by hadassah | Aug 30, 2015 | Political and Social Structures
Background to Hanukkah: Inscription Reveals Roots of Maccabean Revolt, Hershel Shanks, Biblical Archaeology Review (34:6) Nov/Dec 2008. A major new inscription that recently surfaced on the antiquities market and has been acquired by the Israel Museum in...
by hadassah | Apr 8, 2008 | Apocryphal Literature, Political and Social Structures
Ben Sira 50: The Glory of the High Priest Excerpted from Lawrence H. Schiffman, Texts and Traditions, Ktav, Hoboken 1998, p.143-145 and Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Apocrypha, copyright 1957 by the Division of Christian Education of the National...
by hadassah | Apr 8, 2008 | Political and Social Structures
Hecateus of Abdera, ca. 360-290 B.C.E., was a historian and ethnographer. Josephus quotes this description of the city of Jerusalem and its Temple from him. Some scholars, however, believe that this description was written by another author who wrote under the name of...
by hadassah | Apr 8, 2008 | Political and Social Structures
This papyrus is an important source for our understanding of the Land of Israel in Ptolemaic times. Especially noteworthy are the technical administrative terms. The document contains two royal edicts pertaining to registration of cattle and slaves. It is dated to the...
by hadassah | Apr 8, 2008 | Political and Social Structures
The Zenon Papyri are the archives of a third century B.C.E. agent of the finance minister of Ptolemaic Egypt. He visited the Land of Israel on an economic mission and accompanied his master on trips in Egypt. His archives are an important source for Jewish social...
by hadassah | Apr 8, 2008 | Political and Social Structures
In 301 B.C.E., after the death of Alexander and the division of his empire, Ptolemy I Soter, who had ruled over Egypt since 323 B.C.E., conquered Palestine. According to Josephus, this was the origin of the substantial community of Hellenized Jews in Egypt. (1) Now...
