Misplaced Pages

#497502

55-540: Mekhilta ( Imperial Aramaic : מְכִילְתָּא , IPA /məˈχiltɑ/, "a collection of rules of interpretation"; corresponding to the Mishnaic Hebrew מדה middah 'measure', 'rule'), is used to denote a compilation of exegesis in Judaism, attributed to or written by any of several authors. The Mekhilta include: Midrash halakha , a mekhilta that is seen as binding Imperial Aramaic language Some scholars use

110-538: A high standardization of the language across the expanse of the Achaemenid Empire. Of the Imperial Aramaic glyphs extant from its era, there are two main styles: the lapidary form, often inscribed on hard surfaces like stone monuments, and the cursive form. The Achaemenid Empire used both of these styles, but the cursive became much more prominent than the lapidary, causing the latter to eventually disappear by

165-521: 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

220-689: A result of the litigation since 2004, prompted the Oriental Institute to accelerate and enlarge the PFA Project in 2006, headed by Dr. Matthew Stolper , Professor of Assyriology . Scholars from various universities, students and volunteers are urgently digitizing the Persepolis Fortification Archive and making it available through online resources for further research worldwide. The PFA Project editors are: Excavations directed by Erich Schmidt at Persepolis between 1934 and 1939 for

275-571: A single official language for the various regions of the empire has been cited as a reason for the at the time unprecedented success of the Achaemenids in maintaining the expanse of their empire for a period of centuries. One of the most extensive collections of texts written in Imperial Aramaic is the Fortification Tablets of Persepolis , of which there are about five hundred. Other extant examples of Imperial Aramaic come from Egypt , such as

330-530: 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

385-620: Is a well-attested language used by the communities of Judea , probably originating in the area of Caesarea Philippi . By the 1st century CE, the people of Roman Judaea still used Aramaic as their primary language, along with Koine Greek for commerce and administration. The oldest manuscript of the Book of Enoch (c. 170 BC) is written in the Late Old Western Aramaic dialect. The New Testament has several non-Greek terms of Aramaic origin, such as: Instead of using their native Arabic ,

440-620: 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. 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

495-630: 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 . While

550-563: The Elephantine papyri . Egyptian examples also include the Words of Ahikar , a piece of wisdom literature reminiscent of the Book of Proverbs . Scholarly consensus regards the portions of the Book of Daniel (i.e., 2:4b-7:28) written in Aramaic as an example of Imperial Aramaic. In November 2006, an analysis was published of thirty newly discovered Aramaic documents from Bactria which now constitute

605-638: The Khalili Collection of Aramaic Documents . The leather parchment contains texts written in Imperial Aramaic, reflecting the use of the language for Achaemenid administrative purposes during the fourth century in regions such as Bactria and Sogdia . The evolution of alphabets from the Mediterranean region is commonly split into two major divisions: the Phoenician-derived alphabets of the West, including

SECTION 10

#1732844597498

660-643: The Sogdian script , which itself descends from the Syriac branch of Aramaic. The traditions of Manichaeism allege that its founding prophet, Mani , invented the Manichaean script , as well as writing the major Manichaean texts himself. The writing system evolved from the Imperial Aramaic alphabet, which was still in use during the age of Mani, i.e. the early years of the Sassanian Empire . Along with other writing systems,

715-584: 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

770-460: The plaintiffs . In order to collect on the judgment , the plaintiffs sued a number of U.S. museums in 2004, in an attempt to appropriate various Iranian artifacts and collections and sell them to satisfy the claim for damages. Oriental Institute and the Persepolis Fortification Archive were among this group. The case, Rubin v. Islamic Republic of Iran , was argued December 4, 2017 and decided 8–0 in favor of Iran on February 21, 2018. Since

825-427: The 3rd century BC. In remote regions, the cursive versions of Aramaic evolved into the creation of the Syriac , Palmyrene and Mandaic alphabets , which themselves formed the basis of many historical Central Asian scripts, such as the Sogdian and Mongolian alphabets. The Brahmi script , of which the entire Brahmic family of scripts derives (including Devanagari ), most likely descends from Imperial Aramaic, as

