History & Geography

Abstract

History & Geography Christopher T. Begg, William J. Urbrock, Frederick E. Greenspahn, Thomas Hieke, Victor H. Matthews, Paul R. Redditt, Alan J. Moss, CFC, and Joseph E. Jensen 1553. Tero Alstola, "Judean Merchants in Babylonia and Their Participation in Long-Distance Trade," WdO 47 (2017) 25-51. A.'s article focuses on Judean merchants resident in Babylonia, their social networks, and their business activities during the 6th cent. b.c.e. A. argues that these people were integrated into the commercial sphere of Babylonian society and had Babylonian merchants as well as traders of foreign origin among their acquaintances. Judeans thus participated in Babylon's long-distance trade, and documented evidence shows that some of them traveled as far as Iran for trading purposes. Furthermore, given that traveling and the transport of goods was an integral part of commercial activity at the time, the Judean merchants of Babylon provide an example of people who might have maintained connections between Judeans living in Judah and in Babylonia. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1554. Shawn Zelig Aster, "An Assyrian bīt mardīte near Tel Hadid?" JNES 74 (2015) 281-88. The Neo-Assyrian empire established administrative centers at several locations in the Land of Israel following the campaigns of the late 8th cent. b.c.e. In fact, it was the Assyrian policy of implementing an administrative presence after most Assyrian troops had withdrawn from a given area that ensured the empire's control over its vast territory in the period between the late 8th and mid-6th cents. Finds at Tel Hadid, situated west of the Samaritan hills, may, A. argues, be identified as the remains of an Assyrian bīt mardīte that functioned as a roadside provisioning center for Assyrian officials, messengers, and troops. The proposed identification is supported by the agricultural installations [End Page 510] found at the site, the texts found there, and the site's location on a major route. [Adapted from author's introduction, p. 281—C.T.B.] 1555. Francesco Bianchi, "Esilio e ritorno," RivB 64 (2016) 277-300. Many scholars have highlighted the importance of the exile in Babylon for the Jews who were exiled there in the period 596–539 b.c. Shaken by the destruction of the temple and facing an ongoing controversy with those who had remained in the land, the exiles had, not without difficulty, to adapt themselves to the new social, economic, and religious realities of their place of exile, as is well illustrated by the documents from Al Yahudu. Very soon, their reflections there on the catastrophe of the past gave rise to plans for a future rebirth, one centered on the temple and/or the Davidic dynasty. When they did return to their homeland—not in the guise of a new exodus, and under Persian oversight—the returnees' interactions with those who had remained in the land generated severe tensions. The stance adopted by the returnees vis-à-vis those they found in the land was to claim possession of a land they imagined as empty and desolate, even as they developed the ideal of a "jubilee" to address the ongoing controversies over ownership of the land and to secure exclusive possession of the temple. Against this background, it is curious that there emerged an increasingly negative judgment among Jews concerning Babylon, which came to be viewed as the epitome of all evil. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1556. Piero Capelli, "Diaspora perenne e richiamo della Terra," RivB 64 (2016) 301-35. Beginning in the exilic and postexilic periods, one of the most important paradigms in the conceptual evolution of Jewish literature has been the expectation of Israel's liberation and political and religious restoration. This has been more specifically envisaged in terms of a messianic kingdom established in the Land of Israel to which Jews would return from all over. After Rome defeated the rebel Jews and hopes for the rebuilding of the temple faded, early rabbinic literature depicted Jerusalem as a city in ruins, even though, historically, it flourished during the reign of Constantine and the Byzantine empire. Now a city without...