The books I mentioned yesterday on Teresa/John of the Cross were:

Merton, Thomas (1976) Ascent to Truth (Continuum)
Williams, Rowan (2003) Teresa of Avila (Continuum)

For more on Roman attitudes towards Christians try the superb:
Wilkin, Robert L (2003) The Christians as the Romans Saw Them (Yale)

On the early church generally, Wilken has written the equally good: The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God which was published by Yale in 2005.

Persian Fire by Tom Holland give a good introduction to the wider history of the Ancient Near East. It deals with the Persian empire and the beginnings of the rise of Greece and was published in 2006 by Abacus.

You might also be interested in an episode of In Our Time which deal with Babylon – you can listen again to it here. Also worth a listen in the programme on Zoroastrianism.

The assignments for CTM210 can be got from here.

One of the great gems dug up amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls was the Great Isaiah Scroll. It dates to about 100 BC and is the only complete scroll to have been recovered from Qumran. It is 7.34 metres long.

You can view the scroll here, but be aware it’ll take a while to load over broadband. Take some time to look at the rest of the site too. As well as the excellent Shrine of the Book, there is a good section on the Second temple.