Past event
Quantification and the Persepolis Fortification Archive An exploratory workshop
With more than 15,000 original texts, the Persepolis Fortification Archive is one of the largest surviving governmental archives from the ancient world. The surviving texts date from the 13th to the 28th regnal years of Darius I (509 to 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 (for example, 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.
The workshop is an in-person only free event. All are welcome to attend. To register, please email [email protected].