The Ancient Jews from Alexander to Muhammad

This is an accessible and up-to-date account of the Jews during the millennium following Alexander the Great''s conquest of the East. Unusually it acknowledges the problems involved in constructing a narrative from fragmentary yet complex evidence and is implicitly an exploration of how this might be accomplished. Moreover unlike most other introductions to the subject it concentrates primarily on the people rather than issues of theology and adopts a resolutely unsentimental approach to the subject. Professor Schwartz particularly demonstrates the importance of studying Jewish history texts and artefacts to the broader community of ancient historians because of what they can contribute to wider themes such as Roman imperialism. The book serves as an excellent introduction for students and scholars of Jewish history and of ancient history.