Tag Archives: Persians

When the Set Task is Imperial: Judaeans under Persian Forced Labor

By Jason Silverman

The experience of involuntary labor is widespread in human history. For reasons varying from slavery to economic imperatives, humans are often compelled to work. The impacts of the various imperial systems that have resorted to compulsion have been extensively studied by sociologists. Despite scholarly acknowledgments that the Persians also continued previous Ancient Near Eastern policies of using forced migration and forced labor, surprisingly it has received little to no sustained discussion. Continue reading When the Set Task is Imperial: Judaeans under Persian Forced Labor