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 Persepolis (; ; ) was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by the southern Zagros mountains, Fars province of Iran. It is one of the key Iranian cultural heritage sites and ...

dating to the

Achaemenid Persian Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the larges ...

. The discovery was made during legal excavations conducted by the archaeologists from the Oriental Institute of the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in the 1930s. Hence they are named for their

in situ is a Latin phrase meaning 'in place' or 'on site', derived from ' ('in') and ' ( ablative of ''situs'', ). The term typically refers to the examination or occurrence of a process within its original context, without relocation. The term is use ...

findspot: Persepolis. The

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

excavations at Persepolis for the Oriental Institute were initially directed by

Ernst Herzfeld Ernst Emil Herzfeld (23 July 1879 – 20 January 1948) was a German archaeologist and Iranologist. Life Herzfeld was born in Celle, Province of Hanover. He studied architecture in Munich and Berlin, while also taking classes in Assyriology, a ...

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 The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian peoples, Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, i ...

is symbolized by the burning of Persepolis by

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

(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 Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are part ...

and

man-made Artificiality (the state of being artificial, anthropogenic, or man-made) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity. Connotati ...

causes.Wiesehöfer 10-11. According to

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 Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

, economy, and

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

, as well as the religion and social conditions of the Persepolis region, the heartland of the

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Great Kings from

Darius I the Great Darius I ( ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of West A ...

Artaxerxes I Artaxerxes I (, ; ) was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465 to December 424 BC. He was the third son of Xerxes I. In Greek sources he is also surnamed "Long-handed" ( ''Makrókheir''; ), allegedly because his ri ...

. The Persepolis Administrative Archives are the single most important extant

primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an Artifact (archaeology), artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was cre ...

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 The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the large ...

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 tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian language, Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay t ...

s, mostly written in a late dialect of

Elamite Elamite, also known as Hatamtite and formerly as Scythic, Median, Amardian, Anshanian and Susian, is an extinct language that was spoken by the ancient Elamites. It was recorded in what is now southwestern Iran from 2600 BC to 330 BC. Elamite i ...

, 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 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

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. 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 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

. The chronological distribution of the archive is uneven, with the largest concentration from the 22nd and 23rd regnal years.Henkelman 2008: Ch 2.

Tablet details

There are three main kinds of clay tablets and fragments in the archive:Henkelman 2008:157-162. *

: the remains of more than 15,000 original records in the Elamite language, in

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

script. *

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

: the remains of somewhat less than 1,000 original records in the Aramaic language and

script Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...

. *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. 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

, from 522 to 486 BCE, just for the distribution of foodstuff, could have been as many as 200,000 records. Current understanding of the archive is based on a sample of the

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

(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 Khuzestan province () is one of the 31 Provinces of Iran. Located in the southwest of the country, the province borders Iraq and the Persian Gulf, covering an area of . Its capital is the city of Ahvaz. Since 2014, it has been part of Iran's ...

, 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. A sample

transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → and → the digraph , Cyrillic → , Armenian → or L ...

and

translation Translation is the communication of the semantics, meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The English la ...

of an

record 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.

About 680 Fortification tablets and fragments with monolingual

texts (also called ''

Imperial Aramaic Imperial Aramaic is a linguistic term, coined by modern Aramaic studies, scholars in order to designate a specific historical Variety (linguistics), variety of Aramaic language. The term is polysemic, with two distinctive meanings, wider (socioli ...

'') 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. 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. More than 2,200 distinct

cylinder seal A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch (2 to 3 cm) in width, engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally ...

s and

stamp seal __NOTOC__ The stamp seal (also impression seal) is a common seal die, frequently carved from stone, known at least since the 6th millennium BC (Halaf culture) and probably earlier. The dies were used to impress their picture or inscription int ...

s 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''). Persepolis 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: *One tablet written in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

recording only the amount of wine and an Aramaic month-name.Stolper & Tavernier 2007:3f., 24f. *One tablet written in

Old Persian Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as (I ...

