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

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СКАЧАТЬ of the relatively small number of colonists in the region. Of course, it is also true, as Narain has observed, that the Greek settlers in Bactria were never able to establish a monolithic, dynastic state there as, for example, the Seleucids or the Ptolemies did in the regions under their control.⁴⁶ In any event, the general paucity of Greek inscriptions is puzzling, especially when it is contrasted with the number and high quality of the coins that were minted by the Greeks in Bactria. But whether this reflects the relatively small population of settlers, the nature of central governmental control (or absence, thereof), or chance is—as Bernard noted—impossible to say.

      Finally, some Aramaic inscriptions have also been discovered in Bactria.⁴⁷

      Regarding Chinese sources, D. D. Leslie and K. H. J. Gardiner observed: “Authenticity and dating of western classical sources are reasonably (but by no means finally) established, and the identification of most of the place-names accepted. As these sources deal with far away places they grow less and less reliable and by the time we get to China their knowledge is slight indeed. The same is true in reverse for the Chinese sources. Authenticity and dates have been queried, and the identifications of place-names in Central Asia and even more so in western Asia are still the subject of considerable debate . . . with no real consensus to be seen.”⁴⁸ F. Thierry also discussed the difficulties and challenges of translating, understanding, and interpreting the Chinese sources.⁴⁹ The difficulties are manifold. Thierry noted, for example: “Il est évident que des passages des textes chinois ont été corrumpus par les compilateurs et par les éditeurs, mais aussi par les auteurs eux-mêmes qui n’ont pas compris les documents originaux et qui les ont interprétés” (435). “La question des noms propres, des ethnonymes et des toponymes n’est pas le moindre des dangers des textes chinois” (437). “Enfin, dans certains cas, les auteurs chinois n’ont pas transcript, mais traduit le nom du pays ou du personnage” (439). “L’usage des idéogrammes chinois fondés sur une phonétique particulière, étrangère à celle des langues ouralo-altaïques ou indo-européennes, pour transcrire les mots xiongnu, yuezhi-kouchans sogdiens 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 СКАЧАТЬ