Tero Alstola Judeans in Babylonia A Study of Deportees in the Sixth and Fifth Centuries BCE ACADEMIC DISSERTATION TO BE PUBLICLY DISCUSSED, BY DUE PERMISSION OF THE FACULTY OF THEOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI IN AUDITORIUM XII OF THE UNIVERSITY MAIN BUILDING, ON THE 17 TH OF JANUARY, 2018 AT 12 O’CLOCK.
Judeans in Babylonia A Study of Deportees in the Sixth and Fifth Centuries BCE
Mar 28, 2023
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Tero Alstola
Judeans in Babylonia A Study of Deportees in the Sixth and Fifth Centuries BCE
ACADEMIC DISSERTATION TO BE PUBLICLY DISCUSSED, BY DUE PERMISSION OF THE FACULTY OF THEOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI
IN AUDITORIUM XII OF THE UNIVERSITY MAIN BUILDING, ON THE 17TH OF JANUARY, 2018 AT 12 O’CLOCK.
This dissertation project has been financially supported by the ERC Starting Grant project ‘By the Rivers of Babylon: New Perspectives on Second Temple Judaism from Cuneiform Texts’ and by the Centre of Excellence in Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions, funded by the Academy of Finland.
Cover illustration by Suvi Tuominen
ISBN 978-951-51-3831-6 (paperback) ISBN 978-951-51-3832-3 (PDF)
Unigrafia Oy Helsinki 2017
SUMMARY
Judeans in Babylonia: A Study of Deportees in the Sixth and Fifth Centuries BCE
The dissertation investigates Judean deportees in Babylonia in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE. These people arrived in Babylonia from Judah in the early sixth century BCE, being but one of numerous ethnic groups deported and resettled by King Nebuchadnezzar II. Naming practices among many deportee groups have been thoroughly analysed, but there has been little interest in writing a socio-historical study of Judeans or other immigrants in Babylonia on the basis of cuneiform sources. The present dissertation fills this gap by conducting a case study of Judean deportees and placing its results in the wider context of Babylonian society. The results from the study of Judeans are evaluated by using a group of Neirabian deportees as a point of comparison.
The sources of this study consist of 289 clay tablets written in Akkadian cuneiform. The texts are legal and administrative documents such as promissory notes, leases, receipts, and lists. The texts are rarely isolates and normally they can be connected to larger private and institutional archives. Analysis of the source texts as part of larger archives significantly contributes to our understanding of the socio-economic framework of these texts and the people attested in them.
Babylonian sources rarely make the ethnic or geographic origin of people explicit, and naming practices are the most important method to identify immigrants in cuneiform texts. Yahwistic theophoric names – that is, names which refer to the god Yahweh – can be used to identify Judeans in Babylonia.
The dissertation shows that most Judeans and other deportees were settled in rural communities according to their geographic origin and integrated into the land-for-service sector of Babylonian agriculture. The deportees were given plots of land to cultivate, and in exchange they were obliged to pay taxes and perform work and military service. Some Judeans were able to profit from the system by working as middlemen between the royal administration and their fellow landholders, while other Judeans worked as minor officials in local administration. Nevertheless, the majority of small farmers lived at a subsistence level.
Not all deportees were settled in the countryside, as their labour was also needed in cities. Foreign craftsmen, merchants, and soldiers worked in royal service, and a number of deportees made their way to local and regional administrations in Babylonia. Members of foreign royalty were deported to Babylon, and the Judean king Jehoiachin and his retinue were held hostage there in order to prevent rebellions in the vassal state of Judah. A relatively small number of deportees were turned into slaves or temple dependants.
The Babylonian practice of settling deportees in ethnically homogenous rural communities supported the survival of their culture in the countryside. Although the deportees were integrated into the Babylonian economy, there is less evidence of social and cultural integration. Adoption of local culture was faster among those deportees who lived in cities and were in regular contact with the native population. Very little can be said about Judean religious practices, however. The available sources hardly ever touch
iv SUMMARY
upon this issue, and naming practices only indicate that the worship of Yahweh probably continued in some form in the late fifth century BCE.
TIIVISTELMÄ
Väitöstutkimus tarkastelee maahanmuuttajien asemaa muinaisessa Lähi-idässä 500–400- luvuilla eaa. Babylonia, nykyisen Irakin eteläosa, oli tähän aikaan monikielinen ja - kulttuurinen yhteiskunta. Alueen väestön moninaisuus lisääntyi entisestään 600–500- lukujen taitteessa, jolloin Babylonian suurvalta siirsi suuria väkijoukkoja valtakunnan reunoilta sen ydinalueille. Väitöstutkimus tarjoaa uutta tietoa pakkosiirtolaisten arkielämästä ja osoittaa, että heidän kotoutumisensa vaihteli merkittävästi asuinpaikan, ammatin ja yhteiskunnallisen aseman mukaan.
Pakkosiirtolaisten oloja tarkastellaan väitöskirjassa ensisijaisesti juudalaisia koskevan tapaustutkimuksen avulla. Babylonian kuningas Nebukadnessar II siirrätti nämä ihmiset Juudasta Babyloniaan kapinoinnin seurauksena. Pakkosiirrot olivat poliittinen ja uskonnollinen katastrofi Juudan kuningaskunnalle, ja ne vaikuttivat ratkaisevasti Vanhan testamentin muotoutumiseen ja juutalaisuuden syntyyn. Pakkosiirtoihin johtaneita tapahtumia ja niiden vaikutushistoriaa on tutkittu runsaasti, mutta juudalaisten elämästä Babyloniassa on tiedetty tähän saakka vähän. Väitöskirja täyttää tämän aukon, ja se on ensimmäinen laaja babylonialaisiin alkuperäislähteisiin perustuva tutkimus aiheesta.
