SCHØYEN COLLECTION SOURCES A ‘MISSING LINK’ IN HISTORICAL RECORD

The Judean Archives present Judeans as Protagonists in ‘Babylonian Exile’

A new study titled ‘Judeans by the Waters of Babylon’ by Cornelia Wunch, based primarily on new evidence from cuneiform sources in the Schøyen Collection, presents Judeans as the main protagonists of the Babylonian Exile.

Until recently, evidence for the descendants of the exiled people was known mainly from the Murasu archive written some hundred years after the captivity. In comparison, the manuscripts researched in the new study – the ‘Judean Archives’ – are a century earlier and cover not only the period after the exile but also part of the period of exile. They record the experiences of the first generation of Judean captives who, as builders, bore witness to the reconstruction of the Tower of Babel under Nebuchadnezzar.  Their activities and that of subsequent generations – from construction to agriculture, as well as settling down and building their own city called Jewish Town, not far from Babylon – provide historical corroboration of the Biblical narrative.

The majority of the documents in the Judean Archive were written during the rule of the first three Persian kings, Cyrus, Cambyses and Darius, and the study states: “[These new sources] represent a crucial link between the urban, private archives from central Babylonia … and the Murasu archive from Nippur and its rural hinterland.”

Until the 20th century, the ‘Babylonian Exile’ under Nebuchadnezzar II and other similar deportations, known most notably from Biblical references, had not been substantiated in historical records. While archaeological findings yielded texts of the Judean king being held as a ‘guest’, the large majority of deported Judeans were dispersed throughout the Babylonian countryside as well as the urban centre to be employed in large building projects and similar tasks.

Dr Schøyen said: “I am gratified that the manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection which are at the core of the Judean Archives have contributed to the Biblical tradition as well as to a greater understanding of the history of the Jewish people.”

In the ancient Near East, the deportation of large populations with the aim of intimidating and subjugating rebellious provinces and bolstering economic activity in sparely populated regions was an entrenched strategy. Arguably the best known example of this strategy is the Babylonian Exile.