The Hellenistic Settlements in the East from Armenia and Mesopotamia to Bactria and India. Getzel M. Cohen

ou wusun, conduit à la nécessité d’une interpretation des suites de caractères formant des noms, des toponymes ou des ethnonymes; l’interpretation du traducteur ou du lecteur doit tenir compte de l’évolution de la langue chinoise, les caractères n’ayant généralement plus, de nos jours, la même prononciation que sous les Han. La confusion entre des caractères interchangeables ou graphiquement proches et l’usage de caractères différents mais de prononciation identiques ou similaire dans l’antiquité, mais aujourd’hui distincts, combinés avec des erreurs de copistes ou des erreurs d’éditeurs, peut conduire à des graphies aux sonorités très éloignées de tout nom connu ou probable” (442–43). For these reasons—and in the present stage of our knowledge—the Chinese sources should be used, with caution, primarily for illustrative rather than probative purposes.

      1. In general for the literary sources see Cohen, Settlements in Europe 4–8. For the literary sources relating to the Middle Euphrates see Gaborit and Leriche in Geographica Historica 167–200; Gaborit, Géographie historique 167–98. For the sources relating to the Persian Gulf area see Teixidor in Materialien 289–94.

      2. In general for the archaeological evidence for the Middle Euphrates see Gaborit, Géographie historique 299–379.

      3. See, for example, L. Hannestad, Ikaros 2:1 84; Potts, Mesopotamian Civilization 296–300; P. Monsieur, R. Boucharlat, and E. Haerinck, IrAnt 46 (2011) 180.

      4. See Cohen, Settlements in Syria 9–10 and literature cited there.

      5. See Cohen, Settlements in Syria 8–9.

      6. See especially www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/chron00.html; Van der Spek, Reallexikon s.v. “Seleukiden, Seleukidenreich” (bibliography, pp. 382–83).

      7. Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte im Bereiche der keilschriftlichen Rechtsquellen (Oslo, 1931) 132.

      8. On the “Graeco-Babyloniaca” texts see E. Sollberger, Iraq 24 (1962) 63–72; M. J. Geller, ZA 73 (1983) 114–20; id., ZA 87 (1997) 43–95; id. in Babylon: Focus mesopotamischer Geschichte 377–83; J. A. Black and S. Sherwin-White, Iraq 46 (1984) 131–40; Oelsner in Materialen 239–44.

      9. See especially Geller, ZA 87 (1997) 43–64; contra: A. Westenholz, ZA 97 (2007) 262– 313, especially 292–309. On the limited nature of Hellenization in Babylonia and the persistence of Babylonian culture, see, for example, Oelsner in Ideologies 183–96.

      10. L. T. Doty, Mesopotamia 13–14 (1978) 91–98; Invernizzi in Ancient Archives 311–12.

      11. See Doty, CA 151f., 308f.; M. W. Stolper, ZA 79 (1989) 80ff.; Sherwin-White and Kuhrt, Samarkhand 153f.; Oelsner in Archives 101–12.

      12. Doty, CA 31ff.; G. J. P. McEwen, Texts from Hellenistic Babylonia in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 1982); S. Sherwin-White, JNES 42 (1983) 265–70.

      13. Doty, CA 194–96; S. Sherwin-White, JNES 42 (1983) 266.

      14. Of course, other cuneiform documents provide historical information concerning, for example, Alexander, the successors of Alexander, and the Seleucid rulers. (See, for example, A. J. Sachs and D. J. Wiseman, Iraq 16 [1954] 202–11; Grayson, ABC pp. 24ff., pp. 115ff.; R. J. van der Spek, Ach. Hist. 13 [2003] 289–346; livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/chron00.html; J. Lendering, livius.org/di-dn/diaries/astronomical_diaries.html.) The information from these documents frequently allows a more precise dating of certain historical events. For example, the duration of Seleukos Nikator’s expedition to Europe and the date of his death in August/September 281 B.C. have been more accurately fixed as a result of the cuneiform evidence (Sachs and Wiseman, Iraq 16 [1954] 205–6; Sherwin-White, JNES 42 [1983] 266f.). For Seleukos’s final expedition, see also the cuneiform ABC 12 (and commentary by Grayson, ABC p. 27) = BCHP 9 (and commentary by R. J. van der Spek) = CM 33.

