During the Second World War the Bodleian Library in Oxford acquired a set of Aramaic letters, eight sealings, and the two leather bags in which the sealed letters were once stored. The letters concern the affairs of Aršāma, satrap of Egypt in the later fifth century. Taken with other material associated with him (mostly in Aramaic, Demotic Egyptian, and Akkadian), they illuminate the Achaemenid world of which Aršāma was a privileged member and evoke a wide range of social, economic, cultural, organizational, and political perspectives, from multi-lingual communication, storage and disbursement of resources, and satrapal remuneration, to cross-regional ethnic movement, long-distance travel, religious practice, and iconographic projection of ideological messages.
Particular highlights include a travel authorization (the only example of something implicit in numerous Persepolis documents), texts about the religious life of the Judaean garrison at Elephantine, Aršāma's magnificent seal (a masterpiece of Achaemenid glyptic, inherited from a son of Darius I), and echoes of temporary disturbances to Persian management of Egypt. But what is also impressive is the underlying sense of systematic coherence founded on and expressed in the use of formal, even formalized, written communication as a means of control. The Arsāma dossier is not alone in evoking that sense, but its size, variety, and focus upon a single individual give it a unique quality.
Though this material has not been hidden from view, it has been insufficiently explored: it is the purpose of the three volumes of Arsāma and his World: The Bodleian Letters in Context to provide the fullest presentation and historical contextualization of this extraordinary cache yet attempted. Volume I presents and translates the letters alongside a detailed line-by-line commentary, while Volume II reconstructs the two seals that made the clay bullae that sealed the letters, with special attention to Aršāma's magnificent heirloom seal. Volume III comprises a series of thematic essays which further explore the administrative, economic, military, ideological, religious, and artistic environment to which Aršāma and the letters belonged.
Author(s): Christopher J. Tuplin; John Ma
Series: Oxford Studies in Ancient Documents
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: xiv+514
Cover
Aršāma and his World: The Bodleian Letters in Context
Copyright
Contents
List of Illustrations and Tables
Abbreviations and Conventions
List of Contributors
1: Introduction
1.1: Aršāma: Prince and Satrap
1. DEFINING THE DOSSIER
The Contents of the Dossier
Egypt
Babylonia
Greek Literary Tradition
Problematic Items
Ariyāršā Aršāmhya puça
Sarsamas and Arxanes, satraps of Egypt
Arsames and Barca
2. THE EGYPTIAN DOSSIER
3. ARŠĀMA: FRAGMENTS OF BIOGRAPHY
Aršāma the ‘Prince’
Aršāma the Satrap
The Absent Satrap
Absence in 410–407
Other Signs of Absence
Aršāma the Estate Holder
The Estates of A6.9
The Estates in Babylonia
The Estates in Egypt
Aršāma and the Politico-Military History of his Times
ENVOI
2: Letters and Administration
2.1: Persian in Official Documents and the Processes of Multilingual Administration
1. INTRODUCTION
2. LANGUAGES IN THE ẠRŠĀMA CORRESPONDENCE
2.1 Iranian Loanwords in the Ạršāma Correspondence
2.2 Personal Names in the Ạršāma Correspondence
2.3 Translational Issues in the Ạršāma Correspondence
3. ADMINISTRATION AND LANGUAGE IN THE ẠRŠĀMA CORRESPONDENCE
4. THE ẠRŠĀMA CORRESPONDENCE IN ITS EGYPTIAN SATRAPAL CONTEXT
5. THE ẠRŠĀMA CORRESPONDENCE IN A BROADER ACHAEMENID CONTEXT
6. CONCLUSION
2.2: Masterful Missives: Form and Authority in Aršāma’s Letters
STRUCTURE
GRAMMAR
CONTENT
CONCLUSION
2.3: The Aršāma Corpus through the Lens of Babylonian Epistolography
EPISTOLOGRAPHIC STYLE
EPISTOLOGRAPHY AND ADMINISTRATIVE PRACTICE
EPISTOLOGRAPHY AND PERSUASION: HIERARCHIES AND STATUS
3: Control and Connectivity
3.1: The Persian Empire
1. INTRODUCTION
2. SOURCES
3. IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
3.1. Satraps and Subjects
3.2. Regional Variation
3.3. Central Control
4. THE KING AND ROYAL IDEOLOGY
4.1. Succession and Coronation
4.2. The Dynamics of Absolute Power
5. A CONCLUDING OBSERVATION
3.2: Frustrated Frondeurs or Loyal Kings’ Men?: Nobles at the Achaemenid Court
3.3: The Royal Road from Herodotus to Xenophon (via Ctesias)
INTRODUCTION
1. HERODOTUS
2. CTESIAS
3. XENOPHON
3.1 Cyropaedia
3.2 Anabasis
Herodotean Parasangs?
