About Edom and Idumea in the Persian Period - Recent Research and Approaches from Archaeology, Hebrew Bible Studies and Ancient Near Eastern Studies - Benedikt Hensel
12. Economic and Administrative Realia of Rural Idumea at the End of the Persian Period
About Edom and Idumea in the Persian Period - Recent Research and Approaches from Archaeology, Hebrew Bible Studies and Ancient Near Eastern Studies - Benedikt Hensel
Diana V. Edelman [+]
University of Oslo
Description
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.