“Seven Generations: Continuity and Change in Judean Communities in Babylonia”

Research seminar with Postdoctoral Researcher Tero Alstola from the University of Helsinki:

Judean communities in the Nippur region of Babylonia are attested in cuneiform sources from 572 until 413 BCE. This span of 160 years covers some seven or eight generations of Judean deportees and their descendants. These people were settled in villages according to their geographic origin and integrated into the land-for-service sector of the Babylonian agriculture. They were given plots of land to cultivate, and, in exchange, they were supposed to pay taxes and perform work and military service for the state. The Persian conquest of Babylonia in 539 BCE had no immediate effect on Judean communities, and there are no signs of return migration to Judah. However, changing administrative structures affected Judean communities which were not homogenous in the first place. The cuneiform record allows us to trace developments over time but also perceive different responses to the same conditions.

Everyone is welcome to attend!