From Cyrus to Alexander: The History of Israel During the Persian Empire

Uriel Rappaport and Shlomit Yaron

This book deals with the history of the Jewish people during the Persian period, from the return to Zion until the conquest of the land of Israel by Alexander the Great. The period represents a crossroads in the history of the Jewish people, during which they lived simultaneously in Judea and in the Diaspora, an extremely significant phenomenon in Jewish history, which continues to this day. A sharp change in the nation’s spiritual life also occurred during this period – prophecy dwindled and the Bible became the foundation for belief and the basis for the development of Judaism. Moreover, during this period, Jewish sovereignty over the Land of Israel was lost – a condition which continued (except for a short period during Hasmonean rule) until the establishment of the State of Israel. This was also the period when Jewish monotheism crystallized to a degree unknown in the past. The book surveys these phenomena and their significance.

2004, 256 pp., cat. # 10550

Uriel Rappaport is Professor of Jewish History at the University of Haifa. He is co-editor of Dead Sea Scrolls: Forty Years of Research (Eisenbrauns, 1992).

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