Achaemenid The name commonly used by scholars to refer to the first Persian empire, founded by Cyrus II in 550 and destroyed by Alexander the Great in 330. Achaemenes was allegedly an ancestor of Cyrus and the founder of the Persian royal line. But the claim of a family link between Cyrus and Achaemenes, first made by Cyrus’ third successor Darius I (522—486), was almost certainly false (see under Persians). It none the less became an established part of Persian dynastic tradition, as attested in the inscriptions of Darius’ successors as well as in Classical sources.
Acropolis Highest area of a city built on, or partly on, a mound or mountain site, and often fortified separately from the rest of the city. It was generally the area where the palace of the city’s ruler was built.
Akkadian language Akkadian as a written language had fully evolved by the end of M3. Its main development no doubt took place during the period of the Akkadian empire (c. 2334—2193). Through much of M2, Akkadian was used widely throughout the western Asian world as an international language of diplomacy. Two main varieties of the language were recognized by its first decipherers — Assyrian and Babylonian. There were also a number of regional variants of the language, as illustrated, for example, by the Amarna letters.
Amarna archive A cache of clay tablets, now 382 in number, discovered in 1887 on the site of Tell el-Amarna (anc. Akhetaton) in Egypt, 300 km south of Cairo. Of the tablets 350 are letters, or copies of letters, exchanged by the pharaoh Amenhotep III (1390-1352) or his successor Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten (1352-1336) with foreign rulers or with the pharaoh’s vassal subjects in Syria—Palestine. The remaining thirty-two tablets consist of syllabaries, lexical lists, and mythological texts. With the exception of two pieces of correspondence in Hittite, one in Assyrian, and one in Hurrian, the Amarna documents are written in Akkadian. The total number of tablets actually discovered is unknown, since some of them were secretly sold off to private buyers soon after their discovery. It is estimated that the surviving tablets represent about 75 per cent of the original number found.
Aniconic Not bearing an image.
Antediluvian Mod. term meaning ‘before the flood’, used in reference to the ‘great flood’ attested in OT (Genesis 7, 8) and Mesopotamian sources. The Sumerian King List divides the allocation of the seat of kingship among the southern Mesopotamian city-states into two main periods, antediluvian and postdiluvian, i. e. the periods before and after the flood.
Apadana A Persian term for a columned building. Its use in Persian is perhaps largely
Confined to the most important of these buildings, notably the columned halls which formed part of the Achaemenid palace complexes. The best-known and best-preserved apadana is the great square Audience Hall at Persepolis. aphaeresize Remove a letter or syllable from the beginning of a word. apotropaic Having the power to ward off evil spirits or influences. appanage Used in this book in reference to a sub-kingdom on whose throne a supreme king has installed a member of his family. Thus the C14 Hittite king Hattusili III appointed his nephew Kurunta to the throne of the Hittite sub-kingdom of Tarhuntassa in southern Anatolia. ashlar masonry Walls built from precisely cut square or rectangular blocks of stone. Assyrian Colony period Term commonly used of the period in early M2 (C20—18) when the Assyrians established a series of merchant-colonies between Ashur and central and northern Anatolia. The headquarters of the merchant-colony network was the city of Kanesh/Nesa, located just south of the Kizil Irmak (Classical Halys) r.
Athenian Confederacy Alliance of Greek states formed in 477, under the leadership of Athens, following the abortive invasion of Greece by the Persian king Xerxes. The aim of the Confederacy was to provide a permanent defence for the Greek world against any further threat from Persia. The alliance is today commonly referred to as the Delian League, since its treasury was originally housed on the island of Delos in the Aegean. In 454 the treasury was transferred to Athens. The allied Greek states contributed ships to the Confederacy’s forces, or, in by far the larger number of cases, made an annual cash payment into the Confederacy’s treasury. From 454 onwards, the states paying cash contributions, and the amounts they paid, were recorded in what are called the Athenian Tribute Lists.
Avesta Corpus of M1 Iranian religious texts associated with the worship of the god Ahuramazda. According to tradition, the writings were revealed by the prophet Zoroaster (628—551). But only seventeen hymns, from the earliest part of the corpus, can be attributed to him.
Babylonian Chronicles Records of the Neo-Babylonian and Late Babylonian periods (extending from 747 to C2) contained in fifteen tablets or fragments, ed. and transl. in ABC, and in Chav. 407—26 (in the latter case, nos 1—7, the Neo-Babylonian Chronicles). Though the information they contain is often piecemeal and fragmentary, the chronicles are particularly important sources for the periods which they cover, since there are no royal annals of Babylonia to document these periods. They also contain useful supplementary information about Babylonia’s neighbours, notably Assyria and Elam, and their relations and conflicts with Babylonia. bit hilani The term used of public buildings, commonly found in Iron Age Syrian cities, in which a columned portico provides entry to a rectangular central room. (For further details, see Akkermans and Schwartz, 2003: 368-70.) boustrophedon Term derived from Classical Greek, literally meaning ‘as the ox turns (in ploughing)’. It is used with reference to inscriptions whose lines run alternately from right to left and left to right. bulla (plur. bullae) Lump of clay stamped with seal impression and attached to a document, as a label, certificate of authentication, etc. cartouche Oval frame containing the names and titles, in hieroglyphs, of Egyptian kings. The device was sometimes used by other peoples, including the Hittites.
Caryatid Greek term used of columns sculpted in the form of draped women. The concept is of Near Eastern origin. In the Greek world, the earliest examples date to mid C6.
Casemate wall Double fortification wall with partitioned sections in between.
Cella The inner sanctuary of a temple, where the statue of the deity was generally located.
Chogha see tell.
Cuneiform A modern designation for the script used in the western Asian world, primarily on clay tablets but also on other writing surfaces, over a period of several millennia. Cuneiform symbols were most commonly produced by pressing the triangular ends of reeds, cut from the banks of the Mesopotamian and other rivers, into soft clay. The term, meaning ‘wedge-shaped’, is derived from the Latin word cuneus, ‘wedge’.
Cyclopean Archaeological term used of fortifications and other structures made of very large, unworked, or only roughly worked, stones or boulders. The name was inspired by the giants of Greek mythological tradition called the Cyclopes, considered in myth to be the builders of the Greeks’ prehistoric citadels.
Cyrus Cylinder Clay cylinder found in Babylon in 1879 and now housed in the British Museum. Its text, written in Akkadian, was commissioned by Cyrus II and composed by a Babylonian priest or royal scribe. It deals principally with Cyrus’ conquest of Babylon. (For translations, see Brosius, 2000: 10—11, no. 12, Chav. 428-9, PE 70-2, no. 21.)
Daiva inscription (XPh) A trilingual inscription, in the Old Persian, Babylonian, and Elamite languages, inscribed on stone tablets and found in various copies in Persepolis and Pasargadae. It records the countries over which the Persian king Xerxes I (486-465) held sway, and pays homage to the god Ahuramazda. The name by which the inscription is commonly known comes from a reference which it makes to ‘demons’ (daivas) whose sanctuary was destroyed by Xerxes and replaced by a sanctuary to Ahuramazda. (For translations, see Brosius, 2000: 89, no. 191, PE 304-5, no. 88.)
Depas amphikypellon Homeric term meaning ‘double cup’, used in reference to a vessel shaped as a cup at both top and bottom. The term has been adopted into archaeological terminology to designate this distinctive type of pottery.
Dromos Entrance passageway to a burial chamber which has been built underground or cut into a hillside.
Early Dynastic period The name commonly used to designate the Sumerian period in Mesopotamian history, which began with the emergence of the Sumerian city-states c. 2900 and ended with the rise of the kingdom of Akkad c. 2334. Scholars generally divide the period into three main phases: ED I (c. 2900-2800), ED II (c. 2800-2600), and ED III (c. 2600-2334).
Eponym Lists and Eponym Chronicles (see Millard, 1994) The term ‘eponym’ refers to the Assyrian dating system whereby a year is named after the official who held the office of iTmu (q. v.) in that year. This system, which relied on the keeping of lists of consecutive eponym officials (Eponym Lists), was in use in Assyria from C19 until the end of the Assyrian empire in late C7. However, the coverage of this period by surviving Eponym Lists is by no means complete. For M1, a consecutive list of eponyms survives only for the period 910 to 649. From 648 on, eponym officials are known only from date-formulae in legal and administrative documents and their precise sequence is still disputed; the eponyms of this period are known as ‘post-canonical’. A related series of tablets, the so-called Eponym Chronicles, gives the name of the eponym official and his title, and mentions a significant event which took place during his eponymy.
(H. D. Baker)
Erythraean Sea Literary name for the Red Sea. In Herodotus (3.93) the term includes both the Arabian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.
Execration texts Texts found at Saqqara in Egypt, dating to late C19 and C18. They were inscribed on clay figurines of prisoners or on pottery vessels, and contained the names of the persons and cities regarded as the pharaoh’s enemies. The ritual breaking of them was believed to bring about the destruction of the persons or cities so named.
Extispicy Examination of animal entrails as a means of predicting the future.
Favissa Pit or underground repository for cultic objects and sacrificial remains.
Glacis A rampart of earth sloping down from the exterior walls of a number of cities and forming part of their fortifications.
Hecatomnid dynasty C4 Carian ruling family, whose power was backed by Persia. Its most notable member was Mausolus (377—353), son of Hecatomnus, who styled himself Persian satrap in his inscriptions.
Helladic Archaeological term used to designate the Bronze Age civilizations of mainland Greece.
Hippodamian The term used for a city layout which featured parallel intersecting streets forming a grid or chequerboard pattern. Hippodamus was born c. 500 in the city of Miletus on Anatolia’s western coast, and played a major role in the planning of a number of cities in the Greek world, including the Peiraeus, the port of Athens. He was not, however, the inventor of the street layout with which his name is so closely associated.
Hypogeum A subterranean chamber (e. g. burial chamber) of an anc. building.
King's Peace Negotiated end to the Corinthian War (395-386), fought against Sparta by an alliance of other Greek states and Persia. In accordance with the terms of the peace imposed by the Persian king Artaxerxes II, the Greek cities in Asia were ceded to Persia, along with Clazomenae (which had been relocated on an island in the Gulf of Smyrna) and Cyprus (Xenophon, Hellenica 5.1.31 = *PE 381, no. 47).
Kudurru Babylonian term conventionally used by scholars to refer to a particular class of inscribed upright stones, often embellished with reliefs, which are traditionally thought to have served as boundary markers for the privately held land whose title of ownership they recorded. In fact, it appears that the Babylonians themselves did not use the term kudurru to refer to these monuments; moreover, they most likely did not serve as boundary markers but were rather set up in temples. Approx. 160 Babylonian kudurrus have come to light in Babylonia and Susa (where they were taken following Elamite raids). They date from C14, during the period of Kassite rule, to C7. The majority of kudurrus of the Kassite period record grants of land conferred by the king on officials for services rendered to the crown.
(H. D. Baker)
Kurgan Russian term primarily meaning ‘fortress’, but commonly used in a Russian archaeological context to refer to barrows or burial-mounds, which overtop subterranean grave chambers. The term has been adopted as a cultural designation for a group of Indo-European peoples from southern Russia who used this form of burial. There is a theory that some of these peoples migrated into north-central Anatolia towards the end of M3 and established their dominance over the local Hattian population. It has been suggested that the Early Bronze Age ‘royal tombs’ unearthed at Alaca Hoyuk may reflect an immigrant Kurgan culture.
Lamelekh Term literally meaning ‘belonging to the king’, and used, generally in a Syro-Palestinian archaeological context, to refer to royal seals or seal impressions.
Itmu, limmu Term for a one-year office held by a high official or the king, whose name was then used to designate that particular year. For example, ‘eponymy of Nabu-sharru-usur, governor of Marqasa’ in the date-formula of a legal contract (*SAA XIV: 46-7, no. 45) indicates that the tablet was draw up in the year 682, when Nabu-sharru-usur held the office of eponym. This method of dating relies upon the keeping of lists giving the sequence of named eponym officials (see Eponym Lists and Eponym Chronicles).
(H. D. Baker)
Linear B The term used by Sir Arthur Evans to designate the script written on clay tablets (and in a few cases on vases) found in a number of Late Bronze Age Mycenaean palaces on the Greek mainland (particularly Pylos), and at Cnossus in Crete, dating to the period of Mycenaean occupation of the site (beginning c. 1400). By far the largest number of Linear B tablets - c. 3,000 - was unearthed at Cnossus. In the early 1950s, M. Ventris demonstrated that the script was an early form of Greek. This paved the way for Ventris’ decipherment of the inscriptions, which for the most part contain inventories of a range of items and personnel. The Linear A script which preceded Linear B was apparently used to write the Minoan language. Only a few hundred Linear A inscriptions, generally short and distributed over nine or more sites, have been discovered. They have yet to be deciphered.
Megaron Term for an architectural complex, attested in Homer and most commonly used to designate the main component of a Mycenaean palace. In a Mycenaean context, the megaron consisted of three parts: a portico or columned porch, a vestibule, and a main rectangular room with central hearth. The megaron no doubt served as the palace’s principal reception area. Prototypes of the megaron are found in a number of Near Eastern settings, both in houses and in public buildings. Their main feature is a large, rectangular room accessed through a columned porch.
Minoan Archaeological term coined by the archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans to designate the Bronze Age civilizations of mainland Crete. It was adopted from the name of the legendary king of Crete called Minos.
Mizpah Hebrew term meaning ‘watchtower’, associated with a number of places attested in OT sources. The place specifically referred to in each case is generally indicated by a city or regional name attached to the term: e. g. Mizpah of Benjamin, Mizpah of Gilead, Mizpah of Judah.
Mycenaean Term commonly used to designate the Late Bronze Age civilization of Greece. It was adopted by the C19 archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann from the name Mycenae, home of Agamemnon, leader of the Greek forces in the Trojan War.
Mycenae was the first major Late Bronze Age Greek site to be excavated, and has proved the richest of these sites in terms of its archaeological remains.
Nabonidus Chronicle The seventh in the Babylonian Chronicle series (q. v.), so named because of its coverage of events during the reign of the last Babylonian king, Nabonidus, from his accession in 556 to the destruction of the NeoBabylonian kingdom by the Persian king Cyrus II in 539. For translations of the document, see ABC 104—11, Chav. 418—20, PE 50—1, no. 1.
Necropolis Burial complex. The name literally means ‘city of the dead’.
Omride dynasty In OT tradition, a ruling dynasty of the kingdom of Israel, founded by Israel’s (alleged) sixth king Omri c. 876. Though the traditional view is that the dynasty lasted only c. thirty-five years, through the reigns of Omri and three of his descendants (Ahab, Ahaziah, and Jehoram/Joram), the Assyrians continued to refer to Israelite kings for the next hundred years as sons of Omri, and Israel itself as belonging to the house of Omri. A number of scholars argue that if there was ever a united kingdom of Israel, it should be assigned to the period of the Omride dynasty, and not to the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon as in OT tradition (see under Israel). There is, however, no certainty about the dates or the length of the Omride dynasty.
Orthostats Large, upright rectangular slabs of stone commonly used to revet the bases of city walls and public buildings, and sometimes decorated with relief sculptures.
Ostracon (pl. ostraca) Piece of broken pottery used as a surface for writing and drawing.
Palaestra Wrestling school or ground, place of training for athletes.
Papyrus Harris The longest known papyrus from Egypt, with some 1,500 lines of text, covering the entire reign of the pharaoh Ramesses III (1184—1153). The papyrus was discovered in a tomb near Deir el-Medineh, and named after its collector, A. C. Harris. It was compiled by Ramesses III’s son and successor Ramesses IV, and provides one of our two chief sources of information on the Sea Peoples’ onslaught on Egypt during Ramesses III’s reign. (The inscriptions on the walls of Ramesses’ temple at Medinet Habu provide the other source.)
Peloponnesian War The name commonly used for the war which broke out in 431 between the Greek states Athens and Sparta, supported by their respective allies. The war ended with Sparta’s victory in 404.
Pentapolis Greek term meaning ‘five cities’. It is used in an OT context to refer to a league of five Philistine cities, each with its own ruler — the ‘five lords’. The cities were Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron (Joshua 13:3).
Peraea ‘Territory opposite, and controlled and often economically exploited by, an island’ (OCD). The Rhodian Peraea consisted of territories which the island of Rhodes controlled on the Anatolian mainland opposite.
Peristyle A courtyard surrounded by a roofed colonnade.
Postdiluvian see antediluvian.
Protome Sculpture depicting the forepart of an animal.
Province of the Commander-in-Chief Neo-Assyrian designation. From the time of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (858—824) onwards, a number of Assyrian provinces are attested which were attached to some of the highest offices of the land (the officials themselves are sometimes called the ‘magnates’, hence collectively the ‘provinces of the magnates’). Probably this arose out of a reform of the provincial system by Shalmaneser III himself. These new provinces were all in key border regions. Therefore ‘Province of the Commander-in-Chief’ indicates the province attached to the commander-in-chief. Postgate has described these provinces as: ‘ex officio governorates, provinces which were habitually attached to the major offices of the state’.
(H. D. Baker)
Sargonic period Referring to the reign of the Akkadian king Sargon (2234—2279).
Satrap's revolt An uprising in the 360s by a number of Persia’s western Anatolian satraps against Persian rule, during the reign of Artaxerxes II (404—359). The rebellion, one of a number of satrapal uprisings in C4, is attested by Diodorus (15.90-1). Its duration remains uncertain (366 to 360?).
Satrapy For administrative and revenue-gathering purposes, the Persian Achaemenid (q. v.) empire was divided into a number of provinces, called satrapies. The term comes from Old Persian xsagapavan, which designates the governor or satrap, literally ‘the protector of the realm’, who administered the satrapy on behalf of the Persian king. One of the satrap’s tasks was to gather the annual tribute assessed for each satrapy and payable by it to the king. In addition to the tribute, the king also received annual gifts from the satrapies, as depicted by the procession of gift-bearers on the Grand Staircase of the Audience Hall (Apadana) at Persepolis. States and peoples on the periphery of the Persian empire who enjoyed a semi-autonomous status may have been exempted from tribute payment, their contributions to the royal treasury limited to annual gift payments. Persis, the core region of the empire, was also exempted from tribute payments, but was obliged to pay tax to the king. The inscriptions of Darius I list on five occasions the lands constituting the Persian empire at the time of his accession in 522. The earliest of the lists (*DB 6) names twenty-three countries (see Brosius, 2000: 78 for the list). The other lists have small variations on this. Unfortunately, none of the Persian sources indicates which lands paid tribute or how high their payment was. Hence some importance has been attached to the list of ‘satrapies’ provided by the C5 Greek historian Herodotus (3.89-94), who groups the states and peoples of the empire into twenty provinces and states the amount each pays either as tribute or as gifts. But a number of scholars have pointed out that the Herodotean list is misleading and historically unreliable, and that it refers not to the satrapies of the empire but to administrative and fiscal districts within it. There are omissions from the list when compared with Persian sources, and it groups together into provinces various peoples and lands which are separately listed in Darius’ inscription at Bisitun.
Shishak The OT name of the Egyptian king Sheshonq (Shoshenq) I (945-924), founder of Egypt’s twenty-second dynasty.
Stele (pl. stelae) Upright stone slab or pillar, on whose surface inscriptions and relief sculptures were generally carved.
Sudburg inscription Late Bronze Age Luwian hieroglyphic inscription carved in the interior of one of the chambers of a two-chambered cult complex discovered in the Hittite capital Hattusa in 1988. The inscription records the military exploits in southern Anatolia of the last Hittite king Suppiluliuma II (1207-). It is accompanied by reliefs depicting the king and a deity. (For a translation, see Hawkins, 1995: 23.)
Sukkalmah Term first attested in M3 Mesopotamian texts as the title of a high-ranking official (sometimes equated to a ‘grand vizier’), most notably in documents of the Ur III administration (C21). It was subsequently the name used of the members of a royal dynasty — the so-called sukkalmah dynasty — which came to power in Anshan in early M2 and ruled Elam for several hundred years.
Synoecism Term adopted from Classical Greek to indicate the process whereby a number of small settlements in a region are amalgamated into a single administrative unit with an urban centre.
Talent Originally a Persian weight measure which was adopted by the Greeks and used in their monetary systems. Several different weight standards were in operation in the Greek world, the principal ones being the Attic-Euboic standard, in which the talent weighed 25.86 kg, and the Aeginetic standard, in which it weighed 37.80 kg. The talent was the largest monetary unit used by the Greeks. Smaller units were the mina (one-sixtieth of a talent) and the drachma (one-hundredth of a mina). The actual monetary value of a talent depended on the metal of which it was composed, generally silver. Contributions made by most members of the Athenian Confederacy (q. v.) to the Confederacy’s treasury were assessed in silver talents.
‘Tawagalawa' letter Letter written in mid C13 by a Hittite king to a king of Ahhiyawa. Neither the author’s nor the addressee’s name has survived. Most scholars believe that the former is Hattusili III. The letter is concerned primarily with the activities of a certain Piyamaradu, responsible for causing major disruptions in the Hittites’ subject territories in western Anatolia. Tawagalawa is attested briefly in the letter as the brother of the Ahhiyawan king. Scholars long ago dubbed the document the Tawagalawa letter on the mistaken assumption that Tawagalawa played a major role in the events recorded in the letter.
Telipinu Proclamation The name given by scholars to a decree issued by the Hittite king Telipinu (1525—1500), proclaiming fixed principles for the royal succession. The relevant clauses are preceded by a lengthy preamble which summarizes the history of the Hittite monarchy from the time of its earliest kings.
Tell Arabic word for an artificial mound containing one or more levels of an anc. settlement. The Turkish equivalent is hoyuk, the Iranian chogha.
Temenos Sacred walled precinct enclosing one or more temples.
Theriomorphic Having the form of an animal.
Tholos (pl. tholoi) Term used, most commonly in a Classical Greek architectural context, for a circular building. In a Mycenaean context, tholos is used to designate a stone-built tomb, sometimes freestanding and sometimes cut into a hillside, with a circular base and domed roof.
Ubaid The name given by the Mesopotamian archaeologist C. L. Woolley to a prehistoric culture phase in Mesopotamian history, extending roughly from mid M6 to the end of M5. Woolley adopted the name from the site in southern Mesopotamia now known as Ubaid, located on the Euphrates r. 6 km west of Ur. Painted ceramic ware unearthed on the site was also found at a number of other sites in both northern and southern Mesopotamia. Ubaid thus became a type-site for the period and the culture which its pottery represents.
Udjahorresnet Egyptian official working for the Persian administration in Egypt during the reigns of the Persian kings Cambyses II and Darius I. Formerly serving as a naval commander in the Egyptian fleet prior to the Persian conquest of Egypt, he wrote an autobiography which was inscribed on a statue of himself. The statue is thought to have been set up originally in the temple of Osiris at Sais in the western Delta of Egypt. It is now in the Vatican Museum in Rome. The autobiography provides an account of Udjahorresnet’s career in the service of his Persian overlords. (For translations of the text, see Brosius, 2000: 15, no. 20, PE 118, no. 11.)
Wadi Generally dry watercourse which becomes swampy or waterlogged in wet seasons.
Ziggurat The term, Akkadian in origin, used of the stepped, pyramidal-type structures, with square or rectangular bases, found at a number of sites in Mesopotamia. Each was a solid brick structure, surmounted by a temple dedicated to a particular deity. Access to the summit was via an external (sometimes triple) staircase or a ramp. The earliest ziggurat dates to c. 2200, the latest to c. 550. Ziggurats were first built by the Babylonians and later by the Assyrians. The best-preserved example was constructed by Ur-Nammu, founder of the Ur III dynasty, c. 2110. Ziggurats were not confined to Mesopotamia. There is also a well-preserved Late Bronze Age example, dating to C13, on the site of the Elamite city now known as Chogha Zanbil in southwestern Iran.
World History
