The Role and Function of the Money in the Persepolis Royal Economy

Authors

1 Visiting lecturer, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Luristan University, KhorramAbad, Iran.

2 Professor, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Mazandaran University, Babolsar, Iran

Abstract

Abstract
The administrative/economic organization of Persepolis is an example of a large and complex economic organization of the ancient world that has different sections and parts (including production, industrial, civil, service, agriculture, etc.). In terms of geographical area, this organization also covered the vast land of Persia and parts of Khuzestan. Its center and management center were in Persepolis/Kur River and specifically in Parsa. The organization’s driving force can be attributed to its vast manpower, consisting of skilled craftsmen, specialized workers, secretaries, and scribes, among others, who were employed in various departments. Another notable aspect of Persepolis’ economy, as documented in written sources, is the extensive volume of goods and exchange. A significant and somewhat ambiguous aspect of the royal economy in Persepolis is the role and function of money, both in the form of coins and uncoined currency. This article aims to assess and analyze this issue by utilizing archaeological findings, including the tablets found in Persepolis. The research approach employed is historical, with data gathered from library sources. As indicated by the Persepolis Fortifications and Treasury Tablets, surplus goods were exchanged at the conclusion of each year in storage facilities, with wages for laborers being paid either partially or fully in cash. The records suggest that the purpose of these cash transactions was to utilize a form of uncoined silver currency in varying weights and quantities. This monetary practice appears to have originated prior to the rule of Darius I and expanded during his reign, particularly during the era of the Treasury Tablets (492-458 BC). The recipients of cash payments primarily consisted of artisans, laborers, warehouse workers, and farmers. In addition to uncoined money, while there is evidence of coinage in Persepolis, it does not appear to have had a significant economic impact.
Keywords: Achaemenid Empire, Persepolis Royal Economy, Money, Silver, Persepolis Tablets.
Introduction
The Achaemenid kings, reigning from 550 to 330 BC, governed an extensive domain stretching from the Indus River Valley to North Africa, and from the Aral Lake to the Persian Gulf. This empire stood as the largest in the ancient world during that era. The economic framework of the territories under Achaemenid rule relied on six primary sources of revenue: land, unique regional products, commerce, tolls, livestock, and various other sources. Of these, the foremost and most crucial was the revenue generated from land, known at times as “Acphorion” or “Dekate”. Following this, the distinct products or assets of each region played a significant role. It may be gold in one area and silver, copper, or any other commodity in other places. The third pertained to revenue generated from businesses. The fourth involved taxes levied on land and trade. The fifth concerned the herds known as “Epicarpia” and the village. The tax collected from individuals, referred to as “gazette” tax and “industrial” tax, was identified as the sixth (Brian, 2002: 622-3). Based on the examination of false Aristotle’s text and various written sources, including classical historigraphies and manuscripts, it can be asserted that economic activities such as agriculture, animal husbandry, and trade experienced significant prosperity during this period. The region of Persepolis regarded these aforementioned components, particularly agriculture and animal husbandry, as the fundamental principles shaping its economy. Persepolis’ economic organization, known as such, encompassed a vast economic complex centered around Parsa. This complex comprised various sectors and activities. According to the information found in the Treasury Tablets, a portion of the wages designated for the human resources employed in different parts of the Persepolis economy were paid in cash. The Fortifications Tablets also provide evidence of cash exchanges. These cash payments and exchanges were conducted using uncoined silver money. Additionally, a number of coins have been discovered in the Apadana deposits in Persepolis. Some of the Fortification Tablets even bear signs of Achaemenid coins. Despite the significance of this topic, limited research has been conducted on the nature and function of money within the heart of the Achaemenid Empire. Therefore, this present research aims to study and analyze the aforementioned subject to the extent permitted by written sources and archaeological remains. The research has been compiled based on the examination of archaeological evidence, written records, and the evaluation of both.
Identified Traces 
During the excavations of the former Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, evidence of two square stone boxes was found in the Apadana deposits of Persepolis (the northeast and southeast front). Under each box, there was a collection of ancient coins. The northeastern collection contained four Croessed gold coins, a tetradrachm (Abdara) and a stater (Aegina). The southeast deposit also yielded a silver coin minted from Cyprus, a silver coin from Paphos?, a silver coin from Laptos?, and four late Croessede’s coins. This is the only collection. It represents one of the tangible coins discovered in Achaemenid Fars. These coins do not exhibit evidence of monetary circulation within the core region of the empire. Instead, they are no longer in economic use, with their symbolic and political significance outweighing their economic value (Tuplin, 2014: 129; Nimchuk, 2010). Several Persepolis Fortification Tablets (PFT 5114, 2053, and 1495) have used coin patterns as seals. In this case, the coins are not completely out of economic circulation, but they cannot be considered as money, and in fact, their use as money has stopped (Tuplin, 2014: 129). At the same time, the written documents of Persepolis (Perseolis Treasury Tablets) do not make any clear reference to coins (Tuplin, 2014: 130). Nevertheless, they provide valid signs based on which the circulation of money in the economic system of Persepolis can be discussed. In some Persepolis Fortifications Tablets, there is talk of a type of exchange called “šaumarraš”, which was based on the exchange of goods with unquestionable money. The treasury records also contain numerous documents about the payment and circulation of silver in the economy of Persepolis. A significant number of the tablets have recorded cash payments to work groups, livestock breeders, and other social classes, which clearly shows the importance of money in the economy of the region.
Conclusion 
Based on the available evidence and historical records, it can be concluded that money played a significant role in the economic structure of Persepolis. However, when compared to Achaemenid Babylon, the extent of this role was relatively limited due to the unique economic circumstances and distribution system in Persepolis. Excavations and data have revealed the presence of both minted and non-minted currency in Persepolis. Nevertheless, non-cash forms of currency were more commonly used in terms of circulation and economic transactions. The archives of Persepolis indicate that cash payments were primarily made to workers, including specialized artisans, laborers, and possibly animal breeders. Additionally, storekeepers engaged in the exchange of surplus warehouse products for money.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

