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
Серия:
Жанр произведения: История
Год издания: 0
isbn: 9781119071655
Скачать книгу
discovered that the rock‐cut tombs in Media were either late Achaemenid or post‐Achaemenid in date (von Gall 1966) and that Herodotus' account of the history of Media (including his allusions to a Median royal house that dated as far back as the eighth century BCE) bore little relationship to the nature of events in western Iran that is reflected in the annals of Assyria (Helm 1981). Not long thereafter the very existence of a Median empire came to be called into question – and even the presence of a short‐lived, united Median kingdom came to be doubted (Sancisi‐Weerdenburg 1988). More recently, it has been proposed that the Medes put an end to their “political formations” and reverted to a “stage of tribal pastoralism” during the last 60 years of their independent existence from c. 610 to 550 BCE (Liverani 2003: p. 9). For many scholars this last verdict is far from necessarily correct; and, from an archeological perspective, the evidence that stems from recent excavations and surveys serves to affirm that, in overarching terms, continued permanent settlement in Media did not end in the late seventh century BCE (cf. Stronach and Roaf 2007: p. 49). In addition, monumental construction appears to have persisted at various sites (Stronach 2003: p. 237) and an early form of money was apparently in use in the heart of Media at a date near 600 BCE (Vargyas 2008). In short, it is more than likely that a united Median kingdom managed to control a major part of northern Iran during at least the first half of the sixth century BCE (Stronach 2012a).

Photo depicts Ganj Nameh, Inscriptions of Darius I and Xerxes I.

      Source: Reproduced by permission of Gian Pietro Basello – DARIOSH Project.

      The knowledge that we currently possess of the mud‐brick architecture of Media in the seventh and early sixth centuries BCE (cf. Stronach and Roaf 2007: pp. 181–182) may begin to allow us to speculate on various aspects of the character of the smaller settlements that must have typified the province of Media in Achaemenid times. To start with, Media's absorption into the far‐flung Achaemenid Empire must have produced an altogether new sense of security. As a result, people who had previously chosen to reside, if at all possible, on clearly defensible, rock outcrops or on the often considerable heights of long‐established prehistoric mounds, would have not taken long to abandon such locations in favor of new habitations that stood at the same level as their orchards and fields. In these new conditions the main arbiter of location would have been the availability of water. And in many cases the recently available technology of the qanat (cf. Wilkinson 2012: pp. 16–27) was no doubt used to bring cool, clean water from distant, underground aquifers to the exact point where surface water was required.

      While Achaemenid builders frequently included worked stone elements in major structures, we can be sure that everyday construction in the countryside would have largely depended on mud‐bricks, mud‐brick struts and wood. In addition, it is important to note that, while the standard mud‐brick in independent Media was oblong in shape and measured c. 40 × 24 × 12 cm in size, the Achaemenids introduced a smaller, square mud‐brick that was normally 34 × 34 × 12 cm in size. Indeed, it is changes in brick sizes – not to mention subtle changes in pottery – that will no doubt ultimately allow archeologists to plot the still missing patterns of rural settlement that must have characterized the broad plains of Media in Achaemenid times (cf. Boucharlat 2005; Curtis 2005).

      Since archeobotanical studies of the excavated Median and Parthian plant remains from Tepe Nush‐i Jan indicate that emmer, bread wheat and barley were grown in both these periods (Kylo and Hubbard 1981), it is only logical to suppose that these same cereals were among those that were cultivated