You already mentioned this a bit, but yeah, there's definitely a lack of monotheism going on here. Not only is there a mention of the Queen of Heaven (Asherah?) but also there's a replacement/alternative use of Ptah, who is the very Egyptian creator god. Are they using Ptah to represent HaShem as the Creator? Curious synthesis if so. There was intermarriage going on, and maybe a melding of religious cultures on Elephantine.
I think I love everything about this. I'm somehow NOT surprised by the whole, "Darius said it's OK to keep passover and in fact more or less insisted" thing, given even what we know from _Esther_ about the involvement of the Persian crown in all sorts of things, and the clear awareness (also from _Esther_) by the Persian crown of the non-Zoroastrian community in its empire. It is good to know, from this evidence, that Darius apparently thought well enough of his Jewish subjects to approve (and again, more or less insist -- the "approval" of a monarch like the Persian monarchs is pretty much a command).
Some wunderbar wholesomeness here, especially with the personal correspondence! Thank you for a touching example of how cool and personal and relatable historia can be
This post is a fun coincidence for me, since I just learned about the Jewish community at Elephantine from Yonatan Adler's new (and kinda mindblowing) book, The Origins of Judaism. He quotes some of the letters in documenting "early" evidence of widespread popular adoption (or lack thereof) of Torah law, and I'm not going to say any more about the book in case you want to go down *that* rabbit hole in a future article. What would you recommend reading to learn more about Elephantine?
Glad to see this, I studied the Ancient Near East, as it is called from a European perspective, in college. The elephantine community as noteworthy because so little writing of ours exists from ancient times. And yes texts that illustrate daily life are rarer still.
Of course no instruction to clean seriously, dwellings were much simpler, and only the richest would have had more serious cleaning issues. Mo money mo problems. When we do cleaning for Passover I really wish that I lived in a tent like our ancestors did. Cleaning: get rid of chametz, sweep, done. Sigh.
Love and longing in Elephantine
You already mentioned this a bit, but yeah, there's definitely a lack of monotheism going on here. Not only is there a mention of the Queen of Heaven (Asherah?) but also there's a replacement/alternative use of Ptah, who is the very Egyptian creator god. Are they using Ptah to represent HaShem as the Creator? Curious synthesis if so. There was intermarriage going on, and maybe a melding of religious cultures on Elephantine.
I love the tunic—what is it with this streaked schmatte? Send me a different one!
I have been super intrigued by the Jewish temples in Egypt since I heard about them - fab to find out more about the Elephantine garrison - thank you
This is delightful. More such rabbit holes, please.
I think I love everything about this. I'm somehow NOT surprised by the whole, "Darius said it's OK to keep passover and in fact more or less insisted" thing, given even what we know from _Esther_ about the involvement of the Persian crown in all sorts of things, and the clear awareness (also from _Esther_) by the Persian crown of the non-Zoroastrian community in its empire. It is good to know, from this evidence, that Darius apparently thought well enough of his Jewish subjects to approve (and again, more or less insist -- the "approval" of a monarch like the Persian monarchs is pretty much a command).
Delightful. But also, sounds like an SNL skit!! Thanks.
I enjoyed this read.
I visited Elephantine in February when I was in Egypt. Such a pleasant surprise to see it mentioned here and learn this!
Some wunderbar wholesomeness here, especially with the personal correspondence! Thank you for a touching example of how cool and personal and relatable historia can be
This post is a fun coincidence for me, since I just learned about the Jewish community at Elephantine from Yonatan Adler's new (and kinda mindblowing) book, The Origins of Judaism. He quotes some of the letters in documenting "early" evidence of widespread popular adoption (or lack thereof) of Torah law, and I'm not going to say any more about the book in case you want to go down *that* rabbit hole in a future article. What would you recommend reading to learn more about Elephantine?
Glad to see this, I studied the Ancient Near East, as it is called from a European perspective, in college. The elephantine community as noteworthy because so little writing of ours exists from ancient times. And yes texts that illustrate daily life are rarer still.
Of course no instruction to clean seriously, dwellings were much simpler, and only the richest would have had more serious cleaning issues. Mo money mo problems. When we do cleaning for Passover I really wish that I lived in a tent like our ancestors did. Cleaning: get rid of chametz, sweep, done. Sigh.
Danya, Fascinating D