Description
Book SynopsisIn July 2003, a conference was held at the University of Heidelberg (Germany), focusing on the people and land of Judah during the 5th and early 4th centuries B.C.E.— the period when the Persian Empire held sway over the entire ancient Near East. This volume publishes the papers of the participants in the working group that attended the Heidelberg conference.
Participants whose contributions appear here include: Y. Amit, B. Becking, J. Berquist, J. Blenkinsopp, M. Dandamayev, D. Edelman, T. Eskenazi, A. Fantalkin and O. Tal, L. Fried, L. Grabbe, S. Japhet, J. Kessler, E. A. Knauf, G. Knoppers, R. Kratz, A. Lemaire, O. Lipschits, H. Liss, M. Oeming, L. Pearce, F. Polak, B. Porten and A. Yardeni, E. Stern, D. Ussishkin, D. Vanderhooft, and J. Wright.
The conference was the second of three meetings; the first, held at Tel Aviv in May 2001, was published as Judah and the Judeans in the Neo-Babylonian Period by Eisenbrauns in 2003. A third conference focusing on Judah and the Judeans in the Hellenistic era was held in the summer of 2005, at Münster, Germany, and will also be published by Eisenbrauns.
Table of Contents‘We All Returned as One!’:Critical Notes on the Myth of the Mass Return Bob Becking
Achaemenid Imperial Policy, Settlement Processes in Palestine, and the Status of Jerusalem in the Middle of the Fifth Century B.C.E. Oded Lipschits
Constructions of Identity in Postcolonial Yehud Jon L. Berquist
Remapping Yehud: The Borders of Yehud and the Genealogies of Chronicles John W. Wright
Persia’s Loyal Yahwists: Power Identity and Ethnicity in Achaemenid Yehud John Kessler
The ‘am ha’arets in Ezra 4:4 and Persian Imperial Administration Lisbeth S. Fried
The Borders and De Facto Size of Jerusalem in the Persian Period David Ussishkin
Redating Lachish Level I: Identifying Achaemenid Imperial Policy at the Southern Frontier of the Fifth Satrapy Alexander Fantalkin and Oren Tal
The Religious Revolution in Persian-Period Judah Ephraim Stern
Tyrian Trade in Yehud under Artaxerxes I: Real or Fictional? Independent or Crown Endorsed? Diana Edelman
The Second Temple of Jeb and of Jerusalem Reinhard G. Kratz
Revisiting the Samarian Question in the Persian Period Gary N. Knoppers
Bethel: The Israelite Impact on Judean Language and Literature Ernst Axel Knauf
Cyrus II, Liberator or Conqueror? Ancient Historiography concerning Cyrus in Babylon David Vanderhooft
Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid State Administration in Mesopotamia M. A. Dandamayev
New Evidence for Judeans in Babylonia Laurie E. Pearce
New Aramaic Ostraca from Idumea and Their Historical Interpretation André Lemaire
Social Economic and Onomastic Issues in the Aramaic Ostraca of the Fourth Century BCE Bezalel Porten and Ada Yardeni
Periodization between History and Ideology II: Chronology and Ideology in Ezra-Nehemiah Sara Japhet
The Missions of Ezra and Nehemiah Tamara Cohn Eskenazi
The ‘Persian Documents’ in the Book of Ezra: Are They Authentic? Lester L. Grabbe
‘See, We Are Serving Today’ (Nehemiah 9:36): Nehemiah 9 as a Theological Interpretation of the Persian Period Manfred Oeming
Sociolinguistics and the Judean Speech Community in the Achaemenid Empire Frank H. Polak
Benjamin Traditions Read in the Early Persian Period J. Blenkinsopp
The Saul Polemic in the Persian Period Yairah Amit
The Imaginary Sanctuary: The Priestly Code as an Example of Fictional Literature in the Hebrew Bible Hanna Liss
Index of Authors
Index of Scripture
Index of Sites and Place-Names
