10 Facts About Yehud Medinata

Yehud Medinata was the Aramaic-language name of the province, which was first introduced by the Babylonians during their governance of the same region prior to the Persian conquest in 539 BCE.

Yehud Medinata succeeded in doing so but encountered strong resistance from the "people of the land", the officials of Samaria and other provinces and peoples around Jerusalem.

Persia controlled Yehud Medinata using the same methods it used in other colonies, and the bible reflects this, and Yehud Medinata's status as a Persian colony is crucial to understanding the society and literature of the period.

Yehud Medinata was considerably smaller than the old kingdom of Judah, stretching from around Bethel in the north to about Hebron in the south, and from the Jordan River and Dead Sea in the east to, but not including, the Shephelah in the west.

Second and third pillars of the early period of Persian rule in Yehud Medinata, copying the pattern of the old Davidic kingdom destroyed by the Babylonians, were the institutions of High Priest and Prophet.

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The practical result was that after c 500 BCE Yehud became in practice a theocracy, ruled by a line of hereditary High Priests.

Governor of Yehud Medinata would have been charged primarily with keeping order and seeing that tribute was paid.

Yehud Medinata would have been assisted by various officials and a body of scribes, but there is no evidence that a popular "assembly" existed, and he would have had little discretion over his core duties.

Evidence from seals and coins suggests that most, if not all, of the governors of Persian Yehud Medinata were Jewish, a situation which conforms with the general Persian practice of governing through local leaders.

Yehud Medinata is mentioned in the 5th-century Elephantine papyri, and must therefore have served after Nehemiah.