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​ Elephantine papyri ​

In the Berlin Museum is a collection of papyri found by Dr. O. Rubensohn, director of the
 German Society's excavations at Elephantine in the winter of 1907.
 Three of these papyri have been copied and translated by Professor
 Sachau of Berlin. They are the copy of a letter sent by the Jews of
 Elephantine to Bagoas, the governor of Judah; together with a dupli-
 cate of it and a memorandum of the reply received. The original
 letter reads as follows:
 To our Master Bagoas, Governor of Judah: Thy servants Jedoniah and
 his companions, priests in the fortress Yeb. May our Lord the God of Heaven
 greatly increase prosperity for thee at all times and grant thee grace in the sight
 of King Darius and the members of his household, a thousand fold more than thou
 hast now; and may he grant thee long life. Mayst thou be happy and enjoy
 good health continually.
 Now thy servants, Jedoniah and his companions, speak as follows: in the
 month Tammuz in the fourteenth year of King Darius, when Arsam had departed
 and gone to the King, the priests of the god Chnub, who were in the fortress Yeb,
 conspired with Widrang who was Governor (?) and said, "the temple of the God
 Yahu which is in Yeb the fortress, let it be removed thence." Thereupon this
 Widrang, the Commandant (?), sent a letter to his son Nephayan who was captain
 of the garrison in Assuan the fortress, saying, "the temple which is in the fortress
 Yeb is to be destroyed." Thereupon Nephayan led forth Eygptians together
 with other troops. They came to the fortress Yeb with their pick-axes (?).
 They went up into this temple. They razed it to the ground and the pillars of
 stone which were there they broke in pieces; moreover, the seven stone gates, built
 of hewn stone, which were in that temple, they destroyer, the seven stone gates, built
 of hewn stone, which were in that temple, they destroyed and turned them upside
 down (?).
 The hinges of the bronze doors and the roof which was all of cedar, together
 with the plaster of the wall and other articles which were there, all of them they
 burned with fire. And the sacrificial bowls of gold and silver, and whatever else
 was in this temple, all of it they took and used for themselves. Now from the
 day of the King(s) of Egypt our fathers had built this temple in the fortress Yeb.
 And when Cambyses came to Egypt he found this temple built; and although the
 temples of the gods of Egypt were all destroyed, no one harmed anything in this
 temple. And ever since they did this, we with our wives and children have
 clothed ourselves in sack cloth and have been fasting and praying to Yahu the
 Lord of the Heavens, who has given us vengeance upon this Widrang, the Com-
 mandant (?). The anklet of office was removed from his feet and all the goods
 which he had acquired perished; and all who wished evil against this temple
 have been slain and we have seen our desire upon them.
 Even before this, at the time when this harm was done to us, we sent a letter
 to our master and to Johanan, the High Priest and his companions the priests in
 Jerusalem, and to Ostan the brother of Anani. But the nobles of the Jews sent
 us no reply.
 Moreover, from the Tammuz day of the fourteenth year of Darius the King
 even up to this very day, we have clothed ourselves in sack cloth and fasted. Our
 wives are become like widows. We have not anointed ourselves with oil, nor
 drunk wine. Moreover, from that time even unto this day of the seventeenth
 year of Darius the King, meal-offerings, incense-offerings and burnt-offerings
 have not been presented in the temple.
 Now thy servant Jedoniah and his companions and the Jews, all the citizens
 of Yeb, say as follows: If it seem good to our master, let him bethink himself
 upon this temple that it may be built; for we are not permitted to build it. Look
 upon the recipients of thy goodness and of thy favor who are here in Eygpt.
 Let a letter be sent from thee to them concerning the temple of the God Yahu,
 that it may be built in Yeb the fortress just as it was built in former times. And
 they will offer meal-offerings and incense-offerings and burnt-offerings upon the
 altar of the God Yahu in thy name, and we will pray for thee continually; we and
 our wives and our children and all the Jews that are here. If thou doest thus,
 so that this temple may be rebuilt, then there shall be righteousness to thee in the
 sight of Yahu, God of the Heavens, more than that of the man who offers to him
 burnt-offerings and sacrifices to the value of a thousand talents of silver. Con-
 cerning the gold, concerning this we have sent, we have given directions. More-
 over, we have sent all about the matters in a letter in our name to Delaiah and
 Shelemaiah, the sons of Sanaballat, the Governor of Samaria. Moreover, Arsam
 knew nothing of all this that has been done to us. On the twentieth day of Mar-
 cheswan, in the seventeenth year of Darius the King.
 A favorable reply to this letter was evidently received as appears
 from the acompanying memorandum of its contents:
 Memorandum of what Bagoas and Delaiah said to me. Memorandum as
 follows: Thou shalt say, in Egypt before Arsam concerning the house of the altar
 of the God of Heavens which was built in Yeb the fortress before our time, prior
 to the time of Cambyses, which Widrang this Commandant (?) destroyed in the
 fourteenth year of Darius the King, that it is to be rebuilt in its place just as it was
 before our time, and meal-offerings and incense-offerings shall be offered upon
 this altar as used to be done formerly.
 The two series of papyri constitute contemporary sources of in-
 formation for the reigns of Xerxes I, Artaxerxes I, and Darius II
 (Nothus). They extend from the fourteenth year of Xerxes, 471-470
 B. C., to the seventeenth year of Darius, 408 B. c. The commercial
 documents come down as far as 411 B. C, within three years of the
 date of the letter regarding the temple. The chronological data they
 furnish concerning the reigns of the Persian kings harmonize perfectly
 with the chronology previously ascertained. Furthermore, it seems
 safe to say that on the whole the papyri tend to establish the essential
 correctness of the book of Nehemiah as over against Josephus, with
 reference to the period to which Sanballat belonged.