Reviews
Overall, this is an important volume that must be consulted by scholars working in the archaeology of Edom/Idumea as well as the textual representation of those entities.The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
About Edom and Idumea in the Persian Period
Recent Research and Approaches from Archaeology, Hebrew Bible Studies and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Edited by
Benedikt Hensel [+–]
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
Benedikt Hensel is Full-Professor of Hebrew Bible at the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (Germany). 2019-2021 positions as Interim Professor of Hebrew Bible and Biblical Archaeology at the universities of Mainz (Germany) and Zurich (Switzerland). He holds a PhD (2011) and Habilitation (2016) in Hebrew Bible Studies and Archaeology from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. He is specialized in the religious history, archaeology and literary history of Israel, Judah, and Transjordan. His main fields of work are related to the Persian and early Hellenistic periods as well as to the Neo-Assyrian period. He conducted research on the Ancient Samaritans (as Principal Investigator 2013-2016; Mainz) and on the Pentateuchal traditions and their historical backgrounds (2017-2020, Zurich). Visiting scholar at the Universities of Haifa (2015), Tel Aviv (2018) and Montpelier (2018).
Ehud Ben Zvi [+–]
University of Alberta (emeritus)
Ehud Ben Zvi is a Professor Emeritus in the department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta. He has written extensively on Social Memory in Ancient Israel and the latter’s past-shaping texts, esp. prophetic literature, ‘historical’ books and particularly Chronicles. For list of publications see https://sites.ualberta.ca/~ebenzvi/ebz-publications.html
Diana V. Edelman [+–]
University of Oslo
Diana V. Edelman is Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. Her own research focuses on the history, archaeology, and literature of the southern Levant, the development of early forms of Judaisms, and ancient Near Eastern literature viewed from the perspective of social memory. She has thirteen seasons of excavation experience in Israel. While her research tends to focus on the Iron Age and Persian period, she is interested in earlier and later periods and a wide range of topics. Current interests include local responses to imperialism, royal ideology, the development of technology and agriculture, everyday life, issues involving religion and ritual, burial and afterlife beliefs, diaspora studies, migration studies, frontier studies, social memory, ancient economies, and ancient political organization. Her numerous publications include 17 authored or edited books, 44 chapters in edited volumes, 14 articles in refereed journals, 58 dictionary and encyclopedia articles, and 128 book reviews (as of 2/2015).
This volume highlights and advances new developments in the study of Edom and Idumea in eighteen essays written by researchers from different disciplines (history, archaeology, Assyriology, epigraphy, memory studies, and Hebrew Bible studies). The topics examined include the emergence of Idumea, the evolution of Edomite/Idumean identity, the impact of the Arabian trade on the region, comparative and regional studies of Idumea and Judah, studies of specific sites, artifacts, epigraphic and literary sources, and a section on literary and ideological constructions and memories of “Edom” reflected in the Hebrew Bible. This volume is a “go-to” for all who are interested in the current state of research about Edom and Idumea.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
Benedikt Hensel is Full-Professor of Hebrew Bible at the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (Germany). 2019-2021 positions as Interim Professor of Hebrew Bible and Biblical Archaeology at the universities of Mainz (Germany) and Zurich (Switzerland). He holds a PhD (2011) and Habilitation (2016) in Hebrew Bible Studies and Archaeology from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. He is specialized in the religious history, archaeology and literary history of Israel, Judah, and Transjordan. His main fields of work are related to the Persian and early Hellenistic periods as well as to the Neo-Assyrian period. He conducted research on the Ancient Samaritans (as Principal Investigator 2013-2016; Mainz) and on the Pentateuchal traditions and their historical backgrounds (2017-2020, Zurich). Visiting scholar at the Universities of Haifa (2015), Tel Aviv (2018) and Montpelier (2018).
This volume is devoted to the regions of Idumea and Edom and their inhabitants in the Persian period. As recent findings and research suggest, in the aftermath of the the elimination of Edom as a kingdom in the Neo-Babylonian period, Edomites continued to inhabit their traditional territory east of the Arabah Valley as well as the region west of the Arabah. The biblical texts contain memories informed by the Persian-period reality. The eighteen essays collected in this volume highlight new developments in the study of Edom by researchers from the disciplines of archaeology, Near Eastern studies, epigraphy, cultural history, and Hebrew Bible studies. Collectively, they draw a broad-stroke, complex image of historical Edom in the previously understudied Persian period.
Part I: Overviews
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
Benedikt Hensel is Full-Professor of Hebrew Bible at the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (Germany). 2019-2021 positions as Interim Professor of Hebrew Bible and Biblical Archaeology at the universities of Mainz (Germany) and Zurich (Switzerland). He holds a PhD (2011) and Habilitation (2016) in Hebrew Bible Studies and Archaeology from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. He is specialized in the religious history, archaeology and literary history of Israel, Judah, and Transjordan. His main fields of work are related to the Persian and early Hellenistic periods as well as to the Neo-Assyrian period. He conducted research on the Ancient Samaritans (as Principal Investigator 2013-2016; Mainz) and on the Pentateuchal traditions and their historical backgrounds (2017-2020, Zurich). Visiting scholar at the Universities of Haifa (2015), Tel Aviv (2018) and Montpelier (2018).
