Daily Life in the era of the Shoftim

1. Daily Life in the era of the Shoftim Country Life City Life Religion ו' מרחשון תשע"א October 14, 2010

2. Country life The Village Agriculture Animal Husbandry Diet

3. Village Evolution Village Design • Villages were a result of common need for protection and shared commerce they were close to farmland that was worked by the villagers • They were close to larger cities for the same reasons • They were not placed on arable land so as to maximize output • They were located close to perennial water sources like springs • They typically had a population of about 75 – 150 people • Ring Shaped villages • Laid out for protection and for the keeping of animals • Agglomerated • Were not planed in any way but every family built where he wanted • Farmsteads • A single farm owned by one person along with attendant building like barns and workers quarters • It had a low wall to keep the animals in The Village Structure

4. The Four Room House Model of four room house from the front • The typical home found in Israel was limited by technology and by resources • Wood and metal were not common enough in the Near East to use as building material • They were built with stone and sun dried mud brick • There were two parallel rooms and one in the back • There was a courtyard and second story • The roofs were used collect rainwater in the winter, to sleep during the summer, drying fruit or to keep a grindstone House Structure

5. The Concept of the Four Room House Four Room House From BAR28:04 • This was the dominant form of all buildings constructed in Israel from the Shoftim to the Destruction of the Beis Hamikdash then disappears • Shlomo Bunimovitz and Avraham Faust (Bar28:04) make the case that the four room building was a functionally adaptation to the laws of Tumah and Tahara • Every room could be accessed from the center courtyard which allows for the separation of people and vessels who are tahor and those who are tamei House Structure

6. Agriculture During the Shoftim and Monarchy A contour map of the Tabaq Farm. Wall A contains the sluice gates which controlled the floodwaters as they entered the farm. Walls B through H are terrace walls around which the water flowed after being partially absorbed behind each terrace wall. The enclosure wall surrounds the farm. The pare military outpost where the farmers lived was on a hill north of the farm, marked by a rectangle. BAR3:03 • The land is dry and rocky and difficult to farm • The villagers worked together try and expand arable land by using • Terrace farming • Runoff irrigation • Forest clearing Agriculture

7. Making the Desert Bloom Area of Tabaq Farm now BAR3:03 • These communal activities allowed farming to be productive that simple subsistence • Depending on the year and the rainfall farmers could produce surpluses which they used to invest in land reclamation • They could also purchase luxury goods Agriculture

8. Field Crops Fruits and Vegetables • Cereals • Wheat • Barley • Millet • Legumes • Peas • Chickpeas • Sesame • Spices • Dill • Cumin • Coriander • Fruits • Olives • Grapes • Figs • Pomegranates • Dates • Carobs • Almonds • Pistachios • Vegetables • Cucumbers • Gourds • Leeks • Onions • Garlic Agriculture

9. Herding Draft Animals • In less populated areas herding was a major industry • The herded goats and sheep which were used for their milk, cheese, butter, meat, hair/wool, and skins/leather • Shepherds would lead their flock around the area grazing unfarmed land • Cattle • Males – Bulls or Oxen used for plowing and hauling • Females – Cows – for plowing with mild and hide as secondary products • Donkeys • Camels • Horses • delicate small Arabians which were used primarily for people Animal Husbandry

10. The Mediterranean Triad Biblical Diet • Daily diet was made up of • דגן Grain – in the form of bread or porridge • תירוש Grapes- wine • יצהר Olives – olive oil • They are the products that the תורה requires one to take off תרומה and מעשרות • Other crops grown locally were eaten but because they were not primary food less land was dedicated to their production and therefore more scarce and expensive • Meat would only have been eaten on special occasions like Shabbos • Fowl – also for special occasions would have been chicken, duck, goose and pigeon Diet

11. Summary of Country Life • Country life remains constant from the period of the judges to the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash • The basis of the Village economy was agriculture, growing mostly of staples with some cash crops • Animal husbandry and small crafts were a small part of rural life • Diet was almost entirely made from locally grown crops

12. City life City Planning Population Hygiene and Sanitation Trade

13. View of Megiddo

14. How City Life Changed from the Period of the Shoftim to the Monarchy • Cities started out as commercial centers in the Bronze Age as the Iron Age progressed and the Monarchy assumed more control the cities became the center for the bureaucracy. • Most residence moved out to smaller villages and the cities were filled with ever more governmental structures • Since we are in the period of the Shoftim we will be discussing city life during the Iron Age

15. Fortification Water City planning

16. Pre-Planning City Types that Develop During the Monarchy • Public structures are the key feature used in differentiating between a city and a village • The city was primarily an administrative and commercial hub of a larger area made up of several villages and farmsteads • There seems to be some central lay out of the city which is seen by the planning of the fortifications, the houses, roads, marketplaces and public structures • This is hinted to in the תנ"ך where various leaders are said to construct cities and in • Capital Cities • Samaria • Jerusalem • Regional Cites • Lachish • Megiddo • Hazor • Dan • Towns • Be’er Sheva • Taanach • Beth -Shemesh City Planning

