Quantification and the Persepolis Fortification Archive: An Exploratory Workshop

mlwk

May 1

31 May 2024
Lapworth Lab, Irvine Building, St Andrews KY16 9AL

Hosted by the School of Classics
Organised by Rhyne King

Introduction

With over 15,000 original texts, the Persepolis Fortification Archive is one of the largest surviving governmental archives from the ancient world. The surviving texts date to the 13th to the 28th regnal years of Darius I (509-493 BCE), with the majority falling between regnal years 21 and 24. The archive records the extraction, storage, distribution, and consumption of staple foods and beverages in the region around Persepolis, in southwestern Iran. Because people across social strata received food from the imperial government, the archive provides information across society from the king and queens to the region's huge population of dependent workers.

The study of the Persepolis Fortification Archive has transformed the field of Achaemenid history over the past two decades. However, the archive remains ripe for future study. In particular, quantitative approaches may offer a novel way to place the information from the Persepolis Fortification Archive into new historical and comparative contexts. The size of the archive and the inherently quantitative nature of the information recorded in the texts (e.g. quantities of rations, numbers of workers, dates) lend themselves naturally to quantitative approaches. Some scholars have attempted preliminary quantitative studies to the Persepolis Fortification Archive, with approaches ranging from studies in temporal patterns of text production to social network analysis of seal usage.

The goal of this workshop is to bring together both experts in the Persepolis Fortification Archive and scholars experienced in quantitative methods to discuss new possibilities for approaching the historical study of the Persepolis Fortification Archive.

Programme

Session 1: Methods and Approaches

9:00 am – "Quantification and the Persepolis Fortification Archive: Approaches and Challenges",
Dr Rhyne King, University of St Andrews.

9:20 am – "Quantitative Approaches in Ancient History, "
Prof Myles Lavan, University of St Andrews.

9:40 am – Discussion.

10:00 am – Coffee Break.

Session 2: Animals and the Economy

10:30 am – "Sheep and Goats: Words vs. Numbers",
Prof Matthew W. Stolper, University of Chicago.

11:00 am – "Ducks in the Persepolis Fortification Archive",
Lu Yixin, École Pratique des Hautes Études.

11:30 am – Discussion

12:00 pm – Lunch

Session 3: Demography

1:30 pm – "Born in Parsa. Estimating the Birth Rate Using PFA 'Mothers' Rations' Texts",
Dr Gian Pietro Basello and Filippo Pedron, "L'Orientale" University, Naples.

2:00 pm – "Estimating the Population of Dependent Laborers (Kurtaš) in Eastern Pārsa",
Dr Rhyne King, University of St Andrews.

2:30pm – Discussion.

3pm – Coffee Break.