The opening essay in this section is my own contribution, entitled “The Complexity of a Site: ‘Edom’ in the Persian Period from the Perspectives of Historical Research, Hebrew Bible Studies, and Ancient Near Eastern Studies.” It introduces the current state of research on Edom in the Persian period and outlines the open questions, desiderata, and issues for future research. The essay is meant to serve as an orientation into this complex and problematic situation, particularly the intersections of historical studies, archaeology, and cultural, religious, and literary histories. Consequently, it is imperative that perspectives from historical research, Hebrew Bible studies, and ancient Near Eastern studies are brought into dialogue with each other. Therefore, the essay concerns itself with the various (and partially divergent) results, inquiries, and sectors of future research from the different disciplines on the question of Persian-period Edom, and it seeks to bring these together so as to develop the larger historical, literary-historical, and religious-historical picture that the field desperately needs. At the same time, the essay serves to profile the task of the whole volume in fuller detail – the book strives to be an entry into the topic that is as comprehensive as possible, both in terms of topics and approaches.
University of Manchester
Piotr Bienkowski is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology and Museology at the University of
Manchester. Previously he was Director of Manchester Museum, Head of Antiquities at
National Museums Liverpool, and editor of the journal Levant. He has been excavating in
southern Jordan since 1980.
Manchester. Previously he was Director of Manchester Museum, Head of Antiquities at
National Museums Liverpool, and editor of the journal Levant. He has been excavating in
southern Jordan since 1980.
Piotr Bienkowski contributed the next essays, entitled “Edom in the Persian Period, Relations with the Negev, and the Arabian Trade: The Archaeological Evidence.” As Bienkowski demonstrates, the Persian period in Edom is not clearly distinguishable from the Iron II period, from an archaeological perspective. Major Edomite sites – Busayra, Tall al-Khalayfi and Tawilan – continued to be occupied from the Iron II through the Persian period, while others were abandoned by the end of the sixth century BCE. The local pottery continued virtually unchanged. There was fourth-century BCE building activity in Petra, attributable to an early Nabataean occupation contemporary with continued occupation at some Edomite sites. A review of the evidence demonstrates that the presence of Edomite pottery at sites in the Negev in the late Iron Age can only be explained by Edomite tribes interacting with sites along the Arabian trade route through the Beersheba Valley. The evidence discounts an Edomite invasion or migration. The Arabian trade was disrupted in the early sixth century BCE, when all those Negev sites were destroyed or abandoned, but there is evidence that it had revived by the end of the sixth century BCE and continued to the end of the Persian period. It has been suggested previously that this trade was controlled by the Qedarites. Lack of evidence for their presence in Edom, together with continued Edomite occupation at Busayra and Khalayfi – the two key sites along the old Arabian trade route through Edom –and the presence there of Attic imports indicates instead that it was the Edomite tribes who were once again running the trade through Edom and probably the Beersheba Valley and the central Negev highlands.
3. The Genesis of Idumea [+–] 80-98
Bar-Ilan University
Yigal Levin is a professor in the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Department of Jewish History
and Contemporary Jewry at Bar-Ilan University and specializes in the history of Israel in the biblical period, biblical historical geography, and the interface between history, archaeology, and the biblical texts. He also serves as the head of Bar-Ilan’s Multidisciplinary Department in Jewish Studies.
and Contemporary Jewry at Bar-Ilan University and specializes in the history of Israel in the biblical period, biblical historical geography, and the interface between history, archaeology, and the biblical texts. He also serves as the head of Bar-Ilan’s Multidisciplinary Department in Jewish Studies.
Yigal Levin’s contribution “The Genesis of Idumea” is devoted to the intriguing question of the transition from the Iron Age II to the Persian period in Idumea: How and under which conditions did the province emerge, and what distinguishes it as “Idumean”? His essay examines the available data on the identity of these Idumeans using the extant written sources and archaeological data and traces the process by which Edomites living in what had been southern Judah – now under Qedarite-Arab control – preserved and adapted their identity, eventually becoming the dominant group in the area that became the Hellenistic-period “Province of Idumea.”
Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem
Ian Stern has been the director of the Maresha excavations since 2000. His many publications have focused primarily on the material finds from Maresha as well as how they reflect ethnic interactions within this multicultural Hellenistic period city. His PhD is from the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar Ilan University. He is associated with the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology of Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem
Ian Stern’s essay immediately continues this line of inquiry concerning Idumea and the Idumean province. Stern takes Maresha as an example in his overview, entitled “The Evolution of an Edomite/Idumean Identity: Hellenistic Maresha as a Case Study.” He discusses questions of identity in Idumea in its historical context from Iron Age Edom to the second half of the second century BCE and the conquest of Maresha by John Hyrcanus I. Excavations at Hellenistic Maresha have revealed an eclectic material culture which includes both generic Levantine characteristics such as pig avoidance, ossilegium, circumcision, and even certain aniconic tendencies, as well as features with a distinctly Judean affiliation: ritual bathing facilities and hundreds of punctured vessels that seem to suggest Judean purity laws. In stark contrast, there is an almost total disconnect between Maresha and Judah/Judea in the ceramic repertoire. Ceramic parallels are primarily from coastal Hellenistic-period pagan sites; Phoenician, Greek and Egyptian influences are prevalent as well. This suggests a lack of exchange or perhaps a deliberate policy of boundary-creation with Judah/Judea, or both. This hybridized material culture assemblage would appear to reflect a hybridized group identity – a Maresha/Idumean identity, but perhaps some boundary-making as well.
