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1. Achaemenid History

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Title: 1. Achaemenid History


1
1. Achaemenid History
  • BOT535 Postexilic History Literature

2
Cyrus the Great Genealogy
  • Achaemenes (700-675?)
  • Teispes (675-640?)
  • Cyrus I (640-600?) Ariaramnes (640-615?)
  • Cambyses I (600-559?) Arsames (590-550?)
  • Cyrus II (559-530)
  • Yamauchi, Edwin M. Persia and the Bible, 70

3
Cyrus II
  • Biblical References Dan 1.21 6.28 10.1 2 Chr
    36.22-23 Ezra 1.1-4 6.3-5 Isa 44.28 45.1 (Isa
    41.2-3, 25-26 45.13 46.11).
  • Parents and Birth
  • Father Cambyses I, a Persian
  • Mother Mandane, the daughter of the Median king
    Astyages.
  • 590 BCE

4
Cyrus II (559-530 BCE)
  • At the beginning of my lasting kingship they
    (the great gods) showed me a vision in a dream .
    . . . Marduk said to me, The Umman-manda of whom
    thou speakest, he, his land, and the kings who go
    at his side, will not exist for much longer. At
    the beginning of the third year, Cyrus, kind of
    Anshan, his youthful servant, will come forth.
    With his few forces he will rout the numerous
    forces of the Umman-manda. He will capture
    Astyages, the king of the Umman-manda, and will
    take him prisoner to his country.
  • DOTT, pp. 89-90 in Yamauchi, 80-81

5
Cyrus II (559-530)
  • Defeats Astyage and the Medes in 550 BCE
  • Capital was Ecbatana (Ezra 6.2)
  • Received the allegiance from the Hyrcanians,
    Parthians, Sakai and Bactrians
  • Treasure of Astyage
  • Conquest of Croesus of Lydia
  • Sardis conquered
  • Period of consolation of power (546-540 BCE)

6
Cyrus II (559-530)
  • Conquest of the Neo-Babylonian Empire
  • Babylonian citizen assisted
  • Cyrus general Gobryas enters Babylon in 539 BCE
  • Cyrus uses propaganda
  • Cyrus seizes the territory of the Outer Euphrates
  • Dies in 530 BCE (Massagetai)

7
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Outline
  • 1-3 . . . a reference to Cyrus predecessor
    (Nabonidus) as a person unfit to rule Bablonia.
  • 4-8 A narrative of the wicked deeds of Nabonidus
    particularly in relation to Esagila, his
    blasphemous offerings, his interruption of
    regular offerings, his lack of awe for Marduk. In
    addition he caused the people to perish by
    imposing heavy labour-duties.

8
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Outline
  • 9-10 Marduk raged as he heard the laments of his
    people (cult centres were abandoned?), their
    shape (was forgotten?) and the gods who dwelt
    therein abandoned them. He (Nebonidus) brought
    the gods into Babylon.
  • 19-14 Marduks anger turns to mercy in the face
    of his peoples suffering he examines all the
    countries to find a just and suitable ruler. He
    takes Cyrus, king of Anshan, calls

9
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Outline
  • him to his position and appoints him
  • 15-19 Marduk now orders Cyrus to go to Babylon
    and accompanies him and his troops like a friend
    he causes him to enter Babylon without a battle
    and hands Nabonidus over to him. All the
    inhabitants of Babylon are delighted, welcome
    Cyrus as king and praise Marduk for their
    deliverance.

10
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Outline
  • 20-22 I, Cyrus followed by royal titles and
    genealogy back to great-grandfather - eternal
    seed of royalty, whose kingship is loved by
    Marduk and Nabu, who desired his kingship in
    order to please their hearts.
  • 22-24 Cyrus peaceful and joyful arrival in
    Babylon and his daily honouring of Marduk.

11
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Outline
  • 24-26 Cyrus guarantees the peace of the country
    and protects the welfare of Babylon and its cult
    centres he releases them from their burden
    (which was not in accordance with the will of the
    gods).
  • 26-30 Marduk is pleased and blesses Cyrus, his
    son, Cambyses, and all his troops. At Marduks
    command all enthroned kings of all regions bring
    tribute and kiss Cyrus feet

12
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Outline
  • in Babylon.
  • 30-34 All the gods whose dwelling-places have
    been abandoned long ago are returned to their
    places and allowed to settle in an eternal
    dwelling (the cult-centres listed in this section
    are (Nineveh?), Assur, Susa, Akkad, Esnunna,
    Zamban, Me4turnu, De4r as far as Gutium,
    cult-centres on the other side (i.e. east) of the
    Tigris). All the

13
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Outline
  • people associated with these returned deities
    are gathered together and brought back to their
    (i.e. the restored gods) dwelling-places. All
    the gods of Babylonia that had been gathered by
    Nabonidus together in Babylon were also joyfully
    returned to their homes at the command of Marduk.
  • 34-36 A prayer asking that all the restored

14
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Outline
  • gods may daily speak to Marduk and Nabu on
    behalf of Cyrus and Cambyses, his son.
  • 36 All lands are at peace.
  • 37-38 (Probably) a reference to increased
    cult-offerings.
  • 33-43 Improvements and completion of building in
    Babylon (walls, quay-wall, elaborate doors).

