Yehud (1 gen 631 anni a. C. – 1 gen 539 anni a. C.)

Descrizione:

Yehud was a province of the Neo-Babylonian Empire established in the territories formerly belonging to the Kingdom of Judah. Following the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of the Kingdom of Judah in 587/6 BCE, Yehud emerged as a Jewish administrative division under Gedaliah ben Aḥikam, appointed as governor by the Babylonians.

Prior to the establishment of Yehud, Judah had been a vassal kingdom of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, but internal rivalries led to revolts against Babylonian rule. These revolts, supported by factions within Judah's court, ultimately failed, leading to the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of many Judahites to Babylon.

Gedaliah's governorship marked an attempt at stability and reconstruction in the region. However, he was assassinated by Ishmael ben Nethaniah, a member of the former royal house, which resulted in the dispersion of refugees to Egypt and triggered the observance of the Fast of Gedaliah, commemorating this event.

The province of Yehud persisted into the Persian Achaemenid Empire after the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 BCE. This period saw the region absorbed into the Persian administration as Yehud Medinata, retaining a degree of self-governance under Persian rule.

Yehud's history reflects the tumultuous events surrounding the fall of the Kingdom of Judah and the subsequent attempts at rebuilding and governance in the region under Babylonian and Persian control.

The number of people deported to Babylon, those who fled to Egypt, and those who remained in Yehud province after the fall of Judah varies in scholarly estimates. Jeremiah mentions 4,600 deported to Babylon, with an additional 10,000 deported earlier. Israel Finkelstein suggests the total population remaining was about three-quarters of Judah's pre-exile population. Avraham Faust's archaeological analysis indicates a drastic decline to just 10% of the pre-exile population due to deportations, executions, famines, and epidemics.

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