Quote:Two generations of the Jewish elite were forced to reside in Babylon. When they returned to Israel in 538 BC with the backing of the Persian King Cyrus the Great they brought the Mesopotamian mythology they had been taught with them.
Even this is propaganda, Pap. There's a fine book called "The View From Nebo" by Amy Dockser Marcus who details a number of archaeological finds. One concerns cunieform records from the period when the Judahites were in Babylon. As she notes on page 174:
The Book of Chronicles states that the deportees from Judah were servants in Babylon, but, in fact that wasn't the case for most of the exiles. Instead, they obtained land from the state and were considered the king's tenants. Fathers were able to bequeath the land to their sons. Most positions in the empire were open to Jews. Some were engaged in crafts and commerce, others absorbed into huge state projects that were paid salaries from the state treasury. Former Judeans even got posts in the imperial administration and rose to senior positions. A huge bureaucracy was needed to run such a far-flung empire. Educated, literate exiles like the ones from Judah were quickly integrated into the civil service.
I'm not sure what it is about Jews that they love to portray themselves as slaves but it does seem to be a hangup with them. Perhaps Summer can chime in with some explanation for this constant kvetching they do?