Aramaic Ritual Texts from Persepolis (Oriental Institute Publications) PDF
Preview Aramaic Ritual Texts from Persepolis (Oriental Institute Publications)
oi.uchicago.edu THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS VOLUME XCI oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS VOLUME XCI ARAMAIC RITUAL TEXTS FROM PERSEPOLIS BY RAYMOND A. BOWMAN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS - CHICAGO - ILLINOIS oi.uchicago.edu Library of Congress Catalog Number 68-55148 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, CHICAGO 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London, W.C. 1 @ 1970 by The University of Chicago. All rightsr eserved. Published 1970. Composed by THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. Printed by PHOTOPRESS, INC., Broadview, Illinois, U.S.A. oi.uchicago.edu PREFACE HE publication of these Aramaic texts found during the excavation of Persepolis in the years 1936 through 1938 is admittedly long overdue. At the conclusion of the excava- tion, with the onset of World War II, it seemed preferable to leave the artifacts in Iran, where they would presumably be safe, rather than to send them to the United States for study and publication. Indeed, a few specimens that were risked were "lost at sea" through enemy action, and they are so marked in the catalogue of objects in Persepolis II. Only two small pieces carried to the United States by Professor Erich Schmidt personally for petrological analy- sis reached their destination. The remainder, more than two hundred pieces, were crated at Persepolis for shipment to the Teheran Museum. Fortunately, most of the Aramaic-bearing specimens were photographed by the excavating staff at Persepolis, and they were copied and studied there in 1939 by Professor George Cameron, who was then a member of the Oriental Institute staff at Persepolis. Preliminary publication of his conclusions is found in Persepolis II. When I was assigned the task of publish- ing the Aramaic material from Persepolis, Professor Cameron generously supplied me with the photographs and personal copies as well as the notes he had made in Iran. Without this ma- terial publication would now be impossible. My first independent readings of these texts were made in 1947. Ever since, during a busy schedule of teaching and administration, the study of the artifacts has proceeded on the basis of the secondary materials supplied by Professor Cameron. The difficulties that had to be surmounted in broken, faded, and often stained texts are apparent from the photographs here presented. Bit by bit the witness of the fragments was extracted. Faded and missing letters were identified wherever possible, and broken words were restored. The essential structure of the texts was determined and the occasional unique, supplementary phrases were given special study. Finally, because of the formulaic character of the texts, broken passages were restored and almost every word could be read with certainty. But the task then had just begun. Proper names were recognized, but the correct identifica- tion and rendering of Iranian names in Aramaic transcription is a continuing problem, especial- ly for one who is not an expert in the subject. The limited and simple vocabulary of Aramaic words found in these texts, too, although easily translated in isolation, was a problem. At- tempts to translate the texts by employing the usual and expected meanings of the Aramaic words produced awkward, cumbersome readings that make no sound, consecutive sense. A small but quite clear photograph of one of the more complete and representative texts was published in Persepolis II. To my knowledge, only Professor F. Altheim ventured a translation and commentary on that text,' an attestation of the difficulty of extracting the sense of such apparently simple texts. More study was required to discover the syntax of the texts and their proper meaning before a translation could be attempted. On apparently sufficient grounds, Professor Schmidt re- garded the vessels as "ritual objects," and, because of their dense concentration within one of the rooms of the Treasury, assumed that the objects had been presented there as memorials. 1 F. Altheim and R. Stiehl, Die aramiischeS prache unter den Achaemeniden (Frankfurt am Main, 1936) I 17-21. v oi.uchicago.edu vi PREFACE In order to arrive at a meaning for the texts that would be intelligible and within the bounds of the accepted assumptions, valid but less usual meanings of the simple Aramaic words had to be tried. The results of such study are apparent in the translations and discussions here presented. Without pretending to have proven a thesis about the texts, I have presented this work simply as what appears to be the most plausible conjecture in harmony with all known facts. It is but a challenge to others to present alternative explanations of these simple yet difficult texts that will be equally true to all of the evidence. Before publication, an effort was made to collate suspected readings with the original texts in Iran. The result was a continual delay. In 1963 the pieces on exhibition in the museums at Teheran and Persepolis were studied, but determined efforts to locate the bulk of the artifacts were frustrated. Knowledge of their whereabouts was disclaimed everywhere. After the publication of Persepolis II, it was found that not all of the material had been made available for study. A check of the Field Register of the Persepolis Expedition indicated that approximately a third more texts had been found than those represented by the photo- graphs and copies that had been supplied to me for study. A careful search of the effects and records of the late Professor Schmidt produced no further material and publication had to be delayed until another search could be made in Iran. Attendance at the Congress of Iranologists in Iran in 1966 afforded the needed opportunity to renew the search for the missing artifacts. With the vigorous support and personal assistance of Professor Cameron and with the full cooperation of Iranian officials, an extended, careful search was made in the storage cabinets and storerooms of the archeological museums in Teheran and Persepolis. Only what had been seen previously in 1963 was found at Teheran, and it seemed evident that the artifacts had never reached their destination from Persepolis. The explanation was finally found by Professor Cameron at Persepolis. The crated objects had been dumped and abandoned in an unused room of the Persepolis Museum. The objects had to be re-excavated there, cleaned, and forwarded to their original destination in Teheran. Some of the objects had been further broken in the interim and in the process of cleaning, the faint Aramaic writing almost disappeared. They were briefly studied and sorted in Teheran and the texts that had never been copied or photographed were sent on loan to the Oriental Institute at Chicago. The artifacts sent to Chicago from Teheran were generally in such poor condition, presum- ably as a result of the cleaning process they had undergone, that they were extremely difficult to photograph. Infrared photography produced no satisfactory results, but filters were found that gave passable prints. Hand copies were made of the most difficult examples, using magni- fication and a slight moistening to bring out the dim letters. Consequently, the copies some- times show what is not clearly visible in the photographs. In some instances both the copy and photograph are given here so that comparison can be made. Where no presentable photo- graph is available, copies by Professor Cameron or by me are given (indicated by initials "C" and "B"). In every possible instance, the copies have been checked and rechecked with the almost illegible originals to insure accuracy.2 Only part of the missing fragments were recovered in 1966. The remainder were presumably also discarded somewhere and may never be found. It seems imperative now, at long last, to proceed with the publication of the material now available. While the loss of the remainder is deplorable, since the missing texts would doubtless augment the already long list of Iranian names in Aramaic transcription and possibly present variant readings or supplemental ma- terial that might cast more light on some of the quite perplexing problems that remain, it 2 All Aramaic texts except those on a few very large objects are shown actual size in the illustrations at the end of this book. oi.uchicago.edu PREFACE vii seems unlikely that the missing texts would materially alter the conclusions based on available resources or upset the dating of the texts, which appears to be quite certain. In the course of this study it has been necessary for me to enter fields of Iranian language and religion that are not normally the province of an Aramaist. I claim no expertise in such areas myself, and I am aware of the differences of opinion that exist among Iranologists, especially in the matter of Achaemenid religion. But an adequate exposition of the nature of these inscribed cultic artifacts demands an examination of the context in which they belong. If the vessels are indeed cultic, as seems likely, religious matters cannot and must not be avoided, even if only for the evidential value of the implements and their texts. Because the haoma ceremony is an important and continuing aspect of Persian religion and because the praxis of modern Parsi ritual, almost our sole witness to the ancient rite, obviously has ancient survivals as well as subsequent changes, it is both necessary and appropriate to examine the current haoma ritual, at least for comparative purposes. The somewhat extended discussions of religious matters in chapter ii and elsewhere are needed to justify the transla- tions given and to render them intelligible. Furthermore, since in many of the texts the principal actor in the ritual is a high military official, it seems pertinent to refer to the military Mithraism of much later times in which some substitute for the haoma ceremony seems to have persisted. After conjecturing that the cultic aspects of these Aramaic texts may reflect a Mithraic cult in the Achaemenid army, I was gratified to learn, in a personal communication from Professor Richard N. Frye, of Harvard University, that "It looks more and more that a 'proto-Mithraic' cult existed among the soldiers at Persepolis, for other fragments of information fit in with such a theory." Because of my obvious deficiencies in Iranian matters, I have sought the assistance of a number of more competent scholars in that area. I am especially grateful to Professor Wilhelm Eilers, of Wiirzburg, Germany, Professor Janos Harmatta, of Budapest, and Professor Richard N. Frye, of Harvard University, concerning the identifications and etymologies of the many Iranian names in these texts. I must, of course, accept full responsibility for the material that I have used. Professor E. 0. Negahban of the Iran Bastan Museum of Teheran, Iran, has been most helpful during my frustrating periods in Iran and has been an interested and encouraging friend throughout the preparation of this study. Without the assistance of my good friend Professor George G. Cameron, of the University of Michigan, this work could never have been undertaken. Through the years we have discussed the problems involved, and he has carefully read and criticized my manuscript. Although not all of his suggestions have been followed, they are evident in the final draft and this book is, I believe, all the better for his challenges. Special recognition is due those who have seen this work through the laborious and tedious processes of editing and production. My wife, Marguerite, has patiently and carefully typed seemingly endless copies of my manuscript. Mrs. Jean Eckenfels has carefully edited this work and has seen to the details of production under the supervision of the Editorial Secretary, Mrs. Elizabeth Hauser. RAYMOND A. BOWMAN CHICAGO September, 1968 oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS S . . . xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . S. . xiii I. THE FIND . . . . 1 II. THE HAOMA CEREMONY 6 III. THE ARAMAIC TEXTS S16 IV. THE PLACE S . . 20 V. THE OFFICIALS 25 The Segan S25 The Treasurer 28 The Sub-Treasurer 30 VI. THE CELEBRANT S . . . 33 VII. THE ACTION . S38 VIII. THE UTENSILS S44 Mortar. . 45 Pestle S . . 47 Plate 49 Tray 51 IX. Skr . . S . . . 53 X. THE DATE . . S . 56 XI. THE LINGUISTIC PHENOMENA 63 Loanwords . . S . . . 63 Phonetics . . 63 Semitic . . . . . . 63 Iranian . . 64 Verbs . . . . . . . . 6655 Infinitive . . . . . . 65 Finite Verb . 65 Adverb . . .* .* .. .* 6666 Nouns and Adjectives 66 Gender and Number S . . 66 State . 66 Adjectives 67 Noun Types . . . . . 68 Numerals 68 ix oi.uchicago.edu x TABLE OF CONTENTS Prepositions . . S 68 Pronouns . . . . . .. S 69 Pronominal Suffix .. 69 Demonstrative Pronoun . . 69 Relative Particle zy . . . 69 Word Order .. 69 Subject-Verb ... 69 Adjective and Demonstrative 69 XII. TEXTS . . . 71 GENERAL INDEX . . S 187 INDEX OF TEXTS . . S 191 Vocabulary S 191 Geographical Names S 192 Personal Names S 192 Broken Texts 193
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