Achaemenid Research Articles

“Restructuring the Symbolic Universe”: Resilience through Literary and Ideological Reframing in Isaiah 2.2–4(5)

This paper elucidates the ways in which the composition and redaction of Isa. 2.2–4(5) function to both exhibit and impart resilience to hearers/readers based on the congruity between Nissinen’s appraisal of scribal activity as “restructuring the symbolic universe” and the process of cognitive behavioral therapy. To begin, I discuss the redactional placement of Isa. 2.2–4(5), delineating its role in reframing earlier judgment texts, along with its overall purpose through comparison with Mic. 1.1–5. Next, I demonstrate how the imagery of Isa. 2.2–4(5) co-opts and reframes the political ecosystem actively perpetuated by the Achaemenid Empire. Finally, through the work of Clemens Sedmak and Robert J. Schreiter, I (1) define resilience as “a capacity to resist” and (2) display the ways in which both the literary and ideological reframing of Isa. 2.2–4(5) likely signified and produced resilience in a manner akin to cognitive reframing for the postexilic community of Yehud.

Preliminary Report of the First Season of Excavation at the Achaemenid Period (Iron Age IV) Cemetery in Mersin, Semnan Province, Iran

ABSTRACT This article presents the results of the first excavation season of the Mersin cemetery, in the Semnan region, Iran. The cemetery was discovered through surface reconnaissance for the documentation of the area’s archaeological heritage before the construction of the Finesk Dam. Rescue excavations were then conducted in 2014 in three distinct areas of the necropolis. Particularly interesting were results were obtained from trench 3 in which 15 tombs dating to the Achaemenid period were found. This discovery is of particular importance because it reveals interesting information about the Late Iron Age in the area, which was virtually unknown prior to these investigations.

Iron Age Terracotta Figurines from the Southern Levant in Context

Iron Age Terracotta Figurines from the Southern Levant in Context

Deciphering the chronology of Tepe Sialk (South) “Ziggurat”, North Central Iranian Plateau, through optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating

Tepe Sialk of Kashan in the north central Iranian Plateau, is acknowledged as one of the five most important archaeological sites in Iran. It consists of two prominent mounds, Sialk North and Sialk South with cultural layers spanning from the beginning of the 6th millennium BCE until the Achaemenid period. Sialk South is crowned by a massive, ziggurat-like, mudbrick platform as one of the major phenomena of the Iron Age of Iran. Considering that Sialk South lacks the plentiful of ages formerly generated for Sialk North, the application of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was considered necessary to revise the later occupation of Sialk. This project generated a chronological framework for the construction of Sialk South and focus on the Massive/large mudbrick platform by dating through OSL. Our results ranged from the Early Chalcolithic period to the Iron Age period of Sialk South. The existence of layers related to Iron Age right underneath the mudbrick platform at Sialk South attracts great interest and seems that Tepe Sialk could be a key-location in deciphering the chronology of the advancement of the Achaemenid Empire in the central Iran.

Sassanids and Their Attitude to Medical Knowledge

The Sassanid Empire ruled in Iran between 224 AD and 651 AD. The founder of this dynasty, Ardashir I (241-224 AD), a Zoroastrian cleric, took two very important steps in the beginning; One was the creation of a central government and the other was the formalization of the religion of Zoroaster. The homogeneity and alignment of government and religion in the Sassanid administration had very important effects on the growth and development of science and knowledge, especially medical science, which began in the Achaemenid Empire (330 559 AD). The under-consideration question in this research is that despite the class system and the monopoly of learning science and knowledge in the privileged classes of society, what was the status of medical science in the Sassanid period? This study showed that medical science had the highest position in the teachings of Zoroastrian religion; Because with that, they took care of their health and performed their religious duties well, and with it, they overcame the devil. In Zoroastrian religious texts, the duties and characteristics of the physician, the types of diseases and how to treat and the rules related to ‘Tebabat’(medicine) are discussed. In addition to this, the encouragement policy of kings and Sassanid government, including; Expanding cultural and scientific relations with India, Greece and Rome, translating the works of foreign physicians into Pahlavi and archiving them along with the formation of a large library, inviting foreign physicians to work at ‘GondiShapur’ University and sending Iranian physicians abroad in order to acquire more medical knowledge and experience, they were very influential in the growth and development of medical science. The current study has been conducted in a historical method with reference to library sources and archaeological sources as well as new researches have been used to complete the topics. It seems that due to the spread of Iranian civilization in the Sassanid era and paying attention to science and knowledge as well as the creation of a medical city in the Sassanid period, medical knowledge had a great importance in this period and this knowledge was researching professionally.

