The Emergence of Yehud in The Persian Period: A Social and Demographic Study
The biblical scholar wishing to reconstruct any aspect of life in Israel during the exilic and postexilic periods will find that he or she suffers from a decided lack of reliable sources. The biblical texts are ideological in nature and the archaeological record is sparse and inconclusive. Frequently, the type of data the biblical writers were interested in was different from that of modern scholars. They sought to validate their positions of power, to comfort or cajole a populace unsure of its place in the Persian empire or its deity's involvement in their affairs, to impose a particular religious perspective on the inhabitants of the province, or to challenge the status quo. But they had little—if any—interest in preserving a detailed portrait of either socio-political or socio-economic setting of their territory for posterity. Under these circumstances, to use Jacobsen's categories, one can at best hope to make 'reasonable presentation of the evidence of the social, political and economic setting of the province of Yehud.
This study, like most, has had its own history and is now somewhat removed from its original problem. I began intending to attempt a socioeconomic reconstruction of a particular biblical institution, the tithe, and in one particular period, the Persian (or early Second Temple) period. I soon realized that in order to reconstruct the tithe I would have first to understand the workings of the economy of the postexilic province of Judah (known as Yehud in the epigraphic sources). This would involve examining excavation and survey reports of sites that existed in that period, addressing such questions as the autonomy and size of the province, and how the province functioned in the larger Persian administrative unit known as Eber Nari (Aramaic: eber nahara)...
CONTENTS
List of Figures / 7
List of Tables / 9
List of Charts / 12
Acknowledgments / 14
Abbreviations / 17
Introduction / 21
Chapter 1 THE CHANGING FACE OF THE PERSIAN PERIOD / 31
The Province of Yehud in Historical Perspective / 39
The Status of Yehud within the Persian Empire / 50
The Archaeology of Yehud / 53
Social Sciences and Contextual Archaeology / 60
A New Style of 'Biblical Archaeology' ? / 70
Chapter 2 THE BOUNDARIES OF YEHUD / 75
Past Reconstructions of Yehud / 77
Recent Maps of Yehud / 82
A Geographic Approach to the Boundaries of Yehud / 90
Environmental Niches and the Province of Yehud / 100
Chapter 3 YEHUD IN THE PERSIAN PERIOD: EXCAVATED SITES / 114
Excavations, Yehud and Archaeological Periods / 114
Excavated Sites from Yehud Dating to the Neo-BabyIonian Period / 119
Excavated Sites from Yehud Dating to the Persian I Period (538-50 BCE) / 134
Excavated Sites from Yehud Dating to the Persian II Period (450-332 BCE) / 162
Chapter 4 YEHUD IN THE PERSIAN PERIOD: SURVEYS, SITE DISTRIBUTION AND POPULATION / 172
Historical and Methodological Perspectives on Archaeological Surveys / 173
Site Distribution in the Province of Yehud / 185
The Population of the Province of Yehud / 195
Nuancing and Interpreting the Data / 199
Excursus: Yehud in the Persian I Period / 204
Conclusion / 213
Chapter 5 YEHUD IN THE PERSIAN PERIOD: CONTINUITY AND CONTEXT / 214
Site Distribution by Size Hierarchy in the Persian I Period / 216
Site Distribution by Size Hierarchy in the Persian II Period / 220
Changes in Population and Site Distribution during the Persian Period / 224
Continuity with the Iron II and Hellenistic Periods / 233
Summary and Conclusions / 246
Chapter 6 YEHUD IN THE PERSIAN PERIOD: A SYNTHESIS / 249
Socio-Economic Indicators / 249
The Implications of a Small Yehud / 285
The Burger-Tempel-Gemeinde and a Small Yehud / 294
Establishing Social Boundaries: The Emergent True Seed' of Israel / 307
The Rise of Apocalyptic Communities and Literature / 316
Conclusions / 323
Appendix: Excavated and Surveyed Sites in the Province of Yehud / 325
Bibliography / 350
Index of References / 373
Index of Authors / 375
Index of Subjects / 380
The Emergence of Yehud in The Persian Period
A Social and Demographic Study
Charles E. Carter
Copyright © 1999 Sheffield Academic Press
Published by
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Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press
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Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 1-84127-012-1
