Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-g4j75 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-13T02:35:44.697Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8c - Judah

from 8 - Regional surveys I: Persian lands and neighbours

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

By
Hayim Tadmor
Edited by
D. M. Lewis ,
John Boardman ,
Simon Hornblower  and
M. Ostwald
Hayim Tadmor
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
D. M. Lewis
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
John Boardman
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Simon Hornblower
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
M. Ostwald
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
Get access

Summary

This chapter was planned independently from CAH III.2, ch. 31, to which the reader may also refer for the period of the Restoration. It is, however, intended to be complementary to CAH IV ch. 3b. That chapter looked at Judah as a part of the Achaemenid empire; here we try to consider its internal development during the period.

The Old Testament books which are relevant are inevitably controversial. It is here assumed (see below, p. 292) that the book of Ezra-Nehemiah was put together, long after the time of the events, from the ‘building blocks’ which included much contemporary documentary material, including a first-person narrative by Nehemiah himself; how much Ezra had to do with his own narrative is more doubtful. The compiler did not aim at a chronological composition, and he tends to build his narrative round the major personalities; gaps and a certain amount of confusion result. We do not believe that this compiler was the same as the author of the Book of Chronicles (below, p. 293), although that used to be the dominant view.

There is little other literary material to help us. Josephus’ survey of the period in the Jewish Antiquities is largely dependent on the edited version of the book of Ezra-Nehemiah in some form or another, and most of his variations are in general likely to arise from his attempts to resolve contradictions than from independent information. Much more help comes from contemporary material, the Elephantine papyri, the Samaria papyri from Wadi Daliyeh, ostraca, coins, seals and other remains of material culture.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Ancient History
, pp. 261 - 296
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alt, A. ‘Die Rolle Samarias bei der Entstehung des Judentums’, in Festschrift Otto Proksch (Leipzig, 1934) = Kleine Schriften zur Geschichte des Volkes Israel (Munich, 1953–1959) 11 Google Scholar
Avigad, N. Bullae and Seals from a Post Exilic Judean Archive (Qedem IV). Jerusalem, 1976 Google Scholar
Barag, D. ‘A silver coin of Yohanan the High Priest and the coinage of Judaea in the fourth century B.C.‘, Israel Numismatic Journal 9 (1986–87) and Pl. 1 Google Scholar
Barag, D. ‘A silver coin of Yohanan the High Priest’, Bi. Ar. 48 (1985)Google Scholar
Barton, J. Oracles of God: Perceptions of Ancient Prophecy in Israel After the Exile. London, 1986 Google Scholar
Beckwith, R. The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church and its Background in Early Judaism. London, 1985 Google Scholar
Berger, P. R. ‘Zu den Namen ššbṣr und šn’ ṣr’, Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 83 (1971)Google Scholar
Bewer, J. A. ‘Josephus’ account of Nehemiah’, Journal of Biblical Literature 43 (1924)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bickerman, E. J. ‘En marge de l'Ecriture 1. Le comput des années de règne des Achéménides (Néh., i, 2; ii, 1 et Thuc., viii, 58)’, Revue biblique 88 (1981) (= Studies in Jewish and Christian History III (Leiden, 1986) )Google Scholar
Bickerman, E. J. ‘The generation of Ezra and Nehemiah’, Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 45 (1978) (= Studies in Jewish and Christian History III (Leidenα, 1986) )CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bickerman, E. Four Strange Books of the Bible. New York, 1967 Google Scholar
Bickerman, E. The Jews in the Greek Age. Cambridge MA–London, 1988 Google Scholar
Blenkinsopp, J. Ezra—Nehemiah. London, 1989 Google Scholar
Borger, R. Die Inschriften Asarhaddons Königs von Assyrien (Archiv für Orientforschung Beih. 9). Graz, 1956 Google Scholar
Bright, J. ‘The date of Ezra's mission to Jerusalem’, in Haran, M. (ed.), Yehezkiel Kaufmann Jubilee Volume, 70–87. Jerusalem, 1960 Google Scholar
Bright, J. A History of Israel. 3rd edn. Philadelphia—London, 1981 Google Scholar
Bruneau, P. ‘“Les Israélites de Délos” et la juiverie délienne’, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 106 (1982)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clines, D. J. A. ‘Nehemiah 10 as an example of early Jewish biblical exegesis’, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 21 (1981)Google Scholar
Cowley, A. Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C. Oxford, 1923 Google Scholar
Cross, F. M. Jr. ‘A reconstruction of the Judean restoration’, Journal of Biblical Literature 94 (1975) (Interpretation 29 (1975) )CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cross, F. M. Jr. ‘A report on the Samaria Papyri’, VTSupp. 40 (1988)Google Scholar
Cross, F. M. Jr. ‘Papyri of the fourth century B.C. from Daliyeh’, in Freedman, D. N. and Greenfield, J. C. (eds.), New Directions in Biblical Archaeology, 45–69. Garden City, NY, 1969 Google Scholar
Cross, F. M. Jr. ‘Samaria papyrus 1: an Aramaic slave conveyance of 345 B.C.E. found in the Wâdi ed-Dâliyeh’. Eretz Israel 18 (1985)Google Scholar
Davies, W. D. and Finkelstein, L. (eds.) The Cambridge History of Judaism 1. Cambridge, 1984 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eilers, W. ‘Kleinasiatisches’, Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft 94 (1940)Google Scholar
