From the Persian period (6th - 4th centuries BCE) onwards later Biblical, and Greek, Roman and Jewish sources begin to mention Yavneh-Yam. At the end of the 6th century BCE the Middle East was included into the huge Persian Empire. Yavneh-Yam, however, is not mentioned in the main sources of the Persian period, such as the writings of Herodotus and Pseudo-Skylax, or the inscription on the famous sarcophagus of Eshmounezer of Sidon, speaking of the Sidonian expansion under Artaxerxes II (404-359/8 BCE). Only ‘The Book of Judith’ gives an insight into the fate of the place during the complicated political situation towards the end of the Persian period (mid-4th century BCE). It seems, however, that Yavneh-Yam has been settled by Phoenicians from Sidon in Lebanon as evident from both material culture and later historical evidence.
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