Persepolis Fortification Tablets

The Persepolis Fortification Archive and Persepolis Treasury Archive are two groups of clay administrative archives — sets of records physically stored together – found in Persepolis dating to the Achaemenid Persian Empire. The discovery was made during legal excavations conducted by the archaeologists from the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in the 1930s. Hence they are named for their in situ findspot: Persepolis. The archaeological excavations at Persepolis for the Oriental Institute were initially directed by Ernst Herzfeld from 1931 to 1934 and carried on from 1934 until 1939 by Erich Schmidt.Henkelman 2008:Ch 2.

While the political end of the Achaemenid Empire is symbolized by the burning of Persepolis by Alexander the Great (dated 330/329 BCE), the fall of Persepolis paradoxically contributed to the preservation of the Achaemenid administrative archives that might have been lost due to passage of time and natural and man-made causes.Wiesehöfer 10-11. According to archaeological evidence, the partial burning of Persepolis did not affect the Persepolis Fortification Archive tablets, but may have caused the eventual collapse of the upper part of the northern Fortification wall that preserved the tablets until their recovery by the Oriental Institute's archaeologists.

Thousands of clay tablets, fragments and seal impressions in the Persepolis archives are a part of a single administrative system representing continuity of activity and flow of data over more than fifty consecutive years (509 to 457 BCE).Stolper "What are the Persepolis Fortification Tablets?" ''The Oriental Institute News & Notes'', 2007. These records can throw light on the geography, economy, and administration, as well as the religion and social conditions of the Persepolis region, the heartland of the Persian Great Kings from Darius I the Great to Artaxerxes I.

The Persepolis Administrative Archives are the single most important extant primary source for understanding the internal workings of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. But while these archives have the potential for offering the study of the Achaemenid history based on the sole surviving and substantial records from the heartland of the empire, they are still not fully utilized as such by a majority of historians.Kuhrt "The Persepolis Archives:concluding observations," Persika 12, 2008:563-568. The reason for the slow adoption of study of Persepolis administrative archives can also be attributed to the administrative nature of the archives, lacking the drama and excitement of narrative history.

Persepolis Fortification Archive

The ''Persepolis Fortification Archive'' (PFA), also known as ''Persepolis Fortification Tablets'' (PFT, PF), is a fragment of Achaemenid administrative records of receipt, taxation, transfer, storage of food crops (cereals, fruit), livestock (sheep and goats, cattle, poultry), food products (flour, breads and other cereal products, beer, wine, processed fruit, oil, meat), and byproducts (animal hides) in the region around Persepolis (larger part of modern Fars), and their redistribution to gods, the royal family, courtiers, priests, religious officiants, administrators, travelers, workers, artisans, and livestock.

But before the Persepolis archives could have offered any clues to the better understanding of the Achaemenid history, the clay tablets, mostly written in a late dialect of Elamite, an extremely difficult language still imperfectly understood, had to be deciphered. So, in 1935, Iranian authorities loaned the ''Persepolis Fortification Archive'' to the Oriental Institute for research and publication. The archive arrived in Chicago in 1936 and has been under studies since 1937. It was not until 1969, when Richard Hallock published his magisterial edition of 2,087 Elamite ''Persepolis Fortification Tablets'', leading to the renaissance of Achaemenid studies in the 1970s. The long-term project spanning over seven decades is far from completion.Stein 2007.

153 tablets, approximately 30,000 fragments and an unknown number of uninscribed tablets were returned to Iran in the 1950s. So far about 450 tablets and tens of thousands of fragments have already been returned to Iran in total.

The narrow content of the ''Persepolis Fortification Archive'', recording only the Achaemenid administration's transactions dealing with foodstuff, must be taken into consideration in regards to the amount of information that can be deduced from them.

Discovery

Excavations directed by Ernst Herzfeld at Persepolis between 1933 and 1934 for the Oriental Institute, discovered tens of thousands of unbaked clay tablets, badly broken fragments and bullae in March 1933. Before attempting to build a pathway for easy removal of debris from the ruins of palaces on the Persepolis terrace, Herzfeld decided to excavate the location first to ensure that building a passage would not harm anything. He found two rooms filled up with clay tablets that were arranged in order, as in a library. The uncleaned tablets and fragments were covered up with wax and after drying, they were wrapped up in cotton and packed in 2,353 sequentially numbered boxes for shipping.

At the time, Herzfeld estimated that the find included about 30,000 or more inscribed and sealed clay tablets and fragments. However, Herzfeld himself did not leave precise notes and never published a proper archaeological report.

Location

Persepolis Fortification Archive was found at the northeastern corner of the terrace of Persepolis, in two rooms in the fortification wall. The tablets had been stored in a small space near the staircase in the tower in the fortification wall. The upper floor of the fortification wall may have collapsed at the time of the Macedonian invasion, both partially destroying the order of the tablets while protecting them until 1933. The entrance to the rooms were bricked up in antiquity.