880-528: The Achaemenid Empire point to similar common practices and administrative activities. Archival records found in Bactria , one of the satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire, use administrative vocabulary, practice and book-keeping found in the Persepolis administrative archives. Discovery of a record written in Old Persian for a routine administrative task challenges the previously held notion that Old Persian language

935-522: The Achaemenid Empire, the unity of the Imperial Aramaic script was lost, diversifying into a number of descendant cursives. Aramaic script and, as ideograms, Aramaic vocabulary would survive as the essential characteristics of the Pahlavi scripts , itself developing from the Manichaean alphabet . The orthography of Imperial Aramaic was based more on its own historical roots than on any spoken dialect, leading to

990-571: The Great and biblical references in Hebrew Bible , providing a partial and biased view of the ancient Persians. The archive is a sophisticated and comprehensive administrative and archival system, representing a highly complex and extensive institutional economy resulting from careful, long term and large scale planning. The archive offers unique opportunity for research on important subjects like organization and status of workers, regional demography, religious practices, royal road, relation between

1045-496: The Great , to regnal year 7th of Artaxerxes I , with largest concentration from regnal years 19th and 20th of Xerxes . A sample transliteration and translation of an Elamite record from Persepolis Treasury Archive by George Cameron : Persepolis archives are a rich resource for the study of all the official languages used in the Persian Achaemenid Empire, both individually and collectively in connection with each other. Persepolis Treasury Archive furthermore contributes to

1100-415: The Great . The chronological distribution of the archive is uneven, with the largest concentration from the 22nd and 23rd regnal years. There are three main kinds of clay tablets and fragments in the archive: However, the functional relationships among these components are not still clear. As of 2010, about 20,000-25,000 tablets and fragments representing about 15,000-18,000 original records remain at

1155-732: The Manichaean alphabet evolved into the Pahlavi script and was used to write Middle Persian , and other languages which were influenced by Manichaean include: Parthian , Sogdian , Bactrian , and Old Uyghur . Imperial Aramaic is a Unicode block containing characters for writing Aramaic during the Achaemenid Persian Empires . Persepolis Administrative Archives The Persepolis Administrative Archive (also Fortification Archive or Treasury Archive ) are two groups of clay administrative archives — sets of records physically stored together – found in Persepolis dating to

SECTION 20

#1732844597498

1210-655: The Mediterranean region ( Anatolia , Greece , and the Italian peninsula ), and the Aramaic-derived alphabets of the East, including the Levant , Persia , Central Asia , and the Indian subcontinent . The former Phoenician-derived alphabets arose around the 8th century BC, and the latter Aramaic-derived alphabets evolved from the Imperial Aramaic script around the 6th century BC. After the fall of

1265-793: The Nabataean Aramaic, such as a few Arabic loanwords and how "l" is often turned into "n". After Nabataea was annexed by the Roman Empire in 106 AD, the influence of Aramaic declined in favor of Koine Greek for written communication. The Manichaean abjad writing system spread from the Near East over into Central Asia , travelling as far as the Tarim Basin in what is now the People's Republic of China . Its presence in Central Asia lead to influence from

1320-543: The Nabataeans would use Imperial Aramaic for their written communications, causing the development of Nabataean Aramaic out of Imperial Aramaic. The standardized cursive and Aramaic-derived Nabataean alphabet became the standardized form of writing Arabic for the Arabian Peninsula , evolving on its own into the alphabet of Arabic by the time of spread of Islam centuries later. Influences from Arabic were present in

1375-527: The Neo-Assyrian Empire. After the Achaemenid conquest of Mesopotamia in 539 BC, the Achaemenids continued the use of Aramaic as the language of the region, further extending its prevalence by making it the imperial standard (thus "Imperial" Aramaic) so it may be the "vehicle for written communication between the different regions of the vast empire with its different peoples and languages." The adoption of

