Yehud Medinata (Aramaic for Province of Judah), or simply Yehud, is a colony of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, ruled by mostly Jewish governors.
The territory is considerably smaller and with a far thinner population than its predecessor, the kingdom of Judah.
The area of Yehud Medinata corresponds to the previous Babylonian province of Yehud, which was formed after the fall of the kingdom of Judah to the Neo-Babylonian Empire (c.597 after its conquest of the Mediterranean east coast, and again in 585/6 BCE after suppressing an unsuccessful Judean revolt).
Yehud Medinata, part of the Persian satrapy of Eber-Nari, continues to exist for two centuries, until being incorporated into the Hellenistic empires following the conquests of Alexander the Great.