- بریان، پیر، (1381). امپراتوری هخامنشی (جلد دوم). ترجمۀ ناهید فروغان. تهران، نشر فرزان.
- کرتیس، جان؛ و رزمجو، شاهرخ، (1392). «کاخ»، ترجمۀ خشایار بهاری. از کتاب: امپراتوری فراموش شده: فرهنگ، هنر و تمدن هخامنشیان، گردآورندگان: جان کرتیس و نایجل تالیس، تهران: نشر فرزان روز: 119-215.
- مدوز، آندره، (1392). «سازمان شاهنشاهی هخامنشی». ترجمۀ خشایار بهاری. از کتاب: امپراتوری فراموش شده: فرهنگ، هنر و تمدن هخامنشیان، گردآورندگان: جان کرتیس و نایجل تالیس، تهران: نشر فرزان روز: 377-431. 
- Alram, M., (2012). “The Coinage of the Persian Empire”. In: W.W. Metcalf (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage. New York: 61-87.
- Altmann, P., (2016). Economics in Persian-Period Biblical Texts: Their Interactions with Economic Developments in the Persian Period and Earlier Biblical Traditions. Berlin.
- Aperghis, G. G., (1997). “Surplus, exchange and price in the Persepolis Fortification tablets”. In: J. Andreau/P. Briant/R. Descat (eds.), Économie Antique. Prix et Formation des Prix dans les Économies Antiques. Saint-Bertrandde-Comminges: 277-290.
- Aperghis, G. G., (1998). “The Persepolis Fortification Tablets – Another Look”. In: Studies in Persian History: Essays in Memory of David M. Lewis. Edited by: M. Brosius and A. Kuhrt. Achaemenid History 11. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten: 35–62
- Aperghis, G. G., (1999). “Storehouses and Systems at Persepolis: Evidence from the Persepolis Fortification Tablets”. JESHO, 42: 152-193. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3632334
- Aperghis, G. G., (2000). “War Captives and Economic Exploitation: Evidence from the Persepolis Fortification Tablets”. In: J. Andreau / P. Briant / R. Descat (eds.), La Guerre dans les Économies antiques, Saint-Bertrand-de.
- Berian, P., (2002). The Acaemenid Empire (Vol II). Translated by: Nahid Foroghan. Tehran: Farzan Pubilcation (in Persian).. 
- Bivar, A. D. H., (1971). “A Hoard of Ingot Currency of The Median Period from Nūsh-i Jān, near Malayir”. Iran, 9: 97-111. https://doi.org/10.2307/4300441
- Bowman, R. A., (1970). Aramaic Ritual Texts from Persepolis. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
- Briant, P., (2002). From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Winona Lake.
- Cameron, G. G., (1948). Persepolis Treasury Tablets (OIP 65). Chicago. 
- Cameron, G. G., (1958). “Persepolis Treasury Tablets Old and New”. JNES 17/3: 161-176. https://www.jstor.org/stable/542884
- Cameron, G. G., (1965). “New Tablets from the Persepolis Treasury”. JNES, 24/3: 167-192.
- Curtis, J., (1984). Nush-i Jan III. The Small Find, London.
- Curtis, J. & Razmjou, Sh., (2010). “The Palace”. Translated by : Khashayar Bahari. in: Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia. Edited by John Curtis and Nigel Tallis. Tehran: Farzan-e- Rooz Publication: 119-215 (in Persian). 
- Dandamayev, M. A., (1975). “Forced Labour in the Palace Economy in Achaemenid Iran”. Altorientalische Forschungen, 2: 71–78. https://www.proquest.com/openview/9eb2535557e7b5822f7fc39f925c2d55/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1817267
- Dandamayev, (1986). “Some Babylonians in Ecbatana”. AMI, 19: 117-9.
- Descat, R., (1989). “Notes sur la politique tributaire de Darius Ier”. Pages 77–93 in Le tribut dans L’empire perse: actes de la table ronde de Paris, 12–13 décembre 1986. Edited by: P. Briant and C. Herrenschmidt. Paris: Peeters.
- Jursa, M., (2003). “Observations on the problem of the Median “empire” on the basis of Babylonian sources”. In: G. B. Lanfranchi et al., (eds.), Continuity of Empire: Assyria, Media, Persia. Padova: 169-179. 
- Jursa, M., (2005). “Money-Based Exchange and Redistribution: The Transformation of The Institutional Economy in first Millennium Babyloniya”. In: Ph. Clancier et al., (eds.), Autour de Polanyi: Vocabulaires, théories et modalités des échanges (Paris): 171-186. 
- Jursa, M., (2010). Aspects of the Economic History of Babylonia in the First Millennium BC. Economic Geography, Economic Mentalities, Agriculture, the Use of Money and the Problem of Economic Growth (AOAT 377). with contributions by J. Hackl, B. Janković, K. Kleber, R.B. Payne, C. Waerzeggers and M. Weszeli. Münster.
- Jursa, M., (2018). “Money, Silver and Trust in Mesopotamia: The first Millennium BC”. Chapter 5. In: R. J. van der Spek & Bas van Leeuwen (eds.), Money, Currency and Crisis. In Search of Trust, 2000 BC to AD 2000. Routlegde Explorations in Economic History 80, London and New York: Routledge: 102-131.  
- Koch, H. M. (1990). Verwaltung und Wirtschaft im persischen Kernland zur Zeit der Achämeniden. Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients. Reihe B, Geisteswissenschaften 89. Wiesbaden: Reichert.
- Kuhrt, A., (2007). The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period. London.
- Hallock, R.T., (1960). “A New Look at the Persepolis Treasury Tablets”. JNES 19/2: 90-100.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/543901
- Hallock, R. T., (1969). Persepolis Fortification Tablets (OIP 92). Chicago.
- Hallock, R. T., (1977). “The Use of Seals on the Persepolis Fortification Tablets”. In: Gibson, M C., & Biggs, R. D., (eds.) Seals and Sealing in the Ancient Near East: 129-131.
- Hallock, R. T., (1985). “The evidence of the Persepolis tablets”. In: I. Gershevitch (ed.), The Cambridge History of Iran II, Cambridge etc.: 588-609.
- Hartnell, T. M., (2012). “Persepolis in Context: A Landscape Study of Political Economy in Ancient Persia”. PhD Thesis, Department of Near Eastern Language and Civilizations, University of Chicago.
- Henkelman, W. F. M., (2005). “Animal Sacrifice and ‘External’ Exchange in the Persepolis Fortification Tablets”. In: H.D. Baker/M. Jursa (eds.), Approaching the Babylonian Economy. Proceedings of the Start Project Symposium Held in Vienna, 1-3 July 2004 (AOAT 330). Münster: 136-165.
- Henkelman, W. F. M., (2008). The Other Gods Who Are. Studies in Elamite-Iranian Acculturation Based on the Persepolis Fortification Texts (Achaemenid History 14). Leiden.
- Henkelman, W. F. M., (2012). “The Achaemenid heartland: An archaeological-historical perspective”. In: D.T. Potts (ed.), A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Oxford: 931-962. 
- Henkelman, W. F. M., (2013). “Administrative Realities: The Persepolis archives and the archaeology of the Achaemenid heartland”. In: D.T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, Oxford/New York: 528-546.
- Henkelman, W. F. M., (2017). “Imperial Signature and Imperial Paradigm: Achaemenid administrative structure and system across and beyond the Iranian plateau”. in: B. Jacobs, W.F.M. Henkelman and M.W. Stolper (edd.), Administration in the Achaemenid Empire – Tracing the Imperial Signature (Classica et Orientalia 17), Wiesbaden: 45-256.
- Henkelman, W. F. M., (2021). “Forthcoming, Local administration: Persia”. In: B. Jacobs / R. Rollinger (eds.), A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire, Chichester.
- Henkelman, W. F. M. & Kleber, K., (2007). “Babylonian Workers in the Persian Heartland: Palace Building at Matannan during the Reign of Cambyses”. In: C. Tuplin (ed.), Persian Responses. Political and Cultural Interaction with (in) the Achaemenid Empire. Swansea: 163-176.
- Hinz, W., (1973). Neue Wege im Altpersischen. Wiesbaden.