17. Fortification Tell-Dan City Gate House • Outer Fortifications • Glacis – sloping rampart in front of the Fosse or wall • Fosse – dry moat near the wall • City walls • Solid • Casemate – two thin parallel walls filled with rubble • Gates – and Gate Houses • Outer gates • Several parallel inner gates • Doors made from wood covered with metal sheets City Planning

18. Water Systems • Shaft and Tunnel leading to a perennial water source outside the city • Shaft and Tunnel leading to a water source in the city • Tunnel from outside water source meets with a vertical shaft inside the city • Tunnels diverting water into reservoirs • External approach to water at the base of the Tell

19. Cut out of Jerusalem showing tunnel BAR34:05 Contour map showing path of tunnel BAR34:05 Courtesy of the Tower of David Museum (Permanent Exhibition)FINDING THE RIGHT PATH. Shimron and Frumkin believe that a third team working on the surface pounded out acoustic signals on the bedrock to guide the underground work of the tunneling teams (see section drawing). Initially, the southern team planned to take a fairly direct route northeast from the Siloam Pool so they would intersect the northern team as quickly as possible. The northern team, however, began by excavating almost due west, a course the geologists believe was either a gross miscalculation in direction or a deliberate attempt to extend the tunnel to a well shaft in the heart of the city.Both teams quickly realized, however, that the nearly 160 feet of bedrock and soil overburden in their respective areas made sound communication with the surface impossible, so they decided to adjust the tunnel’s course. Hezekiah’s engineers directed the tunnelers to the shallower eastern slope of the city instead (which has a more manageable overburden of between 25 and 80 feet), where the guiding signals of the surface team could be more easily heard. Partial shafts in the bedrock may have aided in the sound communication. From here the tunnelers followed the surface signals until they were finally within earshot of the other team’s voices and pick axes, as described in the Siloam Inscription. On the plan, areas in yellow have a shallow overburden and gradually progress to the deepest areas (shown in red) where it was impossible to hear the surface signals.

20. View of Megiddo

21. Plan of Megiddo

22. Population

23. Who Lived in the Cities? Dionysus – Roman ע"ז of drunkenness (uncg.com) • As the cities became centers of administration most non-government employees moved out • Those who remain were bureaucrats and the upper classes who would have kept a town house in addition to a country estate • Foreigners were in the cities as ambassadors and for trade • The new upper class mixed with foreign cultures and were affected by them • They did not feel a connection to the population of the country who were poorer and less cultured Population

24. Hygiene and sanitation

25. Personal Hygiene Sanitation • Limited water was not to wasted on bathing more than necessary • Hand washing and feet washing were common • Washing hands face and feet would prepare one for Shabbos • Clothes were seldom washed since it would involve a trip to a river • There were soaps but very caustic • Halachos of Tumah and Taharah which were widely practiced demanded that men and women go to mikvah often so the observant Jewish people were much cleaner than most others • No sewers • Few latrines or outhouses –people generally used chamber pots that they dumped in the street • Household garbage was swept into the street • This is not healthy • It builds up the street level • It contaminates drinking water and leads to the spread of disease Hygiene and Sanitation

26. Local Long distance Maritime Commerce and trade

27. What was traded? Ox cart relief from the wall of Assur • Mostly one crop was bartered for another • A villager would haul his crop to the market in a larger town by ox or donkey pulled cart along dirt trails • Wholesale middlemen would bring crops into the city in exchange for manufactured goods or precious metals • In the city one would by from a retailer who bought it from the wholesaler Local Trade

28. Trade Camel caravan in the Sahara • Luxury goods since the prophet had to be good and the items small • Jewelry • Spices • Exotic food (such as fish from Egypt) • There were established trade routes • Usually run by Canaanites so the term Canaanite was synonymous with trader • Israel was on the major trade routes from Arabia to Syria and from Egypt to Mesopotamia • Used camels and donkeys to haul the loads Long Distance Trade

29. Trade Phoenician ship • Ship travel was dangerous and seasonal • Conducted mostly by the Phoenicians • It was Mediterranean centered with the תנ"ך telling us about some expeditions to the Red Sea with success during the time of Shelomo and failure during the time of Yehoshafat • Based on shipwrecks it seems that the objects of trade were grain, oil, wine, wool, and purple dye ארגמן Maritime Trade

30. Religion The Prevalence of Avodah Zarah Syncretistic Worship

31. Shrines and Avodah Zarah and Syncretistic Worship This shows a temple in Gezer where the idolaters have two altars one of the two back stones is for Hashem the other for his wife Asherah • Shrines to Avodah Zara and idols are commonly found at archeological sites shows its prevalence • Personal alters or במות are also found • Is the inclusion of Hashem into the pantheon of idols and pagan ע"ז Religion