1430-697: The Oriental Institute by the Iranian authorities and the rest were sent to the Museum of Ancient Iran (modern National Museum of Iran) in Tehran . A part of the collection has been in the Tablet Hall of the National Museum of Iran since 1998. 199 sealings without inscriptions were also found during the excavation. Persepolis Treasury Archive covers thirty five (35) years, from 492 to 457 BCE, from regnal year 30th of Darius I

1485-735: The Oriental Institute, discovered a second group of clay tablets and fragments that became known as the Persepolis Treasury Archive (PTA), also known as Persepolis Treasury Tablets (PTT). They were packed in small metal cigarette boxes, filled with sawdust for shipping to Tehran. Persepolis Treasury Archive deals mostly with payments of silver from the Persepolis treasury made in lieu of partial or full in-kind rations of sheep, wine, or grain to workers and artisans employed at or near Persepolis. Some records are administrative letters ordering payments to groups of workers and confirmation that such payments were made. Persepolis Treasury Archive

1540-446: 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. Current understanding of

1595-509: 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). These records can throw light on

1650-707: The Persepolis Fortification Archive was caught in the middle of a landmark lawsuit in the U.S. Federal Court system. In 1997 five American tourists were killed and many more were wounded when terrorists set off suitcase bombs in a shopping mall in Jerusalem . The Palestinian organization Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombings. In 2001 the survivors of the attack and their family members brought lawsuits against Hamas and Iran , claiming Iran had provided financial and logistical support to Hamas. The court agreed and awarded $ 71.5 million in compensatory damages and $ 300 million in punitive damages from Iran to

1705-600: 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

Mekhilta - Misplaced Pages Continue

1760-480: The Persian artifacts were not being used commercially by Iran, they could not be taken under subsections (a) and (g) of 28 U.S.C. § 1610. The majority view of the academic community as well as international institutions such as UNESCO is the protection of the cultural heritage , exchange and scholarly research must transcend politics. The threat of losing the Persepolis Fortification Archive to scholarly research as

1815-506: The adoption of Imperial Aramaic, Hebrew was written in the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet , which, along with Aramaic, directly descended from Phoenician . Hebrew and Aramaic heavily influenced one another, with mostly religious Hebrew words (such as ‘ēṣ "wood") transferring into Aramaic and more general Aramaic vocabulary (such as māmmôn "wealth") entering the local Hebrew lexicon. Late Old Western Aramaic, also known as Jewish Old Palestinian,

1870-530: The 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

1925-488: The 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. 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

1980-406: The early Hellenistic period. Other scholars use the term Imperial Aramaic in a narrower sense, reduced only to the Achaemenid period, basing that reduction on several strictly linguistic distinctions between the previous (Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian) phase and later (more prominent) Achaemenid phase. Since all of those phases can be semantically labelled as "imperial", some scholars opt for

2035-537: The empire of Cyrus the Great brought the borders of the Persian Empire all the way to the edge of the Indian subcontinent, with Alexander the Great and his successors further linking the lands through trade. The Babylonian captivity ended after Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon . The mass-prevalence of Imperial Aramaic in the region resulted in the eventual use of the Aramaic alphabet for writing Hebrew . Before

2090-411: 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 ). Persepolis

2145-457: The largest group of extant records in the language, collected in the standard Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt . Outside of Egypt, most texts are known from stone or pottery inscriptions spread across a wide geographic area. More recently a group of leather and wooden documents were found in Bactria , known as the Bactria Aramaic documents . The term "Imperial Aramaic"

2200-526: The men in a work group, probably due to their ranks or special skills. New mothers are also mentioned, where they receive single rations with mothers of boys receiving twice as much as mothers of girls. Iranian words and names in the Elamite and Aramaic records are the largest source of Old Iranian languages preserved due to their usage in the Persepolis archives, including evidence of lexicon, phonology and dialect variation that are not found elsewhere. Fragmentary finds with Elamite texts from other sites in

