Judeans/Arameans at Elephantine: Their Social and Economic Status in Light of New Persian Period Texts from Egypt and Babylonia

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Bernd U. Schipper
• Subject Area: Protestant Theology
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 432563380

The publication of new Judean and other West-Semite sources from the Persian period provides a new textual basis for the study of ancient Judeans. Since 2006, many new Aramaic and Babylonian texts have been published. The applicant’s Lehrstuhl is preparing the publication of 600 more Aramaic fragments (ending 2020), and Cornelia Wunsch is preparing 50 more texts. These new Persian period sources pertaining to Judeans now must be examined for their historical value.In the research project proposed here, the social and economic status of the Judeans / Arameans in Persian Egypt will be examined philologically. It focuses on the Elephantine Judean/Aramean colony, which has been extensively worked on work at the applicant’s chair and for which unprecedented research opportunities exist due to our cooperation with an ERC research project at the Berlin Egyptian Museum (V. Lepper).Our project’s research question differs from previous questions about Elephantine sources. Much of the work of Bezalel Porten assumed that Elephantine was a Persian military colony, and he viewed its religion through the biblical books Ezra-Nehemiah, arguing for similarities with post-exilic Judaism. Instead, our project deliberately focuses on the non-religious issue: what can be said about the economic and social situation of the Judeans / Arameans when (a) considering newly published Aramaic texts, and (b) comparing the Aramaic texts with the material from Babylonia? The project’s preparatory work, that has been done by Dr. James D. Moore, shows that neither the previously published nor the unpublished Elephantine Aramaic sources refer to military activity, nor is religion a focal point in the sources. Instead, the texts mostly provide insights into aspects of Judean / Aramean social status and their legal and economic interactions within a Persian imperial context on Elephantine. In this way, they compare with the Babylonian materials, which also do not provide information about the religious identity of the Judeans (except in the formation of personal names). The Babylonian material also contains important information on the legal and economic status of Judeans, even among other ethnic groups. The project has immediate consequences for Old Testament research. Beyond providing insights into the status of an important form of Persian period Judaism, the research leads to literary-historical questions about the Bible. One of which is: can one better explain the military terminology within the Priestly Source, particularly in the book of Numbers, in view of these Persian concepts? What are the implications for the theological profile of the Priestly Source, if P’s military terms can be explained by the Persian administrative system?Overall, our requested research project will contribute to the history of ancient Judeans and also will provide a new approach in the study of that Old Testament literature which scholars generally date to the Persian period.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Professorin Dr. Verena Lepper