- Meadows, A., (2013). The Administration of the Achaemenid Empire, Translated by: Khashayar Bahari, in: Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia. Edited by: John Curtis and Nigel Tallis, Tehran: Farzan-e- Rooz Publication: 377-431 (in Persian). 
- Nimchuk, C. L., (2010). “Empire Encapsulated: The Persepolis Apadana foundation deposits”. In: J. Curtis / S.J. Simpson (eds.), The World of Achaemenid Persia: History, Art and Society in Iran and the Ancient Near East. London: 221-229.
- Razmjou, Sh., (2008). “Find Spots and Find Circumstances of Documents Excavated at Persepolis”. In: P. Briant, W.F.M. Henkelman, & M.W. Stolper (eds.), Les Archives des Fortifications de Persépolis dans le contexte de l’Empire achéménide et de ses prédécesseurs (Persika 12), Paris.
- Root, M. C., (1988). “Evidence from Persepolis for the Dating of Persian and Archaic Greek Coinage”. Numismatic Chronicle, 148: 1–12. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42668123
- Root, M. C., (1989). “The Persian archer at Persepolis: Aspects of chronology, style and symbolism”. Revue des études Anciennes, 91: 33–50. https://www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1989_num_91_1_4361
- Spek, R. J. van der., (2011). “The ‘Silverization’ of the Economy of the Achaemenid and Seleukid Empires and Early Modern China”. In: Z.H. Archibald/J.K. Davies/V. Gabrielsen (eds.), The Economies of Hellenistic Societies, Third to First Centuries BC. Oxford: 402-420.
- Stolper, M. W., (1984). “The Neo-Babylonian Text from the Persepolis Fortification”. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 43 (4): 299–310. https://www.jstor.org/stable/544845
- Stronach, D., (1968). “Tepe Nush-i Jan: A Mound in Media”. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, 27 (3): 77-186.
- Stronach, D., (1989). “Early Achaemenid Coinage: Perspectives from the Homeland”. Iranica Antiqua, 24: 255–83. https://www.proquest.com/openview/eca3cc900e1cfd70d9d4b4d99a90109a/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1818624
- Sttar, C. G., (1976). “A Sixth-Century Athenian Tetradrachm Used to Seal a clay Tablet from Persepolis”. The Numismatic Chronicle (1966), 16(136): 219-222. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42664797
- Tamerus, M., (2016). “Elusive Silver in the Achaemenid Heartland: Thoughts on the Presence and Use of Silver According to the Persepolis Fortification and Treasure Archives”. In: Silver, Money and Credit. A Tribute to Robartus J. van der Spek on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday / edited by Kristin Kleber & Reinhard Pirngruber. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten: 241- 294.
- Tavernier, J., (2007). Iranica in the Achaemenid Period (ca. 550-330 B.C.): A Lexicon of Old Iranian Proper Names and Loanwords, Attested in Non-Iranian Texts (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 158). Leuven.
- Tolini, G., (2008). “Les Travailleurs Babyloniens et le Palais de Taokè”. ARTA 2008.002.
- Tuplin, C., (2014). “The Changing Pattern of Achaemenid Persian Royal Coinage”. In: P. Bernholz / R. Vaubel (eds.), Explaining Monetary and Financial Innovation. A Historical Analysis. New York etc.: 127-168.
- Vargyas, P., (2008). “The Silver Hoard from Nush-i Jan Revisited”. Iranica Antiqua, XLIII: 167-183. DOI: 10.2143/IA.43.0.2024047
- Zadok, R., (1976), “On the Connections between Iran and Babylonia in the Sixth Century BC”. IRAN, 14: 61-78. https://doi.org/10.2307/4300544
- Zournatzi, A., (2003). “The Apadana Coin Hoards, Darius I and the West”. AJN, 15: 1–28. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43580364
pazhoheshha-ye Bastan shenasi Iran
Volume 14, Issue 40
June 2024
Pages 121-148

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics