Because so many men and women had the same names, nicknames were needed to tell them apart. Here are several types of nicknames from that time you can use to make fun variants of a name:

• Jesus' father was Joseph, and he had a brother Joseph Junior. So they called the brother 'Joses', a variant form of Joseph, to distinguish him from his dad (like our James and Jim).
• 'Son of' could be added to your name, like 'Simon bar Jonah', meaning 'Simon son of Jonah'.
• You could be called the 'son of' your father instead of your real name. Bartholemew is actually Bar Talmai, the son of Talmai, Barabbas is 'son of Abba' and Bartimaeus is 'son of Timaeus.
• Married women might be identified by their husband, like 'Mary of Clopas'.
• You could add a made-up nickname, like Thomas 'the twin', 'James the little' (he was probably short), or Simon the leper.
• The nickname could be a substitute, like Simon being called 'Rock' (Peter or Cephas).
• You might add your place of origin, like 'Judas Iscariot', meaning 'Judas of Kerioth'.

v*Taken from Jesus and the Eyewitnesses by Richard Bauckham, pg 78-81

Timeline: It can make a big difference what time of year it was when a story happened. This chronology of Jesus' ministry connects events in Jesus' life to months on the calendar wherever possible: 

Weather: This page shows Galilee's average temperature and rainfall for each month: https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/israel/tiberias/climate

Sunrise and Sunset: times in Galilee year round: https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/israel/tiberias

Insulae: a compound with a 10' high wall around it, where members of an extended family lived. It had a central courtyard with rooms for various family members around the perimeter. Cooking, weaving, grinding grain and other family activities happened in the courtyard.

Rooms were low-ceilinged and dark, with windows less than a foot square placed high up in the walls for privacy and security.

Grindstone for making flour. It took several hours of grinding a day to feed a family.

Oven for baking bread. This was done once or twice a week (fuel was scarce); then bread was set out to dry so it would keep. Bread was in small loaves more like our dinner rolls.

Grain was stored in large clay jars

Cistern: in areas without a spring or village well, rainwater from roofs was collected in plaster-lined, rock-cut cisterns with stone lids, often located in the courtyard. This one is in Sepphoris.

Loom: clothes were expensive--you made your own, and patched them until they literally fell apart. Cloth was made from wool (from sheep) or linen (from the flax plant).

Stone vessels: when you could afford them. The advantage of stone was that it never became impure. These were carved out of a chalk stone that hardened when exposed to the air, and were widely used.

Clay (pottery) vessels: cheap and readily available, but had to be destroyed when they became impure. Glazes weren't used til centuries later.

Mats for sleeping on were kept in the bedrooms. You used your outer garment (himation), a roughly 5' x 8' rectangle of fabric, for a blanket.

Furniture: there wasn't much. Chests were used for clothing and fabric items. Most people slept on mats on the floor instead of on bedframes.

Oil lamps:  lamps like these from the Herodian era were used in every home. People of those days didn't like to sleep in the dark. So a lamp was kept burning all night.

Oil: Olive oil was a staple food as well as fuel. Olives were pressed three times by adding three weights to a beam: the first time (the purest) for offerings and selling, the second pressing for the average person to consume, and the third for lamp fuel.

Ostraca: everyday messages (by those who could write) weren't put on paper, but on ostraca--shards of broken pottery. They were sort of the post-it notes of the era. The one shown in the photo has Herod's name written on it.

Wine: stored in amphorae like these, everyone in those days drank wine, because water could contain harmful micro-organisms which the alcohol would kill. Wine was generally diluted around 3-to-1, and the wine the poor drank tended to be low quality. Beer was also used--ancient straining vessels and straining straws like these were used when consuming it. 

Clothing was quite expensive (it took over 100 hours to make a linen tunic), so the average person might have two or at most three sets of clothing.

What Did Jesus Look Like: Video by Tony explaining each of the items of clothing Jesus would have worn in detail.

The Chiton: the inner garment, often translated as shirt or tunic. It was a rectangle of about two square yards of fabric with a hole for the neck, which draped down ones chest and back to about the knees. Sometimes the sides were sewn together below the arms. 

The Himation: a large rectangle of fabric about five by eight feet draped around the body as an outer garment. It was also used as a blanket when sleeping. This  vase shows a Greek wearing a himation.

Belt: A cloth or leather belt was used to secure the chiton. To carry money, it was sometimes folded into the belt for safekeeping. 'Girding yourself up' meant tucking the bottom of the chiton into your belt to free up your legs.

Sandals: flat leather sandals (with no arch support) were worn all the time--most people owned no shoes. A strap went between the toes, around the rear of the ankle, and back to the front, where  a knot skid backward to secure the strap.

Tzitzit (tassels): Tassels with a single blue thread were sewn onto the four corners of the himation.

Teffilin (phylacteries): small leather pouches about the size of a postage stamp that were worn on the forehead and arm as a reminder to keep the law. These first-century phylacteries were found at Qumran.

First-Century Israel map

Mouth of the Jordan - topographical map.

Satellite View of Galilee marked with borders and prominent cities.

Synagogue at Magdala, near Tiberius, hometown of Mary Magdalene.

Capernaum Synagogue from Jesus' time. The 'white synagogue' ruins you see today are from the 5th century.

Capernaum Synagogue Interior: showing the double row of columns, podium, and raised roof area in the center with clerestory windows to light the interior.

'Chief seats' in a synagogue were the prestigious ones where the important people in the village sat. Those low on the social scale sat on the floor.

Gamla Synagogue in the Golan. It was destroyed in the Jewish Rebellion of AD 67 and was never rebuilt. A mikveh (ritual bath) is shown near the entrance.

Seat of Moses

Torah Scrolls

Sroll Jars

Reconstructed Town Plan of the village, showing the two main streets, docks, market, and synagogue.

Excavation Map of central Capernaum showing the insulae, side streets, the synagogue and Peter's house

Harbor: the town stretched along the waterfront, with a seawall and a series of piers for docking fishing boats and other craft. There was a market area along the waterfront, which Peter's house adjoined.

Archaeologists have excavated the actual house of Peter's mother-in-law in Capernaum. 

Reconstructions: This shows an overall view of the house. looking for the west toward the lakeshore.

East View: the waterfront side of the house may have had a shop or an open market as shown here.

Floorplan: Here's a plan of the rooms surrounding the courtyard. The entrance opens into the courtyard. The venerated room  near the entrance was converted into a church later in the first century.

Construction: the house was made of black basalt field stones as shown here.