Book contents
- The Cambridge World History of Genocide
- The Cambridge World History of Genocide
- The Cambridge World History of Genocide
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume I
- General Editor’s Acknowledgements
- General Editor’s Introduction to the Series
- Introduction to Volume I
- Part I Themes of Genocide through History
- Part II The Ancient World
- 6 Genocide in Ancient Israelite and Early Jewish Sources
- 7 Genocide in Ancient Mesopotamia during the Bronze and Iron Ages
- 8 Urbicide in the Ancient Greek World, 480–330 bce
- 9 Violence, Emotions and Justice in the Hellenistic Period
- 10 A Tale of Three Cities
- 11 Caesar’s Gallic Genocide
- 12 Genocidal Perspectives in the Roman Empire’s Approach towards the Jews
- 13 Religious Violence in the Later Roman Empire
- 14 Genocide, Extermination and Mass Killing in Chinese History
- Part III The Medieval World and Early Imperial Expansions
- Index
6 - Genocide in Ancient Israelite and Early Jewish Sources
from Part II - The Ancient World
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 June 2023
- The Cambridge World History of Genocide
- The Cambridge World History of Genocide
- The Cambridge World History of Genocide
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume I
- General Editor’s Acknowledgements
- General Editor’s Introduction to the Series
- Introduction to Volume I
- Part I Themes of Genocide through History
- Part II The Ancient World
- 6 Genocide in Ancient Israelite and Early Jewish Sources
- 7 Genocide in Ancient Mesopotamia during the Bronze and Iron Ages
- 8 Urbicide in the Ancient Greek World, 480–330 bce
- 9 Violence, Emotions and Justice in the Hellenistic Period
- 10 A Tale of Three Cities
- 11 Caesar’s Gallic Genocide
- 12 Genocidal Perspectives in the Roman Empire’s Approach towards the Jews
- 13 Religious Violence in the Later Roman Empire
- 14 Genocide, Extermination and Mass Killing in Chinese History
- Part III The Medieval World and Early Imperial Expansions
- Index
Summary
This chapter explores the pervasiveness of narratives of genocide and mass violence in Israelite and early Jewish sources and relate this genocidal impulse to the interethnic violence that occurred in the ancient Levant in different periods. It argues that various historical factors contributed to the prevalence of extreme violence in these sources: the brutality of imperialistic aggression carried out against the Israelites by several ancient Near Eastern empires; the demographic shifts that contributed to material scarcities in the Iron Age II and the Hellenistic-Roman era; and the dichotomized processes of ethnic boundary-marking that characterize so many Israelite and early Jewish texts. The merging of these factors generated an abundance of literature depicting genocide and other forms of mass violence.
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- Information
- The Cambridge World History of Genocide , pp. 185 - 208Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023