computer-generated animations illustrating theories ranging from the reasonable to the outlandish — backed by bombastic music playing over and over in my head — of things that are true… dah-dah… or are they?

At such times, it’s best to clear one’s head with a quick visit to the Israel Antiquities Authority site, which has an excellent online gallery of the archeological artifacts from our region. Viewing items from the Roman Era makes that period relatable; we can’t necessarily understand the Ancients’ world view but we all know what a sewing needle was for…

And we can understand a child’s delight in a chickie pull-toy…

Or the need of a good fine-toothed comb for one’s hair, particularly in those dark days before lice shampoo…

After which you might use a hair net to wrap it up in a snood…

And while many reenactments tend to dress Roman-era folk in dull browns, tans and grays, in fact, fabrics imported from Egypt could be bold and flowery…

All photographs are by photographer Clara Amit and come courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority website.

And, to give you an idea of our family dinner conversations, here’s a video of Dr. David Neiman of blessed memory, doing what he loved best: explaining the historical relationship between the Church and the Jews. Enjoy.