Judah and the Judeans in the Achaemenid Period

Under Persian rule, the people of Judah, at home and scattered abroad, were working out who they were, and many scholars now see this as the moment that question became most pressing. These papers come from an international colloquium held at the University of Heidelberg in April 2008, the fourth meeting of a group that has returned again and again to Judah in the exilic and postexilic centuries.

The essays fall into two parts: the biblical evidence in all its variety, and the cultural, historical, social and environmental forces that shaped a sense of national identity. Contributors include Konrad Schmid, Joseph Blenkinsopp, Rainer Albertz, André Lemaire and Reinhard G. Kratz. It follows earlier volumes on the Neo-Babylonian period, the Persian period and the fourth century BCE. A substantial, serious collection for students and scholars of the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East.