538–332 b.c.
Under Persian rule, the lands of Israel (now called Samaria) and Judah (now called Judea) were minor provinces within the satrapy called Beyond the River. It appears that Edomites encroached upon Judea’s southern border after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, and this territory was now called Idumea. These regional boundaries remained more or less the same throughout the Persian period. Returning Judeans settled mostly in the province of Judea, but a few settled in the plain of Ono and Idumea as well.
