The Composition of the Rabatak Inscription (original) (raw)

Commentary, Contextualisation and Interpretation of the Bactrian Inscriptions of the Kušān Period

2024

The present work studies the historical contexts of the Bactrian inscriptions of the Kušān period and attempts to extract the historical information of this epigraphic corpus by contextualising it with related sources. Following an introduction on the historical backgrounds and the problem of Kušān chronology, four main topics are studied: (1) The linguistic and literary contextualisation of the texts, (2) the titulature of the Kušān emperors in the inscriptions, (3) the religious aspects of the inscriptions and their 527 contexts and (4) the information on the expansion and administration of the Kušān Empire which are described here as the “Imperial Strategy”. (1) shows that Bactrian was reduced to writing in the early Kušān period to facilitate its use as an imperial means of communication. This process involved individuals who spoke Greek and probably identified themselves as such. This becomes apparent from various attempts to solve problems arising from writing Bactrian in Greek script, which is phonetically unsuited for this language. An epigraphical analysis of the corpus of inscriptions further shows that by the time of Huviška, the Kušān attempted to standardise and simplify Bactrian orthography at the cost of grammatical complexity. The inscriptions contain only little material for literary analysis, but a sense of style is apparent from several passages that can be related to the inscriptions of the Achaemenid, Arsakid and Sāsānian periods. This proves that the Bactrian inscriptions of the Kušān are part of the literary history of Iran. (2) shows that the Kušān had already established a canon of imperial titles under their founder Kujula Kadphises that was only subject to marginal change afterwards. The titles are largely taken from the Bactrian tradition and originate in the Hellenistic period. The Bactrian titles were mostly translated from Greek forms current in Bactria for several centuries. A few Kušān novelties in the repository of titles are probably attributable to Chinese and Roman influence. (3) adds a study of the deities appearing on Kušān coins to explain the religious information from the inscriptions. It becomes clear that the Kušān religion appearing in epigraphic, numismatic and archaeological sources is influenced by various religious ideas in the empire, but contrary to long-standing opinions by researchers, it did not intend to portray the religious diversity of the empire. Rather, the Kušān emperors Kaniška I and Huviška assembled various groups of deities for political ideas. The 528 Rabatak Inscription shows that such groups were also the subject of collective cults. The only known parallel to this practice in the Iranian world is possibly the cult of the Commagenean king Antiochos I. This also includes the deification of the living emperor and his predecessors, for which the epigraphic and iconographic material provides indicators that can no longer be doubted. The present work cannot, however, trace the origins of this practice. (4) first examines the expansion of the Kušān Empire from the literary and archaeological sources. An excursus of sorts then examines the long-standing claim that Kušān expansion was primarily motivated by the interest of gaining control of long-distance trade routes. Further, the related idea of a Roman influence exerted mainly through trade on the foundations of the Kušān Empire is evaluated critically. The result is that these elements have been strongly overrated by researchers and the strategy of the Kušān does not display any sort of predominant commercial interests. Roman influence on the Kušān which is mostly observable in the material culture, also seems to have only been superficial. Following these investigations, the second part of (4) is concerned with the inner structure of the Kušān Empire and its administration. The main group of sources are administrative titles from Kušān inscriptions. Titles in Bactrian inscriptions and Iranian titles in Indian inscriptions show that, apart from the top layer of the imperial court, it is hard to argue for a centralised imperial administration of the empire. It would have been expected in such a case that Bactrian administrative titles would have been spread throughout the empire during its expansion. However, the Iranian titles in Indian inscription rather seem to be part of the Achaemenid legacy there, as they can best be etymologised as Old Persian. In place of a summary, a new narrative of Kušān history has been proposed. The dissertation also includes an appendix with a catalogue of the Bactrian inscriptions of the Kušān and a glossary of these inscriptions.