Psychotherapy in Ancient Iran and Mesopotamia (Based on Ancient Iranian Texts and Mesopotamian Tablets)

Stress and psychological problems arose with the advent of urbanization. Ancestors generally knew disease as the result of interaction with external factors, including gods, demons, and spirits. The Iranians considered the disease created by the devil and the Mesopotamians considered the disease as a result of wrath of the gods on the sick person for various reasons. This study tries to show the knowledge of Iranians and Mesopotamians about mental illnesses and tries to answer these questions: What information about the treatment of mental illnesses has reached us through the ancient texts of the ancient Iranians and the tablets of the Mesopotamians? And was there also a difference between a physician and a psychiatrist? What similarities and differences can be seen in ancient Iranian texts and Mesopotamian tablets about these contents? In Iranian texts, we are a little familiar with the topic of psychiatry, but the Mesopotamian tablets, which are older, provide us with more details about mental illness. What is certain is that they did not know enough about mental illnesses because they were unfamiliar with brain function; As a result, they resorted to magic and sorcery to cure it. Psychotherapists had a high position in the Iranian and Mesopotamian society and were considered a clergyman. They worked with the physician to treat many ailments. This is a historical- descriptive research, and the subject matter has been gathered in a library way.

Power discourse: reflecting Shah Abbas I’s political thoughts on Safavid architecture and urban development (Isfahan’s Baghshahr Utopia)

The Safavid era is one of the golden eras of Iranian architecture and art influenced by Shiite and Iranian thought, especially during the 42-year reign of Shah Abbas I, in which thinking, ideology and economics grew because of the silk trade. As a result of the centralized consolidation of power and economics following the political formations, the state sought its ideas in the field of art and architecture. Historical analysis of what has happened in the structure of cities and in different periods is the effect of the power of the ruling class on their structure. Isfahan, as the first garden city, is no exception. The Persian Garden has been the utopia of its creators since it was rooted in their beliefs and therefore the Safavid Garden is the manifestation of two heavenly beliefs centered on the four-garden principle of the shadow of paradise in the present world. School of Isfahan, based on shiite and ancient Iran thought, had established its Architecture and Urban design in an exemplary and imaginative form. Using these ideological foundations, Shah Abbas sought to construct his utopia in order to have an immortal and perpetual influence on all arts, as the Isfahan school was indebted to his thoughts. Isfahan's Baghshahr, first chosen by Shah Abbas I for political influence, was the capital to serve as a venue for the king's power and utopia. Safavid political discourse is based on the interplay of the components of Sufism, Shi'ism, Islamic tradition and caliphate and the Divine glory. In this article, with an analytical and descriptive perspective, we try to prove the influence of politics on the art of the Safavid period, so that this hegemony is also abundant in the religious ideology of that period. The questions we face here are: What strategies did the Safavids use to form their own political government? Do political factors influence Safavid art and architecture? And how does it appear and occur? Finally, sixteen political factors were identified in the process of city structure, not only in politics, but also in geography, economics, and religion, all of which influenced the design of the Safavid garden city alongside the political model.

Tracing Regime Change during the Transition from the Neo-Babylonian to the Achaemenid Empire at Nippur: Reconstruction of Archives Excavated in 1889

It is generally assumed that the takeover of Babylonia by the Persian king Cyrus II in 539 BC went relatively smoothly. The current study suggests that at Nippur there might have been hitherto overlooked changes among the higher-ranking officials during the transition of 539 BC. A collection of Neo-Babylonian tablets from the ‘Tablet Hill’ at Nippur is analyzed and its original trench of excavation is pinpointed on the map of the site. Focusing on several dossiers of tablets at ‘Tablet Hill’ from the time of transition around 539 BC it can be shown that further insights can be gained from the unpublished archaeological documentation.

Natural Products from Leaves of the Ancient Iranian Medicinal Plant Echium amoenum Fisch. & C. A. Mey.

