The contributors to this volume demonstrate that the Transjordan was not a remote, marginalized region but one which was integrated beyond the Southern Levant into the Mediterranean, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. From a multi-disciplinary perspective, the authors investigate the unresolved questions regarding the history of Transjordan from the Iron I to the Hellenistic period.
Previous research has treated the Transjordanian regions - from the early Iron Age I to the Hellenistic period - as a geographically and/or culturally marginal area. The contributors of this volume demonstrate that the Transjordan was integrated beyond the Southern Levant into the Mediterranean, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. They deal with the unresolved questions surrounding Transjordan and its influence on religious and cultural history. In particular, this volume is the first to deal with Transjordan in the Persian period from a multi-disciplinary perspective - a period that has been ignored almost completely in current research, in favor of the Iron Age. With contributions from archaeology, Hebrew Bible studies, social and cultural history, Assyriology, ancient history, and religious history, this work provides a comprehensive and precise treatment of the topic.
Table of contents:
Benedikt Hensel : New Impulses from Archaeology, Cultural Studies and Hebrew Bible Studies on Transjordan in the Context of the Southern Levant and Beyond: An Introduction
PART I: THE IRON AGE. CULTURAL CONTACTS AND GEOPOLITICAL CONTEXTUALIZATION
Zachary Thomas : Early Iron Age Polities in the Southern Levant: Methodological Remarks-
Katja Weiß : Friendly Aggression: Egypt's Interests in Transjordan between Diplomacy, Trade and Conflict (ca. 1075-525 B.C.)-
Quinn Daniels : Inscribing the Northern Kingdom of Israel's Eastern and Southern Interests: The Exodus-Wilderness-Eastern Conquest Tradition-
Stephen Germany : Israelite and Judahite Involvement in Transjordan during the Monarchic Period: A Synthesis of the Biblical and Extrabiblical Sources-
Jordan Davis : Sihon and the Problem of Israel in Transjordan-
Erasmus Gaß : Tribes and Territories in Transjordan: The Tribe of Gad in Moab, and Israel
PART II: THE PERSIAN PERIOD: OVERCOMING A RESEARCH DESIDERATUM, TRACING BIBLICAL TRADITIONS AND THEIR HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDS
Benedikt Hensel : Transjordan and Judah from the Babylonian to Hellenistic Periods: Their Cultural, Religious, Economic, and Political Entanglements and Their Impact on the Formation of the Hebrew Bible -
Piotr Bienkowski : Transjordan in the Persian Period: The Archaeological Evidence and Patterns of Occupation -
Ben Greet : Powerful 'Localisms': Interconnecting Imperial, Regional, and Local Expressions in Persian-Period Glyptic East of the Jordan River -
Yigal Levin : Edom in Yehud: How did Postexilic Judeans Imagine Edom?
