Achaemenid History IV: Centre and Periphery, Proceedings of the Groningen 1986Achaemenid History Workshop by Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg; Amelie KuhrtReview by: Ronald H. SackJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 112, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1992), pp. 160-161Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/604618 .

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160 Journal of the American Oriental Society 112.1 (1992)

comprehensive for the personal names of this third millen- nium Syrian kingdom. The personal names taken from various lists of the royal archives form the largest part of our evidence for the study of the semitic lexical material. Therefore the im- portance of the volume cannot be underestimated.

P. Fronzorali (pp. 1-24) in his contribution, "Typologies onomastiques 'a Ebla," analyzes the personal names according to their grammatical structure-nominal sentences, verbal, vocative, adverbial, etc. He says also that the spelling vari- ants help us to establish the true reading of the names. "Semitische und nichtsemitische Personennamen in Texten aus Ebla" is by D. 0. Edzard (pp. 25-43). He points out that the non-semitic personal names are a considerable minority of all names. The paper of H. Limet, "Problemes de graphie et la phonologie" (pp. 35-43) raises the complicated problem of the Eblaite orthography, where the c g, s, and d can only be guessed at. M. Krebernik, "Prefixed Verbal Forms in Personal Names from Ebla" (pp. 45-69) deals with the grammatical rules of the usage of the verbal prefixes. Similar issues are dealt with by H. P. Muller in his "Eblaitische Konjugation in Kontexten und Personennamen: Bemerkungen zur Lautlehre, Morphologie und Morphosyntax" (pp. 71-87). The compar- ison of the Ebla semitic names with the archaic names of ad- jacent regions are given in the next two papers: R. Biggs, "The Semitic Personal Names from Abu Salabikh and the Personal Names from Ebla" (pp. 89-98) and A. Westenholz, "Personal Names in Ebla and Pre-Sargonic Babylonia" (pp. 99-117). D. Pardee studies "An Evaluation of the Proper Names from Ebla from a West Semitic Perspective: Pantheon Distribution According to Genre" (pp. 119-51), comparing the structure and theophoric elements of the per- sonal names in Ebla, Mari, Ugarit, and the Old Testament and Hebrew epigraphy. "Notes on Proper Names in the Ebla Texts" (pp. 153-58) is by C. H. Gordon. The comparative method also appears in the study of A. R. Millard, "Ebla Per- sonal Names and Personal Names of the First Millennium B.C." (pp. 159-64). The question, "Zur Wurzel MLK in Ak- kadischen Texten aus Syrien und Palastina" (pp. 165-72), is

treated by J. Renger. The analysis is very important for better understanding the Akkadian verb maldku in its peripheral use as well as clarifying the question of the development of early kingship.

The difficult question of Eblan toponymy is dealt with in the article of J. Krecher, "Observations on the Ebla Top- onyms" (pp. 173-90): the determination of the exact reading is the only way for further progress on geographic issues. 0. Rouault in his "Le traitement informatise des donnees on-

omastiques assyriologiques" (pp. 191-203) proposes a pro- gram of preparing the onomastic material for computer treatment.

The main part, by both size (pp. 205-306) and importance, belongs to A. Archi, M. G. Biga, and L. Milano: "Studies in

Eblaite Prosopography," the largest part of which is written by A. Archi. He tries at the beginning to give a system of relative chronology based on offering lists to dead kings, synchro- nisms with the rulers of Mari and Emar, and also using the names of the "elders" (abbax). Archi rejects the theory of the so-called seven-year cycle of kingship. A good parallel can be found in M. V. Tonietti, "La figura del nar nei testi di Ebla," Quaderni di Semitistica 15 (1988): 79-119, where the author builds on the occurrence of names of singers and their syn- chronic appearance with rulers. Archi continues the same efforts, taking the names of the sons of the rulers and dignitar- ies (pp. 222-37), their daughters (pp. 238-43), their brothers (p. 244) and women (pp. 245-62). We can say that the com- plaints of some authors about the shortage of feminine names is totally unfounded. Next the court personnel or people con- nected with the court are given. Here appear the judges, over- seers of onagers, the musicians (or singers) nar (pp. 263-84). The onomastics of particular smaller archives from the palace rooms of Ebla are treated by L. Milano (pp. 288-90) and M. G. Biga (pp. 285-87 and 291-306).

The volume presents the scholar with an enormous onomas- tic corpus. It is important for solving a number of grammatical questions and for the study of relative chronology. Archi gives some new considerations for connecting the Eblaite material with other societies of the third millennium B.C.E. The publica- tion of the book is most welcome.

M. H.

Achaemenid History IV: Centre and Periphery, Proceedings of

the Groningen 1986 Achaemenid History Workshop. Edited by HELEEN SANCISI-WEERDENBURG and AMELIE KUHRT. Lei- den: NEDERLANDS INSTITUT VOOR HET NABIJE OOSTEN, 1990.

Pp. xv + 274.