For several millennia, leaves of Echium amoenum Fisch. & C. A. Mey., an important Iranian medicinal plant with nutritional value as nutraceutical, have been used as tea for the treatment of several conditions, including inflammation. The nutritional value of intake of E. amoenum tea has mainly been correlated to its rich content of mainly water-soluble antioxidants. Although the entire plant is utilized, only natural products of the flowers have previously been thoroughly investigated. The rare natural products bis(3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-1-methoxy-1-oxopropan-2-yl)-1-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-6,7-dihydroxy-1,2-dihydronaphthalene-2,3-dicarboxylate, 4-Oxy-(E)-caffeoyl-2,3-dihydroxybutanoic acid methyl ester and 4-Oxy-(Z)-caffeoyl-2,3-dihydroxybutanoic acid methyl ester, in addition to the widely distributed compounds rosmarinic acid methyl ester and (E)-caffeic acid, were purified and characterized from leaves of Echium amoenum. The structures were determined by a combination of several 2D NMR spectroscopic techniques, circular dichroism spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry. The fact that bis(3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-1-methoxy-1-oxopropan-2-yl)-1-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-6,7-dihydroxy-1,2-dihydronaphthalene-2,3-dicarboxylate belongs to a rare group of natural products which have previously been patented for their significant anti-inflammatory activity may rationalize the traditional treatment of inflammations with E. amoenum.

"I established kingdom on its place": an idea of law and order in the Achaemenid Empire

The article aims to consider the problem of correlating the concept of “law” in the Achaemenid Empire, expressed by the word dāta-, with the ideological concept of “order”, metaphorically denoted by the word gāϑu-, i.e. “place”. The article examines in detail the word gāϑu-, which denotes not only the imperial world order, but also the royal throne. In Old Persian royal inscriptions, the expression “I established in its place” is often used in those texts that testify of the restoration of political stability after a series of uprisings and turmoil. The return of the kingdom “to its original place” was obviously thought of as the restoration of the power of the Achaemenids over the entire Persian Empire, and the people – as the return of their property. The statement that Darius “put the royal house in its original place” could mean that he restored order in the succession to the throne by removing Gaumata the Magus. The “return to the place” of the rebellious satrapy meant the pacification of this uprising. If in the Elamite version of the Achaemenid inscriptions the word kat in the meaning of “place” was most likely a loanword from the Old Persian gāϑu-, then in the Babylonian version the Akkadian word ašru has its own tradition of use as early as the pre-Achaemenid period in inscriptions from the Mesopotamian region. As for the term dāta-, it refers not only to the judicial and administrative state of affairs in the Achaemenid Empire, but also reflects the religious and political-ideological ideas of the Achaemenids, including those related to their perception of the idea of justice.

“Achaemenid Peace”: A Historiographical Construct and Achaemenid Imperial Ideology

The article deals with the historiographical construct of the “Achaemenid Peace”, referred to by modern researchers as Pax Achaemenica (alternative designation — Pax Achaemenidica) and Pax Persica (alternative designation — Pax Persiana) by analogy with Pax Romana and Pax Augusta. Through consideration of research concepts, it is concluded that there is something in common between the concepts of Pax Achaemenica and Pax Persica, this is the idea that the Persian Empire was based on the cooperation of the Persians with the conquered peoples, however, the discrepancy between the researchers raises the question of whether how the Persians themselves saw relations with other peoples, and also what impact the Persian conquest had on the vision of the conquered peoples of their relationship with the Persians as conquerors. The article also examines the Achaemenid ideology of world domination based on their perception of the “imperial political space” under Cyrus the Great and Darius I. The final parts of the article are devoted to the study of the concept of “peace” in the Achaemenid ideology. Attention is drawn to the fact that Cyrus the Great followed the perception of the Peace in Mesopotamia, according to which the Peace was established by the conquerors after their military victories. However, already Darius I perceived Peace as a consequence of maintaining political stability in the Achaemenid Empire as part of his idea of establishing happiness and prosperity for all his numerous subjects.