Part II: Case Studies – Idumea and Judah
University of California, Los Angeles
Andrew J. Danielson is a Lecturer in the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is also the Field Director of the Town of Nebo
Archaeological Project’s excavations at Khirbat al-Mukhayyat.
Archaeological Project’s excavations at Khirbat al-Mukhayyat.
The section opens with the essay “Edom in Judah: Identity and Social Entanglement in the Late Iron Age Negev” by Andrew J. Danielson. Danielson explores the Negev as a cultural “transition zone” already in the late Iron Age. Archaeological excavations of the northeastern Negev from the eighth to early sixth centuries BCE have revealed a significant amount of “Edomite” material culture within a region purportedly controlled by the kingdom of Judah. This material culture was previously interpreted as the result of an Edomite invasion in the early sixth century BCE; however, recent studies have begun to demonstrate both the longevity of Edomite material culture in the northeastern Negev and the degree to which its users were integrated into the social fabric of the region. Building on these observations, Danielson’s essay explores the nature of cross-cultural interaction between southern Transjordan and the northeastern Negev through contextual analyses of socially sensitive elements of the archaeological material culture record. Three case studies examine 1) culinary practices as identified through ceramic traditions, 2) religious practices, and 3) naming traditions and sociolinguistics as recognizable through the inscriptional record. Ultimately, these case studies examine the complexities of a sustained, multi-generational context of social entanglement between diverse communities in the northeastern Negev and demonstrate the inherent integration of Edom within the northeastern Negev region of southern Judah during the late Iron Age.
6. Dry Climate During the Early Persian Period and Its Impact on the Establishment of Idumea [+–] 151-176
Tel Aviv University
Dafna Langgut is Head of the Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Ancient Environments and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University, Israel. Langgut specializes in the study of past vegetation and climate based on the identification of botanical remains (pollen and wood-charcoal remains). Through this discipline, she considers the past relationship between humans and the environment—for example, human dispersal out of Africa and the beginning of agriculture. Langgut’s research also involves the identification of plant remains from archaeological contexts. Her studies address issues such as fruit-tree cultivation, diet, plant usage, plant migration, and ancient gardens.
Tel Aviv University
Oded Lipschits is a Professor of Jewish History, the Director of the Sonia and Marco Nadler
Institute of Archaeology and the Head of Ancient Israel Studies in the Department of
Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University. He is the Incumbent of
the Austria Chair of the Archaeology of the Land of Israel in the Biblical Period, and the
Director of the Lautenschlaeger Azekah Expedition and the Ramat Rahel Excavations.
Institute of Archaeology and the Head of Ancient Israel Studies in the Department of
Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University. He is the Incumbent of
the Austria Chair of the Archaeology of the Land of Israel in the Biblical Period, and the
Director of the Lautenschlaeger Azekah Expedition and the Ramat Rahel Excavations.
In the fourth and third centuries BCE, the province of Idumea included all the areas of the Beersheba-Arad Valley, the southern Shephelah and the southern Judean hill country; the majority population in the region was Idumean and Arab. The borders of Yehud had contracted and most of the Judahite population was concentrated around Jerusalem. Explanations for these historical, geopolitical, cultural, and demographic changes have been well-discussed by scholars. In “Dry Climate During the Early Persian Period and Its Impact on the Establishment of Idumea,” Daphna Langgut and Oded Lipschits provide a set of paleo-environmental data that sheds new light on this process. Palynological and sedimentological information show that during the late sixth through the mid-fifth centuries BCE (~ 520–450 BCE), dryer climate conditions were prevalent in the region. During the early Hellenistic period, wet climate conditions and intense olive horticulture characterized the region. Since in the steppe-marginal areas of the southern Levant even minor climatic variation can result in major environmental change, the main argument advanced by Langgut and Lipschits is that the dry conditions of the early Persian period caused a process of abandonment of most villages in the southern parts of the former kingdom of Judah, triggering nomadization by some elements of the local population and immigration to the core areas of the province of Yehud by others. After the destruction of the kingdom of Judah and the collapse of the southern settlement and military system, this process provoked a demographic vacuum in the southern lowlands (the Shephelah), the southern hill country and the Beersheba-Arad Valley that attracted the immigration of nomadic population. The gradual increase in moisture in the late-fifth and fourth centuries BCE probably reinforced a cultural progression by stabilizing the settlements that were highly dependent on water resources and local agriculture. The semi-nomadic elements could have easily settled in the area and quickly created the settlement alignment of the province of Idumea.
Tel Aviv University
Alexander Fantalkin, PhD, is professor at the Tel Aviv University, Jacob M. Alkow
Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures and Director of the
“Ashdod-Yam Archaeological Project”.
Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures and Director of the
“Ashdod-Yam Archaeological Project”.
Tel Aviv University
Oren Tal, PhD, is a full professor of classical archaeology at Tel Aviv University. He is the
current director of the Apollonia-Arsuf Excavation Project (since 2007) and co-director of the German-Israeli Tell Iẓṭabba Excavation Project (since 2019). His research interests concern the material culture of the classical- and medieval-period Near East and its social, political, and economic implications from the mid-first millennium BCE to the early second
millennium CE. (Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv
University, Israel).
current director of the Apollonia-Arsuf Excavation Project (since 2007) and co-director of the German-Israeli Tell Iẓṭabba Excavation Project (since 2019). His research interests concern the material culture of the classical- and medieval-period Near East and its social, political, and economic implications from the mid-first millennium BCE to the early second
millennium CE. (Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv
University, Israel).
“A Tale of Two Provinces: Judah and Edom During the Persian Period” by Alexander Fantalkin and Oren Tal addresses the material evidence of the Persian-period provinces of Judah and Edom against the contemporary geopolitical conditions. Following the Egyptian rebellion of 404–400 BCE, southern Palestine underwent a major transformation as a result of becoming the southwestern frontier of the Persian Empire. Fantalkin and Tal offer a reconstruction of the political history and its social and economic manifestations that focuses on the inland regions of the inhabited land of Palestine. Sites, administrative centers, architectural remains, pottery, and epigraphic finds are used to reconstruct the period’s Zeitgeist.
Part II: Case Studies – Edom and Idumea: Sites and Artifacts
University of Haifa
Adi Erlich, PhD, is a professor at the University of Haifa, Zinman Institute of Archaeology, and member of executive committee of the Association for Coroplastic Studies (ACoSt). She is director of the Beth She’arim excavations. Her fields of specialization: archaeology and art history of Israel in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods.
Adi Erlich’s “Idumean in Light of the Votive Deposits of Terracotta Figurines” turns to this peculiar type of artifact from the Persian period. The region as whole is characterized by a number of types of terracotta figurines, which are all local variants and adaptations of Achaemenid, Phoenician, and Greek types, and among three clearly identifiable Idumean types. The types depict a horse rider, a woman with a child on her shoulder and a standing man, sometimes holding a bow and arrows. The figurines come from several votive deposits or favissae throughout the Shephelah, from Tel Miqne in the north to Tel Halif in the south. These deposits display mixed assemblages with different sources of influence, and all contain terracottas of Idumean types. This essay examines the similarities and differences between the assemblages, within the context of both the settlement hierarchy and formation of ethnic identity. The Idumean terracottas throw light on the Idumean society, values and daily life. The cult in Idumea is examined in light of the votive deposits, compared to Persian-period Phoenicia, and in regard to old traditions in the Shephelah.
9. A Monumental Hellenistic-Period Ritual Compound in Upper Idumea: New Findings from Ḥorbat ʿAmuda [+–] 230-249
The Hebrew University
Michal Haber received her MA in Classical Archaeology from The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, spending over a decade at the Israel Antiquities Authority. She is currently co-director of the Beit Lehi Regional Project under the auspices of The Hebrew University.
Jerusalem, spending over a decade at the Israel Antiquities Authority. She is currently co-director of the Beit Lehi Regional Project under the auspices of The Hebrew University.
The Hebrew University
Oren Gutfeld received his doctorate from the Institute of Archaeology of The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, carrying out post-doctoral research at the Frankel Center for Judaic
Studies at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. At present, he is director of The Hebrew
University’s salvage excavation program and co-director of the Beit Lehi Regional Project.
University of Jerusalem, carrying out post-doctoral research at the Frankel Center for Judaic
Studies at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. At present, he is director of The Hebrew
University’s salvage excavation program and co-director of the Beit Lehi Regional Project.
Israel Antiquities Authority
Pablo Betzer serves as the Southern District Archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
He is pursuing doctoral studies at the Institute of Archaeology of The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem and is co-director of the Beit Lehi Regional Project.
He is pursuing doctoral studies at the Institute of Archaeology of The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem and is co-director of the Beit Lehi Regional Project.
Michal Haber, Oren Gutfeld, and Pablo Betzer’s “A Monumental Hellenistic-Period Ritual Compound in Upper Idumea: New Findings from Ḥorbat ʿAmuda,” provides the first preliminary results of a newly discovered site in Idumea that relates to an “Idumean Temple.” In 2017, the Beit Lehi Regional Project was inaugurated following nearly a decade of excavations at the Judean lowland site of Ḥorbat Beit Lehi (Loya). Within the framework of the project’s drone survey – encompassing a total study area of 36 sq km – the remains of a massive structure were detected at Ḥorbat ʿAmuda, lying approximately 4 km south of Maresha. Subsequent excavations at the site have revealed a unique edifice featuring fine ashlar and header-and-stretcher construction and extending over an area of at least 75 × 57 m, divided into different wings that have been assigned a ritual or ceremonial function. Unearthed in one chamber, adjacent to a stone-built podium, was a small votive assemblage comprising several ceramic unguentaria along with two limestone incense burners, the larger of which bears a carved image of a bull standing in the façade of a temple. The authors propose identifying the compound as an administrative and/or cultic center that served the hinterlands of Maresha, first established in the early third century BCE under Ptolemaic rule. Corresponding to the findings from Beit Lehi, located only 1 km to the south, the authors maintain that the site was destroyed over the course of the Hasmonean Revolt of 167–164 BCE and not, as had long been posited regarding other sites in the region – namely Maresha –by John Hyrcanus ca. 113/112 BCE.
