The Priest and the Great King: Temple-Palace Relations in the Persian Empire

284 Pages·2004·2.45 MB·English

by  Lisbeth S. Fried

THE PRIEST AND
THE GREAT KING
BIBLICAL AND JUDAIC STUDIES
FROM
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,
SAN DIEGO
Volume 10
edited by
William H. C. Propp
Previously published in the series:
1. The Hebrew Bible and Its Interpreters, edited by William Henry Propp,
Baruch Halpern, and David Noel Freedman (1990).
2. Studies in Hebrew and Aramaic Orthography, by David Noel Freedman,
A. Dean Forbes, and Francis I. Andersen (1992).
3. Isaiah 46, 47, and 48: A New Literary-Critical Reading, by Chris Franke
(1994).
4. The Book around Immanuel: Style and Structure in Isaiah 2–12, by
Andrew H. Bartelt (1996).
5. The Structure of Psalms 93–100, by David M. Howard Jr. (1997).
6. Psalm 119: The Exaltation of Torah, by David Noel Freedman (1999).
7. Between Heaven and Earth: Divine Presence and Absence in the
Book of Ezekiel, by John F. Kutsko (2000).
8. The Storm-God in the Ancient Near East, by Alberto R. W. Green (2003).
9. Le-David Maskil: A Birthday Tribute to David Noel Freedman, edited by
Richard Elliott Friedman and William H. C. Propp (2004).
THE PRIEST AND
THE GREAT KING
Temple-Palace Relations in
the Persian Empire
Lisbeth S. Fried
EISENBRAUNS
Winona Lake, Indiana
2004
Published for Biblical and Judaic Studies
The University of California, San Diego
by
Eisenbrauns
Winona Lake, Indiana
ç Copyright 2004 by Lisbeth S. Fried.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Cataloging in Publication Data
Fried, Lisbeth S.
The priest and the great king : temple-palace relations in the Persian
Empire / Lisbeth S. Fried
p. cm. — (Biblical and Judaic studies from the University of
California, San Diego ; v. 10)
Revision of the author’s thesis (doctoral)—New York University
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 1-57506-090-6 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Iran—Politics and government. 2. Iran—History—To 640.
3. Temples—Middle East—History—To 1500. 4. Religion and
politics—Middle East—History—To 1500. I. Title. II. Biblical and
Judaic studies ; v. 10.
DS275.F67 2004
322u.1u0935—dc22
2004009806
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.†‰
Dedicated to
Gerda Seligson (l z
uu )
(1909–2002)
Vale

Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Chapter 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Problem 2
The Theory of Self-Governance 2
The Theory of Persian Imperial Authorization 3
The Model of Bureaucratic Empires 4
Methodology 6
Chapter 2. Temple-Palace Relations in Babylonia . . . . . . . . 8
Sources and Methodological Limitations 8
Temple Personnel 9
Temple-Palace Relations under Nabonidus and Cyrus 20
The Resources of the Temple and Their Allocation 35
Conclusion 47
Chapter 3. Temple-Palace Relations in Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . 49
The Pharaoh 50
The Temple 54
The Impact of Achaemenid Rule 63
The Jewish Garrison at Elephantine 92
Conclusion 106
Chapter 4. Temple-Palace Relations in Asia Minor . . . . . . . 108
Darius’s Letter to Gadatas 108
Border Dispute between Miletus and Myus 119
The Donation of Droaphernes 129
A Decree of Mylasa against the Opponents of Mausolus 137
The Trilingual Inscription of Xanthus 140
Conclusion 154
vii
viii Contents
Chapter 5. Temple-Palace Relations in Yehud . . . . . . . . . . . 156
A Model of Achaemenid Rule 156
Sources and Problems for the Study of Judah 157
The Restoration of the Temple of Yhwh in Jerusalem 158
Cyrus the Messiah and a Divine Quid Pro Quo 177
The Political Organization of Persian Period Yehud 183
Nehemiah’s Mission and the Ensuing Political Struggle 193
Ezra’s Mission 212
Yo˙anan the Priest 227
Alexander 231
Yaddua, the High Priest of the Jews 232
Conclusion 233
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Kings of Ancient Mesopotamia 234
Egyptian Pharaohs 235
Map: Cities and Islands of the Aegean Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Indexes
Index of Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Index of Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Preface
When I began graduate school in 1989, the Persian period, unlike others,
was the Dark Age of Jewish history. The years between the temple’s destruc-
tion and the rise of Alexander were a blank that the books of Ezra and Ne-
hemiah could not fill. Noticeably missing was a description of the change in
Judah from monarchy to theocracy. At the time of the First Temple’s destruc-
tion, a Davidic king ruled Judah. Under Alexander and the Ptolemies, the
high priest reportedly led the Jewish nation. The book Ezra–Nehemiah could
not get us from here to there, from monarchy to theocracy.
More than by the theocracy’s unknown origin, I was haunted by the con-
flicting views toward it. In Josephus, Philo, and Ben Sira, the high priest was
God’s emissary on earth. According to biblical scholars, however, the Mosaic
theocracy was rigid, legalistic, a “dead work,” “estranged from the heart,” a
source of opprobrium.1
I want to know if the Jewish priesthood did accrue secular power, and if
so, how it exercised this power in relation to the imperial forces that sur-
rounded it. I write in an unabashed attempt to defend it. I do so by setting
it in its ancient Near Eastern context. Rather than focusing on the Judean
priesthood, I try to understand the role of any priest in the ancient world. I
want to know if theocracies arose in other parts of the Persian Empire, and if
so, how, and if not, why not. I believe that the Jews and the Jewish priest-
hood were not unique and that whatever was true of other temples and other
temple cities in the face of imperial domination and control would also be
true of the Temple of Yhwh and of Jerusalem.
Acknowledgments
This book is a complete revision of my Ph.D. dissertation. Neither the
dissertation nor this book could have been written without help and wise in-
struction. The dissertation was conceived in the classrooms of Peter Ma-
chinist and Haim Tadmor at the University of Michigan but was brought to
the birthstool at New York University’s Department of Hebrew and Judaic
Studies. At the risk of belaboring the metaphor, I would add that its mid-
wives were my adviser, Baruch A. Levine, and my committee: Daniel Flem-
ing, Gernot Windfuhr, William Arnal, S. David Sperling, and Lawrence
1. E.g., Wellhausen, Prolegomena, 425. Please note that in this book source references
are abbreviated in the footnotes. The full citations are found in the bibliography.
ix