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

Автор: Группа авторов
Издательство: John Wiley & Sons Limited
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Жанр произведения: История
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isbn: 9781119071655
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of Shiraz and near Darab, some stone bell‐shaped bases of Persepolis type and ceramic material have been found which point to important Achaemenid occupations (Hansman 1975). The whole southern region to the Persian Gulf suffers from a hot and dry climate, creating an arid environment. Sparsely populated before the Achaemenid period, the region is more densely occupied from the early centuries CE on. The settlements are no longer concentrated along the perennial streams but extend higher on the slopes. In my opinion, this change is due to the introduction of a new irrigation technique, the underground water draining galleries. Very likely since the late Iron Age these shallow galleries were subterranean derivations from streams but did not tap the deeper water table. For the Achaemenid period we know only of galleries in Egypt tapping permanent water resources (Wuttmann 2001). This famous technique, called qanāt or karīz, permitted the occupation of more semi‐arid and arid areas. However, despite Polybius X. 28, it is not yet clear whether the qanat technique was actually used in Iran and particularly in Fars as early as the Achaemenid period (Boucharlat 2001, 2017).

      This part of the province is still in the uplands (approx. 1000 m above sea level) and has more favorable climate and water resources than southern Fars. This area was on the way between the two royal residences, Persepolis and Susa (600 km), but archeology so far has failed to identify any of the 20 supply stations that were to be installed on the road for accommodating groups of travelers, the king and his retinue when he was visiting his “countries,” messengers, troops, groups of nobles, and workers (Hallock 1969; Koch 1990) For example, the transfer of workers between the residences at Persepolis and Susa (Briant 2013) is attested only by Persepolis tablets. These buildings, probably made of mudbrick, did not leave many traces. However, this area is gradually revealing architectural remains of noble or royal residences in the form of stone column bases in different parts of the foothills. A region around the modern town of Nurabad seems particularly privileged. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries bell‐shaped bases decorated with palm leaves, similar to those of Persepolis, were identified. After soundings by a Japanese expedition in 1959, it was not until 2006 that the site of Qaleh Kali was again investigated by an Iranian–Australian microregional and multiperiod project. Excavations (Potts et al. 2009) cleared more column bases which belong to a portico. Floors, stairs, and parapets are also made of worked stones. More importantly, this building was not isolated. In the same area, other buildings, palaces or pavilions, have recently been located, as evinced by some stone column bases. Dating to the Achaemenid period is assumed on the ground of the shape and the techniques of working stone and some artifacts, though they are often mixed with more recent objects. These strongly built constructions were not destroyed in the fall of the Persian Empire and were reoccupied in the next few centuries.

      Susa is the most famous Persian residence known by the Greek authors (see Aeschylus, The Persians narrating the defeat of Salamis in 480 BCE; see e.g. Aesch., Pers. 16, 534‐6, 730, 761). The palace of Darius differs from that of Persepolis in many respects, although the audience hall, called Apadana in a royal inscription, has obvious similarities with that of Persepolis. Susa is located in a vast plain crossed by several perennial rivers that allowed the early development of irrigation systems comparable to those of Mesopotamia. The plain and Susa itself suffered a significant population decline in the first half of the first millennium BCE after a flourishing period in the second millennium (Potts 2015: pp. 259–308). Permanent settlement in the plain during the Achaemenid period was relatively small, as it was in the Persepolis plain, and there was almost nothing around Susa itself between the Karkheh and Dez rivers. One hypothesis suggests that Darius, in deciding to install one of his residences in the old Elamite city, may have displaced the indigenous population that lived there and in the surrounding villages.

An illustration of the site map of Susa.

      Source: Reproduced by permission of Remy Boucharlat and Danielle Perrot.