      15. See A. J. Sachs and H. Hunger, Astronomical Diaries; and livius.org/di-dn/diaries/astronomical_diaries.html.

      16. See especially Sachs and Hunger, Astronomical Diaries 1:11–38; R. J. van der Spek, BiOr 50 (1993) 91–101; id., AfO 44/45 (1997/1998) 167–75; R. J. van der Spek and C.A Mandemakers, BiOr 60 (2003) 521; M. J. Geller, BSOAS 53 (1990) 1–7; J. Lendering, “Astronomical Diaries” in livius.org/di-dn/diaries/astronomical_diaries.html; Heller, Das Babylonien 81–87. See also P. Bernard, BCH 114 (1990) 513–41.

      17. For a study of Babylonian prices see Slotsky, Bourse of Babylon; P. Vargyas, A History of Babylonian Prices in the First Millenium B.C., vol. 1, Prices of the Basic Commodities (Heidelberg, 2001); and the review of Van der Spek and Mandemakers, BiOr 60 (2003) 521–38 (bibliography, pp. 533–34).

      18. For Babylonian chronicles see especially Grayson, ABC pp. 1–28. For further discussion and the secondary literature dealing with Babylonian chronicles see http://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/chron_literature.html.

      19. Grayson, ABC 1–13; I. Finkel and R. J. van der Spek, Babylonian Chronicles of the Hellenistic Period ( = BCHP), in http://www.livius/Mesopotamia; and J. Lendering, http://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/chron00.html. See also (earlier) S. Smith, BHT.

      20. ABC p. 8.

      21. In general see M. Rostovtzeff, YCS 3 (1932) 5–91; Aymard, Etudes 178–81 ( = REA 40 [1938] 5–9); Wallenfels, Uruk 1–5; id. in Archives 113–29 (URUK); Naster in Essays Thompson 215–19 (URUK); Invernizzi in Arabie orientale 27–30; id. in Ancient Archives 302–20; Oelsner in Archives 101–12 (BABYLON); Mollo in Sceaux d’ Orient 89–107 (SELEUKEIA on the Tigris).

      22. Sealings of the kind found in Babylonia have thus far not been found in excavations in northern Mesopotamia; see Invernizzi in Ancient Archives 309. In 1932, Rostovtzeff observed that not one bulla had been found at DOURA EUROPOS (YCS 3 [1932] 17 and n. 14). He also noted that “no clay medallions with seal-impressions were found at Dura and … no one of the parchments and papyri found at Dura shows any traces of ever having been sealed.” Note, however, P. Dura 28, a parchment that was found in February 1933 that contains a Syriac deed of sale dated to 243 A.D.; it has a seal with an image that has been identified as that of Gordian III. In a personal communication Pierre Leriche, who has excavated at Doura Europos since 1986, informs me that during the Franco-Syrian excavations “on n’a pas trouvé d’empreinte de sceaux” there.

      23. SIOS 2, referring to Rostovtzeff, YCS 3 (1932) 24.

      24. YCS 3 (1932) 23f.

      25. Rostovtzeff, YCS 3 (1932) 9, 18. Rostovtzeff, YCS 3 (1932) 9, 18.

      26. See Rostovtzeff, YCS 3 (1932) 26–48 (catalogue) and 3–25, 49–91; McDowell, SIOS 36–126 (catalogue), 25–35, 127–208. For the sealings found at SELEUKEIA on the Tigris, see that entry, n. 12.

      27. Rostovtzeff, YCS 3 (1932) 72–91.

      28. YCS 3 (1932) 25; and A. Invernizzi, AAAS 21 (1971) 105f.

      29. For bullae found at Seleukeia see SELEUKEIA on the Tigris and n. 12; on the terracotta figurines, see that entry, n. 25.

      30. McDowell, SIOS 209–20; A. Invernizzi, AAAS 21 (1971) 105f.; and id. in Arabie orientale 28f.; for illustrations of bullae and sealings, see, for example, Rostovtzeff, YCS 3 (1932) pls. following p. 114; McDowell, SIOS, pls. at end; Invernizzi in Ach. Hist. 8:357.

      31. Invernizzi in Ach. Hist. 8:353ff.

      32. See SELEUKEIA on the Tigris, n. 12.

      33. Cf. Rostovtzeff, YCS (1932) 90–91; and Sherwin-White and Kuhrt, Samarkhand 149.

      34. B. Haussoullier, Klio 9 (1909) 352–53 = SEG 7:39 = I. Estremo Oriente 107; see also Sherwin-White and Kuhrt, Samarkhand 157.

      35. For the absence or paucity of stone or marble in the Middle East and the challenge this presented to the Greeks wishing to inscribe something see Haussoullier, Klio 9 (1909) 11.