Aršāma and his world : the Bodleian letters in context /
During the Second World War the Bodleian Library in Oxford acquired a set of Aramaic letters, eight sealings and the two leather bags in which the sealed letters were once stored. The letters concern the affairs of Arsama, satrap of Egypt in the later fifth century. Taken with other material associa...
| Other Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Oxford ; New York :
Oxford University Press,
[2020]
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| Edition: | First edition. |
| Series: | Oxford studies in ancient documents.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | During the Second World War the Bodleian Library in Oxford acquired a set of Aramaic letters, eight sealings and the two leather bags in which the sealed letters were once stored. The letters concern the affairs of Arsama, satrap of Egypt in the later fifth century. Taken with other material associated with him (mostly in Aramaic, Demotic Egyptian and Akkadian), they illuminate the Achaemenid world of which Arsama was a privileged member and evoke a wide range of social, economic, cultural, organizational and political perspectives, from multi-lingual communication, storage and disbursement of resources and satrapal remuneration, to cross-regional ethnic movement, long-distance travel, religious practice and iconographic projection of ideological messages. Though this material has not been hidden from view, it has been insufficiently explored. It is the purpose of the three volumes of 'Arsama and his World: The Bodleian Letters in Context' to provide the fullest presentation and historical contextualization of this extraordinary cache yet attempted. Volume I presents and translates the letters alongside a detailed line-by-line commentary, while Volume II reconstructs the two seals that made the clay bullae that sealed the letters, with special attention to Arsama's magnificent heirloom seal. Volume III comprises a series of thematic essays which further explore the administrative, economic, military, ideological, religious and artistic environment to which Arsama and the letters belonged. |
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| Physical Description: | 3 volumes ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and indexes. |
| ISBN: | 9780198860723 0198860722 9780199687640 0199687641 9780198860709 0198860706 9780198860716 0198860714 |