Lisbeth S. Fried is a visiting scholar in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, an emeritus program lecturer at Washtenaw Community College, and an associate editor for ancient Near Eastern religions for the forthcoming Routledge Dictionary of Ancient Mediterranean Religions. Fried is the author of The Priest and the Great King: Temple-Palace Relations in the Persian Empire and editor of Was 1 Esdras First? An Investigation into the Priority and Nature of 1 Esdras.