Identity in Persian Egypt

Recently Eisenbrauns published Identity in Persian Egypt. The Fate of the Yehudite Community of Elephantine, by Prof. Bob Becking. In this book, Becking provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the origins, lives, and eventual fate of the Yehudites, or Judeans, at Elephantine, framed within the greater history of the rise and fall of the Persian Empire.

The Yehudites were among those mercenaries recruited by the Persians to defend the southwestern border of the empire in the fifth century BCE. Becking argues that this group, whom some label as the first “Jews,” lived on the island of Elephantine in relative peace with other ethnic groups under the aegis of the pax persica.

Elephantine Yehudites

Drawing on Aramaic and Demotic texts discovered during excavations on the island and at Syene on the adjacent shore of the Nile, Becking finds evidence of intermarriage, trade cooperation, and even a limited acceptance of one another’s gods between the various ethnic groups at Elephantine. His analysis of the Elephantine Yehudites’ unorthodox form of Yahwism provides valuable insight into the group’s religious beliefs and practices.

• Title: Identity in Persian Egypt. The Fate of the Yehudite Community of Elephantine
• Author: Bob Becking
• Publisher: Eisenbrauns
• ISBN: 978-1-57506-745-2