Part II: Case Studies – Edom and Idumea from Epigraphic and Literary Sources
University of Heidelberg
Hanspeter Schaudig is an Assyriologist at the University of Heidelberg (Germany). He
studied Ancient Near Eastern languages and archaeology at the universities of Freiburg and Münster (Germany). He finished his PhD on the inscriptions of Nabonidus and Cyrus the Great. His second book (habilitation) deals with the Babylonian concept of disaster by divine decree, from the fall of Ur in the third millennium to the destructions of Babylon in the second and first millennia BCE. Schaudig’s studies focus on the interconnection of history and literature in Babylonia and Assyria.
studied Ancient Near Eastern languages and archaeology at the universities of Freiburg and Münster (Germany). He finished his PhD on the inscriptions of Nabonidus and Cyrus the Great. His second book (habilitation) deals with the Babylonian concept of disaster by divine decree, from the fall of Ur in the third millennium to the destructions of Babylon in the second and first millennia BCE. Schaudig’s studies focus on the interconnection of history and literature in Babylonia and Assyria.
This essay deals with the Arabian campaigns of the Late Babylonian king Nabonidus (r. 556–539 BCE) who had been residing at the North Arabian oasis of Taymāʾ from his third to thirteenth regnal year, i.e., from 553 to 543 BCE. Nabonidus embarked on the campaign to Arabia and the West early in his third year, in 553 BCE. Over the following decade, Nabonidus occupied the cities of Taymāʾ, Dadān, Fadak, Ḫaybar, Yadīʿ and Yaṯrib, controlling the caravan tracks of North Arabia. This essay addresses the motives of Nabonidus and the significance of the North Arabian cities he occupied, according to the available literary and epigraphic sources. As for Edom and its fate, fate of Edom, the term Edom (Udummu / *Udūm) rarely appear in the cuneiform record. In texts from the Late Babylonian period, it appears only once, in the Nabonidus Chronicle. A new reading of the line concerning Edom in the third regnal year of Nabonidus (553 BCE) in the Nabonidus Chronicle has important ramifications for the interpretation of the course of North Arabian annexation into the Late Babylonian empire. Schaudig proposes that Nabonidus appears to have come to Edom’s aid in his third year (553 BCE), defending it against raids by the Western Arameans and stabilizing it as a loyal vassal on whom he could rely in the hinterland when he set out to conquer North Arabia.
Utrecht University
Bob Becking is a retired Senior Research Professor. He studied theology and semitics at Utrecht University. He has been a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church for ten years before he started teaching at Utrecht University in 1987. His most recent book is Ezra – Nehemiah (Peeters, 2018), among his many other contributions are Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Construction of Early Jewish Identity (Mohr Siebeck, 2011) and From David to Gedaliah: The Book of Kings as Story and History (Vandenhoeck Ruprecht, 2007).
Bob Becking’s essay “Have There Been Prophets in Edom? An Ostracon from Ḥorvat ‘Uza Once More” re-examines and provides a new reading of an Edomite inscription from Ḥorvat ‘Uza. This inscription has usually been understood as a sapiential text. Becking argues that the inscription is full of prophetic elements. Either case, scribal culture in the Edom attested west of the Arabah was at an advanced level already by the end of the Iron Age. This essay contributes to the research of traces of prophecy that can be found in ancient Edom.
12. Economic and Administrative Realia of Rural Idumea at the End of the Persian Period [+–] 277-301
University of Oslo
Diana V. Edelman is Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. Her own research focuses on the history, archaeology, and literature of the southern Levant, the development of early forms of Judaisms, and ancient Near Eastern literature viewed from the perspective of social memory. She has thirteen seasons of excavation experience in Israel. While her research tends to focus on the Iron Age and Persian period, she is interested in earlier and later periods and a wide range of topics. Current interests include local responses to imperialism, royal ideology, the development of technology and agriculture, everyday life, issues involving religion and ritual, burial and afterlife beliefs, diaspora studies, migration studies, frontier studies, social memory, ancient economies, and ancient political organization. Her numerous publications include 17 authored or edited books, 44 chapters in edited volumes, 14 articles in refereed journals, 58 dictionary and encyclopedia articles, and 128 book reviews (as of 2/2015).
The Idumean administrative ostraca, bearing dates from 363–313 BCE, have been cited as evidence to support two conflicting understandings of the situation. 1.) The use of local rather than imperial Persian measures indicates that Makkedah was a town that housed a granary and a local market where farmers could sell their surplus on credit and buy what they needed in exchange. 2.) Makkedah housed an imperial regional storage facility to which local Idumeans paid taxes-in-kind, sometimes through authorized agents. Via a four-staged investigation, Diana V. Edelman demonstrates in her essay “Economic and Administrative Realia of Rural Idumea at the End of the Persian Period” that the latter point is more likely, due to: 1.) Persian policy on the use of imperial measures; 2.) Persian policy concerning land ownership, tenancy, and taxes; 3.) the activities and responsibilities of agents of fiefs or estate managers and of governmental administrators; and 4.) evidence of local markets or market towns.