The Bukân Aramaic Inscription: Historical Considerations

A fragment has recently been published of a monumental Aramaic inscription unearthed in excavations near Buk?n, southeast of Lake Urmia, in the region known during the period of the Assyrian Empire as the land of Mannaea.1 Only 13 lines of the inscription have survived (see also pp. 105-115). They contain curses to be inflicted by the gods Hadad and Haldi on the land of the king who would remove the inscription from its place.2 Clear parallels of these curses are found in the Aramaic inscriptions from Sefire and Tell Fekherye, as well as in the Hebrew Bible, in the Books of Leviticus and Jeremiah.3 The literary expressions and metaphors clearly indicate that the inscription is deeply rooted in the West-Semitic cultural milieu, that it was originally composed in Aramaic, and that it is not an Aramaic translated version of a bilingual inscription whose linguistic and literary origins were Assyrian or Urartian. The face of the stone on which the inscription is engraved is flat and does not seem to be part of a relief.4 From the size of the stone (80x150 cm.), one may presume that the full inscription was at least double the size. If, indeed, it was bilingual, its size would have been even larger. (Admittedly, the likelihood that the inscription under discussion is bilingual is slight: in Ancient Near Eastern multilingual inscriptions ? such as those from Tell Fekherye [Assyrian and Aramaic], Karatepe [Phoenician and Luwian], Topzaw? [Urartian and Assyrian] and Xanthos [Greek, Aramaic and Lycian] ? at least one version is rendered in the local language. This condition is not met in the Buk?n inscription since, as shown 1 A. Lemaire: Une inscription aram?enne du VIIIe S. av. J.-C. trouv?e ? Buk?n (Azerba?djan iranien), Studia Iranica 27 (1998), pp. 15-30. In fact, the text published in this paper is a combination of two fragments: the larger one was unearthed in an archaeological excavation, while the smaller one was purchased in the antiquities market.

Reading, Revising and Reviewing the Kufic Inscriptions on the Caravanseries of Khorasan Razavi

Bagh-e Nazar, 2021

Problem statement: Kufic inscriptions of Islamic architecture are considered the ancient era masterpieces of Iran and the Islamic world. Some of the Caravanseries in Razavi Khorasan province are counted among superb monuments in terms of decorations and architecture. However, the antiquity of some of them has not yet been well analyzed. Monumental inscriptions are often the most outstanding architectural elements that can direct the researchers through their endeavors from various viewpoints. Therefore, we deemed it critical to review the inscriptions under the study in terms of the scripts, objectives, various calligraphy types, etc., and determine their impacts on the identity of the monuments of interest. Research objective: This study tries to comparatively review the inscriptions, scan the obscure ones, and correct the erroneous scanning of some others. In this spirit, the authors focused their efforts on presenting advice on the recreation of the inscriptions found at Robat (a small fortification built along a frontier) Mahi excavation site. They determined some of the monuments' ages through a critical approach toward inscriptions scanning by employing the surviving texts and shreds of evidence. Research method: The present study was conducted through survey and archeological research methods. First, the inscriptions were recorded using the survey investigations. Then it was attempted to accurately identify the events of the past to further clarify the historical, political, and economic identities of the monuments under investigation through library research, verification of the firsthand resources, evidence gathered by the past photographers, and then through data analysis and classification, following the historical approach. Conclusion: This study revealed that the writing structure of the Kufic inscriptions was based on the early Kufic scripts with diverse writing styles and that the artists have employed the decoration factor in conveying their message. The placement of the inscriptions in the predetermined spaces is in abundant congruity and harmony with their associated monuments. A reason for inscribing the scripts has been to serve religious purposes. Some advice was then made for age determination of Caravanseries of Ziarat, Mahi, and Sharaf sites after scanning and reading some of the inscriptions.

Abar Rōdestān ī Babēl: The Zoroastrian Tradition – the dēn – in Sasanian and Early Islamic Times

Encounters by the Rivers of Babylon: Scholarly Conversations between Babylonians, Iranians, and Jews in Antiquity, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014

Jewish-Iranian encounters in ancient times. The Iranian religious oral and written traditions The use of Gathic phraseolgy in the Videvdad (Vendidad) and the Achaemenid inscriptions. Scholarly discussions about pollution in the Pahlavi literature from late Sasanian times.