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Lisbeth S. Fried's insightful study investigates the impact of Achaemenid rule on the political power of local priesthoods during the 6th-4th centuries B.C.E. Scholars typically assume that, as long as tribute was sent to Susa, the capital of the Achaemenid Empire, subject peoples remained autonomous. Fried's work challenges this assumption. She examines the inscriptions, coins, temple archives, and literary texts from Babylon, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Judah and concludes that there was no local autonomy. The only people with power in the Empire were Persians and their appointees, and this was true for Judah as well. The Judean priesthood achieved its longed-for independence only much later, under the Maccabees

The legend of Sergius Bahira in the light of Christian apologetics vis-a-vis Islam -- Muslim-Christian confrontation and counterhistory -- The Islamic Bahira -- The apocalypse of Bahira -- Bahira's teachings -- Breaking crosses -- God's word and his spirit-Bahira's christology -- Protection and recognition-Bahira and Q 5:82 -- The physics of heaven -- The Qur'an against Islam -- The legend outside the legend -- Bahira the source -- Bahira the heretic -- Bahira the false witness -- Bahira the victim -- Jewish traditions about Bahira -- Bahira the forecaster -- Concluding discussion -- Texts and translations -- The recensions and the manuscript tradition -- Some characteristics of the recensions -- Textual genealogy -- Manuscripts -- Conspectus siglorum -- Methodological considerations -- The East-Syrian recension -- The West-Syrian recension -- The short Arabic recension -- The long Arabic recension

Front Matter -- Copyright Page -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Treatise Against the Jews -- The Manuscripts of the Treatise -- Index of the Chapter Headings in the Treatise -- Sigla Used in the Critical Edition of the Treatise -- Edition and Translation of the Treatise -- Back Matter -- Appendix A: List of Books and Articles Published by Rifaat Ebied and Lionel R. Wickham -- Appendix B: Facsimiles of Illustrations from the Syriac Manuscripts Which Contain the Treatise -- Bibliography -- Biblical References -- Index.