Tutkimuksen lähdeaineistona on 289 akkadinkielistä nuolenpäätaulua. Nämä tekstit ovat oikeudellisia ja hallinnollisia asiakirjoja kuten vuokrasopimuksia, velkakirjoja ja kuitteja. Yksittäinen teksti voidaan yleensä liittää osaksi laajempaa arkistoa, mikä auttaa ymmärtämään tekstin ja siinä esiintyvien henkilöiden taustaa. Juudalaiset voidaan tunnistaa teksteistä henkilönnimien perusteella.
Tutkimus osoittaa, että pääosa juudalaisista asutettiin Babylonian maaseudulle, jossa viljelysmaata oli runsaasti mutta väestö vähäistä. Pakkosiirtolaiset sijoitettiin kyliin heidän etnisen alkuperänsä mukaan ja heille annettiin palsta kruunun maata viljeltäväksi. Vastineeksi maasta heidän tuli maksaa veroja ja suorittaa työ- ja sotapalvelusta. Jotkut juudalaiset onnistuivat hyötymään tästä järjestelystä ja toimimaan välikätenä maanviljelijöiden ja valtion virkamiesten välillä, kun taas toiset juudalaiset palvelivat valtiota pikkuvirkamiehinä. Pääosa maanviljelijöistä eli kuitenkin toimeentulonsa rajoilla.
Kaikkia pakkosiirtolaisia ei asutettu maaseudulle, vaan heidän työpanostaan tarvittiin myös kaupungeissa. Ulkomaalaisia käsityöläisiä, kauppiaita, virkamiehiä ja sotilaita työskenteli valtion palveluksessa erityisesti pääkaupunki Babylonissa. Valloitettujen maiden kuninkaallisia tuotiin panttivangeiksi Babyloniin, mutta vain pienestä osasta pakkosiirtolaisia tehtiin orjia.
Babylonian juudalaiset eivät olleet homogeeninen joukko. Juudalaisen kulttuurin jatkuvuutta maaseudulla tuki tapa asuttaa siirtolaiset yhteisöihin heidän alkuperänsä mukaan. Vaikka nämä ihmiset liitettiin osaksi babylonialaista talous- ja hallintojärjestelmää, on vähemmän merkkejä siitä, että he omaksuivat piirteitä
vi TIIVISTELMÄ
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A large number of people have contributed to the realisation of this dissertation in Leiden and Helsinki. I would like to express my gratitude to them.
First, I wish to thank my supervisors, Prof. Caroline Waerzeggers in Leiden and Prof. Martti Nissinen in Helsinki. They have trusted in me, provided me with excellent feedback, and supported me through the various stages of my project. This dissertation would not have been realised without them. I thank the examiners of my dissertation in Leiden and Helsinki for their careful work and feedback.
In Leiden, I want to express my gratitude to the members of the ERC Starting Grant project ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’, Rieneke Sonnevelt, Bastian Still, Jason Silverman, Anne-Mareike Wetter, and Jonathan Stökl. My dissertation greatly benefitted from their expertise, and their kindness made my four years in Leiden enjoyable. I would also like to express my thanks to Akiko Tsujita, Maarja Seire, Cristina Barcina, and Johan Lundberg for the relaxed and encouraging conversations over lunch and to the LIAS PhD council for many happy moments.
In Helsinki, numerous teachers and colleagues have contributed to my academic education and dissertation project during the last ten years. I would like to thank Kirsi Valkama for her inspiring teaching and Raija Mattila for guiding me through my studies in Assyriology. I wish to thank the whole research community working within the Centre of Excellence in Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions, especially Katri Antin, Tuukka Kauhanen, Katja Kujanpää, Sanna Saari, Saana Svärd, Tuula Tynjä, Joanna Töyräänvuori, and Hanna Vanonen.
Many colleagues from abroad have provided me with help and support during my research project. I would like to thank Cornelia Wunsch, Laurie E. Pearce, Angelika Berlejung, Sonja Ammann, Reettakaisa Sofia Salo, and the members of the OTSEM and Neo-Babylonian networks for collaboration and feedback.
I thank Dr. Albion M. Butters for revising the English language of this manuscript. All the remaining shortcomings are my own.
Finally, I want to express my deepest gratitude to Mikko, Jan, and Sampsa for their friendship, to my mother for a great upbringing, and to Suvi for love and trust.
