documents from ancient Egypt. Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica, 25, pp. 61–68.
36 Lozachmeur, H. (2006). La collection Clermont‐Ganneau: Ostraca, épigraphes sur jarre, étiquettes de bois, 2 vols. Paris: de Boccard.
37 Muffs, Y. (2003). Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine: With Prolegomenon by Baruch A. Levine. Leiden: Brill.
38 Muraoka, T., Porten, B. (2003). A Grammar of Egyptian Aramaic, 2nd edition. Leiden: Brill.
39 Naveh, J., Shaked, S. (1973). Ritual texts or treasury documents? Orientalia, New Series, 42, pp. 445–457.
40 Naveh, J., Shaked, S. (2012). Aramaic Documents from Ancient Bactria (Fourth Century BCE.): From the Khalili Collections. London: The Khalili Family Trust.
41 Nebe, G.‐W. (2007). Das Lied von Sarais Schönheit in 1Q20 = Genesis‐Apokryphon XX, 2–8 und die Anfänge der aramäischen Poesie. In S.G. Vashalomidze, L. Greisiger (eds.), Der Christliche Orient und seine Umwelt: Gesammelte Studien zu Ehren Jürgen Tubachs anläßlich seines 60. Geburtstags. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pp. 59–86.
42 TAD: Porten, B., Yardeni, A. (1986–1999). Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt, 4 vols. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University.
43 Porten, B., Yardeni, A. (2014–2020). Textbook of Aramaic Ostraca from Idumea, 4 vols. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
44 Porten, B., Farber, J.J., Martin, C.J., et al. (1996). The Elephantine Papyri in English: Three Millennia of Cross‐Cultural Continuity and Change, Documenta et monumenta Orientis antiqui 22. Leiden: Brill.
45 Röllig, W. (2002). Appendix II: Aramaic inscriptions. In D. Kaptan (ed.), The Daskyleion Bullae Vol. 1: Seal Images from the Western Achaemenid Empire. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, pp. 198–210.
46 Schwiderski, D. (2004). Die alt‐ und reichsaramäischen Inschriften Band 2: Texte und Bibliographie. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter.
47 Segal, J.B. (1983). Aramaic Texts from North Saqqâra: With Some Fragments in Phoenician. London: Oxford University Press.
48 Sokoloff, M. (1999). The Old Aramaic inscription from Bukān: a revised interpretation. Israel Exploration Journal, 49, pp. 105–115.
49 Tavernier, J. (2008). Multilingualism in the fortification and treasury archives. In P. Briant, W.F.M. Henkelman, and M.W. Stolper (eds.), L’archive des fortifications de Persepolis: État de question et perspective de recherches. Paris: de Boccard, pp. 59–86.
50 Vattioni, F. (1971). I sigilli, le monete e gli avori aramaici. Augustinianum, 11, pp. 47–87.
51 Weigl, M. (2010). Die aramäischen Achikar‐Sprüche aus Elephantine und die alttestamentliche Weisheitsliteratur. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter.
52 Yardeni, A. (1994). Maritime trade and royal accountancy in an erased customs account from 475 BCE on the Aḥiqar scroll from Elephantine. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 293, pp. 67–78.
FURTHER READING
1 Gzella, H. (2010). Das sprachliche Prestige des Reichsaramäischen. In R. Rollinger, B. Gufler, M. Lang, and I. Madreiter (eds.), Interkulturalität in der Alten Welt: Vorderasian, Hellas, Ägypten und die vielfältigen Ebenen des Kontakts. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pp. 489–505. Briefly outlines the social role of Aramaic in the Achaemenid Empire.
2 Gzella, H. (2020). Aramaic: A History of the First World Language. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. A panoramic overview of Aramaic in its various ramifications.
3 Millard, A.R. (2003). Aramaic documents of the Assyrian and Achaemenid periods. In M. Brosius (ed.), Ancient Archives and Archival Traditions: Concepts of Record‐Keeping in the Ancient World. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 230–240. Provides a crisp overview of the documentary material.
4 Porten, B. (1968). Archives from Elephantine: The Life of an Ancient Jewish Military Colony. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press. Gives an accessible, albeit dated, introduction to the Aramaic texts from Elephantine.
