This volume includes ten new studies, most of which were originally presented at the 14th World Congress of Jewish Studies, held in Jerusalem in 2005.

The studies all deal with the changes that occurred in the Land of Israel during the Persian and early Hellenistic periods, from the 6th through the 4th centuries BCE.


For convenience, the studies are divided into three categories: archaeological, epigraphic and historical, though many of them are actually more interdisciplinary. Most of them deal with either the province of Judah, Idumea or the interaction between the two, although a couple of them examine other parts of the country as well. A major focus of several of the papers is different aspects of the newly published "Makkedah ostraca" and their meaning.