Preface; List of abbreviations; Part I. Introduction: 1. The geography of Palestine and the Levant in relation to its history Denis Baly; 2. Numismatics Uriel Rappaport; 3. Calendars and chronology Elias J. Bickerman; Part II. The Persian Period: 4. The Persian empire and the political and social history of Palestine in the Persian period Ephraim Stern; 5. The archaeology of Persian Palestine Ephraim Stern; 6. Hebrew and Aramaic in the Persian period Joseph Naveh and Jonas C. Greenfield; 7. The Jewish community in Palestine in the Persia period Peter Ackroyd; 8. Prophecy and Psalms in the Persian period Gunther Wanke; 9. Wisdom literature in the Persian period Harmut Gese; 10. Jewish religious life in the Persian period Morton Smith; 11. Persian life in the Achemenid age Mary Boyce; 12. Iranian influence on Judaism: first century BCE to second century CE Shaud Shaked; 13. The Diaspora: A. Babylonia in the Persian age M. Dandamayev; B. The Babylonian captivity Elias J. Bickerman; C. Egypt, Persian satrapy Edda Bresciani; D. The Jews in Egypt Bezalel Porten; Bibliographies; Index; Chronological table.