This online database brings together the cuneiform documentation regarding Israelites, Judeans, and related population groups in ancient Israel and the Diaspora (Mesopotamia and Western Iran) during the Neo-Assyrian, Neo- and Late Babylonian, and Achaemenid Periods (744-330 BCE).
The reconstruction and analysis of this documentation is of outmost importance in understanding the impact the Assyrian and Babylonian deportations had on the community of exiles in Mesopotamia and Iran in what is considered an axial period in the formation of Jewish identity and the articulation of major religious and social tenets in early Judaism.

CTIJ is part of the Oracc online community, whose aim is to make available through the internet the form and contents of cuneiform tablets, thus encouraging research in Assyriology and related disciplines. We wish to thank our colleagues Steve Tinney, Niek Veldhuis, Eleanor Robson (Oracc), Bob Englund (CDLI), and Laurie Pearce (HBTIN and BPS) for the expert knowledge and the considerable amount of precious time they gave in helping us build this online database.

The project and online database are supported by a research and development grant of the "Ancient Israel" (New Horizons) Research Program, Tel Aviv University and the "Greater Mesopotamia" Research Project, funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office - BELSPO in the framework of the Interuniversity Attraction Poles (IAP), KU Leuven. Additional support was received from Tel Aviv University, the Office of the Research Dean.

* All line drawings in this site were made by Judith Dekel, courtesy of David Ussishkin and Judith Dekel.