The Archive of Jedaniah Son of Gemariah of Elephantine — The Structure and Style of the Letters (I) / ארכיון ידניה בן גמריה מיב: מבנה האיגרות וסגנונן(א)

The dissertation of J. D. Whitehead, Early Aramaic Epistolography: The Arsames Correspondence (University of Chicago, 1974) provides the framework and terminology for a study of the official correspondence of the Elephantine Jewish leader, Jedaniah b. Gemariah (end of 5th century B.C.E.). Five of his documents deal with the efforts of the Jews to have their temple, destroyed by the Egyptians, rebuilt. Numerous parallels with the Arsames Correspondence reveal familiarity with the official bureaucratic format and style. Both sets of documents, in turn, enhance our understanding of the Aramaic letters in Ezra. The major document survives in two copies (Cowley 30, 31), one a more polished version (Cowley 31) but also a fragmentary text. In form it may be considered bipartite report and petition. The first part is divided into three: destruction, before and after; the second into two: request and reward. Emphasis is placed upon precedence for the temple's existence and promise of reward if it is rebuilt. The second document is likewise bipartite (Cowley 27), written in two parallel columns on the recto and in a single column on the verso, perpendicular to the recto. The third document (Cowley 32) is a memorandum of a recommendation, in effect a single, long sentence affirming the pertinent phrases in the petition. The fourth document (Cowley 33) is a truncated and fragmentary copy of a letter — likewise a single sentence — a proposal based upon the terms of the recommendation. The Jews of Elephantine wrote to Bagohi in Jerusalem and Delaiah and Shelemiah in Samaria asking for a written letter of recommendation that their temple be rebuilt and that they resume incense, meal — and burnt-offering. They receive an oral recommendation, recorded in a memorandum, to rebuild the temple and offer incense and meal. With this limited recommendation in hand, they turn to an unknown authority and offer him handsome payment if he authorize the temple's reconstruction. It is likely that the Proclamation (Ezra 1:2–4) and Memorandum (6:2–5) of Cyrus were in response to a petition by the Jews, written along the lines of the Elephantine petition.