Petition to Authorize
Elephantine Temple Reconstruction
DESCRIPTION
Language: Aramaic
Medium: papyrus
(written on both sides)
Size: 24 centimeters high
32 centimeters wide
Length: 30 lines of writing
Genre: Letter of Official Petition
Senders: Yedaniah bar-Gemariah
& his associates
(priests at Elephantine)
Addressee: Bagohi
(governor of Judah)
Date: November 25, 407BCE
Place of Discovery: Elephantine, Egypt
Date of Discovery: 1 January 1907
Current Location: Staatliche Museen
(Berlin, Germany)
Inventory number P13495
Other Designations: Cowley 30 or
TAD A4.7 or
Porten B19 or
Sachau plates 1 & 2


photo from Price, 396


TRANSLITERATION
by K. C. Hanson
Adapted from Cowley 1923 [2005]:111-13
TRANSLATION
by K. C. Hanson
Adapted from
 Cowley 1923 [2005]:113-19;
Ginsberg 1969:491-92;
Porten et al. 1996:139-44
Recto
(1st side)

1.'L MR'N BGWHY PHT YHWDcBDYK YDNYH WKNWTH KHNY' ZY BYB BYRT' ŠLM
2.MR'N 'LH ŠMY' YŠ'L ŠNY' BKL cDN WLRHMN YŠYMNK QDM DRYWHWŠ MLK'
3.WBNY BYT' 'TYR MN ZY Kc N HD 'LP WHYN 'RYKN YNTN LK WHDH WŠRYR HWY BKL cDN
4.KcN cBDK YDNYH WKNWTH KN 'MRN BYRH TMWZ ŠNT ///|— DRYWHWŠ MLK' KZY 'RŠM
5.NPQ W'ZL cL MLK' KMRY' ZY 'HL' HNWB ZY BYB BYRT' HMWNYT cM WYDRNG ZY PRTRK TNH
6.HWH LM 'GWR' ZY YHW 'LH' ZY BYB BYRT' YHcDW MN TMH 'HR WYDRNG ZK
7.LHY' 'GRT ŠLH c L NPYN BRH ZY RBHYL HWH BSWN BYRT' L'MR 'GWR' ZY BYB
8.BYRT' YNDŠW 'HR NPYN DBR M SRY' cM HYL' 'HRNN 'TW LBYRT YB c M TLYHM
9.cLW B'GWR' ZK NDŠWHY cD 'Rc' WcMWDY' ZY 'BN' ZY HWW TMH TBRW 'P HWH TRcN
10.ZY 'BN \//// BNYN PSYLH ZY 'BN ZY HWW B'GWR' ZK NDŠW WDŠYHM QYMW WSYRYHM
11.ZY DŠŠY' 'LK NHŠ WMT LL cQHN ZY 'RZ KL' ZY cM ŠYRYT 'ŠRN' W'HRN ZY TMH
12.HWH KL' B'ŠH ŠRPW WMZRQY' ZY ZHB' WKSP WMNDcMT' ZY HWH B'GWR' ZK KL' LQHW
13.WLNPŠHWM cBDW WMN YWMY MLK MSRYN 'BHYN BNW 'GWR' ZK BYB BYRT' WKZY KNBWZYcL MSRYN
14.'GWR' ZK BNH HŠKH W'GWRY 'LHY MSRYN KL MGRW W'YŠ MNDcM B'GWR' ZK L' HBL
15.WKZY KZNH cBYD 'N H NH cM NŠYN WBNYN ŠQQN LBŠN HWYN WSYMYN WMS LYN LYHW MR' ŠMY'
16.ZY HHWYN BWYDRNG ZK KLBY' HNPQW KBL' MN RGLWHY WKL NKSYN ZY QNH 'BDW WKL GBRYN
17.ZY BcW B'YŠ L'GWR' ZK KL QTYLW WHZYN BHWM 'P QDMT ZNH BcDN ZY Z' B'YŠT'
Recto
(1st side)

To our lord, Bagohi, governor of Yehud, (from) your servants: Yedaniah and his associates, the priests who are in the fortress of Yeb.

