THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO THE HOUSE OF THE SATRAP AND THE MAKING OF THE ACHAEMENID PERSIAN EMPIRE, 522-330 BCE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE HUMANITIES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF NEAR EASTERN LANGUAGES AND CIVILIZATIONS BY ROBERT RHYNE KING CHICAGO, ILLINOIS JUNE 2021 Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgments......................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ ix List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. x A Note on the Transliteration of Names ........................................................................................ xi Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ xii Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Travelers through Kabaš ............................................................................................................. 1 Achaemenid Studies: The Past, Present, and Future................................................................... 3 The House of the Satrap ............................................................................................................ 10 Previous Scholarship ................................................................................................................. 15 The Scope of the Dissertation ................................................................................................... 19 Chapter Overview ..................................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 2. Satrapal Wealth in Western Anatolia, 412-386 ........................................................... 29 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 29 Mania, the Satrap? .................................................................................................................... 32 The Wealth of the Satraps ......................................................................................................... 37 The Scale of Satrapal Wealth ................................................................................................ 40 Sources of Satrapal Wealth ................................................................................................... 44 Expenditures of Satrapal Wealth .......................................................................................... 62 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 78 Chapter 3. Satrapal Networks in Western Anatolia ...................................................................... 80 ii Friendship and Politics: Athens, Sparta, and the Satraps in Anatolia ....................................... 80 Networks of Exchange: Pharnabazus and the Propontis........................................................... 91 Competition among Satraps .................................................................................................... 114 Agesilaus, Spithridates, and Pharnabazus: The Political Lives of Family Members ............. 128 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 139 Chapter 4. Aršāma: Controlling and Cultivating Labor.............................................................. 142 An Exemplary Satrap .............................................................................................................. 142 Trans-Territoriality ............................................................................................................. 145 Language of the “House” .................................................................................................... 149 Control over and Acquisition of Labor ............................................................................... 153 Pqyds and Paqdus: Managing the Satrapal House ................................................................. 155 Managing the Economy of the Satrapal House................................................................... 160 Maintaining Social Networks ............................................................................................. 167 Dependent Labor and the House of Aršāma ........................................................................... 175 Agricultural Slaves.............................................................................................................. 179 An Elite Slave? ................................................................................................................... 184 Neither Enslaved nor Free: grd’ .......................................................................................... 188 Conclusion: The Control of Labor and the Making of the Achaemenid Elite ........................ 195 Chapter 5. Bēlšunu: Becoming an Achaemenid Satrap .............................................................. 199 Introduction: Bēlšunu and the Kasr Archive .......................................................................... 199 Babylonian Agriculture and Land Tenure after 484 ............................................................... 204 Bēlšunu’s Origins in Borsippa ................................................................................................ 211 iii Bēlšunu’s Business Operations ............................................................................................... 217 Bēlšunu’s Subordinates ....................................................................................................... 220 Crown Grants ...................................................................................................................... 238 Chronological Summary and a Return to the Murašûs ........................................................... 247 Bēlšunu’s Dynasty .................................................................................................................. 249 A Bēlšunu in Meydancıkkale, Cilicia ................................................................................. 253 Bēlšunu in Comparison: Hecatomnus in Caria ....................................................................... 258 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 263 Chapter 6. Movement across the Iranian Plateau: Bakabaduš in Arachosia ............................... 266 Introduction: Bakabaduš and the Sources for Achaemenid Arachosia ................................... 266 Travel to and from Arachosia: An Overview ......................................................................... 277 Movement of Stored Wealth ................................................................................................... 283 Movement of Labor ................................................................................................................ 289 Movement of Information ....................................................................................................... 305 Conclusion: The halmi-system in a Satrapal Empire .............................................................. 313 Chapter 7. Axvamazdā and the Control over Movement in Achaemenid Bactria...................... 315 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 315 The House of Axvamazdā ....................................................................................................... 321 Personnel ............................................................................................................................. 322 The Agricultural Landscape ................................................................................................ 328 The Infrastructure of Movement ............................................................................................. 337 iv Horses and Camels .............................................................................................................. 338 The Satrapal Residences along the Roads .......................................................................... 344 Taxing Movement ................................................................................................................... 347 A1 – The Key Text ............................................................................................................. 348 Walls, Cages, and Customs ................................................................................................. 353 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 362 Chapter 8. Conclusions and Contributions ................................................................................