Introduction: Antiochus III’s Decrees for Jerusalem and the Issue of Comparison

This article provides an introduction to the special issue of the Journal of Ancient Judaism entitled "Antiochus III’s Decrees for Jerusalem: Between Imperial Stress and Local Agency." After introducing the decrees, the introduction identifies the main focus of the special issue as the comparative study of these distinctive documents--an approach that was spearheaded by Elias J. Bickerman, but which must now reckon with various recent discoveries that expand the potential pool of comparison. After summarizing the five articles and the comparative approaches they each adopt, the article concludes by identifying the main results of the volume and future directions of study.