Ancient Persia and Its Context 2

What is the Persepolis Fortification Archive?

A collection of tens of thousands of cuneiform tablets.

What is one way artifacts and texts from ancient Persia have been destroyed?

Alexander the Great burned Persepolis, destroying buildings that held precious records

What is the language previously thought to be used in Achaemenid administration records?

Aramaic

How did Shirazi link Achaemenid rulers to Shahnama counterparts?

By reading the cuneiform inscriptions.

Who copied the inscriptions at Persepolis?

Carsten Niebuhr, a Danish explorer.

What new technology can assist in studying old and new artifacts?

DNA and electron microscopes

What is a language in which a record was discovered among the Persepolis tablets

Elamite

What were some of Herodotus' themes?

Freedom versus slavery and democracy versus empire.

Why did Persian history as told by Greeks present a problem?

Greeks called Persians Barbarians, and a lot of the Greek history of the Persian Empire was a mixture of fact and fiction

How did Herodotus portray the Greeks and Persians?

Greeks represented freedom and democracy, Persians represented slavery and empire.

Who is Herodotus?

Historian who combined storytelling with anti-Persian bias.

How did Alexander's burning of Persepolis possibly save the Persepolis Treasury Tablets?

They were baked hard.

When did scholars begin deciphering Old Persian?

In 1802, using Niebuhr's work.

How does history based on epic differ from traditional history?

It combines fiction and history and takes on storytelling.

What is the Cyrus Cylinder?

It has Cyrus' recorded intentions towards the people of Babylon on a clay cylinder

What is unique about this tablet compared to others?

It is the Old Persian tablet that changed researcher's understanding of the languages used in administrative records.

What was a challenge faced by researchers studying ancient Persia?

Much of the history was passed down in an oral fashion

Is Herodotus' account considered reliable?

No, due to his bias and storytelling approach.

What is a language previously thought to be used only in royal inscriptions?

Old Persian

What was discovered by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in 1930?

Persepolis Fortification Tablets Persepolis Treasury Tablets

What is epic poetry?

Poetry that tells stories of myths and heroes.

How were the Persepolis Fortification Tablets possibly saved?

Preserved by the collapse of the floor above them

What did Mirza Fursat Shirazi publish in 1896?

Site plans and drawings of reliefs at Persepolis.

What did Herodotus use to convey his ideas?

Themes and stories.

the process of understanding and interpreting ancient texts

deciphering

What are royal inscriptions?

texts authored by the kings

What is the administration?

the people who perform the work of government

Persepolis

the site where the record in Elamite and Old Persian were discovered