Expressions of Empire and Four Kingdoms Patterns in the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls

Abstract

As archaeologists sift through layers of forgotten ancient sites they often aim to detect social, political, and cultural shifts reflected in the rubble and remains of the material finds buried beneath. Discernable changes in the stratum of a site at times tell tales of dramatic upheavals, displacement, destruction, or reoccupation. In many instances, these layers attest to clashes of peoples existing under and against the long chain of empires that ruled from the Mediterranean basin to modern day India. One after another, powers ascended, expanded, and inevitably toppled to the emerging empire on deck. Empires, however, not only impacted physical landscapes and cultural heritage but also left impressions on the literary imaginations of ancient scribes and communities. One prominent way writers reflected on their relation to the imperial powers of the past, present, and future was by fitting world history into four kingdoms schemes. Ancient texts featuring this motif reveal a conceptual and chronological stratigraphy, idealized and ideologically charged historiographies, and the diverse responses, reactions, and reflections of cultures clashing with overturning empires. In short, akin to the tells excavated by archaeologists, four kingdoms chronologies in ancient literature reflect memories of social, political, and cultural transitions through tiers of time. When put in the panoramic perspective of writings across cultures and corpora, it is clear that speculation on the waxing-and-waning of empires in periodized chronologies was a far-reaching historiographical enterprise. As already established in the history of research, before Daniel beheld a four-tiered statue or watched in shock as four mythic beasts emerged from the sea, there are clear antecedents for this style of historiography in both Hellenistic and