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. # Until the discovery of the Persepolis administrative archives, the main sources for information about the Achaemenids were the Greek sources such as

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

and ancient historians of

and

biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

references in

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' 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 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 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 The Iranian languages, also called the Iranic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian language ...

languages preserved due to their usage in the Persepolis archives, including evidence of lexicon, phonology and dialect variation that are not found elsewhere.Tavernier 2007. Fragmentary finds with Elamite texts from other sites in the Achaemenid Empire point to similar common practices and administrative activities. Archival records found in

Bactria Bactria (; Bactrian language, Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization in Central Asia based in the area south of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) and north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an area ...

, one of the

satrapies A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Persian (Achaemenid) Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires. A satrapy is the territory governed by a satrap. ...

of the Achaemenid Empire, use administrative vocabulary, practice and book-keeping found in the Persepolis administrative archives. PTF 1208-101

Discovery of a record written in Old Persian for a routine administrative task challenges the previously held notion that Old Persian language 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:

Humban,

Inshushinak Inshushinak (also Šušinak, Šušun; Linear Elamite: ''Insušinak'', Cuneiform: '' dInšušinak'') was the tutelary god of the city of Susa in Elam. His name has a Sumerian etymology, and can be translated as "lord of Susa". He was associat ...

and Šimat, Mazdean Ahuramazda, Semitic

Adad Hadad (), Haddad, Adad ( Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm- and rain-god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions. He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. From ...

and other gods otherwise unknown. No reference to

Mithra Mithra ( ; ) is an ancient Iranian deity ('' yazata'') of covenants, light, oaths, justice, the Sun, contracts, and friendship. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth ( ...

has been found in the Persepolis administrative archives.

Landmark lawsuit

In 2004 the Persepolis Fortification Archive was caught in the middle of a

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern-day use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures ...

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

in the U.S. Federal Court system.Wawrzyniak 2007. In 1997 five American tourists were killed and many more were wounded when

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

s set off suitcase bombs in a shopping mall in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. The

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

organization

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

claimed responsibility for the bombings. In 2001 the survivors of the attack and their family members brought

s against Hamas and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, claiming Iran had provided financial and logistical support to Hamas. The court agreed and awarded $71.5 million in compensatory

damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognized at ...

and $300 million in

punitive Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon an individual or group, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a deterrent to a particular action or beha ...

from Iran to the

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the ...

s. In order to collect on the

judgment Judgement (or judgment) is the evaluation of given circumstances to make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. In an informal context, a judgement is opinion expressed as fact. In the context of a legal trial ...

, the

s 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 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 The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

is the protection of the

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by socie ...

, exchange and scholarly research must transcend politics.

PFA Project

The threat of losing the Persepolis Fortification Archive to scholarly research as 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 Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia''), also known as Cuneiform studies or Ancient Near East studies, is the archaeological, anthropological, historical, and linguistic study of the cultures that used cuneiform writing. The fie ...

. 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.Parisi 2008. The PFA Project editors are: :Annalisa Azzoni, Aramaic texts,

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

:Elspeth Dusinberre, seal impressions on Aramaic texts,

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

:Mark Garrison, seal impressions on all components, Trinity University,

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

:Wouter Henkelman, Elamite texts,

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public university, public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in ...

and

École pratique des hautes études The (), abbreviated EPHE, is a French postgraduate top level educational institution, a . EPHE is a constituent college of the Université PSL (together with ENS Ulm, Paris Dauphine or Ecole des Mines). The college is closely linked to É ...

, Paris :Charles Jones, Elamite texts, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York :Matthew Stolper, Elamite texts, Oriental Institute, Chicago

Persepolis Treasury Archive

Excavations directed by Erich Schmidt at Persepolis between 1934 and 1939 for 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.Razmjou "Find spots and find circumstances of documents excavated at Persepolis," Persika 12, 2008:55. 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.

Location

Persepolis Treasury Archive 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.

Components

There are two main kinds of clay tablets and fragments in the Persepolis Treasury Archive:Schmidt 1957:4-5. *

: records in Elamite language and cuneiform script. *Uninscribed: objects of various shapes with impressions of stamp seals, cylinder seals and seal rings. Many of them have marks of strings that secured bags or boxes and/or attached the sealings to containers. *One tablet written in the Babylonian dialect of Akkadian, is the Treasury records of taxes paid in silver by three (3) individuals at an unknown location in regnal years 19th and 20th of Darius I the Great.

Numbers

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 the Oriental Institute by the Iranian authorities and the rest were sent to the

Museum of Ancient Iran The Museum of Ancient Iran is located at the western part of Mashhq Square in Tehran, Iran. It was designed by André Godard by the order of Ali-Asghar Hekmat, then Minister of Education of Pahlavi Iran. Two Iranian master builders, Ostad Morad T ...

(modern National Museum of Iran) in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

. A part of the collection has been in the Tablet Hall of the

National Museum of Iran The National Museum of Iran ( ) in Tehran hosts some of the world's most important monuments dating back through preserved ancient and medieval Iranian antiquities. It is an institution formed of two museums; the Museum of Ancient Iran and the ...

since 1998. 199 sealings without inscriptions were also found during the excavation.

Scope

Persepolis Treasury Archive covers thirty five (35) years, from 492 to 457 BCE, from regnal year 30th of

, to regnal year 7th of

, with largest concentration from regnal years 19th and 20th of Xerxes.

Sample

A sample

and

of an

record from Persepolis Treasury Archive by George Cameron:

:No. 1957:5 : :ma-u-ú-iš kán-za-bar-ra tu-ru-iš ir-da-tak-ma na-an KI.MIN 2 kur-šá-am KÚ.BABBAR şa-ik pír-nu-ba-ik :gal-na SÌ.SÌ-du gal ruh mu-ši-in sìk-ki-ip i-ia-an-uk-ku-ma ma-u-ú-iš da-ma gal :Edge TU ha-ši-ia-tiiš- :Reverse n be-ul19-um-me-man-na 4 ruh un-ra ines 12-15 completely destroyed ''li''ka du-me :ba-ka-gi-i-a(sic!)-ik-mar :(To) Vahush the treasurer speak, Artataxma says: 2 karsha silver, the remaining half of the wage, :give as wages to men, accountants at the court, sub-ordinate to Vahush. :(It is) the wage for the month Açiyadiya(?) of the 19th year. :4 men, each... :Lines 12-15 destroyed. : his sealed orderhas been given. The receipt (came) from Bagagiya.

Significance

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 the study of

economic history Economic history is the study of history using methodological tools from economics or with a special attention to economic phenomena. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the Applied economics ...

by providing a record of the introduction of

coin A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

ed 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).

Other Achaemenid records from Persepolis

Excavations directed by Akbar Tajvidi at Persepolis between 1968 and 1973, recovered more clay tablets. Excavating the upper towers of the fortification wall on top of Kuh-e Rahmat (Mountain of Mercy), excavators found sealed uninscribed Achaemenid Bullae. From a group of 52 uninscribed sealings, some impressions were similar to the sealings found in the Persepolis Treasury Archive.Tajvidi 1976:195. Future excavations in the areas currently unexcavated, such as the southeastern part of the Persepolis terrace and mountain fortifications, might yield other archives.

