Studia Judaica: Forschungen zur Wissenschaft des Judentums 66, Berlin: de Gruyter.
FURTHER READING
1 Grabbe, L.L. (2004). A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period, Vol. 1, Yehud: A History of the Persian Province of Judah. London/New York: T&T Clark International. Provides a solid introduction to the material and the scholarly discussion.
2 Lemaire, A. (2015). Levantine Epigraphy and History in the Achaemenid Period (539–333 BCE), The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 2013. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gives a thorough overview of the epigraphical material.
3 Dušek, J. (2007). Les manuscrits araméens du Wadi Daliyeh et la Samarie vers 450–332 av. J.‐C., Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 30. Leiden: Brill. Offers an excellent new edition of the Samarian material and brilliant historical evaluations in the context of the Samarian as well as the Judaean history.
4 Dušek, J. (2012). Aramaic and Hebrew Inscriptions from Mt. Gerizim and Samaria between Antiochus III and Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 54. Leiden: Brill. Offers another excellent new edition of the Samarian material and brilllant historical evaluations in the context of the Samarian as well as the Judaean history.
5 Hallaschka, M. (2011). Haggai und Sacharja 1–8: Eine redaktionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung, Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 411. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter. Provides an excellent analysis of the prophetic books Haggai and Zechariah.
6 Grätz, S. (2004). Das Edikt des Artaxerxes. Eine Untersuchung zum religionspolitischen und historischen Umfeld von Esra 7, 12–26, Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 337. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter. Provides an excellent analysis of the book of Ezra.
7 Wright, J.L. (2004). Rebuilding Identity: The Nehemiah‐Memoir and its Earliest Readers, Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 348. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter. Provides an excellent analysis of the book of Nehemiah.
8 Kratz, R.G. (2015). Historical and Biblical Israel: The History, Tradition, and Archives of Israel and Judah (trans. P.M. Kurtz). Oxford: Oxford University Press. German version (2013, 2017). Historisches und biblisches Israel: Drei Überblicke zum Alten Testament. Tübingen: Siebeck Mohr. Offers three generally intelligible sketches, one on the history of Israel (Samaria) and Judah (Yehud) in pre‐ and post‐exilic times, a second on the growth and history of the literary tradition of the Hebrew Bible, and a third on Jewish archives in Persian and Hellenistic times (Elephantine, Al‐Yahudu, Qumran, Gerizim, Jerusalem, Alexandria).
Four volumes of collected articles on Judaism in the Achaemenid period:
1 Galling, K. (1964). Studien zur Geschichte Israels im persischen Zeitalter. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. Offers deep and lucid historical investigations on Judaism in the Achaemenid period.
2 Williamson, H.G.M. (2004). Studies in Persian Period History and Historiography (Forschungen zum Alten Testament 38). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. Offers brillant studies on history and historiography.
3 Kratz, R.G. (2004). Das Judentum im Zeitalter des Zweiten Tempels, Forschungen zum Alten Testament 42; study ed. 2006; 2nd ed. 2013. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. Provides articles on history and tradition.
4 Becking, B. (2011). Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Construction of Early Jewish Identity, Forschungen zum Alten Testament 80. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. Concentrates mainly on Ezra‐Nehemiah and the question of Judaean or Jewish identity.
NOTE
1 1 English translation Anselm C. Hagedorn (Berlin). This manuscript was completed in 2012, the literature was updated in 2017.
CHAPTER 11 Phoenician Sources
Josette Elayi
It is paradoxical that the Phoenicians who invented the alphabet have left relatively few inscriptions, compared with the Greeks for example. However, we know from the historian Flavius Josephus (see Chapter 14 Greek and Latin Sources) that Tyre used to write annals of the main events, as other cities probably did. In fact, hundreds of Phoenician inscriptions dated from the Persian period have been discovered, but most of them are very short. Monumental inscriptions are not frequent, on the one hand because many stones from ancient Lebanese sites have disappeared in lime‐kilns, on the other hand because the Phoenicians probably used to write on perishable supports, not preserved due to humid and salty soils. The main difficulty in consulting Phoenician inscriptions is the absence of a global corpus. Only partial corpuses exist for some categories of inscriptions and most Phoenician inscriptions are scattered in various publications or remain unpublished (Donner and Röllig 1973: pp. 10–62; Gibson 1982: pp. 93–141; Elayi and Sapin 2000: pp. 113–123, 363–366, 463–465, 609–611, 689–690; Pisano and Travaglini 2003: pp. 59–79).1
The Inscriptions of the Four Main Phoenician Cities
Sidonian inscriptions are the most numerous, about 100. The longest (22 lines) is the funeral inscription carved on the sarcophagus of King Eshmunazor II, an important historical inscription, dated about 550–525 BCE (Elayi 1989: pp. 37–79). The funeral inscription of his father, King Tabnit, is slightly earlier. More than 25 foundation inscriptions of King Bodashtart were discovered in the Eshmun temple near Sidon, dated about 525–500 BCE (Bonnet and Xella 2000: pp. 93–104). Bodashtart also made an inscription for inaugurating the Saltani channel (Xella and Zamora 2004: pp. 273–300). Among several votive inscriptions, the inscription of King Baalshillem II gives his royal genealogy: Baalshillem I, Abdamon, Baana, and Baalshillem II (Stucky 2005: pp. 273–318). Monetary inscriptions must not be neglected because they are very useful for history and chronology. They give the kings' abbreviated names and their yearly dating between 401 and 333 provides the dates of the reigns: Baalshillem II (401–366), Abdashtart I (365–352), Tennes (351–347), Evagoras (?) (346–343), and Abdashtart II (342–333) (Elayi and Elayi 2004: pp. 437–470; Elayi 2006: pp. 14–21). Other Sidonian inscriptions are ostraca, magical squares, workshop marks, and graffiti.
There are approximately 50 Tyrian inscriptions, but almost all of them are very short. Among the votive and funeral inscriptions, one dated about 532 BCE possibly gives the names of the kings Hiram III and Ittobaal IV, another mentions the “chief of the hundred,” and two written in Punic on stelae are related to Carthago's sons (Sader 2005: pp. 80–84). The monetary inscriptions give the abbreviated names of some kings such as Ozmilk, who reigned from about 349 to 333 BCE (Elayi and Elayi 2009: pp. 221–252; Elayi 2006: pp. 21–25). Other Tyrian inscriptions are inscribed on gold, lapis‐lazuli, and bronze amulets, tokens, bullae, fiscal, and personal seals (Lozachmeur and Pezin 1994: pp. 361–371; Bordreuil 1986: pp. 82–86; Sader 1990: pp. 318–321).
For Byblos, about 30 inscriptions have been published. Three are funeral inscriptions for King Shipitbaal III's son dated about 500 BCE, for an anonymous king dated about 400 BCE, and for Batnoam, King Ozbaal's mother, in about 400 BCE. The most important one is the votive inscription of King Yehawmilk dated about 450 BCE (Elayi 2009: pp. 14–23). The monetary inscriptions provide the names of four kings: Elpaal, Ozbaal, Urimilk, and Aynel. A magic inscription on a silver amulet possibly gives the name of King Shipitbaal III (Lemaire 2003: pp. 155–174). Other Byblian inscriptions are carved on statues, pottery, and seals.
The inscriptions of Arwad,