13. The Aramaic Divination Texts [+–] 302-317
Bar Ilan University
Esther Eshel is an Associate Professor in the Bible Department at Bar Ilan University. She
also teaches two courses in the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and
Archaeology. She is a member of the Minerva Center for the Relations between Israel and
Aram in Biblical Times.
also teaches two courses in the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and
Archaeology. She is a member of the Minerva Center for the Relations between Israel and
Aram in Biblical Times.
University of Strasbourg
Michael Langlois holds a PhD and Habilitation in Historical and Philological Sciences from
the Sorbonne. He teaches as Associate Professor at the University of Strasbourg and is an
IUF and HCAS fellow.
the Sorbonne. He teaches as Associate Professor at the University of Strasbourg and is an
IUF and HCAS fellow.
University College London
Mark Geller is Professor at UCL and formerly Professor für Wissensgeschichte at the Freie
Univ. Berlin. He is currently a Fellow at the Paris Institute for Advanced Study (IEA) for
2020–2021.
Univ. Berlin. He is currently a Fellow at the Paris Institute for Advanced Study (IEA) for
2020–2021.
The final essay in this section is authored by Esther Eshel, Michael Langlois and Mark Geller. They address “The Aramaic Divination Texts”. The southern foothills of Maresha have yielded more than 1,200 Semitic and (mainly) Greek inscriptions dating to the Hellenistic period. Among them, 360 are from subterranean complex 169. Most of these ostraca and inscriptions bear names or tags. However, a group of 134 Aramaic ostraca, paleographically dated to the third or second century BCE, stands out as a different literary genre, sharing a similar textual structure. Only a few of these ostraca are complete or almost complete, while most are fragmentary. In this essay, the authors suggest that these ostraca were divinatory in nature and were used to inquire about such issues as health, marriage, and property. This interpretation is reinforced by the presence of other archaeological finds that are cultic in nature and might be related to divination.
Part III: Literary Constructions of “Edom”: The Hebrew Bible Traditions
14. Edom as a Complex Site of Memory among the Literati of Late Persian/early Hellenistic Judah: Some Observations [+–] 321-337
University of Alberta (emeritus)
Ehud Ben Zvi is a Professor Emeritus in the department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta. He has written extensively on Social Memory in Ancient Israel and the latter’s past-shaping texts, esp. prophetic literature, ‘historical’ books and particularly Chronicles. For list of publications see https://sites.ualberta.ca/~ebenzvi/ebz-publications.html
Ehud Ben Zvi opens the section with “Edom as a Complex Site of Memory among the Literati of Late Persian/Early Hellenistic Judah: Some Observations.” Here, Ben Zvi focuses on Edom’s role(s) within the world of memory of the Jerusalem-centred literati of the late Persian and early Hellenistic periods. Although it is to be expected that some memories held by these literati about foreign ethnies, polities, leaders, etc. evoked favourable images about them, while others, even within the same remembering community, conjured unfavourable characterizations of the same referent, Ben Zvi points to two remarkable aspects in this memory construction of Edom: First, in some of the texts that they read and reread, Edom was singled out for both YHWH’s and Israel’s enmity in ways that go beyond those of other political entities or ethnic groups in the surrounding area, such as Moab, Ammon, Tyre, Sidon, Qedar, and even, most strikingly, beyond those for some historically imperial powers such as Assyria or Babylonia. Second, in some other texts, Edom is characterized as the “other” not only not negatively, but in a relatively positive, and at times unexpectedly positive, manner. Ben Zvi explores the matter of Edom as a site of memory with somewhat peculiar features within the memoryscape of the literati of the late Persian period.
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
Benedikt Hensel is Full-Professor of Hebrew Bible at the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (Germany). 2019-2021 positions as Interim Professor of Hebrew Bible and Biblical Archaeology at the universities of Mainz (Germany) and Zurich (Switzerland). He holds a PhD (2011) and Habilitation (2016) in Hebrew Bible Studies and Archaeology from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. He is specialized in the religious history, archaeology and literary history of Israel, Judah, and Transjordan. His main fields of work are related to the Persian and early Hellenistic periods as well as to the Neo-Assyrian period. He conducted research on the Ancient Samaritans (as Principal Investigator 2013-2016; Mainz) and on the Pentateuchal traditions and their historical backgrounds (2017-2020, Zurich). Visiting scholar at the Universities of Haifa (2015), Tel Aviv (2018) and Montpelier (2018).