Online resources

OCHRE – The Online Cultural and Historical Research Environment
– at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago is the main online database for the Persepolis Fortification Archive (PFA) Project, where all the components of the Persepolis Administrative Archives – Elamite, Aramaic, glyptic, and miscellany – can be seen, linked and searched.Briant et al. (eds.) Persika 12, 2008:22-24.
InscriptiFact – The West Semitic Research Project
– at the University of Southern California (USC) is a site that produces two kinds of high resolution online images of the Persepolis Fortification Archive tablets in collaboration with the Oriental Institute, allowing online handling of the images.
CDLI – The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative
– at the University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA), is a site that provides fast, low resolution online images of the Persepolis Fortification Archive Elamite tablets.
Achemenet and MAVI
– at Collège de France is a site for Achaemenid studies, providing full editions and translations of Persepolis Fortification Archive components. These editions are linked to MAVI interface to view high resolution online images on th
Virtual Achaemenid Museum

ARTA – Achaemenid Research on Texts and Archaeology
– at Collège de France is the site for Achaemenid studies online journal, providing periodic bulletins on the discoveries made in the course of studying Persepolis Administrative Archives.

Notes

References

*Anonymous: "Recent Discoveries at Persepolis," ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'', pp. 226–232, 1934. *Briant, Pierre: ''From Cyrus to Alexander, a History of the Persian Empire'', Winona Lake, 2002. *Briant, Pierre, Henkelman, Wouter F.M., and Stolper, Matthew W. (eds.): ''L’archive des Fortifications de Persépolis: État des questions et perspectives de recherches'', Persika 12, Paris: De Boccard, 2008. *Brixhe, C.: "Corpus des Inscriptions paleo-phrygiennes, Suppl. II," ''Kadmos'' 43:1-130, 2004. *Cameron, George G.: ''Persepolis Treasury Tablets'', Oriental Institute Publications 65, Chicago, 1948. *Cameron, George G.: "Persepolis Treasury Tablets Old and New," ''Journal of Near Eastern Studies'' 17:161-176, 1958. *Cameron, George G.: "New Tablets from the Persepolis Treasury," ''Journal of Near Eastern Studies'' 24:167-192, 1965. *Garrison, Mark B.: "The 'Late Neo-Elamite' Glyptic Style: A Perspective from Fars," Bulletin of the Asian Institute 16: 65–102, 2002. *Garrison, Mark B.: "Achaemenid iconography as evidenced by glyptic art, subject matter, social function, audience and diffusion," in Christoph Uehlinger (ed.): ''Images as Media, Sources for the Cultural History of the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean (1st Millennium BCE)'', Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 175, Fribourg and Göttingen, 115–163, 2000. *Garrison, Mark B. and Cool Root, Margaret: ''Seals on the Persepolis Fortification Tablets, I: Images of Heroic Encounter,'' Oriental Institute Publications 117, http://www.achemenet.com/actualites/Hallock.pdf, Chicago, 2001. *Garrison, Mark B. and Cool Root, Margaret: ''Persepolis Seal Studies. An Introduction with Provisional Concordance of Seal Numbers and Associated Documents on Fortification Tablets 1-2087,'' Achaemenid History 9, corrected edition. Leiden, 1998. *Hallock, Richard T.: "New Light from Persepolis," ''Journal of Near Eastern Studies'' 9:237-252, 1950. *Hallock, Richard T.: "A New Look at the Persepolis Treasury Tablets," ''Journal of Near Eastern Studies'' 19:90-100, 1960. *Hallock, Richard T.: ''Persepolis Fortification Tablets'', Oriental Institute Publications 92, https://web.archive.org/web/20070621133316/http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/OIP92.pdf, Chicago, 1969. *Hallock, Richard T.: "Selected Fortification Texts," ''Cahiers de la Délégation