Judah and the Judeans in the Achaemenid Period

This volume contains most of the papers delivered at the Heidelberg conference, considering the matter under two rubrics: (1) the biblical evidence (and the diversity of data from the Bible); and (2) the cultural, historical, social, and environmental factors affecting the formation of national identity.

Contributors: K. Schmid, J. Schaper, A. C. Hagedorn, C. Nihan, J. Middlemas, D. Rom-Shiloni, J. Wöhrle, Y. Dor, K. Southwood, D. N. Fulton, P.-A. Beaulieu, L. E. Pearce, D. Redford, A. Lemaire, J. F. Quack, B. Becking, R. G. Kratz, O. Tal, J. Blenkinsopp, R. Albertz, J. L. Wright, D. S. Vanderhooft, M. Oeming, and A. Kloner.

Earlier volumes in the series of conferences are: Judah and the Judeans in the Neo-Babylonian Period, Judah and the Judeans in the Persian Period, and Judah and the Judeans in the in the Fourth Century B.C.E.

Part 1 Negotiating Identity: Diversity within the Biblical Evidence

Judean Identity and Ecumenicity: The Political Theology of the Priestly Document Konrad Schmid

Torah and Identity in the Persian Period Joachim Schaper

The Absent Presence: Cultural Responses to Persian Presence in the Eastern Mediterranean Anselm C. Hagedorn

Ethnicity and Identity in Isaiah 56–66 Christophe Nihan

Trito-Isaiah’s Intra- and Internationalization: Identity Markers in the Second Temple Period Jill Middlemas

From Ezekiel to Ezra–Nehemiah: Shifts of Group Identities within Babylonian Exilic Ideology Dalit Rom-Shiloni

Israel’s Identity and the Threat of the Nations in the Persian Period Jakob Wöhrle

The Rite of Separation of the Foreign Wives in Ezra–Nehemiah Yonina Dor

The Holy Seed: The Significance of Endogamous Boundaries and Their Transgression in Ezra 9–10 Katherine Southwood

What Do Priests and Kings Have in Common? Priestly and Royal Succession Narratives in the Achaemenid Era Deirdre N. Fulton

Part 2: Negotiating Identity: Cultural, Historical, Social, and Environmental Factors

Yahwistic Names in Light of Late Babylonian Onomastics Paul-Alain Beaulieu

“Judean”: A Special Status in Neo-Babylonian and Achemenid Babylonia? Laurie E. Pearce

Some Observations on the Traditions Surrounding “Israel in Egypt” Donald Redford

Judean Identity in Elephantine: Everyday Life according to the Ostraca André Lemaire

The Interaction of Egyptian and Aramaic Literature Joachim Friedrich Quack

Yehudite Identity in Elephantine Bob Becking

Judean Ambassadors and the Making of Jewish Identity: The Case of Hananiah, Ezra, and Nehemiah Reinhard G. Kratz

Negotiating Identity in an International Context under Achaemenid Rule: The Indigenous Coinages of Persian-Period Palestine as an Allegory Oren Tal

Judaeans, Jews, Children of Abraham Joseph Blenkinsopp

The Controversy about Judean versus Israelite Identity and the Persian Government: A New Interpretation of the Bagoses Story (Jewish Antiquities XI.297–301) Rainer Albertz

Surviving in an Imperial Context: Foreign Military Service and Judean Identity Jacob L. Wright

’el-medînâ ûmedînâ kiktabah: Scribes and Scripts in Yehud and in Achaemenid Transeuphratene David S. Vanderhooft

Jewish Identity in the Eastern Diaspora in Light of the Book of Tobit Manfred Oeming

The Identity of the Idumeans Based on the Archaeological Evidence from Maresha Amos Kloner

Indexes

Index of Authors

Index of Scripture