Ancient Israel: Jewish Roots in the Biblical Period

What evidence is there for ancient Jewish culture?

Jewish culture and civilization reach back to ancient Israel. The culture of ancient Israel is represented by the Hebrew Bible, Israel’s major collection of literary works, and by a smaller body of extrabiblical texts and artifacts. Written mostly in Hebrew, the Bible contains accounts of Israel’s past, visions of its destiny, and scenes from daily life. It exemplifies its authors’ literary art, their spiritual worldview, their civil and religious laws, their vision of society and critique of its shortcomings. Extrabiblical texts include legal documents, letters, and inscriptions. The extrabiblical texts come from the land of Israel and from other places where Israelites and Jews lived, mainly Egypt and Mesopotamia, during the period roughly from the late second millennium BCE through the fourth century BCE, the end of the Persian period (see the table Israelite Chronology). Archaeological remains include buildings and tombs, decorative art, figurines, musical instruments, religious objects, and everyday items such as ceramic containers, seals, and coins, representing the visual culture and performing arts of ancient Israel.

What is the “biblical period”?

The biblical period, from the late second millennium BCE through the second century BCE, witnessed the origin of the Israelites and their development into the nation of Israel. They subsequently formed two sovereign, independent kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The Kingdom of Israel endured for two centuries, until it was conquered and destroyed by Assyria in 722–720 BCE and part of its population exiled to Assyria. In 586 BCE, Babylonia conquered and destroyed the Kingdom of Judah and exiled many Judahites to Babylonia. Judah was absorbed into the Babylonian Empire and later, after the Persian defeat of Babylonia, became a province within the Persian Empire. Although some Jews later returned from exile to Jerusalem and the surrounding area, a large Jewish diaspora continued to live in various foreign lands.

The culture of the biblical period expressed itself in many forms, some doubtless preserved from Israel’s distant past, others borrowed or adapted from neighboring cultures, and still others newly created. Israel’s creativity is most evident in its literature and in the religious ideas expressed therein.

The biblical period saw the initial development of many phenomena that would come to define Jewish culture in subsequent eras, though often in new forms: the Hebrew language and alphabet, Israelite/Jewish law and religion (particularly monotheism), the Torah and the other books of the Bible, and the beginnings of their canonization and (re)interpretation. Many objects that eventually became Jewish symbols and ritual articles also originated in this period. A few are attested in the archaeological record of the period, such as the shofar and tzitzit (fringes or tassels), whereas others are known so far only from the Bible (the seven-branched menorah, the lulav, and the Torah scroll) or from archaeological finds from later periods.

From these beginnings, Jewish culture would develop and evolve over the course of time, incorporating some of its early forms of expression, modifying and reinterpreting others, leaving some behind, and creating new ones. Even now, the seeds planted at Israel’s beginning continue to grow.