Sanballat II is hypothesized to be a hereditary governor of

Samaria Samaria (), the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (), is used as a historical and Hebrew Bible, biblical name for the central region of the Land of Israel. It is bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The region is ...

under the

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian peoples, Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, i ...

. If he existed, he reigned during the early and mid fourth century BCE. He is hypothesized to be a grandson of

Sanballat the Horonite Sanballat the Horonite ( ''Sanḇallaṭ'') – or Sanballat I – was a Samaritan leader, official of the Achaemenid Empire, and contemporary of the Israelite leader Nehemiah who lived in the mid-to-late 5th century BC. He and his family are menti ...

, who is mentioned in the

Book of Nehemiah The Book of Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible largely takes the form of a first-person memoir by Nehemiah, a Hebrew prophet and high official at the Persian court, concerning the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile and the ...

and the

Elephantine papyri The Elephantine Papyri and Ostraca consist of thousands of documents from the Egyptian border fortresses of Elephantine and Aswan, which yielded hundreds of papyri and ostraca in hieratic and demotic Egyptian, Aramaic, Koine Greek, Latin and Cop ...

. The regnal number of "II" is a modern convention, and he would not have been called that at the time. The hypothesized time period where Sanballat II was governor may have coincided with the construction of the

Samaritan Samaritans (; ; ; ), are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Hebrews and Israelites of the ancient Near East. They are indigenous to Samaria, a historical region of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah that ...

Temple on

Mount Gerizim Mount Gerizim ( ; ; ; , or ) is one of two mountains in the immediate vicinity of the State of Palestine, Palestinian city of Nablus and the biblical city of Shechem. It forms the southern side of the valley in which Nablus is situated, the nor ...

Samaria papyri

Frank Moore Cross Frank Moore Cross Jr. (July 13, 1921 – October 16, 2012) was the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages at Harvard University, notable for his work in the interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, his 1973 '' magnum opus'' ''Ca ...

was involved in the purchase and excavation of ancient

papyri Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can ...

Wadi Daliyeh The Wadi Daliyeh (وادي دالية) is a wadi in the West Bank, located fourteen kilometres north of Jericho, flowing east from the Samarian hills down to the Jordan Valley. The valley has caves containing archaeological material. Archaeologic ...

, preserved by the dry climate. A Sanballat is indeed referred to in these papyri, but the time period seemed to be somewhat later than the period described in the

. As a result, Cross came to the conclusion that at least three different Sanballats ruled as governor of Samaria during the Persian era, and that the governorship had passed down a family line. He believed that the order went

(5th century BCE); Delaiah, son of Sanballat; Sanballat II; Hananiah, son of Sanballat II; Sanballat III. For Cross, the first Sanballat is the person described in the Book of Nehemiah; the second Sanballat was who was in the Wadi Daliyeh papyri; and the third Sanballat is the subject of the story in

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

's ''

Jewish Antiquities ''Antiquities of the Jews'' (; , ''Ioudaikē archaiologia'') is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus in the 13th year of the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, which was 94 CE. It contains ...

'' book 11 that takes place around the time of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

's invasion of the Persian Empire. However, the matter is not settled. There has been opposition that Sanballat II may not have existed.

References

External links

* {{cite journal , title=The Discovery of the Samaria Papyri , journal= The Biblical Archaeologist , publisher=

American Schools of Oriental Research The American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), founded in 1900 as the American School of Oriental Study and Research in Palestine, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, which supports the research and teaching of ...

, location=

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, United States of America , author=Frank Moore Cross, Jr. , author-link=Frank Moore Cross, Jr. , volume=26 , number=4 , date=December 1963 , pages=109–121 , doi=10.2307/3211040 , jstor = 3211040, s2cid=189256904 4th-century BC governors People from the Achaemenid Empire Ancient Samaritan people Asian people whose existence is disputed Samaritan culture and history Mount Gerizim