15
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Outline
  • 43-45 Cyrus finds an inscription of
    Assurbanipal, a king who preceded me the last
    line has only the final word preserved but it is
    probable that it would have referred to the
    reverent replacing of the text and perhaps a
    mention of the fact that Cyrus placed his own
    inscription next to it.

16
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Literary Pattern
  • A. (1-19) Historical preamble and Marduks role
    in it (in the third person)
  • B. (20-22) Royal protocol and genealogy (in the
    first person)
  • C. (22-34) Cyrus correct behaviour in returning
    everything to normal
  • D. (34-35) Prayer by Cyrus for himself and his son

17
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Literary Pattern
  • E. (36-37) Statement that everything in the
    empire is in order
  • F. (38-45) Cyrus building works in Babylon.

18
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Analysis
  • 1. The Cyrus Cylinder is a document composed in
    accordance with traditional Mesopotamian royal
    building texts and apart from the
    incontrovertible fact that the main protagonist
    is a Persian no foreign and /or new literary
    elements appear in it.
  • 2. It is thus unsuprising that the text relates
    itself exclusively to the fortunes of the city

19
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Analysis
  • of Babylon and its god Marduk and only by
    extension to other deities of the Babylonian
    pantheon and the country of which Babylon was the
    capital.
  • 3. The fact that the text has a limited local
    application is confirmed by the geographical
    horizon outlined above and the possibility that
    similar (albeit perhaps not

20
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Analysis
  • such elaborate) compositions were produced in
    relation to the restoration of other sanctuaries.
  • 4. The main significance of the text lies in the
    insight it provides into the mechanism used by
    Cyrus to legitimise his conquest of Babylonia by
    manipulating local traditions - an exercise in
    which he probably received

21
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Analysis
  • the support of a fairly powerful segment of the
    urban population in Babylonia, whose traditional
    privileges were perhaps being threatened by
    Nabonidus policy.
  • 5. Whether Cyrus ever actually restored any
    cults is quite unclear and to some extent the
    answer to this question depends on an evaluation
    of the effect of Nabonidus

22
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Analysis
  • religious reforms on the Babylonian cities it
    is possible that some kind of restoration of
    normal cult-practice, disrupted by the fall of
    the Assyrian empire, was also envisaged . . . .
    But such a restoration does not appear to have
    been carried out. . . .

23
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Summary
  • 1. He and his successors were doing no more than
    following Assyrian policy in relation to the
    Babylonian cities - a policy which could be
    reversed when necessary not the destruction of
    Babylon and possible removal / destruction of the
    Marduk statue by Xerxes after the revolts in
    Babylonia in the early part of his reign.

24
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Summary
  • 2. Cambyses the tyrant also restored cultic
    order in the temple of Neith and Sais and yet
    certainly withdrew incomes and privileges from
    other temples in Egypt in order to break the
    power of the priesthoods.
  • 3. While Achaemenid rulers appear to have been
    anxious to maintain the privileges of cultic
    communities as evidenced, for

25
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Summary
  • example, by the letter from Darius to Gadates
    concerning the workers in the sacred of Apollo,
    yet the temple at Didyma in Asia Minor was
    destroyed on the others of the same king probably
    because of the role it had played in the Ionian
    revolt (Hdt. 6.20).
  • 4. While Achaemenids certainly practised the

26
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Summary
  • deportation of populations as part of their
    policy just as Assyrians and Babylonians had
    done thus, the inhabitants of Barca in Libya
    were moved to Bactria by Darius I (Hdt. 4.204),
    the Paeonians were moved from Thrace to Phrygia
    (Hdt. 5.13-16), and the inhabitants of Miletus
    were settled on the Persian Gulf (Hdt. 6.20). A
    much later

27
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Summary
  • reference in a Babylonian text dating to
    Artaxerxes III lists deportees, including women,
    arriving in Babylon after the revolt of Sidon.

28
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Conclusion
  • The assumption that Persian imperial control was
    somehow more tolerable than the Assyrian yoke is
    based, on the one hand, on the limited experience
    of one influential group of a very small
    community which happened to benefit by Persian
    policy and, on the other, on a piece of blatant
    propaganda successfully modelled on

29
Cyrus Cylinder Amelie Kuhrts Conclusion
  • similar texts derised to extol a representative
    and practitioner of the earlier and much
    condemned Assyrian imperialism.
  • Kuhrt, Amelie, The Cyrus Cylinder and
    Achaemenid Imperial Policy, JSOT 25 (1983),
    83-97

30
Cambyses (530-522 BCE)
  • Conquest of Egypt
  • 525 Cambyses enters Sais
  • Failure in the Ethiopian Campaign
  • Cambyses Policies
  • Local sacral traditions followed as politically
    expedient the sacred Apis Bull and the testimony
    of Udjahorresnet, etc.
  • Dies attempting to return to Persia (522BCE)

