Aršāma and his World: The Bodleian Letters in Context: Volume III: Aršāma's World

Description

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. 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