Even though the Persian period has attracted a fair share of scholarly interest in recent years, as yet no concerted effort has been attempted to construct a comprehensive social history of Phoenician city-states as an integral part of the Achaemenid empire. This monograph explores the evidence from Persian-period literary (both ancient Jewish and classical), epigraphic, and numismatic sources, as well as material culture remains, in order to sketch just such a history. This study examines developments in Persian-period Phoenician city-states on the three levels: that of the individual household, the city-state, and the administrative unit of the Persian empire. These three societal levels are analyzed within the contexts of economic competition between and among the Phoenician city-states, their burgeoning economic ties with the outside world, and their interaction with the Persian imperial influence in the Levant.

This study examines developments in Persian-period Phoenician city-states on the three levels: that of the individual household, the city-state, and the administrative unit of the Persian empire.

'It is useful to have an English survey that gathers together the major sources and bibliography at a manageable length. The text will be a helpful starting point for those interested in getting to know the Phoenicians of the Persian Period.' - Review of Biblical Literature 'Dismissing the link between coinage and rowers proposed by H. T. Willinga in 1987, J. advances that mercenaries preferred to be paid in 'money of their own states or other currencies with a much wider area of distribution' than 'in currencies of different Phoenician city-states' (p. 106). This crucial issue for the social history of Achaemenid Phoenicia deserves further research and J. has produced a most convenient resource towards this aim.' - Palestine Exploration Quarterly