Place · Land of Israel / Judea
Yehud (Persian Judah)
Ancient names: Yehud, Yehuda
Persian province around Jerusalem, part of the satrapy 'Beyond the River'. The point is only a representative position near Jerusalem: the province's borders are not drawn.
31.7800°N 35.2000°E · representative coordinate · approximate ·
Statements linked to this place
Each block is a sourced statement. Click the number to see the cited page.
The Judahites could return to the land and rebuild the Temple, but not restore an independent state with a king of their own. The territory was now administered as a province called Yehud (Aramaic for Yehuda), part of a larger imperial unit, the satrapy 'Beyond the River', which took in Canaan and other lands west of the Euphrates. Darius's permission to finish the Temple, begun under Cyrus but halted under Cambyses, may have been part of that effort: a way of binding Yehud more closely to Persian rule by sponsoring Jerusalem and its temple.
Community: The Judahites of Yehud
The Judahites could return to the land and rebuild the Temple, but not restore an independent state with a king of their own. The territory was now administered as a province called Yehud (Aramaic for Yehuda), part of a larger imperial unit, the satrapy 'Beyond the River', which took in Canaan and other lands west of the Euphrates.
Darius's permission to finish the Temple, begun under Cyrus but halted under Cambyses, may have been part of that effort: a way of binding Yehud more closely to Persian rule by sponsoring Jerusalem and its temple.
Contested interpretation
Some scholars believe the Five Books of Moses were introduced during Ezra's administration: not written then, since they likely rest on pre-exilic sources, but gathered, edited and proclaimed as a binding law for the people of Judah.
In preserving their religious tradition this way, the Judahites had to give up the aspiration to political autonomy. Accepting foreign rule meant keeping local traditions alive in settings controlled by other peoples, sometimes by playing down or reinterpreting the culture to avoid confrontation.