The essay “Think Positive! How the Positive Portrayal of Edom in Late Biblical Texts Leads to New Perspectives on Understanding the Literary-History of Genesis, Deuteronomy, and Chronicles” is my own contribution. Here, I investigate the positive perception of Edom in the Persian period (including redactional layers and traditions from the exilic period). The classical stance in the field, and still prevalent today, holds that the relations between Israel/Judah and Edom as reflected in the late prophetic corpus are the dominant late-biblical traditions that leave no space for a positive (or even ambivalent) portrayal of Edom in this period. However, I demonstrate that certain redactional layers within particular traditions in the Pentateuch (especially the Abraham narrative, the Jacob Cycle, P and Deuteronomy), as well as the reimagination of biblical history provided by Chronicles, exhibit a positive perception of Edom. I argue that this memory of Edom is informed by a contemporary perception of Idumea and the multiethnic and cross-cultural society in this region (cf. Ben Zvi’s analysis). Identifying the historical background(s) of these observations includes investigations of the region of Idumea and considerations on Yahwistic activity in the region.
Universität Basel
Stephen Germany (Ph.D., Emory University) is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Basel. He is currently preparing a monograph-length study on “Transjordan as a topos of conflict in biblical historiography” as part of a multi-member research project, “Transforming Memories of Collective Violence in the Hebrew Bible,” funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Stephen Germany, in his essay “The ‘Edom Texts’ in Samuel–Kings in Inner- and Extrabiblical Perspective,” investigates the observation that references to Edom and the Edomites in the books of Samuel and Kings, though relatively limited in number, present a variety of interpretive problems. In addition to complex textual issues, recent archaeological research in southern Jordan and the Negev has reopened the question of whether the references to Edom in Samuel–Kings may reflect historical realities from the early first millennium BCE. Nevertheless, both earlier and more recent attempts to interpret the “Edom texts” in Samuel–Kings in light of the extrabiblical evidence do not sufficiently take into account their literary function and intertextual relationships. His essay therefore begins by considering the literary development of the “Edom texts” in their own right before attempting to situate their composition within a particular historical context. Through such an approach, the essay argues that while a handful of the “Edom texts” in Samuel–Kings could preserve memories of historical realities from the eighth or seventh centuries BCE, the majority of these texts stem from the postmonarchic period.
University of Oslo
Diana V. Edelman is Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. Her own research focuses on the history, archaeology, and literature of the southern Levant, the development of early forms of Judaisms, and ancient Near Eastern literature viewed from the perspective of social memory. She has thirteen seasons of excavation experience in Israel. While her research tends to focus on the Iron Age and Persian period, she is interested in earlier and later periods and a wide range of topics. Current interests include local responses to imperialism, royal ideology, the development of technology and agriculture, everyday life, issues involving religion and ritual, burial and afterlife beliefs, diaspora studies, migration studies, frontier studies, social memory, ancient economies, and ancient political organization. Her numerous publications include 17 authored or edited books, 44 chapters in edited volumes, 14 articles in refereed journals, 58 dictionary and encyclopedia articles, and 128 book reviews (as of 2/2015).
Are memories concerning Edom, Esau, and Seir in the prophetic texts invented or claimed, and do they better reflect a “culture of resentment” or a “proximate other? This is the question Diana V. Edelman puts into the focus of her essay “Late Historical Edom and Reading Edom, Seir, and Esau in the Prophetic Literature through Persian Lenses: Preliminary Observations.” After reviewing the late-monarchic southern trade routes and supply systems, the essay investigates what would have replaced them in the Neo-Babylonian and Persian periods. It then moves to a reconsideration of the prophetic texts against this new background, exploring the possible development of Edom in Judean social memory in the prophetic corpus.
University of Alberta (emeritus)
Ehud Ben Zvi is a Professor Emeritus in the department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta. He has written extensively on Social Memory in Ancient Israel and the latter’s past-shaping texts, esp. prophetic literature, ‘historical’ books and particularly Chronicles. For list of publications see https://sites.ualberta.ca/~ebenzvi/ebz-publications.html
Ehud Ben Zvi concludes this section and the whole volume with his “The Contribution of Chronicles to the Memory Argument about Edom as Reflected in the Core Repertoire of the Yehudite Literati of the Late Persian/Early Hellenistic Period.” The essay explores the contribution that reading Chronicles made to the memory argument about the memory of the Edom of old that existed among the literati of the late Persian/early Hellenistic period. It shows that reading Chronicles supported some positions, undermined others, but most importantly, shaped its own unique contributions to the existing memory argument, and by doing so, further explored matters directly associated with their own understanding of themselves and of some of their core concepts.
End Matter
Index of Sources 441-447
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
Benedikt Hensel is Full-Professor of Hebrew Bible at the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (Germany). 2019-2021 positions as Interim Professor of Hebrew Bible and Biblical Archaeology at the universities of Mainz (Germany) and Zurich (Switzerland). He holds a PhD (2011) and Habilitation (2016) in Hebrew Bible Studies and Archaeology from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. He is specialized in the religious history, archaeology and literary history of Israel, Judah, and Transjordan. His main fields of work are related to the Persian and early Hellenistic periods as well as to the Neo-Assyrian period. He conducted research on the Ancient Samaritans (as Principal Investigator 2013-2016; Mainz) and on the Pentateuchal traditions and their historical backgrounds (2017-2020, Zurich). Visiting scholar at the Universities of Haifa (2015), Tel Aviv (2018) and Montpelier (2018).