“Soft power” and its prospects in the context of the crisis of the state as a form and mode of human existence

The article is devoted to the concept of “soft power”, its forms and content. The term “soft power” was introduced relatively recently, but in its practical implementation it has a centuries-old history. In a certain sense, the word “soft power” has been meaningfully used since the times of the states of Ancient Rome and Ancient Iran. The article notes the ambiguity of the “soft power” policy, since its form can vary according to the interests of the state, as well as its socio-political structure. Thus, the use of «soft power» to the Soviet Unions was qualitatively different from the “soft power” used by states with a capitalist way of life. It is important to see the difference between “soft power” and economic expansion, especially since the border between them can be very conditional. An important idea of the presented article is that in the conditions of the crisis of the state as a form and way of being of a person, the influence of transnational companies is significantly increasing, which, in fact, squeeze out the state and seek to replace it with themselves. At the same time, the nature and essence of transnational corporations is very different from the nature and essence of the state, therefore, there is a process of transformation of “soft power”, filling it with new meanings and motives. If for states in their classical understanding, culture with its traditions, spiritual categories, and universal values could become the semantic content of the “soft power” policy, then for transnational corporations, the economic motive usually forms the basis of the policy. This kind of motive will easily result in the exploitation of some people by other people and the loss by society of such traits that define it as human. Thus, in the form in which the concept of “soft power” was relevant at the end of the twentieth century, it now looks like a vestige of a bygone historical era. Nevertheless, the degree of development of information technologies, the level of their accessibility can become a new content of «soft power» in the foreign policy of states.

Wpływ dziedzictwa starożytnej Baktrii na rozwój gospodarczy i społeczny Tadżykistanu

The article’s main goal is to present the influence of ancient Bactria’s legacy on the economic and social development of Tajikistan. The paper provides information about the ancient Bactria’s history – the country where early urban planning traditions and statehood foundations were formed in Central Asia. Bactria included the central, southern, and eastern parts of Tajikistan. In the 6th Century B.C. Bactria was conquered by the Persian king Cyrus and became part of his Achaemenid empire. From the 4th Century B.C. Bactria became known as Tokharistan. It was the moment when the Tajik nationality began to form.

Roger Matthews, Hassan Fazeli Nashli. The Archaeology of Iran from the Palaeolithic to the Achaemenid Empire

Roger Matthews, Hassan Fazeli Nashli. The Archaeology of Iran from the Palaeolithic to the Achaemenid Empire

Frantz Grenet. “Types of Town Planning in Ancient Iranian Cities: New Considerations”

Frantz Grenet. “Types of Town Planning in Ancient Iranian Cities: New Considerations”

Analysis of Iranian Political and Cultural Civilization Based on the Book Siyast Name (Known as the Encyclopedia or Political Encyclopedia of Iran) Written by Khajeh Nazam-al-Molk Tusi

The valuable book of policy written by Nazam al-Mulk Tusi (author of the fifth century AH) is one of the most beautiful and valuable books of Iranian culture, which is a kind of indicator of the great civilization of the ancient Iranians. And it is necessary to introduce this civilization to the world. In every era of Persian literature, society is of utmost importance. In prose and poetic literature can be a source of social themes، customs and aspects of anthropology observed. One of the prose Policy Nazam al-Mulk Tusi's work at the fifty fifth century AD, including religious, political, cultural, social written. He is responsible for having sufficient knowledge of the Ministry for thirty years and deal with all classes in society, different issues, with an intellectual notion. He talks of rituals majority of tasks entrusted to him if the righteous jobs and everyone will have a job And justice occupations for their work and inspection and supervision and enforcement operatives are businesses; The result of the progress and prosperity of the society and people living comfort and use of public funds in place And the rights of a person by a crushing massive bribery of society.

Review of Alphabet Scribes in the Land of Cuneiform: Sēpiru Professionals in Mesopotamia in the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Periods. By Yigal Bloch


 
 
 Alphabet Scribes in the Land of Cuneiform: Sēpiru Professionals in Mesopotamia in the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Periods. By Yigal Bloch. Gorgias Studies in the Ancient Near East, vol. 11. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2018. Pp. xv + 497. $99.
 
