608 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1907. 
24. of thy benefits and of thy mercy here in Egypt. May a letter be sent from 
thee to them concerning the temple of Jahu 
25. that it be built again in the fortress Yeb as it was built in former times. 
And we will offer meat-offerings and frankincense and burnt-offerings 
26. upon the altar of the God Jahu in thy name. And we will pray for 
thee at all times, we and our wives and our children and all the Jews 
27. who are here when this will be done, until the temple is built. And thou 
shalt have a portion before Jahu, the God 
98. of Heaven, from every one who offers to him burnt-offerings and sacrifices 
in value equal to a silver shekel for * * * And concerning the gold 
29. we have sent message and made known. We have also all of us written 
concerning these matters in a letter in our name to Delaiah and Shelem- 
iah, the sons of Sanballat, the governor of Samaria. 
80. Arsam also has no knowledge of all that has been done to us. The 20th 
of Marheshwan (October-November), in the 17th year of King Darius. 
It is well known that Elephantine, whose old Egyptian name was 
Abu, Ibu, Iab, or Ib, which in Greek and Aramaic become Ieb or Yeb, 
was, under Persian and Roman dominion, a fortress with a garrison 
guarding the frontiers against Nubia. It is also known from classi- 
cal and Egyptological writings that the ram-headed Chnemu or 
Hnub was worshipped in Elephantine together with other divinities. 
(Compare Strabo, C 817.) 
Bagohi, to whom the letter is addressed (line 1), and Jehohanan, 
the high priest at Jerusalem (line 18), are undoubtedly identical 
with Bagoas or Bagoses and Ioannes mentioned in Josephus’s Antiqui- 
lies, XI, 7, where it is related that while Bagoas (Bagoses) was Per- 
sian governor in Jerusalem the High Priest Ioannes slew in the 
temple his brother Jesus, who contested the dignity of the high 
priesthood. Bagoas thereupon invaded the temple and imposed 
upon the Jews a fine of 50 drachms for every lamb that there was 
to offer in the temple. The High Priest Jehohanan is also mentioned 
n Nehemiah, XII, 22. Jedoniah, who appears as head of the Jewish 
community in Elephantine, occurs also in the Aramaic papyrus of 
Assuan. In Jadon, Nehemiah, ITI, 7, may be seen an abbreviation 
of this name. Sanballat, who is named as governor of Samaria 
(line 29), is the well-known adversary of Nehemiah. (Compare 
Nehemiah, II, 10, 19; III, 383; IV, 1; VI, 1.) His sons are not men- 
tioned in the Old Testament; but the names they bear, Delaiah and 
Shelemiah, often occur in the time of and in connection with San- 
ballat. (Compare Nehemiah, VI, 10-12; XIII, 18; I Chronicles, 
TT 24): XOXO 185) 
But that the community of Elephantine should turn for assistance 
to the sons of one who had been the bitterest foe of Nehemiah and 
of the restoration of the Jewish nation and its cult in Palestine 
seems rather strange. Can it be that the Jews of Elephantine were 
in entire ignorance of Nehemiah and his great national work? Or, 
since Nehemiah’s return to Babylon (about 433 B. C.) had his con- 
