A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire, 2 Volume Set. Группа авторов. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

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or cultic staff, their primary function was to protect, the living and the deceased alike.

      In contrast to the figurative seals, which were for private use, the administration of Juda, Samaria, and Ammon used, as in the Iron Age, seals which only bear an inscription.

      Even though around half of the anthropoid sarcophagi were discovered in the necropoles around Sidon, they were fashionable and affordable to the elite of the entire coast between Arwad and Gaza (Frede 2000; Lembke 2001). The Sidonian kings Tabnit and Eshmunazar II fetched two anthropoid sarcophagi from Egypt about 525 BCE. Sidonian production started later – around 480 BCE. These oldest sarcophagi show Egyptian elements, but are stylistically already Greek influenced. However, five clay anthropoid sarcophagi were found in 1996 in a necropole near Amrit. If their dating between 510 and 450 BCE turns out to be correct, the very first imitated sarcophagi may have been made in a Cypriot‐influenced style. The four famous elaborated sarcophagi from the Sidonian necropolis, now exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul, were made between 425 and 330–310 BCE.

      A few other small statues, whether in metal, stone, clay, or faience, in Egyptian, Greek or local style, have survived.

      Of outstanding importance is the stela of Yehawmilk, King of Byblos around 450–425 BCE. The king is represented in Achaemenid court dress in front of his goddess, who resembles Isis but is, according to the inscription, Baalat.

      Luxury items made of metal, such as vessels, candelabra, furniture, or jewelry, and weapons, alabastra, and glass have mostly been found in graves. Because of an international Achaemenid style, it is often difficult to be precise as to their origin. The two bronze thymiateria from the graves in Shekhem and Umm Udhaina, respectively adorned with floral elements and a female figurine, give us an idea of temple furnishing. A bronze lion paw found near Samaria points to a royal seat.

      The largest number of circulating coins was local, the foreign ones being from Persia, Greece, or Cyprus, (see Chapter 57 Royal Coinage). The main Phoenician cities Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, and Arwad coined money from 470 BCE onward. Each city developed its own iconography. It was Egyptianizing and Phoenician in Byblos, Achaemenid (archer) and Greek (hippocampus and dolphin) in Tyre. The ship and the murex shell commemorate the economic power of Sidon. Attic motifs were imitated in Samaria, where coinage started about a century later. Judaean coins bear the name of the province written in Hebrew letters and are therefore called Yehud coins.

      Another novelty of this period is the choice of the figurative representations which allow us to draw conclusions about religious changes. If in the second millennium it is already very difficult, due to the lack of attributes or special garments, to identify the gods, by the first millennium it is often impossible to ascertain whether the represented person is even divine. Iconography and written sources allow us to follow the evolution from a “classical” polytheistic religion, where each god is responsible for one domain to a religion, where one god embraces all aspects. Each individual is able to choose his god – the main goal is his personal wellbeing and salute. The idea of protection is predominant in all realms: combined with care (pregnant women), with power (“master of the animals”), or healing (temple boys).

      These developments were indirectly fostered by the Achaemenid Empire. The Levant became part of a large territory, whose borders were open to the political center in the east, as well as to the west, where the cultural and economic entwinement increased.

      The scarcity of Achaemenid remains raised the issue of an “elusive empire.” But the Levant has always been shaped by a mixture of cultural elements, precisely making its own unique cultural profile. This continues in the Achaemenid period. While Persian dresses, jewelry, furniture, or architectural elements mainly entered the royal and elite circles, they did not change basic elements such as language, religion, or the content of pictures.

      The Achaemenid Empire was in reality not elusive in the Levant, even if the coast profited more than the inland, which remained more rooted in the Iron Age. The “lack” of Achaemenid material turns more and more out to be a matter of awareness.

      1 Frede, S. (2000). Die phönizischen anthropoiden Sarkophage. Mainz: von Zabern.

      2 Lehmann,