Identity in Persian Egypt: The Fate of the Yehudite Community of Elephantine

225 Pages·2020·1.641 MB·English

by  Bob Becking

IdentIty In PersIan egyPt

Identity in Persian Egypt
The Fate of the Yehudite Community of Elephantine
bob beckIng
eIsenbrauns | University Park, Pennsylvania
The writing of this book was made possible through the research project “Elephantine
in Context” sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungs Gemeinschaft (2015–18).
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Names: Becking, Bob, author.
Title: Identity in Persian Egypt : the fate of the Yehudite community of Elephantine /
Bob Becking.
Description: University Park, Pennsylvania : The Pennsylvania State University Press,
[2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: “Examines the Yehudite community in Elephantine in southern Egypt in its
historical, social, and religious context”—Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: Lccn 2020016972 | Isbn 9781575067452 (hardback)
Subjects: LcsH: Jews—Egypt—Elephantine—History—To 1500. | Elephantine
(Egypt)—Antiquities. | Elephantine (Egypt)—Ethnic relations. | Elephantine
(Egypt)—Religion.
Classification: Lcc DS121.5.B43 2020 | ddc 932 / .3—dc23
Lc record available at https:// lccn .loc .gov /2020016972
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rial, ansI z39.48–1992.
To the memory of Gary N. Knoppers
1956–2018
Colleague, Friend, Exemplary Human Being

tabLe of contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
List of Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiii
Chapter 1. How Persian Power Entered Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
1.1 Egypt Before the Persians 1
1.2 Persia’s Rise to Power 3
1.3 Cambyses Came to Egypt 4
1.4 Darius’s Consolidation 9
1.5 “The Silver and the Ebony Were Brought from Egypt” or:
The Character of Persian Rule in Egypt 13
1.6 Elephantine 16
1.7 Who Was Cambyses, and What Exactly Is Meant by the Verb
“To Conquer”? 17
Chapter 2. Yehudites at Elephantine: Provenance, Identity,
and Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
2.1 Jews, Judaeans, Judeo- Arameans, or Yehudites? 18
2.2 How Did They Come to Egypt? 20
2.3 Religious Identity 23
2.4 Yehudite Identity in Elephantine 52
Chapter 3. Multiethnic Elephantine: Some Remarks
on Different Minor Ethnicities in a Persian Border Garrison . . . . . .54
3.1 Eastern Satrapies 55
3.2 Anatolia 61
3.3 Phoenicians 63
3.4 Philistines 73
3.5 The Aegean Sea 73
3.6 Lybian Tribes 74
viii Table of Contents
3.7 Arabs 75
3.8 Conclusion and Prospect 77
Chapter 4. Pax Persica: Cooperation, Cohabitation,
and Acceptance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
4.1 Intermarriage 78
4.2 Salutations in Letters 86
4.3 Trade Contacts 93
4.4 Oaths and Other Deities 94
4.5 An Interreligious Figurine 97
4.6 Conclusions and Questions 97
Chapter 5. Control Through Education, Law, and Military Power. . .99
5.1 Two “Literary” Texts 99
5.2 Sayings of Aḥiqar as Scribal Propaganda 100
5.3 The Function of the Aramaic Version of the Bisitun Inscription 108
5.4 Law 115
5.5 Military 117
5.6 An Inadequate Analogy 117
Chapter 6. Disruptions of the Interethnic Solidarity . . . . . . . . . 119
6.1 A Stone of Contention 119
6.2 A Conflict Between Egyptians and Yehudites 122
6.3 Burglary in Times of Turmoil 123
6.4 The Crisis Around the Demolition of the Temple of Yahô 128
6.5 A Thick Description 144
6.6 Concluding Question 146
Chapter 7. “Khnum Is Against Us Since Hananiah Has Been in
Egypt”: On Two Historical Movements in the Fifth Century BCE . . 147
7.1 From the Oasis in the Desert to the Land of the Pyramids 148
7.2 Egypt’s Struggle for Independence 154
7.3. Histoire Conjoncturelle 162
Chapter 8. Beyond the Final Curtain: The Aftermath
of Elephantine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
8.1 Independent Under Nepherites 163
8.2 The Fate of the Yehudites and Other Minorities 164
8.3 Some Speculations 166
8.4 Conclusions 168
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Index of Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195
Index of Ancient Sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201
IntroductIon
The first time I heard about the presence of Yahwists on the island of Elephan-
tine in Southern Egypt in the Persian period was while reading as an undergrad-
uate Theo Vriezen’s outline of the religion of ancient Israel.1 I became aware of
Aramaic documents excavated in the beginning of the twentieth century CE that
revealed the presence of many Yehudites in the Persian border garrison during
the fifth century BCE. Traditionally, they have been construed as Jews, albeit it
with a slightly different form of Yahwism. This acquaintance started a lifelong
engagement with a fascinating topic. Two questions have been puzzling me.
How and why did the “Jews” migrate to Southern Egypt? Is their nonstandard
form of Yahwism a relic of the religion in their homeland, Israel, or should
it be construed as a syncretistic aberration as a result of being far away from
Jerusalem and its temple?
In his 2014 monograph, the historian Simon Schama started his narrative on
the story of the Jews in Egypt—not, however, with Moses and the Exodus, but
with the community in Elephantine.2 The reason for this unexpected starting
point is twofold. On the one hand, Schama detected in the written documents
an open- minded Jewish community with many references to daily life. On the
other hand, he uses the antagonism between inclusive and exclusive Judaism—
Ezra versus Elephantine—to describe the ongoing tensions within that religion.
Reading Schama’s book, my initial questions were only partially answered.
I found his depiction of Elephantine slightly perfunctory, but I have to admit
that twenty-f our pages is a restricted space in which to tell the whole story.3
It was therefore a great pleasure for me to participate in the Elephantine in
Context research project, sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungs Gemeinschaft
1. Vriezen, De godsdienst van Israël (translated into English as The Religion of Ancient Israel).
2. Schama, Story of the Jews.
3. Schama, Story of the Jews, 4–27.
ix