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Documentary Culture and Empire in the Southern Levant: The Case of Early Judaism

Objective

DOC-CULT investigates how Persian and Hellenistic empires shaped local life by examining imperial communication and its representation by subject communities in the Southern Levant (c. 538–64 BCE). Centring Jewish communities and the uniquely rich dossier of imperial documents embedded in the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple literature, and ancient Jewish historiography, DOC-CULT sets these literary witnesses alongside inscriptions, papyri, and the material remains of archives across the Levant and Near East. It shows that imperial documents were not just records of subject-ruler interactions, but instruments through which local communities negotiated and conceptualized power, articulated identities, and modelled relations with rulers, each other, and even God. DOC-CULT’s interdisciplinary methodology treats “texts without context” alongside archaeological contexts that lack texts, creating a new and comprehensive picture of imperial documentality. Its novel approach to documents embedded into literary writings moves beyond scholarly stalemates that reduce the scope of investigation to simple dichotomies (authentic vs. fake; pro- vs. anti-imperial). The project will demonstrate (1) that changes in communication practices shaped local perceptions of identity and power; (2) that the literary re-framing of imperial documents mediated between imperial authority and local audiences; and (3) that textualized prayers and supplications to God share features with imperial communications, reflecting deep entanglement of religious and administrative discourse. DOC-CULT is thus set to advance our understanding of the relationship between political structures and the information technologies they sustain, and between media and their impact on peoples’ perceptions of their social relations. It illuminates not only the ancient past but present human conditions, at a time when media and the social sphere are inseparably entangled.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF

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Coordinator

THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 260 347,92
Address
OLD COLLEGE, SOUTH BRIDGE
EH8 9YL Edinburgh
United Kingdom

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Region
Scotland Eastern Scotland Edinburgh
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

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