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 Aršāama 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 Aršāma 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 Aršāma 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: xxii+320
Aršāma and his World: The Bodleian Letters in Context, Vol. II: Bullae nad Seals
Contents
List of Illustrations and Plates
Illustrations
Plates
List of Charts and Tables
Abbreviations and Conventions
Persian royal inscriptions
Aramaic texts
Papyri
Journal titles
Dates
Cross-referencing
List of Contributors
1 Catalogue of Bullae
INTRODUCTION
CATALOGUE
Sigill.Aram. I (Figs. 1.4–1.8, Pl. 1)
Sigill.Aram. II (Figs 1.9–1.13, Pl. 2)
Sigill.Aram. III (Figs. 1.14–1.18, Pl. 3)
Sigill.Aram. IV (Figs. 1.19–1.24, Pl. 4)
Sigill.Aram. V (Figs. 1.25–1.30, Pl. 5)
Sigill.Aram. VI (Figs. 1.31–1.35, Pl. 6)
Sigill.Aram. VII (Figs. 1.36–1.40, Pl. 7)
Sigill.Aram. VIII (Figs. 1.41–1.47, Pl. 8)
2 The Seal of Prince Aršāma: From Persepolis to Oxford
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE DOSSIER OF ARŠĀMA 2
2.1. Date
2.2. Aršāma 2: Dynastic Connections
3. THE DOSSIER OF ARŠĀMA 1
3.1. Date
3.2. Aršāma 1: Persepolitan contexts
4. THE SEAL OF PRINCE ARŠĀMA
4.1. Description
4.2. Date
4.3. Inscription
4.4. Layouts of Aramaic Inscriptions in the Persepolis Archives
4.5. Style
4.6. Theme and Iconography: Human Combat
5. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE IMAGERY ON THE SEAL OF ARŠĀMA
5.1. Visualizing Ethnicity
5.2. The Divine and the Numinous
5.3. The Horse Led by Rein
5.4. Dead Adversaries as Pedestal Creatures
5.5. Narrative Time
6. THE SEAL OF ARŠĀMA: VOICES FROM THE PAST
6.1. Seals and the Royal Family
6.2. The Construction of the Past
Appendix: Elamite Texts Concerning Aršāma 1
1. NN 0958 (Fig. 2.84, Pl. 9 (middle, bottom))
2. Fort. 0965-201 (Fig. 2.85, Pl. 9 (upper))
3. PF 0309 (Fig. 2.86)
4. PF 0734 (Fig. 2.87)
5. PF 0733 (Fig. 2.88)
6. PF 2035 (Fig. 2.89)
3 The Stamp Seal
4 Anatolian Connections
DURABLE CLAY VERSUS FRAGILE PAPYRUS AND LEATHER: DOCUMENTATION IN ANATOLIA
TWO ANATOLIAN SITES: DASCYLIUM/ERGILI AND SEYITÖMER HÖYÜK
WHAT WERE THE CONTENTS OF THE NOW-LOST DOCUMENTS OF DASCYLIUM?
AN OVERVIEW OF THE DASCYLIUM BULLAE
INSCRIPTIONS
IMAGERY: WARFARE
IMAGERY: AN ABSTRACT DESIGN
CONCLUSION
5 Nakhtḥor in Persepolis
1. FROM SAKASTĀN TO THE EMPIRE’S CENTRE
2. A NETWORK OF SEALS
3. OF THE MOUNTAINS AND THE PLAINS
4. SATRAPS OF DARIUS I
5. THE SATRAPAL NETWORK
6. CONCLUSION: TADAE A6.9 AS A TRAVEL AUTHORIZATION
Appendix: Seals Associated with Satraps and Satrap-Level Administrators
INTRODUCTION
CATALOGUE
1. Parnakka: PFS 0009* and PFS 0016*
1.1. PFS 0009* (cat. no. 288)
1.2. PFS 0016* (cat. no. 22)
2. Ziššawiš: PFS 0083* and PFS 0011*
2.1. PFS 0083*
2.2. PFS 0011*
3. Ašbazana: PFS 1567* and PTS 14*
3.1. PFS 1567*
3.2. PTS 14*
4. Karkiš: PFS 0233 (cat. no. 52)
5. Harbamišša: PFS 1480 (cat. no. 257)
Aršāma’s seal in Oxford and Persepolis
Bibliography
Subject Index
Index Nominum
Personal names
Geographical Names
Divine Names
Index Locorum
Index Verborum
Objects and Artifacts
