Did Jesus spend his youth in an isolated village Or was he immersedin a world of commerce, provincial government, and the arts Traditionally Jesus is pictured as "a rural son of the Galilean countryside whose only urban excursion was to Jerusalem," relates noted historian Paul L. Maier in the foreword. "Richard A. Batey finds that portrait faulty," Maier continues. "In these intriguing pages, he overlays a fresh dimension of cosmopolitan culture onto the image of Jesus, bursting the bucolic frame that has thus far tended to delimit it. The ruins of the palace, colonnades, forum, theater, and villas at Sepphoris show that the Galilean culture affecting Jesus was far more sophisticated and urban than was previously thought possible." Amid beautiful illustrations and photos by the staff of the National Geographic Society, Batey's images of Sepphoris reveal a city that Jesus almost certainly knew. In fact, the excavations have turned up evidence of political and social institutions.