Abstract:
For many years the biblical Solomon (and his father David) has been regarded as a true historical persona of ancient Palestine in the Iron Age II. However, the critical analysis of the biblical texts in recent years, along with the lack of archaeological confirmation, suggests that the United Monarchy is unhistorical. Furthermore, the recent challenge to Palestinian chronology by I. Finkelstein has moved our historical attention on the question of the statehood in Palestine towards the House of Omri during the 9th century BC rather than a non-attested empire of Solomon during the 10th century BC. Taking this into account, this paper suggests reconsidering the evidence of statehood in Iron Age Palestine, regarding the re-appearance of inter-regional exchanges as the key factor that may have triggered the emergence of a major socio-political entity (the House of Omri), in the beginning of the 9th century BC. This entity, far from being a full-blown state, had the characteristics of a patronage society.