Times of Transition: Judea in the Early Hellenistic Period

Published by Penn State University Press 2021

Times of Transition

Judea in the Early Hellenistic Period

Edited by: Sylvie Honigman , Christophe Nihan and Oded Lipschits

Volume 1 in the series Mosaics: Studies on Ancient Israel

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781646021451

Overview
Contents

About this book

This multidisciplinary study takes a fresh look at Judean history and biblical literature in the late fourth and third centuries BCE. In a major reappraisal of this era, the contributions to this volume depict it as one in which critical changes took place.

Until recently, the period from Alexander’s conquest in 332 BCE to the early years of Seleucid domination following Antiochus III’s conquest in 198 BCE was reputed to be poorly documented in material evidence and textual production, buttressing the view that the era from late Persian to Hasmonean times was one of seamless continuity. Biblical scholars believed that no literary activity belonged to the Hellenistic age, and archaeologists were unable to refine their understanding because of a lack of secure chronological markers. However, recent studies are revealing this period as one of major social changes and intense literary activity. Historians have shed new light on the nature of the Hellenistic empires and the relationship between the central power and local entities in ancient imperial settings, and the redating of several biblical texts to the third century BCE challenges the traditional periodization of Judean history.

Bringing together Hellenistic history, the archaeology of Judea, and biblical studies, this volume appraises the early Hellenistic period anew as a time of great transition and change and situates Judea within its broader regional and transregional imperial contexts.

Author / Editor information

Honigman Sylvie :

Sylvie Honigman is Associate Professor of Ancient History at Tel Aviv University. She is the author of The Septuagint and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria: Study in the Narrative of the “Letter of Aristeas.”Lipschits Oded :

Christophe Nihan is Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible and History of Ancient Israel at the University of Lausanne. He is the coeditor of Purity and the Forming of Religious Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean World and Ancient Judaism.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contributors Publicly Available Download PDF	XI
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	XV
Introduction Sylvie Honigman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I. The Chronological Frame, Politics and Identity
1. The Ptolemaic Period: A Dark Age in Jewish History? Lester L. Grabbe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
2. Numismatic Evidence and the Chronology of the Fifth Syrian War Catharine C. Lorber Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
3. The Representation of the Victorious King Comments on the Dedication of a Statue of Ptolemy IV in Jaffa (SEG 20.467 = CIIP 3.2172) Stefan Pfeiffer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
4. Aramaic, Paleo-Hebrew and “Jewish” Scripts in the Ptolemaic Period David S. Vanderhooft Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
II. The History of Rural Settlement in Judea
5. Judah in the Early Hellenistic Period: An Archaeological Perspective Nitsan Shalom, Oded Lipschits and Yuval Gadot Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
6. Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Late Persian and Early Hellenistic Periods Yosef Garfinkel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
7. Coin Circulation in Judea during the Persian–Hellenistic Transition A View from the Elah Valley Yoav Farhi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
8. Political Trends as Reflected in the Material Culture A New Look at the Transition between the Persian and Early Hellenistic Periods Igor Kreimerman and Débora Sandhaus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
III. The Workings of Empires in Local and Comparative Perspectives
9. The Harbor of Akko-Ptolemaïs: Dates and Functions Gil Gambash Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
10. The Achaemenid–Ptolemaic Transition The View from Southern Phoenicia Andrea M. Berlin and Sharon C. Herbert Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
11. Sanctuaries, Priest-Dynasts and the Seleukid Empire Boris Chrubasik Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
12. Gods in the Gray Zone A Political History of Egyptian Temples from Artaxerxes III to the End of the Argeadai (342–ca. 305 BCE) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
13. Sacred and Secular Activities in the Egyptian Temple Precincts (temenē) in the 3rd Century BCE Gilles Gorre Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
14. Searching for the Social Location of Literate Judean Elites in Early Hellenistic Times A Non-Linear History of the Temple and Royal Administrations in Judea Sylvie Honigman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
IV. The Pentateuch: Early Greek Translations and Receptions
15. The Idealization of Ptolemaic Kingship in the Legend of the Origins of the Septuagint Timothy H. Lim Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	231
16. The Production of Greek Books in Alexandrian Judaism Benjamin G. Wright Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
17. The Septuagint: Translating and Adapting the Torah to the 3rd Century BCE Martin Rösel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
18. Greek Historians on Jews and Judaism in the 3rd Century BCE Reinhard G. Kratz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263
V. Biblical Texts in the 3rd Century BCE
19. How to Identify a Ptolemaic Period Text in the Hebrew Bible Konrad Schmid Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
20. No Prophetic Texts from the Hellenistic Period? Methodological, Philological and Historical Observations on the Writing of Prophecy in Early Hellenistic Judea Hervé Gonzalez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293
21. The Social Setting and Purpose of Early Judean Apocalyptic Literature Between Resistance Literature and Literate Hermeneutics Sylvie Honigman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	341
22. “To be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated” (Esther 7:4) Historicity and Fictionality of Anti-Jewish Pogrom Stories before the Maccabean Crisis Manfred Oeming Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	357
Index of Ancient Sources Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	375
Index of Geographical Names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	384
Index of Subjects Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	387
Index of Modern Authors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	391

Language: English
Publisher: Penn State University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 416
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 35
- Coloured Images: 35
- Other: 35 color illustrations
Keywords: Judea in early Hellenistic times; Judea; Ptolemaic times; Ptolemaic Empire; Archaeology of Judea; Archaeology of Palestine; Prophetic books; Septuagint (History of); Syrian wars (Ptolemies and Seleucids); Kings and Temples (Hellenistic Near East); Khirbet Qeiyafa; Tel Kedesh; Akko-Ptolemaïs; Apocalyptic literature; Book of Esther

eBook

Published: June 30, 2021
ISBN: 9781646021451