Helsinki, November 2017 Tero Alstola
CONTENTS
Summary .......................................................................................................................... iii Tiivistelmä ......................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ vii Contents ........................................................................................................................... ix Figures and Tables ......................................................................................................... xiii Conventions and Abbreviations ...................................................................................... xv 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Aims and Relevance of This Study ........................................................................ 1 1.2 Historical Background ............................................................................................ 3
1.2.1 Political History ............................................................................................... 3 1.2.2 Migration in the Ancient Near East ................................................................. 7 1.2.3 Deportations from Judah ............................................................................... 10
1.3 Babylonian Exile: Reception and Research History ............................................. 14 1.3.1 Reception History .......................................................................................... 14 1.3.2 Research History ........................................................................................... 16
1.4 Methods ................................................................................................................ 22 1.4.1 Historical Method .......................................................................................... 22 1.4.2 Archival Approach ........................................................................................ 24 1.4.3 Social Network Analysis ............................................................................... 25 1.4.4 Babylonian Society as a Subject of Study ..................................................... 25 1.4.5 Identifying Foreigners in Babylonian Sources .............................................. 32
1.5 Sources.................................................................................................................. 41 1.5.1 The Hebrew Bible .......................................................................................... 41 1.5.2 Cuneiform Sources ........................................................................................ 44 1.5.3 Archaeology and the Longue Durée .............................................................. 50
2 Judean Royalty and Professionals in Babylon .............................................................. 53 2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 53 2.2 German Excavations at Babylon .......................................................................... 53 2.3 The Palace Archive of Nebuchadnezzar II ........................................................... 54 2.4 Foreign Royalty and Professionals in Babylon .................................................... 57 2.5 Living Conditions in Babylon and Jehoiachin’s Amnesty ................................... 62 2.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 68
3 Judean Merchants in Babylonia and Their Participation in Long-Distance Trade....... 69 3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 69 3.2 Trade and Traders in Babylonia ........................................................................... 70 3.3 Judean Royal Merchants in Sippar ....................................................................... 72
3.3.1 Sources .......................................................................................................... 72 3.3.2 Social Network .............................................................................................. 78 3.3.3 Identity, Integration, and Socio-economic Status .......................................... 82
3.4 Other Judean Merchants in Babylonia.................................................................. 84 3.5 Conclusion: Long-Distance Trade and Judean Merchants ................................... 86
x CONTENTS
4.2.1 The Location of Yhdu and Našar ............................................................... 91 4.2.2 The Land-for-Service Sector – Economic Environment of the Texts ........... 94
4.3 Text Groups and Their Protagonists ..................................................................... 96 4.3.1 Three or More Groups? ................................................................................. 96 4.3.2 Texts Pertaining to Rmt/Ab-ul-de and Rmt/Samak-Yma ................... 97 4.3.3 Texts Pertaining to Ahqar, Son of Rmt ..................................................... 99 4.3.4 Texts Pertaining to Bl-ahh-erba, Son of Nr-Šamaš .............................. 105 4.3.5 Scribes and Royal Administration in Našar ................................................ 105 4.3.6 Texts Relating to Yhdu ............................................................................ 109 4.3.7 Texts from l-šarri ...................................................................................... 128 4.3.8 Texts Pertaining to Zababa-šar-uur and Bt-Ab-râm ................................ 130 4.3.9 Loosely Connected and Isolated Texts ........................................................ 134 4.3.10 Administrative Practices and the Origins of the Text Corpus ................... 136
4.4 Judeans in Yhdu and Its Surroundings ........................................................... 142 5 Judeans in the Murašû Archive .................................................................................. 147
5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 147 5.1.1 The Murašû Archive .................................................................................... 147 5.1.2 Judeans in the Murašû Archive ................................................................... 149 5.1.3 Seal Impressions .......................................................................................... 152
5.2 Yadi-Yma and Pili-Yma – Entrepreneurs or Representatives? ...................... 153 5.2.1 Business Partners of the Murašûs? .............................................................. 154 5.2.2 Yadi-Yma and the Village of Bt-Grya .................................................. 155 5.2.3 Pili-Yma’s Transactions ............................................................................ 157 5.2.4 Yhû-natan, Son of Yadi-Yma .................................................................. 159 5.2.5 Representatives of a Community of Farmers .............................................. 159
5.3 Judean Landholders and the Land-for-Service Sector ........................................ 162 5.3.1 General Features .......................................................................................... 162 5.3.2 Haru of the Spirus .................................................................................... 167 5.3.3 Large-Scale Landholding: Rahm-il and His Family .................................. 175 5.3.4 Other Judean Landholders ........................................................................... 178 5.3.5 Patterns of Judean Landholding .................................................................. 179
5.4 Judean Officials .................................................................................................. 180 5.5 Judean Witnesses ................................................................................................ 183 5.6 Socio-Economic Status ....................................................................................... 183
5.6.1 The Framework of the Archive: The Land-for-Service Sector ................... 183 5.6.2 Taxation and Service Obligations ............................................................... 184 5.6.3 Dependency and Freedom ........................................................................... 187
5.7 Culture and Religion ........................................................................................... 188 5.7.1 Seal Use ....................................................................................................... 188 5.7.2 Naming Practices ......................................................................................... 191 5.7.3 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 193
5.8 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 193 6 Judeans outside the Main Archives ............................................................................ 197
6.1 Officials .............................................................................................................. 197 6.2 Temples .............................................................................................................. 200 6.3 Royal Lands and the Land-for-Service Sector ................................................... 204 6.4 Miscellaneous Texts ........................................................................................... 206 6.5 Seals of Exiles .................................................................................................... 206 6.6 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 207
CONTENTS xi
7 The Neirabian Community in Babylonia.................................................................... 209 7.1 Neirab of Syria and Neirab of Babylonia ........................................................... 209 7.2 The Archive and Its Socio-Economic Context ................................................... 212
7.2.1 The Protagonists of the Texts ...................................................................... 212 7.2.2 Promissory Notes for Barley ....................................................................... 213 7.2.3 Promissory Notes for Silver ........................................................................ 214 7.2.4 Diverse Documents ..................................................................................... 216
7.3 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 217 8 Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 221
8.1 Sources – The Perspective of Babylonian Scribes ............................................. 222 8.2 Resettlement and Organisation of Deportees ..................................................... 223 8.3 Social and Economic Aspects of Life in Babylonia ........................................... 226 8.4 Women................................................................................................................ 230 8.5 Religion .............................................................................................................. 232 8.6 Culture and Integration ....................................................................................... 236
Bibliographical Abbreviations ....................................................................................... 241 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 245
FIGURES AND TABLES
Figure 4.1 Documents pertaining to Ahqar ................................................................. 100 Figure 4.2 The family of Ahqar, son of Rmt ............................................................ 104 Figure 4.3 Documents pertaining to Rap-Yma, Ahqam, and Ahqam’s sons.......... 110 Figure 4.4 The descendants of Samak-Yma ............................................................... 122 Figure 4.5 Administrative hierarchy in the environs of Yhdu .................................. 126 Figure 4.6 Documents pertaining to Zababa-šar-uur .................................................. 131 Figure 4.7 Documents pertaining to Ahqar and Ahqam ............................................ 138 Figure 4.8 Main text groups of the corpus.................................................................... 141 Figure 5.1 Murašû texts pertaining to Judeans ............................................................. 151 Figure 5.2 The descendants of Rahm-il ....................................................................... 175
Table 5.1 Transactions with quantifiable data pertaining to Judeans ........................... 166 Table 5.2 Judean seal users in the Murašû archive....................................................... 189 Table 5.3 Judean naming practices in the Murašû archive ........................................... 192 Table 8.1 Judean naming practices ............................................................................... 234
CONVENTIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Dates. Babylonian dates are given as day-month-regnal year. For example, ‘10–XI–12 Nbk’ refers to the tenth day of the eleventh month in the twelfth regnal year of King Nebuchadnezzar II. In the same vein, ‘7 Dar’ refers to the seventh year of King Darius I. The abbreviations of kings’ names are given below. The corresponding Julian dates are adopted from Parker and Dubberstein 1942. All Julian dates in this thesis are BCE unless otherwise indicated.
