Achaemenid Imperialism, from the 19th century to the present
By John WI Lee, University of California, Santa Barbara
This paper compares and contrasts the evidence for enslavement in Egypt before and after the Persian conquest in 525 BC, proposing that the Achaemenid Empire brought with it novel practices of enslavement and its documentation. Evidence for chattel slavery in Egypt before the Achaemenid Period is sparse and often vague. Documentary attestations from the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1069) amount to notations of prisoners of war (Morris; Matić; Menu 2005) and oblique references in judicial documents of adoption (Eyre; Cruz-Uribe 1988) or lawsuits (Gardiner).
Slavery in Egypt Before and After the Persians: Continuity and Change
By Ella Karev, University of Chicago
This paper compares and contrasts the evidence for enslavement in Egypt before and after the Persian conquest in 525 BC, proposing that the Achaemenid Empire brought with it novel practices of enslavement and its documentation. Evidence for chattel slavery in Egypt before the Achaemenid Period is sparse and often vague. Documentary attestations from the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1069) amount to notations of prisoners of war (Morris; Matić; Menu 2005) and oblique references in judicial documents of adoption (Eyre; Cruz-Uribe 1988) or lawsuits (Gardiner).
Tradition, Innovation, and Ideology Among the Inscribed Seals from the Persepolis Fortification Archive
By Christine Chandler, New York University
The slogan of an ideological Pax Persica has become a common structuring principal in discussions of Achaemenid imperialism and the empire’s interaction with subjects and neighboring populations.
Reviewing the Achaemenid signature: Elamite documentation from Persepolis
By Wouter Henkleman, École Pratique des Hautes Études (Paris)
Research on the Achaemenid empire and its administrative system and networks has come a long way from the cliché of a colossus on clay feet. A current baseline is provided by, among others, Briant et al. (eds.), L’archive des Fortifications… (Paris, 2008) and Jacobs et al. (eds.), Die Verwaltung im Achämenidenreich (Wiesbaden 2017). Two concepts, sometimes called “imperial signature” and “imperial paradigm,” play an important role in ongoing debates: the imprint and the design of administrative structures in the centre and notably in the satrapies.
Satraps and Regional Governance in the Achaemenid Empire: A Comparative Perspective
By Rhyne King, DFG Project “The Unexplored Heartland”
Stretching from Egypt and the Balkans to Central Asia and the Indus, the Achaemenid Persian Empire (559-330 BCE) was an order of magnitude larger than any previous state in the history of the world. Understanding the mechanisms and institutions which kept the bulk of the Achaemenid Empire together for over two centuries is an important research topic for comparative studies of the development of the state and imperialism in world history. Although the Achaemenid Empire has lately taken a more prominent role in the world history of empires (e.g.
Pax Persica: Small Wars and the Achaemenid Frontiers
By John Hyland, Christopher Newport University
The slogan of an ideological Pax Persica has become a common structuring principal in discussions of Achaemenid imperialism and the empire’s interaction with subjects and neighboring populations.