History of Iran
(part of Iranologie.com)
Part IV: Achaemenid Empire
Chapter VII: The Legacy of the Achaemenids
Introduction
The Achaemenid dynasty ruled most of West Asia and Egypt for over 200 years before being defeated by the armies of Alexander. Despite their demise, the legacy of Achaemenid administrative system survived far beyond the life of the actual dynasty and affected almost all consequent empires from the Seleucids to the modern empires. This chapter will survey some of the most important highlights of the Achaemenid Legacy.
Predecessors of the Achaemenids
Many political historians, archaeologists, and art historians have pointed out that much of what we know as Achaemenid, at least early Achaemenid, art and administration was in fact borrowings from the well established empires that preceded them. Indeed, this is a point easily understood and fairly taken: as we look, most of the ancient civilisations borrowed cultural and political characteristics of their forerunners. Babylonians famously adopted much of the Sumerian culture, even their language, and Assyrians in turn borrowed many of Babylonian niche and inventions. The early Indo-Aryans absorbed the Harappan Culture of the Indus Valley, and so it is only logical to think of the Persian borrowings from all or most of these earlier cultures. However, our focus here is mostly on the Achaemenid inventions that managed to penetrate the administrative and cultural system of the empires that followed them.
Probably the basic Achaemenid borrowing from the earlier civilisations of Mesopotamia was the concept of kingship, especially hereditary kingship. Most philologists agree that the Indo-European languages lack an original word meaning “king” in their common background. The Persian word “shah” is a modern development of Old Persian “xšaya-θiya-” itself a borrowing from Median. The word cognates with Indic/Sanskrit “kśatriya-“ (name of one of the castes) and provides an original meaning of “(owner of) land or territory”. The word was probably developed during the Median times and under the influence of Assyrians and Elamites to mean a singular ruler.
Still, the concept of hereditary rule was largely unknown in the tribal Iranian society prior to its arrival in the Iranian Plateau. It was by adopting the great dynastic traditions of the Mesopotamian kingdoms that Medes, and by extension Persians, first created hereditary kingship. The foreign origins of the concept can be further explored by observing the Parthian Empire and its apparent preference for elected kingship as opposed to the hereditary one.
Other than the basic administrative and bureaucratic systems that the Achaemenids borrowed from Elamites and Babylonians, one of the most important contributions of earlier empires to the Achaemenids was their royal art. In short, the Achaemenid kings, starting with Darius the Great, realised the importance of art and architecture in the establishment and strengthening of a royal image. The magnificent and towering buildings of Assyria and Babylon were adopted by Achaemenids and were given a distinctly Persian character to create the easily recognisable Achaemenid architecture. Winged bulls, kings combating supernatural animals, and many other motifs were adopted from Assyria and even the Mitanni, all aiding the establishment of Persian royal power. In Egypt, the adoption of local art and architecture helped the acceptance of Achaemenid rule. The creation of this holistic and centralised power and the culture and art associated with it also contributed to the creation of a separate identity for the central parts of the empire, the area between Tigris and Oxos whose population eventually entered the history as “Iranians”.
Some of Achaemenid adoptions were dictated by the geographic and social pressures of the areas under their rule. For example, their achievement in the irrigation of the Euphrates-Tigris plain was in fact inherited directly from the Babylonians. Achaemenids easily understood the importance of this irrigation system and rose to maintain it, while later arriving powers such as the Seleucids who failed to grasp the concept, caused great damage to the economic output of the area.
Administration of the Achaemenid Empire
As mentioned before, much of the basic administrative and bureaucratic systems of the early Achaemenid Empire were borrowings from the Babylonian, Assyrian, Median, and Elamite administrations. Elamite, and later Aramaic, scribes controlled the Achaemenid bureaucracy and shaped it
development. They are even responsible for the creation of the Old Persian cuneiform - most likely cuneiform representation of an essentially alphabetic, Aramaic influenced writing system. Aramaic, the language of the dominant administrators of the late Babylonian times, itself became the administrative language of the Achaemenids and lent its writing system to Persian and other Iranian languages.
On the other hand, the most important achievement of Darius, as the chief reformer of the Achaemenids, was the expansion of the satrapal system established by Cyrus. Based on this system, the empire was divided into administrative sections with the considerations of geographical boundaries, cultural traits, and the economic output. Each satrapy was rule by a satrap, appointed by the central government and sent from the capital. The satrap was accompanied by a centrally appointed chief judge, commander of satrapal troops, administrative officer, financial officer, and a “King’s Eye”, responsible for relaying the news of the satrapy to the capital. Maintenance of an exact number of the population of the satrapy was an important task of the financial officer, a practice mirrored in Rome and most famously in William the Conqueror’s “Doomsday Book”.
The satrapy was run by the central administrators according to the local traits and established practices, and as usual, not much pressure was applied to change long operating rules. The autonomous, and simultaneously central, nature of the satrapal system aided the successful control and operation of the vast Achaemenid Empire for a long time, and was indeed so successful that it was preserved by subsequent power holders, from Alexander to the Sasanians.
The greatest achievement of Darius I was his creation of the “Guidance of Good Conduct”, a series of laws applicable equally throughout the empire. These laws were obviously influenced by the comprehensive laws of Mesopotamian kingdoms, most famously that of the Hammurabi. At the same time, they took presented a new possibility in the use of law. Mesopotamian laws were largely local and country bound sets of regulations that more or less applied to the “heartland” of the Assyrian or Babylonian empires. Local laws of the conquered lands were maintained by the conquerors and no set of universally applicable regulations were available. With the Guidance of Good Conduct, Darius established a universal set of laws applicable equally throughout his empire. While local laws of old countries such as Egypt and Babylon were respected and preserved, the prevailing set of legally bounding regulations were dictated by Darius’ Laws.
The outcome of the application of the Guidance of Good Conduct was different in various parts of the empire. Apparently many copies of the laws were made and sent to all the satrapies were they were preserved by the central judge and used for reference. While in places such as Babylon these laws might have managed to create stability in social conduct, the existence of the laws inside the Iranian Plateau helped develop the Iranian identity between various cultures of the area. On the other hand, the universal application of the Guidance was adopted by the succeeding Roman Empire and created the famous “Roman Law”, renowned for its binding power and its influence even in the areas of scientific inquiry.
Preservation of Achaemenid administrative system by the Seleucid Empire, as well as Iranian petty kingdoms of Asia Minor such as Pontus and Phrygia, helped their survival. Many administrative traits such as the satrapal system, coinage, road building and irrigation (discussed later) and the universal law, were continued by all of the succeeding governments and even those far beyond the borders of the Achaemenid lands.
Society and Economy
The Achaemenids were certainly not the first government to note the importance of trade in West Asia. Assyrians and Babylonians had thrived in trade and fought for it, while the Elamite and Hittite Kingdoms were created almost as a reason to control parts of the trade and trade routes. Still, the Achaemenids were the first empire to control the entire area between the River Oxos and the Mediterranean Sea, and as thus, paid special attention to the promotion of the overland and sea-faring trade.
The issue of coins, adopted apparently from Lydia, by the central government with a standard weight was one of the means of promoting the trade. Indeed, the existence of Daric coins much facilitated the trade of Phoenician and Greeks of Asia Minor with Mesopotamia. Although the coinage - as a way of establishing royal power - was later abused by rebellious satraps of Asia Minor, still the existence of a universal means of exchange contributed much to the promotion of trade.
One of the most significant achievements of the Achaemenid administration was the establishment of the Royal Road that connected Susa to Sardis. This road, at the beginning used exclusively by the royal messengers (Barid; see below), eventually developed into the main communication nerve of the empire. Major trade routes were connected to the Royal Road and it might have extended eastwards from Susa as well, although no Greek accounts confirm such suspicion. The Achaemenid Royal Road was clearly a sign of the administration’s awareness of the need for quick communication routes and the importance of road-making, a trait continued by most subsequent rulers. It can also be credited at the first clear forerunner of the famous Via Apia of the Roman Empire that formed the major road system of that empire.
An immediate use of the Royal Road was made by the members of the Barid system. Barid was the name of the Achaemenid postal system established by Darius I in order to facilitate the communication between the central and the satrapal governments. All satrapies and local governments had the duty of providing fresh horses and amenities for the Barid messengers. Satraps and King’s Eyes sent regular reports of the state of their satrapies to the Imperial Court in Persepolis and Susa, where detailed records of the empire were kept. Sadly, with Alexander’s burning of the Persepolis Treasury and pillage of the Susa Treasury, none of these records survived to our time and we can only speak of their existence based on various archaeological findings and the records of Greek historians.
Although the Barid was used for the purpose of imperial communication, it use later became less exclusive and included personal and business communications. Barid messengers became the bearers of information much sought after around the empire, including price information for various tradable goods. In this way, Barid played a role similar to modern postal system and is indeed considered as a forerunner of later Iranian communication and postal systems. The name Barid is used up to the modern times in various Arab countries as the original term for the Post.
Other Achaemenid innovations, particularly in the field of art and architecture obviously require a more learned and detailed study outside the scope and ability of the present work. In the matters of language and writing systems, Achaemenid creation of Old Persian cuneiform marked the foundation of the first writing system for an Iranian language. Later adoption of the various forms of Aramaic script for other Iranian languages was also initiated by the Achaemenid use of Aramaic scribes.
In the matters of philosophy, it is conceivable to say that the multicultural Achaemenid society provided a fertile ground for the mutual affect of Indo-Iranian mind centred worldview and Semitic religious philosophy. Other effects of the Achaemenid Empires on religions such as Judaism, including the establishment of a monotheistic version of Judaism under the Achaemenid auspices in the hands of Ezra, are also worth noticing. Appearance of the concepts of hell, angels, halo, and such into Judaism can also be dated back to the Achaemenid times. Effects of Zoroastrian and Iranian philosophy on Greek philosophy, as well as introduction of new religious cults such as Mithraism into Greek culture are also worth noting.
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