Nbk Nebuchadnezzar II AM Aml-Marduk Ner Neriglissar Nbn Nabonidus Cyr Cyrus Camb Cambyses Bar Bardiya Nbk III Nebuchadnezzar III Nbk IV Nebuchadnezzar IV Dar Darius I Xer Xerxes I Art I Artaxerxes I Dar II Darius II
Filiation. In Neo-Babylonian legal texts, people are normally referred to by their name and patronymic. The standard formula in Babylonian cuneiform is PN a-šú šá PN2 (‘PN, son of PN2’), abbreviated in this study as PN/PN2. For those people who bore family names, the formula is PN a-šú šá PN2 a PN3 (‘PN, son of PN2, descendant of PN3’), abbreviated in this study as PN/PN2/PN3 or PN//PN3. See section 1.4.5.1.
Weights and measures (see Baker 2004, ix–x; Jursa 2010a, xvii–xviii). A kurru was the standard measure of capacity, circa 180 litres. 1 kurru = 5 pnu = 30 stu = 180 qû. Fractions of kurru are recorded in positional notation (e.g. 1;2.3.4 stands for 1 kurru 2 pnu 3 stu 4 qû).
A shekel (c. 8.3 grams) was the standard weight for measuring silver and gold. 60 shekels equal 1 mina (c. 500 grams) and 60 minas equal 1 talent (c. 30 kilograms).
The translations of biblical passages are adopted from the New Revised Standard Version.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Aims and Relevance of This Study
This thesis is a study of Judeans1 in Babylonia in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE.2 Most of these people arrived in Babylonia in the early sixth century, being but one of numerous ethnic groups deported and resettled after King Nebuchadnezzar II’s conquest of Syria and the Levant. At the same time, voluntary and forced migration had shaped Babylonia over millennia, and continuous immigration had resulted in a multi-ethnic and multi- lingual society. These features of Babylonia in the mid-first millennium have been acknowledged for a long time and a significant amount of pertinent evidence has been made available. Naming practices among immigrant groups have been thoroughly analysed, but there has been little interest in writing a socio-historical study of Judeans or other immigrants in Babylonia based on cuneiform sources.3 This thesis aims to fill this gap by conducting a case study of the Judean deportees and placing its results in a wider context of Babylonian society. An important point of comparison is the case of the Neirabians, who were deported from Syria to Babylonia roughly at the same time as the Judeans, lived in the village of Neirab in the Babylonian countryside, and finally returned to their ancient hometown in Syria.
A study of Judean deportees in Babylonia can contribute to three academic fields. First, biblical studies can benefit from new insights into a period commonly known as the Babylonian exile (section 1.3), which refers to Judean existence in Babylonia after the deportations in the early sixth century. The end of the kingdom of Judah and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem was a catastrophe which required theological explanation. The deportations and exile started an interpretative process that contributed to the birth of Judaism and biblical literature, and, indirectly, to the emergence of Christianity and Islam. Academic studies of this period have been primarily based on the Hebrew Bible despite the publication of relevant cuneiform sources already in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There is a need for a careful and comprehensive treatment of the relevant cuneiform sources, as outdated or misleading interpretations of the Babylonian evidence can be found even in recent discussions of the exilic period.4 A study of Judeans in Babylonia is especially timely at the moment, as the recent emergence of cuneiform sources from the environs of Yhdu, ‘(the town of) Judah’ in Babylonia, has more than doubled the number of sources relevant to this study.
1 ‘Judean’ refers here to the inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah and their descendants. This is the standard term used in recent studies, and the terms ‘Jew’ and ‘Judaism’ are mostly used in reference to later periods. For a discussion of the terms ‘Judean’, ‘Jew’, and ‘Judaism’, see, for example, Mason 2007; Becking 2008, 184–185; Blenkinsopp 2009, 19–28; Beaulieu 2011, 249–250, 258–259; Kratz 2011, 421–424; Law and Halton (eds.) 2014. 2 All dates are BCE unless otherwise indicated. 3 See section 1.3.2. 4 See, for example, Ahn 2011, 52–53; Perdue et al. 2015, 76.
2 CHAPTER 1
Second, the present study can advance the field of Neo-Babylonian studies. Despite their antiquity, many aspects of Babylonian society and economy are relatively well understood due to tens of thousands of extant cuneiform texts from the sixth and fifth centuries. However, the majority of available sources originate from temple archives and private archives of the urban upper class, and life in the countryside or the workings of the state apparatus are worse understood. A study of deportees and their descendants sheds new light on the margins of Babylonian society, it enhances the understanding of the economic sectors in which deportees participated, and it allows a diachronic study of state involvement in deportees’ lives over two centuries.
Third, the thesis can enhance our knowledge of early migration history in the Near East, and it thus contributes to the field of migration studies. Although policy recommendations on modern situations must be sought elsewhere, it is necessary to view the current migration flows within and from the Middle East against the historical background of population movements in the area. An understanding of migration as an ancient phenomenon and appreciation of cultural diversity in the ancient Near East offer perspectives on often heated debates on migration and remind us that the movement of people is an intrinsic part of world history.
This study has three aims, two of which relate to the social history of Judeans and other deportees in Babylonia and one to the political aspects of deportation. First, I aim to write a social history of Judeans in Babylonia in the sixth and fifth centuries. The emphasis is on questions of socio-economic status and integration. ‘Integration’ refers here to an immigrant’s process of adapting oneself to the host society in social, economic, and cultural terms.5 Second, the study of Judeans will be placed in the wider context of deportees and…
Judeans in Babylonia A Study of Deportees in the Sixth and Fifth Centuries BCE
ACADEMIC DISSERTATION TO BE PUBLICLY DISCUSSED, BY DUE PERMISSION OF THE FACULTY OF THEOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI
IN AUDITORIUM XII OF THE UNIVERSITY MAIN BUILDING, ON THE 17TH OF JANUARY, 2018 AT 12 O’CLOCK.
This dissertation project has been financially supported by the ERC Starting Grant project ‘By the Rivers of Babylon: New Perspectives on Second Temple Judaism from Cuneiform Texts’ and by the Centre of Excellence in Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions, funded by the Academy of Finland.
Cover illustration by Suvi Tuominen
ISBN 978-951-51-3831-6 (paperback) ISBN 978-951-51-3832-3 (PDF)
Unigrafia Oy Helsinki 2017
SUMMARY
Judeans in Babylonia: A Study of Deportees in the Sixth and Fifth Centuries BCE
The dissertation investigates Judean deportees in Babylonia in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE. These people arrived in Babylonia from Judah in the early sixth century BCE, being but one of numerous ethnic groups deported and resettled by King Nebuchadnezzar II. Naming practices among many deportee groups have been thoroughly analysed, but there has been little interest in writing a socio-historical study of Judeans or other immigrants in Babylonia on the basis of cuneiform sources. The present dissertation fills this gap by conducting a case study of Judean deportees and placing its results in the wider context of Babylonian society. The results from the study of Judeans are evaluated by using a group of Neirabian deportees as a point of comparison.
The sources of this study consist of 289 clay tablets written in Akkadian cuneiform. The texts are legal and administrative documents such as promissory notes, leases, receipts, and lists. The texts are rarely isolates and normally they can be connected to larger private and institutional archives. Analysis of the source texts as part of larger archives significantly contributes to our understanding of the socio-economic framework of these texts and the people attested in them.
Babylonian sources rarely make the ethnic or geographic origin of people explicit, and naming practices are the most important method to identify immigrants in cuneiform texts. Yahwistic theophoric names – that is, names which refer to the god Yahweh – can be used to identify Judeans in Babylonia.
The dissertation shows that most Judeans and other deportees were settled in rural communities according to their geographic origin and integrated into the land-for-service sector of Babylonian agriculture. The deportees were given plots of land to cultivate, and in exchange they were obliged to pay taxes and perform work and military service. Some Judeans were able to profit from the system by working as middlemen between the royal administration and their fellow landholders, while other Judeans worked as minor officials in local administration. Nevertheless, the majority of small farmers lived at a subsistence level.
Not all deportees were settled in the countryside, as their labour was also needed in cities. Foreign craftsmen, merchants, and soldiers worked in royal service, and a number of deportees made their way to local and regional administrations in Babylonia. Members of foreign royalty were deported to Babylon, and the Judean king Jehoiachin and his retinue were held hostage there in order to prevent rebellions in the vassal state of Judah. A relatively small number of deportees were turned into slaves or temple dependants.
The Babylonian practice of settling deportees in ethnically homogenous rural communities supported the survival of their culture in the countryside. Although the deportees were integrated into the Babylonian economy, there is less evidence of social and cultural integration. Adoption of local culture was faster among those deportees who lived in cities and were in regular contact with the native population. Very little can be said about Judean religious practices, however. The available sources hardly ever touch
iv SUMMARY
upon this issue, and naming practices only indicate that the worship of Yahweh probably continued in some form in the late fifth century BCE.
TIIVISTELMÄ
Väitöstutkimus tarkastelee maahanmuuttajien asemaa muinaisessa Lähi-idässä 500–400- luvuilla eaa. Babylonia, nykyisen Irakin eteläosa, oli tähän aikaan monikielinen ja - kulttuurinen yhteiskunta. Alueen väestön moninaisuus lisääntyi entisestään 600–500- lukujen taitteessa, jolloin Babylonian suurvalta siirsi suuria väkijoukkoja valtakunnan reunoilta sen ydinalueille. Väitöstutkimus tarjoaa uutta tietoa pakkosiirtolaisten arkielämästä ja osoittaa, että heidän kotoutumisensa vaihteli merkittävästi asuinpaikan, ammatin ja yhteiskunnallisen aseman mukaan.
Pakkosiirtolaisten oloja tarkastellaan väitöskirjassa ensisijaisesti juudalaisia koskevan tapaustutkimuksen avulla. Babylonian kuningas Nebukadnessar II siirrätti nämä ihmiset Juudasta Babyloniaan kapinoinnin seurauksena. Pakkosiirrot olivat poliittinen ja uskonnollinen katastrofi Juudan kuningaskunnalle, ja ne vaikuttivat ratkaisevasti Vanhan testamentin muotoutumiseen ja juutalaisuuden syntyyn. Pakkosiirtoihin johtaneita tapahtumia ja niiden vaikutushistoriaa on tutkittu runsaasti, mutta juudalaisten elämästä Babyloniassa on tiedetty tähän saakka vähän. Väitöskirja täyttää tämän aukon, ja se on ensimmäinen laaja babylonialaisiin alkuperäislähteisiin perustuva tutkimus aiheesta.
Tutkimuksen lähdeaineistona on 289 akkadinkielistä nuolenpäätaulua. Nämä tekstit ovat oikeudellisia ja hallinnollisia asiakirjoja kuten vuokrasopimuksia, velkakirjoja ja kuitteja. Yksittäinen teksti voidaan yleensä liittää osaksi laajempaa arkistoa, mikä auttaa ymmärtämään tekstin ja siinä esiintyvien henkilöiden taustaa. Juudalaiset voidaan tunnistaa teksteistä henkilönnimien perusteella.
Tutkimus osoittaa, että pääosa juudalaisista asutettiin Babylonian maaseudulle, jossa viljelysmaata oli runsaasti mutta väestö vähäistä. Pakkosiirtolaiset sijoitettiin kyliin heidän etnisen alkuperänsä mukaan ja heille annettiin palsta kruunun maata viljeltäväksi. Vastineeksi maasta heidän tuli maksaa veroja ja suorittaa työ- ja sotapalvelusta. Jotkut juudalaiset onnistuivat hyötymään tästä järjestelystä ja toimimaan välikätenä maanviljelijöiden ja valtion virkamiesten välillä, kun taas toiset juudalaiset palvelivat valtiota pikkuvirkamiehinä. Pääosa maanviljelijöistä eli kuitenkin toimeentulonsa rajoilla.
Kaikkia pakkosiirtolaisia ei asutettu maaseudulle, vaan heidän työpanostaan tarvittiin myös kaupungeissa. Ulkomaalaisia käsityöläisiä, kauppiaita, virkamiehiä ja sotilaita työskenteli valtion palveluksessa erityisesti pääkaupunki Babylonissa. Valloitettujen maiden kuninkaallisia tuotiin panttivangeiksi Babyloniin, mutta vain pienestä osasta pakkosiirtolaisia tehtiin orjia.
Babylonian juudalaiset eivät olleet homogeeninen joukko. Juudalaisen kulttuurin jatkuvuutta maaseudulla tuki tapa asuttaa siirtolaiset yhteisöihin heidän alkuperänsä mukaan. Vaikka nämä ihmiset liitettiin osaksi babylonialaista talous- ja hallintojärjestelmää, on vähemmän merkkejä siitä, että he omaksuivat piirteitä
vi TIIVISTELMÄ
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A large number of people have contributed to the realisation of this dissertation in Leiden and Helsinki. I would like to express my gratitude to them.
First, I wish to thank my supervisors, Prof. Caroline Waerzeggers in Leiden and Prof. Martti Nissinen in Helsinki. They have trusted in me, provided me with excellent feedback, and supported me through the various stages of my project. This dissertation would not have been realised without them. I thank the examiners of my dissertation in Leiden and Helsinki for their careful work and feedback.
In Leiden, I want to express my gratitude to the members of the ERC Starting Grant project ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’, Rieneke Sonnevelt, Bastian Still, Jason Silverman, Anne-Mareike Wetter, and Jonathan Stökl. My dissertation greatly benefitted from their expertise, and their kindness made my four years in Leiden enjoyable. I would also like to express my thanks to Akiko Tsujita, Maarja Seire, Cristina Barcina, and Johan Lundberg for the relaxed and encouraging conversations over lunch and to the LIAS PhD council for many happy moments.
In Helsinki, numerous teachers and colleagues have contributed to my academic education and dissertation project during the last ten years. I would like to thank Kirsi Valkama for her inspiring teaching and Raija Mattila for guiding me through my studies in Assyriology. I wish to thank the whole research community working within the Centre of Excellence in Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions, especially Katri Antin, Tuukka Kauhanen, Katja Kujanpää, Sanna Saari, Saana Svärd, Tuula Tynjä, Joanna Töyräänvuori, and Hanna Vanonen.
Many colleagues from abroad have provided me with help and support during my research project. I would like to thank Cornelia Wunsch, Laurie E. Pearce, Angelika Berlejung, Sonja Ammann, Reettakaisa Sofia Salo, and the members of the OTSEM and Neo-Babylonian networks for collaboration and feedback.
I thank Dr. Albion M. Butters for revising the English language of this manuscript. All the remaining shortcomings are my own.
Finally, I want to express my deepest gratitude to Mikko, Jan, and Sampsa for their friendship, to my mother for a great upbringing, and to Suvi for love and trust.
Helsinki, November 2017 Tero Alstola
CONTENTS
Summary .......................................................................................................................... iii Tiivistelmä ......................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ vii Contents ........................................................................................................................... ix Figures and Tables ......................................................................................................... xiii Conventions and Abbreviations ...................................................................................... xv 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Aims and Relevance of This Study ........................................................................ 1 1.2 Historical Background ............................................................................................ 3
1.2.1 Political History ............................................................................................... 3 1.2.2 Migration in the Ancient Near East ................................................................. 7 1.2.3 Deportations from Judah ............................................................................... 10
1.3 Babylonian Exile: Reception and Research History ............................................. 14 1.3.1 Reception History .......................................................................................... 14 1.3.2 Research History ........................................................................................... 16
1.4 Methods ................................................................................................................ 22 1.4.1 Historical Method .......................................................................................... 22 1.4.2 Archival Approach ........................................................................................ 24 1.4.3 Social Network Analysis ............................................................................... 25 1.4.4 Babylonian Society as a Subject of Study ..................................................... 25 1.4.5 Identifying Foreigners in Babylonian Sources .............................................. 32
1.5 Sources.................................................................................................................. 41 1.5.1 The Hebrew Bible .......................................................................................... 41 1.5.2 Cuneiform Sources ........................................................................................ 44 1.5.3 Archaeology and the Longue Durée .............................................................. 50
2 Judean Royalty and Professionals in Babylon .............................................................. 53 2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 53 2.2 German Excavations at Babylon .......................................................................... 53 2.3 The Palace Archive of Nebuchadnezzar II ........................................................... 54 2.4 Foreign Royalty and Professionals in Babylon .................................................... 57 2.5 Living Conditions in Babylon and Jehoiachin’s Amnesty ................................... 62 2.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 68
3 Judean Merchants in Babylonia and Their Participation in Long-Distance Trade....... 69 3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 69 3.2 Trade and Traders in Babylonia ........................................................................... 70 3.3 Judean Royal Merchants in Sippar ....................................................................... 72
3.3.1 Sources .......................................................................................................... 72 3.3.2 Social Network .............................................................................................. 78 3.3.3 Identity, Integration, and Socio-economic Status .......................................... 82
3.4 Other Judean Merchants in Babylonia.................................................................. 84 3.5 Conclusion: Long-Distance Trade and Judean Merchants ................................... 86
x CONTENTS
4.2.1 The Location of Yhdu and Našar ............................................................... 91 4.2.2 The Land-for-Service Sector – Economic Environment of the Texts ........... 94
4.3 Text Groups and Their Protagonists ..................................................................... 96 4.3.1 Three or More Groups? ................................................................................. 96 4.3.2 Texts Pertaining to Rmt/Ab-ul-de and Rmt/Samak-Yma ................... 97 4.3.3 Texts Pertaining to Ahqar, Son of Rmt ..................................................... 99 4.3.4 Texts Pertaining to Bl-ahh-erba, Son of Nr-Šamaš .............................. 105 4.3.5 Scribes and Royal Administration in Našar ................................................ 105 4.3.6 Texts Relating to Yhdu ............................................................................ 109 4.3.7 Texts from l-šarri ...................................................................................... 128 4.3.8 Texts Pertaining to Zababa-šar-uur and Bt-Ab-râm ................................ 130 4.3.9 Loosely Connected and Isolated Texts ........................................................ 134 4.3.10 Administrative Practices and the Origins of the Text Corpus ................... 136
4.4 Judeans in Yhdu and Its Surroundings ........................................................... 142 5 Judeans in the Murašû Archive .................................................................................. 147
5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 147 5.1.1 The Murašû Archive .................................................................................... 147 5.1.2 Judeans in the Murašû Archive ................................................................... 149 5.1.3 Seal Impressions .......................................................................................... 152
5.2 Yadi-Yma and Pili-Yma – Entrepreneurs or Representatives? ...................... 153 5.2.1 Business Partners of the Murašûs? .............................................................. 154 5.2.2 Yadi-Yma and the Village of Bt-Grya .................................................. 155 5.2.3 Pili-Yma’s Transactions ............................................................................ 157 5.2.4 Yhû-natan, Son of Yadi-Yma .................................................................. 159 5.2.5 Representatives of a Community of Farmers .............................................. 159
5.3 Judean Landholders and the Land-for-Service Sector ........................................ 162 5.3.1 General Features .......................................................................................... 162 5.3.2 Haru of the Spirus .................................................................................... 167 5.3.3 Large-Scale Landholding: Rahm-il and His Family .................................. 175 5.3.4 Other Judean Landholders ........................................................................... 178 5.3.5 Patterns of Judean Landholding .................................................................. 179
5.4 Judean Officials .................................................................................................. 180 5.5 Judean Witnesses ................................................................................................ 183 5.6 Socio-Economic Status ....................................................................................... 183
5.6.1 The Framework of the Archive: The Land-for-Service Sector ................... 183 5.6.2 Taxation and Service Obligations ............................................................... 184 5.6.3 Dependency and Freedom ........................................................................... 187
5.7 Culture and Religion ........................................................................................... 188 5.7.1 Seal Use ....................................................................................................... 188 5.7.2 Naming Practices ......................................................................................... 191 5.7.3 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 193
5.8 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 193 6 Judeans outside the Main Archives ............................................................................ 197
6.1 Officials .............................................................................................................. 197 6.2 Temples .............................................................................................................. 200 6.3 Royal Lands and the Land-for-Service Sector ................................................... 204 6.4 Miscellaneous Texts ........................................................................................... 206 6.5 Seals of Exiles .................................................................................................... 206 6.6 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 207
CONTENTS xi
7 The Neirabian Community in Babylonia.................................................................... 209 7.1 Neirab of Syria and Neirab of Babylonia ........................................................... 209 7.2 The Archive and Its Socio-Economic Context ................................................... 212
7.2.1 The Protagonists of the Texts ...................................................................... 212 7.2.2 Promissory Notes for Barley ....................................................................... 213 7.2.3 Promissory Notes for Silver ........................................................................ 214 7.2.4 Diverse Documents ..................................................................................... 216
7.3 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 217 8 Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 221
8.1 Sources – The Perspective of Babylonian Scribes ............................................. 222 8.2 Resettlement and Organisation of Deportees ..................................................... 223 8.3 Social and Economic Aspects of Life in Babylonia ........................................... 226 8.4 Women................................................................................................................ 230 8.5 Religion .............................................................................................................. 232 8.6 Culture and Integration ....................................................................................... 236
Bibliographical Abbreviations ....................................................................................... 241 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 245
FIGURES AND TABLES
Figure 4.1 Documents pertaining to Ahqar ................................................................. 100 Figure 4.2 The family of Ahqar, son of Rmt ............................................................ 104 Figure 4.3 Documents pertaining to Rap-Yma, Ahqam, and Ahqam’s sons.......... 110 Figure 4.4 The descendants of Samak-Yma ............................................................... 122 Figure 4.5 Administrative hierarchy in the environs of Yhdu .................................. 126 Figure 4.6 Documents pertaining to Zababa-šar-uur .................................................. 131 Figure 4.7 Documents pertaining to Ahqar and Ahqam ............................................ 138 Figure 4.8 Main text groups of the corpus.................................................................... 141 Figure 5.1 Murašû texts pertaining to Judeans ............................................................. 151 Figure 5.2 The descendants of Rahm-il ....................................................................... 175
Table 5.1 Transactions with quantifiable data pertaining to Judeans ........................... 166 Table 5.2 Judean seal users in the Murašû archive....................................................... 189 Table 5.3 Judean naming practices in the Murašû archive ........................................... 192 Table 8.1 Judean naming practices ............................................................................... 234
CONVENTIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Dates. Babylonian dates are given as day-month-regnal year. For example, ‘10–XI–12 Nbk’ refers to the tenth day of the eleventh month in the twelfth regnal year of King Nebuchadnezzar II. In the same vein, ‘7 Dar’ refers to the seventh year of King Darius I. The abbreviations of kings’ names are given below. The corresponding Julian dates are adopted from Parker and Dubberstein 1942. All Julian dates in this thesis are BCE unless otherwise indicated.
Nbk Nebuchadnezzar II AM Aml-Marduk Ner Neriglissar Nbn Nabonidus Cyr Cyrus Camb Cambyses Bar Bardiya Nbk III Nebuchadnezzar III Nbk IV Nebuchadnezzar IV Dar Darius I Xer Xerxes I Art I Artaxerxes I Dar II Darius II
Filiation. In Neo-Babylonian legal texts, people are normally referred to by their name and patronymic. The standard formula in Babylonian cuneiform is PN a-šú šá PN2 (‘PN, son of PN2’), abbreviated in this study as PN/PN2. For those people who bore family names, the formula is PN a-šú šá PN2 a PN3 (‘PN, son of PN2, descendant of PN3’), abbreviated in this study as PN/PN2/PN3 or PN//PN3. See section 1.4.5.1.
Weights and measures (see Baker 2004, ix–x; Jursa 2010a, xvii–xviii). A kurru was the standard measure of capacity, circa 180 litres. 1 kurru = 5 pnu = 30 stu = 180 qû. Fractions of kurru are recorded in positional notation (e.g. 1;2.3.4 stands for 1 kurru 2 pnu 3 stu 4 qû).
A shekel (c. 8.3 grams) was the standard weight for measuring silver and gold. 60 shekels equal 1 mina (c. 500 grams) and 60 minas equal 1 talent (c. 30 kilograms).
The translations of biblical passages are adopted from the New Revised Standard Version.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Aims and Relevance of This Study
This thesis is a study of Judeans1 in Babylonia in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE.2 Most of these people arrived in Babylonia in the early sixth century, being but one of numerous ethnic groups deported and resettled after King Nebuchadnezzar II’s conquest of Syria and the Levant. At the same time, voluntary and forced migration had shaped Babylonia over millennia, and continuous immigration had resulted in a multi-ethnic and multi- lingual society. These features of Babylonia in the mid-first millennium have been acknowledged for a long time and a significant amount of pertinent evidence has been made available. Naming practices among immigrant groups have been thoroughly analysed, but there has been little interest in writing a socio-historical study of Judeans or other immigrants in Babylonia based on cuneiform sources.3 This thesis aims to fill this gap by conducting a case study of the Judean deportees and placing its results in a wider context of Babylonian society. An important point of comparison is the case of the Neirabians, who were deported from Syria to Babylonia roughly at the same time as the Judeans, lived in the village of Neirab in the Babylonian countryside, and finally returned to their ancient hometown in Syria.
A study of Judean deportees in Babylonia can contribute to three academic fields. First, biblical studies can benefit from new insights into a period commonly known as the Babylonian exile (section 1.3), which refers to Judean existence in Babylonia after the deportations in the early sixth century. The end of the kingdom of Judah and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem was a catastrophe which required theological explanation. The deportations and exile started an interpretative process that contributed to the birth of Judaism and biblical literature, and, indirectly, to the emergence of Christianity and Islam. Academic studies of this period have been primarily based on the Hebrew Bible despite the publication of relevant cuneiform sources already in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There is a need for a careful and comprehensive treatment of the relevant cuneiform sources, as outdated or misleading interpretations of the Babylonian evidence can be found even in recent discussions of the exilic period.4 A study of Judeans in Babylonia is especially timely at the moment, as the recent emergence of cuneiform sources from the environs of Yhdu, ‘(the town of) Judah’ in Babylonia, has more than doubled the number of sources relevant to this study.
1 ‘Judean’ refers here to the inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah and their descendants. This is the standard term used in recent studies, and the terms ‘Jew’ and ‘Judaism’ are mostly used in reference to later periods. For a discussion of the terms ‘Judean’, ‘Jew’, and ‘Judaism’, see, for example, Mason 2007; Becking 2008, 184–185; Blenkinsopp 2009, 19–28; Beaulieu 2011, 249–250, 258–259; Kratz 2011, 421–424; Law and Halton (eds.) 2014. 2 All dates are BCE unless otherwise indicated. 3 See section 1.3.2. 4 See, for example, Ahn 2011, 52–53; Perdue et al. 2015, 76.
2 CHAPTER 1
Second, the present study can advance the field of Neo-Babylonian studies. Despite their antiquity, many aspects of Babylonian society and economy are relatively well understood due to tens of thousands of extant cuneiform texts from the sixth and fifth centuries. However, the majority of available sources originate from temple archives and private archives of the urban upper class, and life in the countryside or the workings of the state apparatus are worse understood. A study of deportees and their descendants sheds new light on the margins of Babylonian society, it enhances the understanding of the economic sectors in which deportees participated, and it allows a diachronic study of state involvement in deportees’ lives over two centuries.
Third, the thesis can enhance our knowledge of early migration history in the Near East, and it thus contributes to the field of migration studies. Although policy recommendations on modern situations must be sought elsewhere, it is necessary to view the current migration flows within and from the Middle East against the historical background of population movements in the area. An understanding of migration as an ancient phenomenon and appreciation of cultural diversity in the ancient Near East offer perspectives on often heated debates on migration and remind us that the movement of people is an intrinsic part of world history.
This study has three aims, two of which relate to the social history of Judeans and other deportees in Babylonia and one to the political aspects of deportation. First, I aim to write a social history of Judeans in Babylonia in the sixth and fifth centuries. The emphasis is on questions of socio-economic status and integration. ‘Integration’ refers here to an immigrant’s process of adapting oneself to the host society in social, economic, and cultural terms.5 Second, the study of Judeans will be placed in the wider context of deportees and…
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