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UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles the Use of Treaties in The UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles The Use of Treaties in the Achaemenid Empire A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures by Daniel Beckman 2017 © Copyright by Daniel Beckman 2017 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Use of Treaties in the Achaemenid Empire by Daniel Beckman Doctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures University of California, Los Angeles, 2017 Professor M. Rahim Shayegan, Chair Starting in the mid-fifth century BCE, the Achaemenid Persian empire entered into a series of treaties with various Greek city-states. While treaties had often been used across the Ancient Near East prior to the Persian conquests, they did not play a role in the Achaemenids' imperial strategy; indeed, the Achaemenids did not sign any treaties with any non-Greek state. By examining Greco-Persian treaties, that is, by investigating what the Persians of old might have hoped to gain from treaties with Athens, Sparta, or any other Greek state, the present dissertation seeks to gain unique insight into the Achaemenid imperial strategy. I demonstrate that the Achaemenid conception of imperial rule may have been partially inherited from their Elamite and Neo-Assyrian forebears. I establish the continuities between Achaemenid rule and that of their Near Eastern predecessors, as well as what constitutes uniquely Achaemenid innovations. I give special attention to the Achaemenid endeavor to exert control over various subjects in their empire by dialoguing with, and even reproducing, ii indigenous manifestations of law and governance. However, scholarly models describing the use of local practices by the Achaemenids have been hitherto restricted to regions under direct Achaemenid rule. I argue, however, that the Greco-Persian treaties were most likely resulting from the Achaemenid desire to extend a proven strategy of governance, which aimed at engaging local traditions and practices, beyond their imperial borders. The exploitation of traditional Greek treaty customs allowed the Achaemenids to achieve the stability necessary for the achievement of imperial goals in the region, and befitted their overall political strategy. iii The dissertation of Daniel Beckman is approved. Sarah Morris David Phillips William Schniedewind M. Rahim Shayegan, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2017 iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements.........................................................................................................................vi Abbreviations.................................................................................................................................vii 1. Introduction, History of the Scholarship, and Methodology.......................................................1 2. Primary Sources...........................................................................................................................9 3. Near Eastern Binding Agreements.............................................................................................11 3a. The Neo-Assyrian Evidence................................................................................................11 3b. Religion and Assyrian Kingship.........................................................................................29 3c. The Neo-Babylonian Evidence...........................................................................................38 4. From Assyria and Babylonia to Persia.......................................................................................40 4a.The Medes............................................................................................................................40 4b. The Elamites........................................................................................................................58 5. Greek Binding Agreements........................................................................................................64 5a. Terminology........................................................................................................................64 5b. Sources................................................................................................................................67 5c. Near Eastern Influence on Greek Treaty Traditions...........................................................68 5d. Greek Treaties in the Archaic and Classical Periods........................................................100 6. Peace Treaties and Achaemenid Imperial Strategy.................................................................133 6a. Achaemenid Royal Ideology and Imperial Administration..............................................134 6b. Regional Examples............................................................................................................136 Persis...................................................................................................................................140 Western Asia Minor...........................................................................................................155 Babylon...............................................................................................................................183 Judah...................................................................................................................................193 Egypt...................................................................................................................................204 6c. Greco-Persian Diplomacy.................................................................................................219 7. Conclusions..............................................................................................................................273 8. Select Bibliography..................................................................................................................276 v Acknowledgements I would like to sincerely thank the Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute, who awarded me the Roshan Fellowship in 2015-16. This grant allowed me to focus on completing this dissertation. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the members of my committee for working with me over the past few years, both on this dissertation and in the classroom. Their advice on this work has made it immeasurably better, and the defects that remain are my own. Finally, I thank my parents and sister for their constant support and love. To my wife, I owe a lifetime of gratitude for everything that she has given me, not least her tolerance. To all my friends, you have my thanks for your unfailing encouragement. vi Abbreviations Grayson, Albert. 1975. Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles. Texts from Cuneiform Sources 5. ABC Locust Valley, N.Y., 1975. The Athenian Tribute Lists. Meritt, B.D, Wade-Gery, H.T., and McGregor, M.F. 1939-53. 4 vols. ATL Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Av. Avestan Borger, Rykle. 1996. Beiträge zum Inschriftenwerk Assurbanipals: die Prismenklassen A, B, C = K, BIWA D, E, F, G, H, J und T sowie andere Inschriften. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. CT Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, etc., in the British Museum CTH Laroche, Emmanuel. 1971. Catalogue des textes hittites. Paris: Klincksieck. Ctesias' Persika. Lenfant, Dominique. 2004. Ctésias de Cnide: La Perse, L’Inde, autres fragments. Ctes. Paris: Belles lettres. DB Old Persian inscription of Darius the Great at Bisotun Diodorus of Sicily's Historical Library. Dindorf, Ludwig August, Immanuel Bekker, Friedrich Diod. Vogel, and Curt Theodor Fischer. 1888-1906 (reprint 1964-69). Diodori Bibliotheca Historica, 5 vols. Stuttgart: Teubner. DNa Old Persian inscription of Darius the Great at Naqš-e Rostam, section a DPe Old Persian inscription of Darius the Great at Persepolis, section e DSe Old Persian inscription of Darius the Great at Susa, section e El. Elamite FGrH Jacoby, Felix. 1923-1958. Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker. Leiden: Brill Hdt. Herodotus' Histories. Hude, Karl. 1927. Herodoti historiae. Oxford: Clarendon Press. HDT Beckman, Gary, and Harry A Hoffner. 1999. Hittite Diplomatic Texts. Atlanta: Scholars Press. IG Inscriptiones Graecae. Berlin: Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Hrozny, Friedrich. 1921. Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi: fünftes und sechstes Heft. Leipzig: J.C. KBo Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung. Liddell, Henry George, Henry Stuart Jones, and Robert Scott. 2006. A Greek-English lexicon. 9th LSJ ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Meiggs, Russell, and David M. Lewis. 1988. A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions to the ML End of the Fifth Century B.C. Oxford; New York: Clarendon; Oxford University Press. MP Middle Persian NL Saggs, H. W. F. 2001. The Nimrud letters, 1952. London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq. OP Old Persian PIE Proto-Indo-European Plutarch's Life of Alcibiades. K. Ziegler, Plutarchi vitae parallelae, vol. 1.2, Leipzig: Teubner, Plut. Alc. 1959::226-279. Plutarch's Life of Aristeides. K. Ziegler, Plutarchi vitae parallelae, vol. 1.1, Leipzig: Teubner, Plut. Arist. 1969::249-287. Plutarch's Life of Artaxerxes. K. Ziegler, Plutarchi vitae parallelae, vol. 3.1, Leipzig: Teubner, Plut. Art. 1971:318-351. Plutarch's Life of Cimon. K. Ziegler, Plutarchi vitae parallelae, vol. 1.1, Leipzig: Teubner, Plut. Cim. 1969:332-359. Plutarch's Life of Dion. K. Ziegler, Plutarchi vitae parallelae, vol. 2.1, Leipzig: Teubner, 1964:93- Plut. Dion 135. Plutarch's
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