The Summaries
CONCLUSION
4: Economics
4.1: Aršāma the Vampire
1. TOWARDS ACHAEMENID ECONOMICS
2. ARŠĀMA AND ACHAEMENID ECONOMICS
3. TRIBUTE, RENT, KING, ESTATE-HOLDERS: ACHAEMENID POLITICAL ECONOMY
4. ARTICULATING THE MIXED ECONOMIES OF EMPIRE
5. THE ECONOMICS OF GREED AND INJUSTICE IN ARŠĀMA’S WORLD
6. EMPIRE, VAMPIRE
4.2: Silverization, Prices, and Tribute in the Achaemenid Empire
SILVERIZING THE EAST
The General Setting
An Egyptian Customs Document
Coins
Summary
ACHAEMENID TRIBUTE AND THE LIST OF HERODOTUS
Herodotean Error
Gold
The Herodotean Tribute List Debunked
PRICES, TRIBUTE, AND THE MONEY SUPPLY
Price Fluctuation and Inflation
The Hoarding of Tribute and Physical Transfer of Precious Metal
A New Approach to Achaemenid Hoarding
Tribute and Money Supply
CONCLUSION
4.3: Aršāma, Egyptian Trade, and the Peloponnesian War
EGYPT’S TRADE WITH GREECE AND THE ELEPHANTINE CUSTOMS ACCOUNT
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR AND EGYPTIAN–ATHENIAN TRADE
RESPONSES TO DISRUPTION?
5: Egyptian Perspectives
5.1: The Multi-Ethnic World of Achaemenid Egypt
INTRODUCTION
PERSIANS
GREEKS
CARIANS
JUDAEANS
ARAMAEANS
PHOENICIANS
ARABS
SLAVES
CONCLUSION
5.2: Aramaic Texts and the Achaemenid Administration of Egypt
IMPOSITION OF A PERSIAN JUDICIAL SYSTEM
CONTROL OVER LOCAL TEMPLES
Imposition of Local Taxes
Appointment of Temple Personnel
CONTROL OVER LAND OWNERSHIP AND INHERITANCE
CONTROL OVER ONE’S OWN PERSON
THE ROLE OF THE GARRISON
Nature and Composition of the Garrison at Elephantine
The Chain of Command
Managing Satrapal Agricultural Lands
Protecting the Populace
Collecting Taxes and Tribute
Serving as Police
RELIGIOUS LIFE IN A PERSIAN GARRISON
CONCLUSIONS
5.3: The Military Environment of Achaemenid Egypt
THE ARŠĀMA DOSSIER
SYENE-ELEPHANTINE: THE ARŠĀMA DOSSIER AND BEYOND
OUTSIDE THE ARŠĀMA DOSSIER
CONCLUDING REMARKS
5.4: The Passover and the Temple of YHW: On the Interaction between the Authorities and the Judaean Community at Elephantine as Reflected in the Yedanyah Archive
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE INVOLVEMENT OF ACHAEMENID OFFICIALS IN JUDAEAN RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS
2.1. The So-called Passover Letter
(a) Purpose
(b) Who Was Ḥ ananyah and What Was His Role?
(c) Ḥananyah, Ḥor, and Vidranga
(d) What Was the Content of the Royal Order in Ḥananyah’s Letter?
2.2. The Documents on the Rebuilding of the Temple of YHW
(a) The Letter to Bagāvahyā (A4.7/A4.8)
(b) Purpose of the Letter to Bagāvahyā
(c) The Memorandum of the Statement of Bagāvahyā and Delayah (A4.9)
(d) Bribe for the Warrant to Rebuild the Temple of YHW (A4.10)
3. THE YEDANYAH ARCHIVE AND THEORIES ON TEMPLE–PALACE RELATIONS
3.1. Background
3.2. Assessment
(a) The So-Called Passover Letter
(b) The Documents Dealing with the Rebuilding of the Temple of YHW
IV. CONCLUDING REMARKS
5.5: The Fall and Rise of the Elephantine Temple
EVENTS
EXPLANATIONS
THE WIDER PERSPECTIVE
5.6: After Aršāma: Persian Echoes in Early Ptolemaic Egypt
NON-NATIVE SETTLERS
LAND OWNERSHIP
CONCLUSION
Bibliography
Subject Index
Index Nominum
Index Locorum
