Science: A Death in Jerusalem

lt was a time of great unrest and turmoil in ancient Judea. Restive under the rule of pagan Rome, the Jews of Palestine in the 1st century A.D. repeatedly defied their conquerors with covert gestures of opposition and open acts of rebellion. The Roman response was usually swift and cruel. Perhaps because he participated in one of these uprisings or committed some other grievous offense in the eyes of Jerusalem's stern rulers, a young Judean named Yehohanan (a Hebrew form of John) was sentenced to death. Like thousands of other Jews—including Jesus of...

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