Archéologique Française en Iran'' http://www.achemenet.com/actualites/Hallock.pdf, 8:109-136, 1978. *Heath, Sebastian, and Schwartz, Glenn M.: "Legal Threats to Cultural Exchange of Archaeological Materials," ''American Journal of Archaeology'', Vol. 113 No. 3 (July 2009), http://www.ajaonline.org/note/294. *Henkelman, Wouter F.M.:''The Other Gods Who Are: Studies in Elamite-Iranian Acculturation based on the Persepolis Fortification Texts'' Achaemenid History 14. Leiden, 2008. *Herzfeld, Ernst: ''Iran in the Ancient East'', London, 1941. *Lewis, D.M.: "Persepolis Fortification Texts", in H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg & A. Kuhrt ''Achaemenid History IV: Centre and Periphery, Proceedings of the Groningen 1986 Achaemenid History Workshop'', pp. 2–6, Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 1990. *Parisi, Daniel: "Of Ancient Empires and Modern Litigation", ''Tableau'' https://web.archive.org/web/20080704192203/http://humanities.uchicago.edu/tableau/issues/Fall_Win_08.pdf Winter 2008. *Schmidt, Erich F.: ''The Treasury of Persepolis and Other Discoveries in the Homeland of the Achaemenians'', Oriental Institute Communications 21, Chicago, 1939. *Schmidt, Erich F.: ''Persepolis, II: Contents of the Treasury and Other Discoveries'', Oriental Institute Publications 69, Chicago, 1957. *Shaked, Shaul: ''Le satrape de Bactriane et son gouverneur. Documents araméens du IVe s. avant notre ère provenant de Bactriane'', Persika 4, Paris, 2004. *Sider, Alison: "The Trial of the Centuries", ''The Chicago Maroon'', https://web.archive.org/web/20110716141445/http://www.chicagomaroon.com/2009/3/5/trial-of-the-centuries-the-legal-battle-over-ancient-artifacts-and-global-terror, March 5, 2009. *Stein, Gil J.: "A Heritage Threatened: The Persepolis Tablets Lawsuit and the Oriental Institute" ''The Oriental Institute News & Notes'', Winter 2007. *Stolper, Matthew W.: " The Neo-Babylonian Text from the Persepolis Fortification," ''Journal of Near Eastern Studies'' 43: 299–310, 1984. *Stolper, Matthew W. and Tavernier, Jan: "From the Persepolis Fortification Archive Project, 1: An Old Persian Administrative Tablet from the Persepolis Fortification," ''ARTA'' 2007.001 http://www.achemenet.com/document/2007.001-Stolper-Tavernier.pdf, 2007. *Stolper, Matthew W.: "What are the Persepolis Fortification Tablets?" ''The Oriental Institute News & Notes'', Winter 2007. *Tajvidi, Akbar: ''Dānistānihā-ye nuvīn dar barāh-e hunār va bāstānšināsi-ye asr-e Hakhāmaniši bar bunyād-e kāvushā-ye panj sālah-e Takht-e Jamshīd,'' Tehran, 1976. *Tavernier, Jan: ''Iranica in the Achaemenid Period (c. 550-330 BC), Lexicon of Old Iranian Proper Names and Loanwords, Attested in Non-Iranian Texts,'' Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 158, Paris, 2007. *Wawrzyniak, James A.: "Rubin v. The Islamic Republic of Iran – A Struggle for Control of Persian Antiquities in America", Harvard Law School http://works.bepress.com/james_wawrzyniak/1 September 2007. Archived 2020-11-02. Archive-url: https://web.archive.org/web/20201102053357/https://works.bepress.com/james_wawrzyniak/1/ . Retrieved 2021-12-04. unpublished. *Wiesehöfer, Josef: ''Ancient Persia: from 550 BC to 650 AD'' London, 1996, 2001.

External links

Persepolis Fortification Archive ProjectPersepolis Fortification Archive Project BlogPersepolis Fortification Archive Project: Preserving the Legacy of the Achaemenid PersiansOverview of Legal Issues and Latest Legislative Developments
Jona Lendering, livius.org
Cuneiforme elamita
Enrique Quintana, University of Murcia, click on ''CARTAS '', then click on ''Persépolis'', for transliteration and Spanish translation of some Elamite tablets {{Authority control Persepolis Clay tablets Archives in Iran Government of the Achaemenid Empire 1930s in Iran Archaeology of the Achaemenid Empire Archaeological discoveries in Iran 1930s archaeological discoveries