31
Egypt 26th Dynasty
  • Psammetichus I 664-610 BCE
  • Necho II 610-595 BCE
  • Psammetichus II 595-589 BCE
  • Apries 589-570 BCE
  • Amasis 570-526 BCE
  • Psammetichus III 526-525 BCE

32
Darius I (522-486 BCE)
  • Biblical References
  • Ezra 4-6
  • Haggai 1.1, 15 2.10
  • Zechariah 1.1, 7 7.1

33
Darius I (522-486 BCE)
  • Problem of Succession
  • Was Bardya, Smerdis (Hdt.), Guamata Cambyses
    brother?
  • Or was Darius the usurper?
  • Rebellions Crushed
  • in Egypt, Persia, Elam, Babylonia, Media and East
    on the Iranian Plateau.
  • In Egypt in 518 Did he stop by Judah during the
    ministries of Haggai and Zechariah?

34
Darius I (522-486 BCE)
  • Building Programs
  • Canal from Nile to Red Sea (512 BCE)
  • I am Persian from Persia I seized Egypt, I gave
    order to dig this canal from a river by name Nile
    which flows in Egypt, to the sea which goes from
    Persia. After this canal was dug thus as I had
    ordered and ships went from Egypt through this
    canal to Persia thus as was my desire.
  • Behistun Monument

35
Darius I (522-486 BCE)
  • Persepolis
  • Royal road system from Sadis to Susa
  • Governance
  • 20 Satrapies
  • He established in the Persian Empire twenty
    governments (archai) called satrapies the
    variousgovernors were appointed, and each nation
    assessed for tributes (phoroi) that should revert
    to him (Hdt. 3.89)

36
Darius I (522-486 BCE)
  • Coinage, the daric in about 515 BCE
  • Military Problems
  • Aristagoras of Miletus (499-494 BCE)
  • First Persian War (490 BCE) and the defeat at
    Marathon
  • Darius dies 486 BCE)

37
The Behistun Relief
  • Date 521 or 520 BCE to 519 BCE (addition).
  • Description The relief represents Darius
    triumphant over his enemies he holds a bow in
    this left hand and stands with one foot on the
    fallen figure of Gaumata, the first rebel, who
    raises his arms in a pleading gesture toward
    Darius. Behind the king are two Persian
    attendants, and the nine

38
The Behistun Relief
  • remaining rebel leaders stand in front of
    Darius their hands are tied behind their backs,
    and their necks are bound by a rope which runs
    from figure to figure. Above the rebels floats
    the truncated figure of Ahura Mazda in a winged
    disc the god holds a ring in his left hand and
    raises his right hand toward Darius. The Persian
    monarch raises

39
The Behistun Relief
  • his right hand in a similar gesture to the god,
    so that the two seem to be in communion, the god
    bestowing, the king worshipping. The king and his
    two officers wear Persian dress each rebel
    leader is shown in his appropriate native costume
    and hairdress.
  • Farkas, Ann, The Behistun Relief, The
    Cambridge History of Iran, Vol 2., 828

40
The Behistun Relief Inscription
  • Afterwards, there was one man, a Magian, Gaumata
    by name he rose up from Paishiyauvada. A
    mountain by name Arakadri - from there 14 days of
    the month Viyakhna March 11, 522 were past when
    he rose up. He lied to the people thus I am
    Smerdis OP Bardiya, the son of Cyrus, brother
    of Cambyses. After that all the

41
The Behistun Relief Inscription
  • people became rebellious from Cambyses, (and)
    went over to him, both Persia and Media and the
    provinces.
  • Quoted from Yamauchi, p. 138

42
Xerxes I (486-465 BCE)
  • Biblical References
  • Ezra 4.6
  • Daniel 11.2 (?)
  • Esther
  • Birth and Parentage
  • Not the eldest son of Darius, but first born
    after Darius came to power (_at_518)
  • Mother Atossa, daughter of Cyrus

43
Xerxes I (486-465 BCE)
  • Revolts
  • Egypt suppressed by 484 BCE
  • Babylonian revolts of 484 and 482 BCE
  • Defeated in the immense land and sea battle with
    Greece in 480 BCE
  • Death
  • Assassinated in 465 BCE

44
Arataxerxes I (465-424 BCE)
  • Biblical References
  • Nehemiah 1.1 2.1 (Nehemiah was cupbearer)
  • Supposed dates of the so-called Trito-Isaiah,
    Jonah, many Psalms, Proverbs and Qoheleth
  • Revolts
  • The third son of Xerxes who was satrap of Bactria

45
Arataxerxes I (465-424 BCE)
  • Egypt (460 BCE) rebelled under Inarus with the
    aid of Athens - suppressed by Megabyzus by 454
    BCE
  • Struggle with Athens continues . . . 449 the
    peace of Callias
  • Death
  • Natural causes in 425/424 BCE

46
The Last Rulers
  • Xerxes II (45 days, i.e., 424-425 BCE)
  • Darius II Ochus (423-404 BCE)
  • Artaxerxes II Memnon (404-359 BCE)
  • Artaxerxes III Ochus (359-338 BCE)
  • Arses (338-336 BCE)
  • Darius III Codommanus (336-331 BCE)
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