May the God of the Heavens perpetually pursue the welfare of our lord greatly and grant you favors before Darius the king and the "sons of the palace" a thousand times more than now. May you be joyful and healthy at all times.

Now your servant Yedaniah and his associates testify as follows:

In the month of Tammuz, in the fourteenth year of King Darius, when Arsames departed and went to the king, the priests of the god Khnub, who is in the fortress of Yeb, conspired with Vidranga, who was administrator here, to destroy the temple of Yahu in the fortress of Yeb. So that villian Vidranga sent this order to his son Nefayan, who was in command of the garrison of the fortress at Sawn: "The temple of the god Yahu in the fortress of Yeb shall be destroyed." Nefayan consequently led the Egyptians with other troops. Arriving with their weapons at the fortress of Yeb, they entered the temple and burned it to the ground. They smashed the stone pillars that were there. They demolished five great gateways constructed of hewn blocks of stone which were in the temple; but their doors (are still standing), and the hinges of those doors are made of bronze. And the roof of cedar in its entirety, with the . . . and whatever else was there, were all burned with fire. As for the basins of gold and silver and other articles that were in the temple, they carried all of them off and took them as personal possessions.
Now, our ancestors built this temple in the fortress of Yeb in the days of the kingdom of Egypt; and when Cambyses came to Egypt he found it (already) constructed. They (the Persians) knocked down all the temples of the Egyptian gods; but no one damaged this temple. But when this happened, we and our wives and our children wore sackcloth, and fasted, and prayed to Yahu, the Lord of Heaven, who has let us "see to" Vidranga. The axes removed the anklet from his feet (?) and any property he had acquired was lost. And all those who have sought to do evil to this temple—all of them—have all been killed, and we have "seen to" them.
We have (previously) sent letters to our lord when this catastrophe happened to us;
Verso
(2nd side)

18.cBYD LN 'GRH ŠL HN MR'N WcL YHWHNN KHN' RB' WKNWTH KHNY' ZY BYRWŠLM Wc L 'WSTN 'HWHY
19.ZY c NNY W HRY YHWDY' 'GRH HDH L' ŠLHW cLYN 'P MN YR H TMWZ ŠNT \///— DRYHWŠ MLK'
20.Wc DZNH YWM' 'NHNH ŠQQN LBŠN YSYMYN NŠY' ZYLN K'RMLH c BYDYN MŠ H L' MŠHYN
21.WHMR L' ŠTYN 'P MN ZKY WcD YWM ŠNT \/// ///– DRYHWŠ MLK' MNHH WLBWNH WcLWH
22.L' c BDW B'GWR' ZK KcN cBDYK YDNYH WKNWTH WYHWDY' KL B c LY YB KN 'MRYN
23.HN c L MR'N TB 'TcŠT cL 'NWR' ZK LMBNH BZYL' ŠBQN LN LMBNYH HZY BcLY
24.TBTK WR H MYK ZY TNH BMSRYN 'GRH MNK YŠTLHcLYHWM c L 'GWR' ZY YHW 'LH'
25.LMBNYH BYB BYRT' LQBL ZY BNH HWH QDMYN WMHT' WLBWNT' WcLWT' YQRBWN
26.c L MDB H' ZY YHW 'LH' BŠMK WNSLH cLYK BKL c DN 'N HNH WNŠYN WBNYN WYHWDY'
27.KL ZY TNH HN KN cBDW cD ZY 'GWR' ZK YTBNH WSDQH YHWH LK QDM YHW 'LH
28.ŠMY' MN GBR ZY YQRBLH cLWH WDBHN DMN KDMY KSP KNKRYN LP W cL ZHB cL ZNH
29.ŠLHN HWD cN 'P KL' MLY' B'GRH HDH ŠLHN KŠMN c L DLYH WŠLMYH BNY SN'BLT PHT ŠMRYN
30.'P BZNH ZY c BYD LN KL' 'RŠM L' YDc B x LMRH ŠWN ŠNT \/// ///— DRYHWŠ MLK'


