Elephantine Papyri — Jewish Life in Egypt

The Elephantine papyri are a collection of documents from a Jewish military colony on an island in the Nile, dating to the 5th century BCE. They include legal contracts, letters to Jerusalem, and a petition to rebuild their local temple. These documents prove that Jewish communities existed far from Jerusalem during the Persian period, with their own religious practices. Some of the letters reference the governors of Judah mentioned in Nehemiah. Absolutely elite primary source material.