“By the Favour of Ahuramazda I Am King”: On the Promulgation of a Persian Propaganda Text among Babylonians and Judaeans

Granerød, Gard

doi:10.1163/15700631-12340387

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…The Persian king commissioned the inscription around 520 BCE to commemorate his victories over his enemies. It is evident beyond doubt that the Persians dispersed versions of the inscription throughout the empire (Granerød 2013). By imitating the Persian king's literary-ideological image, the author of Genesis 14* construed Abram as a remarkable, heroic figure.…”

Section: What Triggered the Composition Of Genesis 14*?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Abram the One from Beyond-the-River, and King Chedorlaomer of Elam (Genesis 14): Persia and the Formation of Judaean Ethnic Identity in a Late Patriarchal Narrative

Granerød

2021

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The perception of Persia in Judaean/Jewish texts from antiquity contributed to the construction of a Judaean/Jewish identity. Genesis 14 gives an example of this; in it, Abra(ha)m wages war with a coalition headed by King Chedorlaomer of Elam. The article argues that Genesis 14 is one of the latest additions to the patriarchal narratives (Genesis 12–36), composed in the Persian or early Hellenistic period. It was conceived and used as an ethnic identity-forming story. The characters in the narrative represented groups and nations in the neighbourhood of the province of Judah. Abra(ha)m was perceived as the ancestor of the Judaeans and the inhabitants of the province Beyond-the-River. The King of Elam represented the Persian Empire. The article uses redaction criticism to argue that Genesis 14 is among the latest additions to the patriarchal narrative in the late Persian or Hellenistic period. Moreover, it uses a combination of philological and historical methods to argue that the description of Abra(ha)m as hāʿibrî (traditionally translated “the Hebrew,” Gen 14: 13) characterises him as a person from the region Eber-nāri (Beyond-the-River). The article uses similar methods to argue that the names of people and places in Genesis 14 referred to political entities in and around Judah. Eventually, the article uses Anthony D. Smith’s theory of ethnic community and elements from postcolonial theory as “reading lenses” and a framework for analysing Genesis 14. Reading this way underscores that Genesis 14 originated and worked as an ethnic identity-forming story.

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Section: What Triggered the Composition Of Genesis 14*?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Abram the One from Beyond-the-River, and King Chedorlaomer of Elam (Genesis 14): Persia and the Formation of Judaean Ethnic Identity in a Late Patriarchal Narrative

Granerød

2021

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“…See discussion in Tuplin 1991: 261-4. 24 For some recent studies, see Rohrmoser 2014;Granerød 2016;Siljanen 2017. Several Judaeans are attested within the imperial apparatus, at various places along the hierarchy: from low-level scribes to emissaries to governors of Yehud. 25 The marshaling of the various peoples within the empire is rather well attested, so this should come as no surprise.…”

Section: <A> the Historical Context Of The Judaeans In The Earlymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For a discussion of the interpolation from DNb, see Sims-Williams 1981. For a discussion of some Judaean reception of this, see Granerød 2013 andMitchell 2015. See also the comments on the genre in Silverman forthcoming-a.…”

Section: <A> the Historical Context Of The Judaeans In The Earlymentioning

confidence: 99%

Persian Royal–Judaean Elite Engagements In The Early Teispid and Achaemenid Empire

Silverman¹

2020

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All translations from Hebrew and Old Persian in this study are the author's own unless otherwise indicated.The spelling of the Iranian chief deity varies on the context of its use; this study uses Ahura Mazda in reference to Avestan sources, but Ahuramazda in reference to the OP inscriptions.x AcknowledgementsThis study was planned, outlined, and initial research conducted at Leiden University within the context of the ERC project "By the Rivers of Babylon: Perspectives on Second Temple Judaism from Cuneiform Texts," Principal Investigator Caroline Waerzeggers. This environment was instrumental to the development of the perspective here, and the author is grateful for the opportunity to learn from (and drink with!) the Assyriologists there. Discussions with Caroline Waerzeggers, Jonathan Stökl, Tero Alstola, and Bastian Still were invaluable for understanding Babylonia in the first millennium. The book manuscript itself was researched and written within the context of the Academy of Finland's Centre of Excellence in Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions, Principal Investigator Martti Nissinen. The ultimate proof-reading and corrections took pl ace whi le a p ar t o f the Ce n tre o f Exce l le nce in An cie n t Ne ar Eastern Empires, Principal Investigator Saana Svärd. Helsinki is a wonderful place in which to engage in such comparative and historical questions, and the value of conducting research in a large community like a Centre of Excellence can hardly be overestimated. The author is grateful to all his colleagues there. In particular, this work has benefited from discussions with the archaeologists and Near Eastern historians in Helsinki-especially Tero Alstola, Helen Dixon, Izaak de Hulster, Raz Kletter, Martti Nissinen, Saana Svärd, and Kirsi Valkama. The final stages of the manuscript were greatly facilitated by the bibliographic reach of Helen Dixon, Sebastian Fink, and Gina Konstantopoulos. My thinking has also been greatly impacted by the "Judaeans in the Persian Empire" sessions held at the EABS in Cordoba, Leuven, and Berlin, and the conversations with Caroline Waerzeggers, Lindsay Allen, and Uzume Wijnsma, a m o n g o t h e r s , t h a t w e h a v e h a d t h e r e . I a m a l s o g r a t e f u l t o LHBOTS's reviewers and editors for their comments. For all errors of citation or judgment, however, the author remains fully culpable.Several sections of this study have received previous public airing, and several have appeared in slightly modified form in print. The section "The Historical Context of the Judaeans in the Early Persian Empire" contains material previously published in Finnish as "The Pax Persica and the Judaeans." 2 The Excursus "Prophecy as Medium for Negotiating Religious and Secular Authority" was originally presented at the Göttingen Graduiertenschule für Geisteswissenschaften summer school. 3 The material on creation in chapter 2 was presented in concise form in Istanbul as "Achaemenid Creation and Second Isaiah" and published under the same name in 2017. 4 The material on...

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“…141-58). For a discussion of the various versions of DB, see Granerød (2013Granerød ( , 2020. 20 Becking (2020) discusses the various ethnic communities at Elephantine and how they were instrumental in the imperial power maintenance.…”

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confidence: 99%

Yehudite Imaginations of King Darius and His Officials: Views from the Province beyond the River

Joachimsen

2022

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This article analyzes representations of the Persian king Darius and his officials in the Books of Haggai, Zechariah 1–8, and Ezra 4–6 in the current Hebrew Bible. These writings, produced in the Persian period or somewhat later, portray these literary characters in various ways in relation to the restoration of the community, city, and temple of YHWH in Jerusalem. In biblical scholarship, the main interest has been to scrutinize the conditions behind the textual representations of Darius, related to dating the selected texts and the temple restoration, as well as Darius’s role as the central supplier of Achaemenid imperial ideology. The current study suggests refocusing by highlighting the historical significance of the literary imaginations of this monarch. What is at stake is not the historical Darius or the officials Zerubbabel, Sheshbazzar, and Tattenai, but rather literary representations of them suiting the needs of those who produced them. In Haggai and Zechariah 1–8, Darius’s role in the temple restoration is downplayed, while in Haggai, Zerubbabel is represented by a blend of Yahwistic and imperial signs and symbols, and in Zechariah 1–8, the imperial connotations are toned down. This is while Zerubbabel is decisive for authorizing both the temple community and the prophet. In Ezra 4–6, Darius is one of many Persian kings engaged in the restoration of the temple and the city of Jerusalem. While Zerubbabel gains support from the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, Sheshbazzar brings the vessels back to Jerusalem and lays the foundations of the temple on King Cyrus’s command. At the same time, Tattenai gets Cyrus’s order confirmed and, apart from that, is asked to stay away from the works of the Yehudites. By analyzing the representations of Darius and other Persian officials through a cultural-historical lens, selection and perspectivization are stressed. The selected writings convey local negotiations of power relations with the empire in terms of keeping a position in the imperial hierarchy while, at the same time, cultivating the identity of their subaltern group through certain symbols, institutions, and practices.

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“By the Favour of Ahuramazda I Am King”: On the Promulgation of a Persian Propaganda Text among Babylonians and Judaeans

Cited by 9 publications

References 2 publications

Abram the One from Beyond-the-River, and King Chedorlaomer of Elam (Genesis 14): Persia and the Formation of Judaean Ethnic Identity in a Late Patriarchal Narrative

Abram the One from Beyond-the-River, and King Chedorlaomer of Elam (Genesis 14): Persia and the Formation of Judaean Ethnic Identity in a Late Patriarchal Narrative

Persian Royal–Judaean Elite Engagements In The Early Teispid and Achaemenid Empire

Yehudite Imaginations of King Darius and His Officials: Views from the Province beyond the River

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