University of Alberta (emeritus)
Ehud Ben Zvi is a Professor Emeritus in the department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta. He has written extensively on Social Memory in Ancient Israel and the latter’s past-shaping texts, esp. prophetic literature, ‘historical’ books and particularly Chronicles. For list of publications see https://sites.ualberta.ca/~ebenzvi/ebz-publications.html
University of Oslo
Diana V. Edelman is Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. Her own research focuses on the history, archaeology, and literature of the southern Levant, the development of early forms of Judaisms, and ancient Near Eastern literature viewed from the perspective of social memory. She has thirteen seasons of excavation experience in Israel. While her research tends to focus on the Iron Age and Persian period, she is interested in earlier and later periods and a wide range of topics. Current interests include local responses to imperialism, royal ideology, the development of technology and agriculture, everyday life, issues involving religion and ritual, burial and afterlife beliefs, diaspora studies, migration studies, frontier studies, social memory, ancient economies, and ancient political organization. Her numerous publications include 17 authored or edited books, 44 chapters in edited volumes, 14 articles in refereed journals, 58 dictionary and encyclopedia articles, and 128 book reviews (as of 2/2015).
Index of Authors 449-456
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
Benedikt Hensel is Full-Professor of Hebrew Bible at the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (Germany). 2019-2021 positions as Interim Professor of Hebrew Bible and Biblical Archaeology at the universities of Mainz (Germany) and Zurich (Switzerland). He holds a PhD (2011) and Habilitation (2016) in Hebrew Bible Studies and Archaeology from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. He is specialized in the religious history, archaeology and literary history of Israel, Judah, and Transjordan. His main fields of work are related to the Persian and early Hellenistic periods as well as to the Neo-Assyrian period. He conducted research on the Ancient Samaritans (as Principal Investigator 2013-2016; Mainz) and on the Pentateuchal traditions and their historical backgrounds (2017-2020, Zurich). Visiting scholar at the Universities of Haifa (2015), Tel Aviv (2018) and Montpelier (2018).
University of Alberta (emeritus)
Ehud Ben Zvi is a Professor Emeritus in the department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta. He has written extensively on Social Memory in Ancient Israel and the latter’s past-shaping texts, esp. prophetic literature, ‘historical’ books and particularly Chronicles. For list of publications see https://sites.ualberta.ca/~ebenzvi/ebz-publications.html
University of Oslo
Diana V. Edelman is Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. Her own research focuses on the history, archaeology, and literature of the southern Levant, the development of early forms of Judaisms, and ancient Near Eastern literature viewed from the perspective of social memory. She has thirteen seasons of excavation experience in Israel. While her research tends to focus on the Iron Age and Persian period, she is interested in earlier and later periods and a wide range of topics. Current interests include local responses to imperialism, royal ideology, the development of technology and agriculture, everyday life, issues involving religion and ritual, burial and afterlife beliefs, diaspora studies, migration studies, frontier studies, social memory, ancient economies, and ancient political organization. Her numerous publications include 17 authored or edited books, 44 chapters in edited volumes, 14 articles in refereed journals, 58 dictionary and encyclopedia articles, and 128 book reviews (as of 2/2015).
Subject Index 457-470
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
Benedikt Hensel is Full-Professor of Hebrew Bible at the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (Germany). 2019-2021 positions as Interim Professor of Hebrew Bible and Biblical Archaeology at the universities of Mainz (Germany) and Zurich (Switzerland). He holds a PhD (2011) and Habilitation (2016) in Hebrew Bible Studies and Archaeology from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. He is specialized in the religious history, archaeology and literary history of Israel, Judah, and Transjordan. His main fields of work are related to the Persian and early Hellenistic periods as well as to the Neo-Assyrian period. He conducted research on the Ancient Samaritans (as Principal Investigator 2013-2016; Mainz) and on the Pentateuchal traditions and their historical backgrounds (2017-2020, Zurich). Visiting scholar at the Universities of Haifa (2015), Tel Aviv (2018) and Montpelier (2018).
University of Alberta (emeritus)
Ehud Ben Zvi is a Professor Emeritus in the department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta. He has written extensively on Social Memory in Ancient Israel and the latter’s past-shaping texts, esp. prophetic literature, ‘historical’ books and particularly Chronicles. For list of publications see https://sites.ualberta.ca/~ebenzvi/ebz-publications.html
University of Oslo
Diana V. Edelman is Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. Her own research focuses on the history, archaeology, and literature of the southern Levant, the development of early forms of Judaisms, and ancient Near Eastern literature viewed from the perspective of social memory. She has thirteen seasons of excavation experience in Israel. While her research tends to focus on the Iron Age and Persian period, she is interested in earlier and later periods and a wide range of topics. Current interests include local responses to imperialism, royal ideology, the development of technology and agriculture, everyday life, issues involving religion and ritual, burial and afterlife beliefs, diaspora studies, migration studies, frontier studies, social memory, ancient economies, and ancient political organization. Her numerous publications include 17 authored or edited books, 44 chapters in edited volumes, 14 articles in refereed journals, 58 dictionary and encyclopedia articles, and 128 book reviews (as of 2/2015).
The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
