Household and Family Religion in Persian-Period Judah: An Archaeological Approach by José E. Balcells Gallarreta

2019 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 304-305
Author(s):  
Michael S. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Persian Period ◽  
Archaeological Approach

The Contest on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:19–40) as a Reflection of a Religious-Cultural Threat

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-100
Author(s):  
Nadav Na’aman
Keyword(s):  
Persian Period ◽  
Absolute Power ◽  
Divine Power ◽  
Single Author ◽  
Cultural Threat ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
Story Cycle ◽  
1 Kings

Abstract The article suggests that the story of the contest on Mount Carmel (1 Kgs 18:19–40) is a complete literary unit that was written by a single author in the early Persian period and inserted into the deuteronomistic story-cycle of Elijah. The story is entirely legendary and reflects the polemic of a devotee of YHWH against the contemporaneous spread of the Phoenician cult and culture. The attachment of the story to Mount Carmel may reflect the occasion of the establishment of a Tyrian/Sidonian temple on one of the mountain’s peaks, but this hypothesis cannot be verified. The story conveys a clear religious message of the absolute power of YHWH and the worthlessness of all other gods – in particular the Phoenician God Ba‘al – and of the fallacy of the belief in his divine power.

The Literary and Ideological Character of the Letters in Ezra 4–7

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Grätz
Keyword(s):  
Persian Period ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
Biblical Texts

At first glance, the Aramaic letters embedded in the biblical book of Ezra look like authentic documents issued in favour of the Judaeans by the Achaemenid chanceries. This chapter shows that the letters display formulaic and stylistic features differing from authentic imperial Persian royal correspondence, that the contents of these letters are influenced by other biblical texts, chiefly Deutero-Isaiah and the books of Chronicles, and that the image of the king in these letters comprises aspects of the euergetism characteristic of Hellenistic monarchs. Grätz therefore suggests that the letters in Ezra 4–7 are fictitious and serve certain literary and ideological purposes: they present the Persian period as a time of divinely monitored reconstruction after the exile, and they emphasize God’s lasting election of Judah and the Jerusalem temple. The deployment of letters for such purposes can be compared with similar practices in Hellenistic historiography.

Ezekiel in Its Historical Context

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marvin A. Sweeney
Keyword(s):  
Political History ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Persian Period ◽  
Proper Interpretation

This chapter surveys the historical background for the composition of the book of Ezekiel, covering roughly three centuries—from the reign of Hezekiah until the early Persian period. This background is essential to the book’s proper interpretation, given one of its most characteristic and prevalent features: oracles that are dated. The present chapter not only recounts the rise and fall of successive Assyrian and Babylonian empires, but also shows how the book has addressed the context of that evolving environment. The book’s explicit chronology thus ties this political history to the experience of the Judean exiles in Babylon.

An Anatolian-Persian tomb relief from Gökçeler in Lydia

2018 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 119-130
Author(s):  
Figen Çevirici-Coşkun
Keyword(s):  
Northern Region ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
African Origin ◽  
Persian Period ◽  
Funerary Reliefs ◽  
Short Spiral ◽  
The Village

AbstractThe relief block at the centre of this study was found in 2004 in a ploughed field in the northern region of Lydia near the village of Gökçeler in the district of Akhisar, in what is today the Manisa province. A standing male figure is depicted on the block, which probably belonged to a chamber tomb. Holding a cock and a bud in his hands, stylistically the figure points to a date between the late sixth century BC and the early fifth century BC. He has short, spiral curls and wears a long-sleeved, tight-fitting garment that appears to be influenced by the Persian style. Within the scope of Anatolian-Persian funerary reliefs, this example is particularly significant due to its typological and iconographical elements. Specifically, following comparisons with other works of the Persian period, it is possible to suggest that the figure on the Gökçeler relief is an African who is offering a gift to the tomb owner; the latter may have been Persian or have served a Persian. Thus, this relief has particular significance since it is the only known work of Anatolian-Persian sculpture which indicates that individuals of African origin lived in the Anatolian region under Persian rule.

The Numbers of Numbers: The Census Accounts in the Book of Numbers

2016 ◽  
Vol 128 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Itamar Kislev
Keyword(s):  
Similar Process ◽  
Persian Period ◽  
Careful Inspection

AbstractThe Book of Numbers receives its name from the two census accounts it includes, at the beginning and towards the end of the account of the wilderness wandering (chapters 1–2; 26). In this paper I examine the literary relationship between these two accounts, which contain several similar components as well as some significant differences. Upon a careful inspection, it emerges that the differing features of the census accounts are explained by the assumption that two different documents underlie both accounts, while the similarities between them suggest that the same editorial hand was responsible for the composition of both. The terms used as part of the editorial activity in both accounts can teach us that this activity took place in the Persian period. The redactional process revealed in the census accounts seems to be related also to a similar process in the story of the spies, especially in Num 14,29.35.

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