Emerton, J. A. ‘Did Ezra go to Jerusalem in 428 B.C.?’, Journal of Theological Studies 17 (1966)Google Scholar
Fraser, P. M. Ptolemaic Alexandria, I–III. Oxford, 1972 Google Scholar
Goodman, M. ‘Sacred scripture and “Defiling the Hands”’, Journal of Theological Studies 41 (1990)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grelot, P. Documents Araméens d'Egypte. Paris, 1972 Google Scholar
Japhet, S. ‘People and land in the Restoration Period’, in Strecker, G. (ed.), Das Land Israel in biblischer Zeit, 103–23. Göttingen, 1983 Google Scholar
Japhet, S. ‘Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel’, Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 94 (1982), 95 (1983)Google Scholar
Japhet, S. ‘The supposed common authorship of Chronicles and Ezra–Nehemiah investigated anew’, Vetus Testamentum 18 (1968)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Japhet, S. The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles and its Place in Biblical Thought (Beiträge zur Erforschung des Alten Testaments und des antiken Judentums Bd. 9). Frankfurt am Main, 1989 Google Scholar
Kellermann, U. Nehemia: Quellen, Überlieferung und Geschichte (Beihefte zu Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 102). Berlin, 1967 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kreisig, H. Die sozialökonomische Situation in Juda zur Achämenidenzeit (Schriften zur Geschichte und Kultur des alten Orients 7). Berlin, 1973 Google Scholar
Lods, A. ‘Les origines de la figure de Satan; ses fonctions à la cour céleste’, in Mélanges syriens offerts à R. Dussaud II 649–60. Paris, 1939 Google Scholar
Mazar, B. ‘The Tobiads’, Israel Exploration Journal 7 (1957)Google Scholar
Meshorer, Y. and Qedar, S. The Coinage of Samaria in the Fourth Century B.C.E. Beverly Hills, CA, 1991 Google Scholar
Meyers, C. L. and Meyers, E. M. , Haggai, Zechariah 1–7 (Anchor Bible). Garden City, NY, 1987 Google Scholar
Naveh, J. ‘Hebrew texts in the Aramaic script in the Persian period?’ Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 203 (1971)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pope, M. H. The Song of Songs (Anchor Bible). New York, 1977 Google Scholar
Porten, B. Archives from Elephantine. Berkeley–Los Angeles, 1968 Google Scholar
Porten, B. and Yardeni, A. Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt. Jerusalem: Vol. 1, Letters , 1986; Vol. 11, Contracts, 1989 Google Scholar
Purvis, D. J. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Origins of the Samaritan Sect. Cambridge, MA, 1968 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rahmani, L. Y. ‘Silver coins of the fourth century B.C. from Tel Gamma’, Israel Exploration Journal 21 (1971)Google Scholar
Rowley, H. H. Men of God. London, 1963 Google Scholar
Rowley, H. H. The Servant of the Lord and other Essays on the Old Testament. London, 1952 Google Scholar
Saley, R. J. ‘The date of Nehemiah reconsidered’, in Tuttlé, G. A. (ed.), Biblical and Near Eastern Studies. Essays in Honor of William Sanford LaSor, 151–65. Grand Rapids, 1978 Google Scholar
Schaeder, H. Ezra der Schreiber (Beiträge zu historischen Theologie 5). Tübingen, 1930 Google Scholar
Schürer, E. The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, revised by Vermes, G. , Millar, F. and Black, M. . Edinburgh
Smith, Morton. Palestinian Parties and Politics that Shaped the Old Testament, second corrected edition. London, 1987 Google Scholar
Stern, E. The Material Culture of the Land of the Bible in the Persian Period 538–332 B.C. Warminster, 1982 Google Scholar
Stolper, M. W. ‘Some ghost facts from Achaemenid Babylonian texts’, Journal of Hellenic Studies 108 (1988)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stolper, M. W. ‘The governor of Babylon and Across-the-River in 486 B.C.’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 48 (1989)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stolper, M. W. ‘The Neo-Babylonian Text from the Persepolis Fortification’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 43 (1984)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tadmor, H. (ed.) The Restoration – The Persian Period. Jerusalem, 1983 (In Hebrew)Google Scholar
Williamson, H. G. M. Ezra and Nehemiah (Word Biblical Commentary 16). Waco, 1985 Google Scholar
Williamson, H. G. M. Israel in the Books of Chronicles. Cambridge, 1977 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yamauchi, E. M. ‘Was Nehemiah the cupbearer a eunuch?’, Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 92 (1980)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zadok, R. The Jews in Babylonia in the Chaldean and Achaemenian Periods in the Light of the Babylonian Sources. Tel-Aviv, 1976 (In Hebrew). English translation: The Jews in Babylonia during the Chaldaean and Achaemenian Periods according to the Babylonian Sources (Studies in the History of the Jewish People and the Land of Israel 3). Haifa, 1979.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Judah
  • Edited by D. M. Lewis, University of Oxford, John Boardman, University of Oxford, Simon Hornblower, University of Oxford, M. Ostwald, University of Pennsylvania
  • Book: The Cambridge Ancient History
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521233484.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Judah
  • Edited by D. M. Lewis, University of Oxford, John Boardman, University of Oxford, Simon Hornblower, University of Oxford, M. Ostwald, University of Pennsylvania
  • Book: The Cambridge Ancient History
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521233484.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Judah
  • Edited by D. M. Lewis, University of Oxford, John Boardman, University of Oxford, Simon Hornblower, University of Oxford, M. Ostwald, University of Pennsylvania
  • Book: The Cambridge Ancient History
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521233484.011
Available formats
×