CHAPTER 10 Biblical Sources
Reinhard G. Kratz
Epigraphical Sources
Epigraphical sources from Judah and Samaria in the period of the Achaemenid Empire are relatively rare (Stern 1982; Lemaire 2002b, 2007, 2015; Grabbe 2004: pp. 54–69). Taken together with the evidence from the Egyptian (Porten and Yardeni 1986–1999, quoted as TADAE) and Babylonian diaspora (Pearce 2006, 2011; Pearce and Wunsch 2014; Wunsch and Pearce forthcoming; see also Kratz 2015: pp. 136–153; Lemaire 2015: pp. 37–73), they allow for a spotlight on the political, economic, social, and religious‐historical situation of Judaism during the Persian period and are therefore of special historical value.
Three kinds of epigraphical sources have come down to us from Judah and its vicinity in southern Palestine: stamp impressions (Avigad 1976; Ariel 2000; Lipschits and Vanderhooft 2011), coins (Meshorer 1982, 1990/91, 2001; Mildenberg 1988, 1996) and ostraca (see Lemaire 2002b, esp. Eph‘al and Naveh 1996; Lemaire 1996, 2002a, 2006, 2007; Porten and Yardeni 2006; see also Kratz 2015: pp. 181–187; Lemaire 2015: pp. 86–98).
The inscribed stamps, bullae, and seals stem from the Judean economic life and are also attested for external trade (Lemaire 2002b: p. 217). Additionally, they shed light on the political structure (Carter 1999; Kratz 2004: pp. 93–106; Lemaire 2007). They suggest that Yehud was an independent administrative unit or even a province with a governor since the beginning of the Achaemenid period. This conclusion is supported by the inscriptions yh, yhd, or yhwd designating the province, and pḥwʾ designating the governor (Lipschits and Vanderhooft 2011: pp. 77–80). The personal names mentioned do not allow for a chronological order but provide us with a list of governors for the end of the sixth and the fifth century BCE. During the fourth century BCE Bagoas/Bagohi was governor, followed by Yehezkiah; one is attested in the papyri from Elephantine (TADAE A4.7–8 and A4.9) the other on Judean coins (Meshorer 2001: pp. 15–16; Lemaire 2015: p. 95). Both of them were contemporaries of Sanballat and his sons as well as a Hananiah in Samaria (see below). In analogy to Samaria and Elephantine one would expect that the administrative center of Yehud had the status of a “fortress,” but this is attested only in literary sources for Jerusalem (Neh 2:8; 7:2). The papyri of Elephantine mention the “high priest and his colleagues, the priests who are in Jerusalem” (khnʾ rbʾ wknwth khnyʾ zy byrwšlm) as well the “nobles of the Judeans” (ḥry yhwdyʾ) as further officials in Yehud (TADAE A4.7–8; cf. Neh 2:16–18).
The coins provide valuable information about the monetary system during the fourth century BCE and the various cultural influences that manifest themselves in the minting. Amongst those coins two specimens are of special significance as they shed some light on the order of high priests in Jerusalem. Two, if not three, high priests are attested epigraphically: Yohanan (I.) mentioned in the papyri from Elephantine around 400 BCE (TADAE A4.7–8; cf. Neh 12:22); his son and successor Jaddua, who appears on a Judean coin from the second half of the fourth century BCE (Spaer 1986/7; cf. Neh 12:11.22); and Yohanan (II?) on a further Judean coin from the end of the Persian period (Barag 1986/7; Meshorer 2001: p. 14), who is most likely to be identified with Onias I. (Josephus, Ant. 11.347; for a different view, see Lemaire 2015: pp. 94–95, who – following L. Fried – identifies this one with Yohanan I). In light of the epigraphic evidence, taking into account the possibility of longer periods of office, the list in Neh 12:10f., 22.26 appears to be complete (Vanderkam 1991; Kratz 2004: pp. 106–111; Dušek 2007: pp. 549–591). A coin depicting a deity on a winged wheel is of special religious‐historical importance (Meshorer 1982: pp. 21–30); the identification of the deity, however, is disputed (Grabbe 2004: pp. 66–67; Lemaire 2015: p. 93).
The ostraca inform us about the economic situation in Judah and in its vicinity in southern Palestine (Lemaire 2015: pp. 98–122). In addition,