The volume under review is the fourth in a series of proceed- ings of several Achaemenid History Workshops held in Gronin- gen. The papers included were presented in 1986 and focus on the "Centre and Periphery" of the Achaemenid empire. The ed- itors state that a major problem that has needed attention for some time is the matter of integration of new archaeological evidence for the Achaemenid empire and the written sources

that have been examined and analyzed for decades. Several of the contributors to the volume effectively show not only that large amounts of evidence still need to be studied, but also that lacunae in our knowledge of the Achaemenid period still exist. In concluding their introduction, the editors point out that "the

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Brief Reviews of Books 161

available archaeological data do not give a clear answer to the question of how the imperial structure looked, nor do they resolve the dilemma of whether the Achaemenid empire was a monolithic state or a loosely connected and fragmented entity."

Of all of the volumes of proceedings from the Groningen conferences that have appeared, this is clearly the most impor- tant. The scope of the inquiries included here is extremely broad-from an overview of the Persepolis excavations and the written evidence found there to the relations between the Greeks and the Persians in later times. Of particular value are the studies of Arabia with its epigraphic sources, Wilhelm Vo- gelsgang's overview of what we know (or don't know) of India in Achaemenid times, and Stern and Ackroyd's commentaries on Palestine in Persian times. Although Kuhrt's article on Achaemenid Babylonia has now been largely preempted by Dandamaev's recently published, superb monograph concern- ing the same subject, it nevertheless provides a nice overview of the area and the sources for it. As such, it is a valuable component of the study.

Despite the positive aspects, one problem surfaces through- out the whole volume. Instead of concentrating on the ques- tion of whether Persian influence was extensive or limited in the center and periphery of the empire, several contributors (and, certainly, the editors) seem preoccupied with finding evidence of those elements that are uniquely Persian. This can be seen particularly in the questions raised concerning govern- mental organization and territorial administration. While there can be no question that the Achaemenids exerted important influence on the areas they conquered, there is, as of now, very little evidence of dramatic change. This was also true fol- lowing Alexander's conquest of the Persians in 331 B.C., since only a veneer of hellenism coated cultures and institutions that were a part of the Persian empire. Indeed, much of the evi- dence examined to date suggests continuity with the past rather than the emergence of an entity that represented an im- portant break with it. While I certainly applaud the attempts made to explore the question, "was there ever a Persian Em- pire?" by several contributors to this volume, perhaps the evi- dence discussed and analyzed here already provides us with an adequate answer that needs little further elaboration.

In sum, this book is a valuable research tool, since it pro- vides us with an excellent overview of the current state of our knowledge of the Achaemenid kingdom. In addition, it ex- poses areas in which our knowledge is pitifully weak and sug- gests approaches to guide further research into the nature of the fringe areas of the Empire. It is for this that we must be very grateful.

RONALD H. SACK

NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY

Achaemenid History V: The Roots of the European Tradition, Proceedings of the 1987 Groningen Achaemenid History Workshop. Edited by H. SANCISI-WEERDENBURG and J. W. DRIJVERS. Leiden: NEDERLANDS INSTITUT VOOR HET NABIJE

OOSTEN, 1990. Pp. xii + 170.

The volume under review contains the proceedings of the 1987 Groningen Achaemenid History Workshop. Like other volumes published in the same series, it contains articles cov- ering a wide variety of topics that are related to a specific theme, in this instance the "roots of the European tradition." The introduction offered by Drijvers and Sancisi-Weerdenburg emphasizes concentration on an historiographic analysis of the oriental and hellenocentric images of the Achaemenid Persian empire that have developed over the past two millennia and the reasons for their development. The editors confidently as- sert that the undertaking of an historiographic study of this magnitude was "no frivilous cultural exercise" and "was thus aimed not only at a critical investigation of traditional con- cepts, ideological biases and critical prejudices but also at try- ing to initiate the collection of documentation on Ancient Iran as a crucial image in Europe's cultural development" (p. x).

There can be no question that an undertaking of this nature is very worthwhile and valuable. I also feel that historio- graphic investigations have taken a back seat to other more popular approaches to the study of the civilizations of the ancient Near East. Several of the articles included here offer fresh interpretations of source material and emphasis on the development of images of Cyrus and his Achaemenid dynasty that are as important as the actual deeds of the Persian mon- archs. Ackroyd's study of the Biblical material is especially good. Far too much has been said or written about the "favor- able" characterization of the Achaemenids in the Old Testa- ment without the benefit of a critical historiographic analysis of the sources upon which that impression has been based. The same can be said of the very interesting study of Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg related to the image of Cyrus as it de- veloped in Italy in the Renaissance. I certainly hope that more such studies related to other periods in ancient Near East his- tory will be done in the future.

While my impressions of this volume are generally favor- able, there are, nevertheless, some problems. I do not feel that, overall, the articles presented here measure up to the quality found in volume IV. In fact, I find it hard to see very much that is new in Geert Harmanny's study of Annius of Viterbo. Much of what is presented here was already noted by Bosan- quet and Boscawen over a century ago. Also, I fail to see the relationship of Kuhrt's article on "Alexander and Babylon" to the general theme of the volume. The author states that it is a "short note" (p. 121)-indeed, it is far too short. Also, consid- ering the subject, it is totally out of place here. It probably would have been better had it been included in a previous

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