Workshops

1. Achaemenid History: methods, approaches and interdisciplinarity

20 November 2010

Leaders: M.Jursa, W.Henkelman, A.Kuhrt, C.J.Tuplin, L.Allen

This workshop will occur towards the end of the preparatory linguistic stage; it will frame a series of questions about the current state of Achaemenid studies, in relation to the Arshama dossier.

2. Achaemenid Art, Text and Images.

29 January 2011

Leaders: D.Kaptan, J.Boardman, C.Draycott, M. Garrison

This will use the Arshama letter dealing with artists (already read in class) as an introduction to an examination of Arshama’s seal and of more general issues about the character (artistic and ideological) and the commissioning of “Achaemenid art”. The workshop will bring together archaeologists, art historians, historians, and philologists.

3. Achaemenid Egypt

5 March 2011

Leaders: L.Fried, G.Vittmann, C.J.Tuplin

This workshop will place the Arshama letters in their specific provincial context. Parallel material from Elephantine will be studied by L.Fried; G.Vittmann will lead a session on Demotic material that parallels and illuminates the Aramaic documents. C.J.Tuplin will sum up, with thoughts on dating the letters, post-revolt society in Achaemenid Egypt, and the value of the Egyptian test case.

4. Travel and Empire

14 May 2011

Leaders: W.Henkelman, M. Weszeli

This workshop starts from the “travel chit” included in the Arshama archive (already read in class). It will consider its relationship to processes reflected in the Persepolis Fortification Archive and to broader questions around the management of resources over extended geographical areas.

5. The Languages of Empire

4 July 2011

Leader: B.Porten, M.Jursa, J. Tavernier

The focus will be on socio-linguistics: the language of the Arshama letters; loan-words from Persian; workings and constitution of an imperial lingua franca. Parallel material will be considered from Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Iran and Bactria. Participants in the reading classes will present findings and questions from the previous two terms’ work.