(In)Visible Aramaic Documents and the Achaemenid Empire

Abstract

Documents from Egypt, Yehud, Samaria, and Bactria attest to Aramaic’s status as an imperial and cosmopolitan language. It was used for a variety of documentary and scholastic needs by multiple communities living within the confines of the Achaemenid Empire (continuing for some groups into the early Hellenistic period). Inspired by Seth Sanders’ proposal that “the invisibility of Aramaic scribal culture” (2017: 196) contributed to Aramaic’s utility as an imperial language, my paper will focus on the actual (in)visibility of Aramaic documents in literary texts of the Persian and early Hellenistic periods. Specifically, I will focus on the forms or details of Aramaic documents depicted in literary texts such as Ahiqar, the Behistun papyrus, and in tales about the Achaemenid Empire or other imperial courts found in the Hebrew Bible and among the Dead Sea Scrolls. For example, while the Elephantine version of Ahiqar emphasizes Ahiqar’s role as scribe and keeper of the royal seals, references to physical documents or specific document types are notably absent from the story. On the other hand, Aramaic correspondence between the Achaemenid king Artaxerxes, Achaemenid officials, as well as local Judean representatives are described in the biblical book of Ezra explicitly as “documents” (nishtewan), “letters” (iggrah), or “copies” (parshegen). Documentation and writing were foundational to the Achaemenid Empire and literary variations in the (in)visibilities of such documentation should shed light on different communities’ respective conceptions of imperial bureaucracy, law, and power.