Components

There are three main kinds of clay tablets and fragments in the Persepolis Fortification Archive:Henkelman 2008:157-162.
*Elamite: the remains of more than 15,000 original records in the Elamite language, in cuneiform script.
*Aramaic: the remains of somewhat less than 1,000 original records in the Aramaic language and script.
*Uninscribed: the remains of about 5,000 or more original records with only impressions of seals and no texts.
However, the functional relationships among these components are not still clear.

Numbers

As of 2010, about 20,000-25,000 tablets and fragments representing about 15,000-18,000 original records remain at the Oriental Institute.

Size of the original archive for the same period of time could have been as many as 100,000 Elamite tablets. The edited samples to-date may represent no more than five percent of the original Achaemenid archive.

Size of the original archive for the entire reign of Darius I the Great, from 522 to 486 BCE, just for the distribution of foodstuff, could have been as many as 200,000 records.

Scope

Persepolis Fortification Archive covers sixteen (16) years, from 509 to 493 BCE, from regnal year 13th to regnal year 28th of Darius I the Great. The chronological distribution of the archive is uneven with largest concentration from regnal years 22nd and 23rd.Henkelman 2008: Ch 2.

Elamite records

Current understanding of the Persepolis Fortification Archive is based on a sample of the Elamite records that includes 2,120 published texts by Richard Hallock (2,087 tablets in 1969 and 33 tablets in 1978), as well as analysis of 1,148 seals accompanying published Elamite records. About 20 new tablets have also been published after Hallock by various scholars.

A majority of the Elamite records are memoranda of single transactions. The earliest known dated Elamite text was written in month 1, regnal year 13 of Darius I the Great (April 509 BCE) and the latest in month 12, regnal year 28 (March/April 493 BCE).

The Elamite records mention about 150 places in the region controlled by Achaemenid administration at Persepolis — most of modern Fars, and perhaps parts of modern Khuzestan, including villages, estates, parks and paradises, storehouses, fortresses, treasuries, towns, rivers, and mountains.Henkelman "From Gabae to Taoce: the geography of the central administrative province," Persica 12, 2008:303-314.

Sample

A sample transliteration and translation of an Elamite record from Persepolis Fortification Archive by Richard Hallock:

:PF 53
:
:2 w.pi-ut kur-min m.Šu-te-na-na Ba-ir-ša-an ku-ut-ka hu-ut-ki+MIN-nam
:Ba-ka-ba-da Na-ba-ba du-iš-da be-ul 21-na

:2 (BAR of) figs, supplied by Šutena, was taken (to) Persepolis, for the (royal) stores.
:Bakabada (and) Nababa received (it). 21st year.

=Pronunciation of transliteration

=
:š sh as in ''shall''

Aramaic records

About 680 Fortification tablets and fragments with monolingual Aramaic texts (also called ''Imperial Aramaic'') have been identified.Azzoni "The Bowman MS and the Aramaic tablets," Persika 12, 2008:253-274.

Almost all Aramaic records are formed around knotted strings. All Aramaic texts have seal impressions and are incised with styluses or written in ink with pens or brushes, and are similar to Elamite memoranda. They are records of transporting or storing foodstuff, disbursal of seed, disbursal of provisions for travelers, and disbursal of rations for workers.

Uninscribed records

About 5,000 or more tablets and fragment have only impressions of seals and no texts. Almost all such records are formed around knotted strings. It is noted that none of the uninscribed tablets and fragments bear the seals of high-ranking officials of the Achaemenid administration.

Buttons, coins such as Athenian tetradrachms and Achaemenid darics, or other common objects are also used instead of seals in a few cases.

Seals

More than 2,200 distinct cylinder seals and stamp seals have been identified, among them scenes of heroic combat, hunting, worship, animals in combat, as well as abstract designs. The number may well increase with study of more records, making Persepolis administrative archives one of the largest collection of imagery in the ancient world, displaying a wide range of styles and skills in the designers and engravers.

More than 100 of the seals have inscriptions identifying the owner of the seal or his superior. Many of the seals on the Elamite tablets can be associated with Persepolis administrative officials named in the archives, such as Parnâkka (Old Persian ''*Farnaka'').

Records in other languages

Persepolis was inhabited by a multitude of people speaking different languages. There are unique archival records in other languages that attest to the usage of many languages by the administration at Persepolis, such as:
*One tablet written in Greek recording only the amount of wine and an Aramaic month-name.Stolper & Tavernier 2007:3f., 24f.
*One tablet written in Old Persian recording disbursement of some dry commodity among five villages.
*One tablet written in Babylonian dialect of Akkadian is a legal document recording the purchase of a slave at Persepolis in the reign of Darius I the Great, among parties and witnesses with Babylonian names. The legal record conforms to Babylonian conventions.
*One tablet written in Phrygian has not been interpreted.
*One tablet written in unknown cuneiform.

Significance

Until the discovery of the Persepolis administrative archives, the main sources for information about the Achaemenids were the Greek sources such as Herodotus and ancient historians of Alexander the Great and biblical references in Hebrew Bible

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases