Even though first-century events outside of Palestine arguably did not play much of a role in the life of Jesus, it is significant that he lived his whole life in a land where a Hellenistic monarch ruled under the surveillance of Roman emperors. Both Greek and Roman culture, as well as Jesus' own Jewish heritage, had an effect on his life and mission. It is thought-provoking, too, to wonder how well Jesus' message would have fit into other cultures of his day, or how important the literacy of the Mediterranean societies was to Jesus' enduring legacy, or whether we in the twenty-first century would have known him at all had he been a member of, say, a Celtic, Pacific, or Native American society.
Drawing on historical records and the work of archaeologists and anthropologists, Frazee here explores the full sweep of human civilization contemporary with Jesus' own first-century Palestine. Each chapter looks at one of the world's major regions -- from the Arctic, the Pacific Islands, and the Americas to Europe, Africa, and Asia -- and provides a short description of its history and its status at the time Jesus walked the earth. In presenting a bird's-eye view of the world at this pivotal point in history, Frazee gives readers a new perspective on the life of Jesus in the Holy Land, allowing them to compare and contrast it with life elsewhereon the globe.
Filling these pages are photographs of ancient artifacts, from the familiar but beautiful ruins of Greece to more exotic and obscure relics that sometimes constitute the only evidence we have of a culture's existence. Frazee's engaging, popularly written text is also enhanced with fascinating highlighted facts throughout, with numerous extracts from various source documents -- the Bible, the Dao-de Qing, the writings of great Greco-Roman historians, and others -- and with excerpts from the myths and folktales of cultures that left no written records. All in all, "Two Thousand Years Ago" is a splendid work that will appeal to anyone interested in the life of Jesus and world history.
