“Neither a Demos nor a Polis”: Post-Seleucid Community Formation in the Book of Judith

The Book of Judith has often been read against the backdrop of Judean politics in the second century BCE, with little tangible results beyond the questionable identification of fictional characters with historical figures. But with recent dates for the book converging around 100 BCE, another context comes into view: Judith is a story about war, politics, and community written in a post-Seleucid context. It can therefore elucidate questions we cannot normally hope to answer: How did Seleucid rule shape its subjects’ sense of community and expectations for the future, and how did this play out when the Seleucids were gone?