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Persian Period
“Geshem the Arab” Appears on a Ceremonial Bowl When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard, they mocked us and held us in contempt and said, “What is this that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king? (Nehemiah 2-19) Date- late 5th century BCE Current Location- Brooklyn […]
Bagohi Letter Even while in Egypt, the Jewish diaspora community at Elephantine recognized the authority of the Jewish governor of Yehud at Jerusalem and wrote to him for guidance. One letter to Jerusalem relates that the Jews had built a temple at Elephantine even before the arrival of Cambyses, Cyrus’ successor, who conquered Egypt in […]
Werner Keller. The Bible as History. Bantam Books. New York. 1982. p.333.
It was not until the reign of his successor Darius I (522-486 B.C.) that the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem was finally taken in hand. Almost twenty years had passed since the foundations had been laid. At the request of the official responsible for the administration of Judah, the Satrap of Transeuphrates, Darius I […]
Henry C. Rawlinson – 1835 The wedge-writing continued for long ages to be an unsolved mystery. The discoveries of Botta and Layard in the mounds at Khorsabad and Nimroud were contemporaneous with another and equally or more remarkable event. Oriental scholars in Germany, France, Scandinavia, and other countries had set their wits to solve the […]
An extra-biblical reference to the observance of the Sabbath According to the Bible, the origin of the Sabbath is the creation of the world- “And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it God ceased from all the work of creation that He had done.” (Genesis 2-3) The Bible proscribes observance […]
Xerxes I portrayed on the Apadana Audience relief. Photo courtesy of Livius.org. Xerxes I (son of Darius I) planned to invade Europe through Greece. He gathered an army of approximately a quarter of a million men and set off for Greece. The Spartans met Xerxes’ army at Thermopylae and fought valiantly against it although there […]
Philip II of Macedon began an attack on the Achaemenid Empire after the death of Artaxerxes (Artaxšaçrā) III Ochus in 338 BCE. His son, Alexander the Great, renewed the attack beginning in 334 BCE. Darius III was already an old man and he was defeated by Alexander at Gaugamela (331 BCE). Alexander proceeded to capture […]
Inscribed Silver Bowl Inscribed Silver Bowl from Tel Mashuta, beginning of the 5th century, BCE, approximately 410-415. Stern, Ephraim, Material Culture of the Land of the Bible in the Persian Period. Jerusalem- Israel Exploration Society, 1973.
Artaxerxes II defeated and killed his brother, Cyrus the Younger, at the Battle of Cunaxa. He subsidized the Athenians, Thebans, and Corinthians in order to weaken the Spartans. This was one of the causes of the Corinthian War. In 386 BCE, Artaxerxes II betrayed his allies and came to an arrangement with Sparta in the […]