Water is a vital resource and is widely acknowledged as such. Thus it often serves as an ideological and linguistic symbol that stands for and evokes concepts central within a community. This volume explores thinking of water and concepts expressed through references to water within the symbolic system of the late Persian/early Hellenistic period and as it does so it sheds light on the social mindscape of the early Second Temple community.

Ehud Ben-Zvi, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; Christoph Levin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany.