Elephantine Revisited

Watch “Mr. Elephantine: An Interview with Bezalel Porten” by Margaretha Folmer:

The Judean community at Elephantine has long fascinated historians of the Persian period. This book, with its stellar assemblage of important scholarly voices, provides substantive new insights and approaches that will advance the study of this well-known but not entirely understood community from fifth-century BCE Egypt.

Since Bezalel Porten’s pioneering Archives from Elephantine, published in 1968, the discourse on the subject of the community of Elephantine during the Persian period has changed considerably, due to new data from excavations, the discovery and publication of previously unknown texts, and original scholarly insights and avenues of inquiry. Running the gamut from archaeological to linguistic investigations and encompassing legal, literary, religious, and other aspects of life in this Judean community, this volume stands at a crossroads of research that extends from Hebrew Bible studies to the history of early Jewish communities. It also features fourteen new Aramaic ostraca from Aswan. The volume will appeal to students and scholars of the Hebrew Bible and ancient Judaism, as well as to a wider audience of Egyptologists, Semitists, and specialists in ancient Near Eastern studies.

In addition to the editor, the contributors to this volume include Annalisa Azzoni, Bob Becking, Alejandro F. Botta, Lester L. Grabbe, Ingo Kottsieper, Reinhard G. Kratz, André Lemaire, Hélène Nutkowicz, Beatrice von Pilgrim, Cornelius von Pilgrim, Bezalel Porten, Ada Yardeni, and Ran Zadok. Moreover, a video recording of an interview conducted with Porten on his long career in Elephantine studies accompanies the book through a link on the Eisenbrauns website.

“[An] exciting collection of essays. . . . It is impossible to do justice to the wealth of insights presented. . . .”—Sandra Jacobs, Society for Old Testament Study Booklist (JSOT)

“[C]ontrary to Qohelet, there is something new under the sun, and the present volume of essays, edited by Margaretha Folmer, offers much that is novel to the study of the Persian-period Judean community resident on the Nile island of Elephantine.”—Collin Cornell, Bibliotheca Orientalis

“The essays in this volume are all from scholars with excellent command of their material. There is much to be learned from each one.”—Christine Mitchell, Journal of the American Oriental Society

Margaretha Folmer is Lecturer in Aramaic at Leiden University and Associate Professor of Hebrew at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

List of Illustrations

                                      Preface Margaretha Folmer

List of Abbreviations                                       Chapter 1. On the Archaeological Background of the Aramaic Papyri from Elephantine in the Light of Recent Fieldwork

Cornelius von Pilgrim

Chapter 2. Family Life and Law at Elephantine

Annalisa Azzoni

Chapter 3. Some Aspects of Family Bonds in the Judean Community of Elephantine

Hélène Nutkowicz

Chapter 4. Law in Elephantine: Crimes and Misdemeanors

Alejandro F. Botta

Chapter 5. The Ostraca of Elephantine: A Further Light on the Judeans in Elephantine

André Lemaire

Chapter 6. Elephantine and Ezra–Nehemiah

Lester L. Grabbe

Chapter 7. Aḥiqar and Bisitun: The Literature of the Judeans at Elephantine

Reinhard G. Kratz

Chapter 8. On Aḥiqar and the Bible

Ingo Kottsieper

Chapter 9. The Identity of the People at Elephantine

Bob Becking

Chapter 10. The Contribution of Elephantine Aramaic to Aramaic Studies

Margaretha Folmer

Chapter 11. Personal Names in New Aramaic Ostraca from Syene

Bezalel Porten and André Lemaire, with contributions by Beatrice von Pilgrim and Ran Zadok and handcopies by Ada Yardeni ז״ל

List of Contributors

Ancient Source Index

Subject Index

Download a PDF sample chapter here: Chapter1