Transliteration of special characters
  • ' = 'Aleph
  • H = Heth
  • T = Teth
  • c = cAyin
  • S = Sadê
  • Š = Šin
Verso
(2nd side)

and to the high priest Yehochannan and his associates, the priests in Jerusalem; and to Ostan, the kinsman of Anani; and the Judahite elites. They have never sent us a letter. Furthermore, from the month of Tammuz, the fourteenth year of Darius the king, until today, we have been wearing sackcloth and fasting, making our wives as widows, not anointing ourselves with oil or drinking wine. Furthermore, from then until now, in the seventeenth year of Darius the king, no grain-offering, incense, or burnt-offering has been sacrificed in this temple.
Now your servants Yedaniah, and his associates, and the Judahites, all inhabitants of Yeb, state: If it seems good to our lord, remember this temple to reconstruct it, since they do not let us reconstruct it. Look to your clients and friends here in Egypt. Let a letter be sent from you to them concerning the temple of the god Yahu to construct it in the fortress of Yeb as it was before. And the grain-offering, incense, and burnt-offering will be offered in your name, and we will pray for you continuously—we, our wives, and our children, and the Judahites who are here, all of them—if you do this so that this temple is reconstructed. And you shall have honor before Yahu, the God of the Heavens, more than a man who offers him burnt-offerings and sacrifices worth a thousand talents of silver and gold. Because of this, we have written to inform you. We have also set forth the whole matter in a letter in our name to Delaiah and Shelemiah, the sons of Sanballat, the governor of Samaria. Furthermore, Arsames (the Persian satrap) knew nothing of all that was perpetrated on us.

On the twentieth of Marcheshwan, the seventeenth year of King Darius.
NOTES


Bagohi is one of the names in the lists of Judahites who returned from Babylon (see, e.g., Ezra 2:2; Neh 7:7). In the Bible the name is spelled "Bigvai," or in Greek "Bagoas" (e.g., Judith 12:11).
The name Yehud was used for Judah while it was a Persian province.
Yeb was the ancient name of the island (modern Elephantine, Egypt) in the Nile River.
The God of the Heavens is an expression used particularly during the Persian period (see Ezra 1:2; 5:11; Nehemiah 1:4-5; Jonah 1:9).
Darius II was the Persian emperor 425/4—405/4 BCE.
The month of Tammuz was in June/July. The word "Tammuz" appears in the Bible (Ezekiel 8:14), but it is the name of the Semitic goddess, not the name of the month.
The 14th year of Darius II was 410 BCE.
The Egyptian god Khnum (spelled "Khnub" in these papyri) was the ram-headed god of creation.
Yahu is one form of the divine name of Yahweh, the Israelite god (also: Yo and Yah, as in the names "Yonatan" (Jonathan) [1 Samuel 14:1] and "Hodiyah" (Hodiah) [1 Chronicles 4:19]).
"Sawn" (or "Syene"; modern Aswan, Egypt) is the ancient town located on the mainland across from the island of Yeb. Yeb and Syene are just north of the Nile's first cataract.
Cambyses was the Persian emperor 529—522 BCE.
The use of sackcloth, fasting, and prayer appear often in the Bible and ancient Near Eastern literatures as signs of mourning, grief, emotional distress, regret, contrition, or a combination of these. See, for example, 2 Samuel 3:31; 1 Kings 21:27; Psalm 69:11; Isaiah 3:24; 37:1-2.
Cambyses invaded Egypt in 525 BCE.
The 17th year of Darius II was 407 BCE.
Sanballat was the governor of Samaria under the Persians. He is mentioned in Nehemiah 2:10; 3:33-4:7; 6:1-14; 13:28.
The month of Marcheshvan was in October/November. The word does not appear in the Bible, and the month name in 1 Kings 6:38 is "Bul."


DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What are the implications of the fact that the Judahites living in Yeb/Elephantine, Egypt, had a temple dedicated to Yahu/Yahweh? How would you interpret the silence of the Jerusalemite priests in response to the Elephantine priests' request? Is there more than one possibility for their silence? (Read 2 Kings 22–23)
2. What does this letter indicate about the role of the state in the building of temples? What kings or governors were involved in building or remodeling the Jerusalem temple in 950 BCE? 520 BCE? 19 BCE? (Read 1 Kings 7:13–8:66; Haggai 1:1–2:23; Ezra 1:1-4; 3:1-9; Josephus, War 1.401-2)
3. What do Yedaniah and the other priests promise Bagohi in return for his intervention on their behalf? Is it an open-ended or closed arrangement they are looking for? How does this relate to the roles and functions of patrons and clients? What did the Jerusalemite priests do on behalf on the Roman emperor? (Read Josephus, War 2.197; 2.408-410)
4. Why do you think Yedaniah did not write this letter "by himself"? That is, why would it be important for the Elephantine priests to send this jointly? (Compare in the New Testament: 1 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; and Philemon 1)
5. What is the role of the priests of Khnum in this series of events? What would have motivated them to take the role they did?
6. How does the situation of the Judahite community in Yeb compare with the situation of the Jerusalemites in 520 BCE? (Read Ezra 4:1– 6:22)
7. Given Sanballat's hostility to the building of the Jerusalem temple, is there any irony in the priests of Elephantine appealing to his sons for help in their project? (Read Nehemiah 2:17-20)


SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alexander, Philip S. "Remarks on Aramaic Epistolography in the Persian Period." Journal of Semitic Studies 23 (1978) 155-70.
Cowley, A., editor and translator. Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C. Oxford: Clarendon, 1923. Reprint, Ancient Texts and Translations. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2005.
Fitzmyer, Joseph A. "Aramaic Epistolography." In A Wandering Aramean: Collected Aramaic Essays, 219-30. SBL Monograph Series 25. Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1979.
Ginsberg, H. L. "Aramaic Letters." In Ancient Near Eastern Texts, edited by James B. Pritchard, 491-92. 3rd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.
Haran, Menahem. Temples and Temple-Service in Ancient Israel: An Inquiry into Biblical Cult Phenomena and the Historical Setting of the Priestly School. Oxford: Clarendon, 1978. Reprinted with corrections, Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1985.
Porten, Bezalel. The Archives from Elephantine: The Life of an Ancient Jewish Colony. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968, pp. 284-93.
Porten, Bezalel. "The Archive of Jedaniah son of Gemariah of Elephantine: The Structure and Style of the Letters." Eretz Israel 14 (1978) 165-77.
Porten, Bezalel. "The Archive of Yedaniah b. Gemariah of Elephantine." Irano-Judaica 1 (1982) 11-24
Porten, Bezalel. "The Elephantine Papyri." In The Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman, 2:445-55. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
Porten, Bezalel. "The Revised Draft of the Letter of Jedaniah to Bagavahya (TAD A4.8= Cowley 31)." In Boundaries of the Ancient Near Eastern World: A Tribute to Cyrus H. Gordon. Edited by M. Lubetski, et al., 230-42. JSOT Supplement Series 273. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1998.
Porten, Bezalel. "The Structure and Orientation of the Jewish Temple at Elephantine—A Revised Plan of the Jewish District." Journal of the American Oriental Society 81 (1961) 38-42.
Porten, Bezalel, et al. The Elephantine Papyri in English: Three Millennia of Cross-Cultural Continuity and Change. Leiden: Brill, 1996.
Porten, Bezalel and Ada Yardeni. Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt. Vol. 1: Letters. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1986.
Price, Ira Maurice. The Monuments and the Old Testament. Rev. ed. Philadelphia: Judson, 1925.
Sachau, Eduard. Aramäische Papyrus und Ostraka aus einer jüdischen Militär-Kolonie zu Elephantine: Altorientalische Sprachdenkmäler des 5. Jahrhunderts vor Chr. Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1911.


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