Summary

In "Sepphoris 16 - 17 CE," the first person narrator, Ana, introduces herself as the wife of Jesus ben Joseph of Nazareth. Since she was young, Ana has been full of longing.

When Ana was 14, she lived in Sepphoris. Her aunt, Yaltha, took her to the roof. Born in Alexandria, Yaltha was educated. Against Ana's parents' wishes, Yaltha told Ana of her past. Ana had secrets too, stories she had written on papyri hidden in her room. When she had first learned to read, she realized the stories of women were unrecorded in the Scriptures; she set out to be "a chronicler of [these] lost stories" (6).

On the roof, Yaltha gave Ana an incantation bowl, telling her to write her prayer inside it, along with an image of herself "to make certain God knows to whom the petition belongs" (9). Graven...