2255-479: 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. According to archaeological evidence, the partial burning of Persepolis did not affect

Mekhilta - Misplaced Pages Continue

2310-533: 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. 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. The Persepolis Fortification Archive (PFA), also known as Persepolis Fortification Tablets (PFT, PF),

2365-457: 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. The tablets cover sixteen years, from 509 to 493 BCE, from the 13th to the 28th regnal year of Darius I

2420-403: The state institution and private parties, and record management. Research is yielding a better understanding of the territory under purview of the Achaemenid administrators of Persepolis and the system that underlay the structuring of the territory. Among Persepolis workers, there are as many women as men recorded in the Persepolis Fortification Archive. Some women receive more rations than any of

2475-543: The study of economic history by providing a record of the introduction of coined silver money to the regional economy of the Persepolis and its eventual adoption. Persepolis Fortification Archive, a generation before the Persepolis Treasury Archive, only attests to the payment in-kind at Persepolis (wine, beer, grain, flour, sheep, and the like). Excavations directed by Akbar Tajvidi at Persepolis between 1968 and 1973, recovered more clay tablets. Excavating

2530-533: The term as a designation for a distinctive, socially prominent phase in the history of Aramaic language, that lasted from the middle of the 8th century BCE to the end of the 4th century BCE and was marked by the use of Aramaic as a language of public life and administration in the late Neo-Assyrian Empire and its successor states, the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Achaemenid Empire , also adding to that some later (Post-Imperial) uses that persisted throughout

2585-568: The territories of the Achaemenid Empire, further suggesting that the language's use was more prevalent in these areas than initially thought. The native speakers of Aramaic, the Arameans , settled in great numbers in Babylonia and Upper Mesopotamia during the ages of the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires . The massive influx of settlers led to the adoption of Aramaic as the lingua franca of

2640-401: 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. The 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

2695-594: The use of more specific and unambiguous terms, like Neo-Assyrian Aramaic and Neo-Babylonian Aramaic (for the older phases), and Achaemenid Aramaic (for the later phase), thus avoiding the use of the polysemic "imperial" label, and its primarily sociolinguistic implications. Similar issues have arisen in relation to the uses of some alternative terms, like Official Aramaic or Standard Aramaic , that were also criticized as unspecific. All of those terms continue to be used differently by scholars. The Elephantine papyri and ostraca , as well as other Egyptian texts, are

2750-452: Was first coined by Josef Markwart in 1927, calling the language by the German name Reichsaramäisch . In 1955, Richard N. Frye noted that no extant edict expressly or ambiguously accorded the status of " official language " to any particular language, causing him to question the classification of Imperial Aramaic. Frye went on to reclassify Imperial Aramaic as the lingua franca used in

2805-546: Was found on the southeastern part of Persepolis terrace in the block of buildings identified as the " Royal Treasury " where small pieces of gold leaves were found, hence the name Persepolis Treasury Archive. There are two main kinds of clay tablets and fragments in the Persepolis Treasury Archive: A total find of 746 clay tablets and fragments were reported by the excavators - 198 tablets and large fragments and 548 smaller fragments. 46 clay tablets were given to

SECTION 50

#1732844597498

2860-465: Was inhabited by a multitude of people speaking many 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: 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

2915-524: 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. 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

2970-420: Was only used for imperial monumental inscriptions. Persepolis administration treats all the gods equally. Among various gods named in Persepolis administrative archives receiving food offerings are: Elamite Humban , Inshushinak and Šimat , Mazdean Ahuramazda , Semitic Adad and other gods otherwise unknown. No reference to Mithra has been found in the Persepolis administrative archives. In 2004

3025-1195: 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. A sample transliteration and translation of an Elamite record by Richard Hallock : About 680 Fortification tablets and fragments with monolingual Aramaic texts (also called Imperial Aramaic ) have been identified. 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. 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

#497502