Exploring Jerusalem as a Site of Memory in the Late Persian and Early Hellenistic Periods

Abstract

The goal of this chapter is to explore, within the context of the relevant period, matters associated with social memories of Jerusalem. The first section discusses interactions between different ways in which Jerusalem served as a site of memory and contributed to the shaping of other sites of memory and core mnemonic narratives in the community. This section deals also with processes by which material signposts in Jerusalem influenced the discourse of the period and the ways in which Jerusalem was remembered and, conversely, the effect that Jerusalems of the mind had on social and political developments. In other words, it traces connections between material Jerusalems and the Jerusalems of the mind and vice versa. The second part of this chapter explores some of the images and concepts that the site of memory Jerusalem embodied and communicated in the late Persian or early Hellenistic period.