LIFE IN ANCIENT ISRAEL

 

Against the backdrop of the magnificent luxury of ancient Egypt, Babylon and Assyria home life of ancient Israel may seem drab and monotonous. Indeed, it does not compare with the Golden splendor of Troy, nor with the elegance of Egypt's Tutankhamen and Nefertiti. But the Israelis were languishing in hopeless, sad existence, not any entertainment?

Far from it.

Recipes cooking aromas from the plant, archaeologists found beneath the rubble walls, remains of aristocratic houses and Royal palaces. Expert advice on production of incense were highly valued. For mixing the ingredients applied mortar with Pestles; they were made of ivory, limestone, and sometimes of precious Alabaster. The spirits were stored in small bottles of burnt clay. In larger vessels and jugs were holding incense, usually olive oil. Olive oil was considered useful for skin and hair. They were even poor people (of course, without aromatic additives and high value components), since olive trees in Palestine met in abundance.

Ablution water was part of Israel's tradition. The Israelis first before and after meals, washed the feet of visitors who came to the House, and every night they washed themselves. Numerous biblical evidence of this custom are found during excavations stone bowls, basins and clay sinks. For swimming, the Israelis used SOAP, made from plants and various minerals.

It is known that the people of ancient Israel had a penchant for bright colours. Israelis have stained your clothes and house walls, and Israeli women enjoy colorful make-up.

In the Old Testament there are mentions of cushions that members sat at the table, but the beds in the modern sense of the Word does not refer anywhere: bed was a rare luxury in ancient Israel.

In Israel with familiarity only aristocrats. The bed was a commoner's cloak, which he went to envelop for the night. This is reflected in the legislation, which States that "human bed" can be taken as collateral, but only for the day: at night it should return. In 1959, due to a fluke in the ruins of Yavne-Yam, South of Tel Aviv, was discovered by a unique instrument that has a real case of the cloak as a pledge.

The cloak was a woolen blanket and served for various purposes. Not only does it protect from the cold and used as a bed, but could also serve as a bedding and carpet.

Us removes from the noise and clatter of the century of technology, and we often dream about returning peace and quiet good old times. But whether the life of ancient Israel was calmer than the life of the modern European.

Instead of roaring speakers and loudspeakers surrounding Israeli tents and buildings announced the rumbling mill grinders. Mills worked from dawn to dusk, grinding grain into flour. This process was similar to the modern coffee grinders, but was far more difficult. To move a heavy millstone, requiring a lot of strength.

Protests and then emerging about increased noise levels in the major cities, in the old days would have been simply impossible. If, around the mill and the mill would have reigned in the country. In the vision of Jeremiah, said  the horrors that await the nation of Israel during the period of the Babylonian captivity, says: "and stop the voice of joy and the voice of gaiety, the voice of bridegroom and bride's voice, the sound of millstones and the light fixture. And all the land that is desolate and horror; and these people will serve the King of Babylon seventy years.