 

گاهشماری خورشیدی و تکوین هویت ایرانی

Year 1401 Sh/ 2022-23 CE is the centennial of Iran’s official calendar. It also denotes the endurance of Persian solar timekeeping and its unique place in temporal awareness throughout Iran’s history. With Nowruz festival at its heart (celebrated on vernal equinox), the Persian solar calendar has been in uninterrupted use throughout the Iranian world at least since the Achaemenid Empire of the 6th century BC. Concurring with nature’s seasonal turn, this solar calendar cultivating function allowed it to survive even the introduction of the lunar Hijra calendar, which came with Islamic conquest of the seventh century CE. It went through a number of calendrical corrections but it was only in 1911, during the Constitutional Revolution, that a greater need for an accurate and universal timekeeping persuaded the Constitutionalists to adopt a new version of the Persian solar calendar with Hijra (Mohammad’s immigration to Medina in 622 CE) as its starting point. By 1925 Zoroastrian names for months were reintroduced and it was ratified as Iran’s national calendar. The innovative marriage of the solar Persian calendar with the Hijra point of departure exhibited the two sides of Iran’s national identity: its time-reckoning memory of the ancient past and its Shi‘i Islamic loyalties. This calendar, today one of the two non-Gregorian in the world, resisted not only Christianization but imperial reorganization under the late Pahlavi era and onslaughts under the Islamic Republic, the latter mainly directed toward Nowruz. This essay aims to answer two interrelated questions: first, what are the circumstances leading to the adoption of the solar Hijra calendar? And second, how viable it is to view the Persian calendar as a distinct feature of Iran’s national identity, given all the challenges it has encountered over the past four decades? This essay is part of a forthcoming book in Persian, Gahshomari-ye Khorshidi va Hoviyyat-e Irani, which explores the cultural significance of timekeeping in Iran in pre-modern and modern times.

Notas sobre Neemias e a ideia de “tributação excessiva” na Yehud persa

Abstract This article aims at providing a brief overview of the historiographic writings on Achaemenid taxation, showing how the thesis of overtaxation influenced our understanding of Neh. 5 and Persian Yehud in the 5th century BCE. It describes how it was once widely accepted that overtaxation led to social and economic instability in many peripheral areas of the Achaemenid Empire, including Yehud. According to traditional scholarship, the narrative of Neh. 5 described how the local governor acted to mitigate this crisis by granting temporary tax and debt relief to small farmers. The author then moves to discuss how recent scholars questioned that long-established view, highlighting the biblical source’s rhetorical nature and the logical inconsistencies of the economic explanations used to describe this putative crisis. Finally, this article faces the question of a supposed economic calamity arising in Yehud under Persian hegemony and provides some clues to reevaluate the biblical narrative, particularly in light of recent studies concerning the Persian Empire’s economy and taxation. It supports to some extent the reading of Neh. 5 in an Achaemenid historical context.

Illuminating traces of an Achaemenid's monumental complex in the Southern Caucasus by electrical resistivity tomography

The Achaemenid Empire controlled the Western Asian landmass between ca. 550–300 BCE. By some estimates, its subject peoples made up almost 44% of the world population. In recent years, studies have moved from a consideration of its core region, located in the province of Fars, Iran, to the investigation of imperial rule in the dependent regions. Since Achaemenid centers were often built of mudbrick and thus not easy to recognize by traditional archaeological methods, geophysical methods play an important role in this research. This paper reports the results of an innovative Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) study undertaken at one such center, Saaklemo, in the Kakheti Province, Republic of Georgia and shows the wide impact of the geophysical methods in the detection of the archaeological sites.In three areas of this ancient site between 2020 and 2021, following archaeological survey and magnetometer prospection, several three-dimensional (3D) ERT measurements, composed of dense parallel two-dimensional (2D) tomographies with dipole-dipole configuration, were carried out. To reconstruct the resistivity distribution of the subsurface, we used the smoothness-constrained inversion method, especially as the substructure was made of mudbrick and thus resistivity values of these anomalies were close to the background anomaly. Therefore, with smoothness-constrained inversion, we could detect the slight resistivity differences, which were partly due to density differences, and hence this method was capable of detecting these anomalies.In area 1, for the first time with ERT method, we were successful in discovering an extensive mudbrick (partly burnt) substructure at a depth of 40 cm to 1 m. After analyzing the magnetic data and a 3D model of this substructure based on the ERT data, a large excavation was conducted and a mudbrick substructure with six in-situ bell-shaped column bases was unearthed, which was destroyed by conflagration. The size and the architectural techniques used for this building prove that this excavated structure was an administrative building and served for representative purposes. Further presumed mudbrick structures were detected in the other two areas with the ERT method, but they have not yet been excavated.