Arsama and his World: The Bodleian Letters in Context
Volumes I-III
Published on 29. December 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
1280 pages
978-0-19-886072-3 (ISBN)
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 Arsama, 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 Arsama 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, Arsama'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 Arsama 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 Arsama 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 Arsama'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 Arsama and the letters belonged.
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, Arsama'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 Arsama 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 Arsama 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 Arsama'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 Arsama and the letters belonged.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
219 black-and-white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 171 mm
Thickness: 76 mm
Weight
2748 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-886072-3 (9780198860723)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Christopher J. Tuplin is Gladstone Professor of Greek at the University of Liverpool.
John Ma is Professor of Classics at Columbia University.
John Ma is Professor of Classics at Columbia University.
Content
Volume I: The Bodleian Letters
1. Introduction
1.1: John Ma and Christopher J. Tuplin: Preface
2.1: Lindsay Allen: The Bodleian Achaemenid Aramaic Letters: A Fragmentary History
2. The Bodleian Letters
2.1: D. G. K. Taylor: The Bodleian Letters: Text and Translation
2.2: D. G. K. Taylor: The Bodleian Letters: Glossary and Concordance
2.3: Christopher J. Tuplin: The Bodleian Letters: Commentary
3. Appendix
3.1: Harry S. Smith, Cary J. Martin, and Christopher J. Tuplin: The Egyptian Documents
3.2: Reinhard Pirngruber: The Akkadian Documents
Volume II: Bullae and Seals
1: Mark B. Garrison and Deniz Kaptan: Catalogue of Bullae
2: Mark B. Garrison and Wouter F. M. Henkelman: The Seal of Prince Ar%s=ama: From Persepolis to Oxford
3: Mark B. Garrison and Deniz Kaptan: The Stamp Seal
4: Deniz Kaptan: Anatolian Connections
5: Wouter F. M. Henkelman: Nakt?or in Persepolis
Mark B. Garrison: Appendix: Seals Associated with Satraps and Satrap-Level Administrators
Volume III: Ar%s=ama's World
1. Introduction
1.1: Christopher J. Tuplin: Ar%s=ama: Prince and Satrap
2. Letters and Administration
2.1: Jan Tavernier: Persian in Official Documents and the Processes of Multilingual Administration
2.2: Jennifer Hilder: Masterful Missives: Form and Authority in Ar%s=ama s Letters
2.3: Michael Jursa: The Ar ama Corpus through the Lens of Babylonian Epistolography
3. Control and Connectivity
3.1: Amelie Kuhrt: The Persian Empire
3.2: Arthur P. Keaveney: Frustrated Frondeurs or Loyal Kings Mena Nobles at the Achaemenid Court
3.3: Eran Almagor: The Royal Road from Herodotus to Xenophon (via Ctesias)
4. Economics
4.1: John Ma: Ar%s=ama the Vampire
4.2: Alain Bresson: Silverization, Prices, and Tribute in the Achaemenid Empire
4.3: John O. Hyland: Ar%s=ama, Egyptian Trade, and the Peloponnesian War
5. Egyptian Perspectives
5.1: Guenter Vittmann: The Multi-Ethnic World of Achaemenid Egypt
5.2: Lisbeth S. Fried: Aramaic Texts and the Achaemenid Administration of Egypt
5.3: Christopher J. Tuplin: The Military Environment of Achaemenid Egypt
5.4: Gard Granerod: 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
5.5: Christopher J. Tuplin: The Fall and Rise of the Elephantine Temple
5.6: Dorothy J. Thompson: After Ar%s=ama: Persian Echoes in Early Ptolemaic Egypt
1. Introduction
1.1: John Ma and Christopher J. Tuplin: Preface
2.1: Lindsay Allen: The Bodleian Achaemenid Aramaic Letters: A Fragmentary History
2. The Bodleian Letters
2.1: D. G. K. Taylor: The Bodleian Letters: Text and Translation
2.2: D. G. K. Taylor: The Bodleian Letters: Glossary and Concordance
2.3: Christopher J. Tuplin: The Bodleian Letters: Commentary
3. Appendix
3.1: Harry S. Smith, Cary J. Martin, and Christopher J. Tuplin: The Egyptian Documents
3.2: Reinhard Pirngruber: The Akkadian Documents
Volume II: Bullae and Seals
1: Mark B. Garrison and Deniz Kaptan: Catalogue of Bullae
2: Mark B. Garrison and Wouter F. M. Henkelman: The Seal of Prince Ar%s=ama: From Persepolis to Oxford
3: Mark B. Garrison and Deniz Kaptan: The Stamp Seal
4: Deniz Kaptan: Anatolian Connections
5: Wouter F. M. Henkelman: Nakt?or in Persepolis
Mark B. Garrison: Appendix: Seals Associated with Satraps and Satrap-Level Administrators
Volume III: Ar%s=ama's World
1. Introduction
1.1: Christopher J. Tuplin: Ar%s=ama: Prince and Satrap
2. Letters and Administration
2.1: Jan Tavernier: Persian in Official Documents and the Processes of Multilingual Administration
2.2: Jennifer Hilder: Masterful Missives: Form and Authority in Ar%s=ama s Letters
2.3: Michael Jursa: The Ar ama Corpus through the Lens of Babylonian Epistolography
3. Control and Connectivity
3.1: Amelie Kuhrt: The Persian Empire
3.2: Arthur P. Keaveney: Frustrated Frondeurs or Loyal Kings Mena Nobles at the Achaemenid Court
3.3: Eran Almagor: The Royal Road from Herodotus to Xenophon (via Ctesias)
4. Economics
4.1: John Ma: Ar%s=ama the Vampire
4.2: Alain Bresson: Silverization, Prices, and Tribute in the Achaemenid Empire
4.3: John O. Hyland: Ar%s=ama, Egyptian Trade, and the Peloponnesian War
5. Egyptian Perspectives
5.1: Guenter Vittmann: The Multi-Ethnic World of Achaemenid Egypt
5.2: Lisbeth S. Fried: Aramaic Texts and the Achaemenid Administration of Egypt
5.3: Christopher J. Tuplin: The Military Environment of Achaemenid Egypt
5.4: Gard Granerod: 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
5.5: Christopher J. Tuplin: The Fall and Rise of the Elephantine Temple
5.6: Dorothy J. Thompson: After Ar%s=ama: Persian Echoes in Early Ptolemaic Egypt