Abstract

It is well-known that the notions of peace, rest and order belonged to the royal Achaemenid ideology, particularly from the time of Darius I onwards. This can be witnessed in Achaemenid architecture, iconography and royal inscriptions. However, although the relations between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states were never completely peaceful, the diplomatic relations between Persia and particularly Sparta emphasised the value and importance of peace for international politics. How did this international discourse influence the literature formation in Yehud at the same time? In addition, can one read the Chronicler’s portrayal of King Solomon of old as playful (and undermining) irony and polemic against the imperial masters? In this article, I revisit an earlier study in which I have started investigating the rhetorical locus of the Chronicler’s portrayal of this king.

Highlights

  • In earlier work, I have advanced the thesis that we should assume much more aware‐ ness and knowledge of Classical Greek literature and the international politics of the 5th and 4th centuries BCE among the literati in Jerusalem who produced literature such as Chronicles

  • I argued my case there from two sources: first, from the international discourse on peace and, second, from the Persian royal ideology of peace, called the pax Achaemenidica by some scholars, that prevailed in the empire and that is witnessed in the reliefs and inscriptions from the main imperial centres of Persia

  • Even if the Greek sources would exaggerate the negative effects of the revolts on the Persian imperial centre, and even if there were not necessarily physical effects for Jerusalem and its environment, one may assume safely that the literati in Jerusalem must have been aware of all these developments in the last years of the Persian empire and in the run‐up to the conquest of Alexander the Great

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Summary

Introduction

I have advanced the thesis that we should assume much more aware‐ ness and knowledge of Classical Greek literature and the international politics of the 5th and 4th centuries BCE among the literati in Jerusalem who produced literature such as Chronicles. The influence of Classical Greek traditions in Yehud was not generally ac‐ cepted in 2006 and 2008 when I published my earlier work in this regard (See Jonker 2006, 2008). It might well be that the Chronicler had the wider international discourse on peace in his mind when he transformed Solomon into the king of peace and the man of rest. I argued my case there from two sources: first, from the international discourse on peace (as represented in the memory of a Peace of Kallias in 449 BCE and the so‐called King’s Peace of 386 BCE) and, second, from the Persian royal ideology of peace, called the pax Achaemenidica by some scholars, that prevailed in the empire and that is witnessed in the reliefs and inscriptions from the main imperial centres of Persia. I will deal with recent studies on how war and peace are presented, respectively, in Persian texts, coinage, and iconography and in Greek literary sources

War and Peace in Persian and Greek Sources
Re‐Reading the Chronicler’s Solomon Narrative
Conclusions
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