The American Journal of Archaeology, 1893-1

by Various

PERSIA.

M. de MORGAN'S RESEARCHES IN PERSIA AND LURISTAN.--In a communication to the Acad. des Inscr. M. de Morgan gives a report upon his mission in Persia and Luristan, of which the following are a few extracts. "In the valley of the Lar, I made a study of the subterranean habitations excavated in the rock and made a plan of the very ancient castle, Molla-Kölo, which once defended the pass of Vahné. Finally, in the ravine called Ab-é-pardöma, I discovered in the alluvion some stone instruments presenting very ancient paleolithic characters. At Amol, I studied the ruins of the ancient city and gathered some interesting collections containing quite a number of pieces of pottery and some bronzes of the xiv century."..... "Near Asterabad there is a mound called Khaighruch-tépè. I attempted to make some excavations of this point; unfortunately my work here was arrested by order of the Persian government just when, after twenty days of working with sixty laborers, I had reached a depth of 11½ meters. In this excavation I found some human bones, some pottery, some whorls and some thin objects composed of bronze much decomposed; all in the midst of ashes and cooking-debris. At the bottom was a skeleton stretched upon a very regular bed of pebbles, and I am of the opinion that Khaighruch-tépè was primitively raised as a tomb and afterwards served for the construction of a village, the successive ruins of which coming to increase the importance of the mound. At a depth of 11½ meters I found more cinders and debris, indicating that I had not yet come to the level of the earliest works.".... "The tépès are near together in the eastern part of the Mazanderan and in the Turkoman steppe; but in the Lenkoran, the Ghilan and the western Mazanderan they are entirely wanting. It is concluded from this observation that the people who built here were not aborigines of the north of Persia, but that their migration moreover has left traces on the right and on the left of the Caspian. The Scythians of Herodotus present a very satisfactory solution for the problem of the Caspian tépès".... "From an archaeological point of view the Lenkoran was absolutely virgin soil and the finding of the first tomb was not an easy task. Finally, after long and minute research in the forests, I discovered the necropolis of Kravelady, composed of dolmens almost completely despoiled, but in sufficiently good condition to permit me to organize the natives in research for burial places of the same sort. I at first encountered much repugnance on the part of the inhabitants to excavate the tombs; finally, with some money and very long explanations, I brought them to terms and, thanks to my tomb-hunters, I found and excavated the necropoli of Horil, Beri, Djon, Tülü, Mistaïl, Hiveri, etc. These tombs present, according to their age, very different characteristics; the most ancient and at the same time the largest, contain rude arms of bronze. Those of the period following show the bronze well worked, iron, gold and silver being employed as jewels. Although we saw iron in very small quantities in the tombs of the second period, it is not until the third that it appears as the material of arms; at the same time, the jewels take the forms of animals, which change, as I have shown in the case of Russian Armenia in my preceding mission, indicates the appearance of a strange tribe possessed of special arts. During the last epoch all the arms are of iron. The pottery found in the tombs is glazed.

"As to the form of the monuments, it is very variable at different ages; there are some covered passages or chambers completely closed, some dolmens with openings like those of India. At the very time when my excavations were attaining their greatest importance I was compelled to discontinue them by order of the Russian administration and was obliged to leave the country, having only made a beginning in archaeology. An ukase of the Czar reserves the excavations in all his great empire for the Archæological Society of St. Petersburg. But this interdict did not arrive until after I had excavated about two hundred and twenty tombs, so that we now possess more than fifteen hundred objects, vases, arms, trinkets of gold,bronze, silver, etc.

"At Moukri, thanks to the kindness of a Kurd chief, I was enabled to excavate a tomb which, although it held no objects of value, still contained some interesting relics. I have not yet been able to assign a date to any of them." .... "During my stay at Moukri I set up a map on the scale of 1/250000, and marked upon it all the ruins, mounds and ancient tombs....

"Although blockaded by snow at Hamadan I was able to visit the ancient Ecbatana and there acquired a small collection of Greek jewels and Chaldean cylinders. I found no trace whatever of the ancient palace; they told me that the last debris had been reduced to lime and that houses had been built over the rest. On the other hand, the trilingual inscription of the Elvend, the Ghendj-nûméh, is still admirably preserved, but the cold prevented me from taking a squeeze. After having visited and photographed the ruins of Dinâver, Kinghârer, Bisoutoun and several remains encountered on the route, I visited Tagh-é-Bostan, near Kirmanshahan; I took numerous photographs and squeezes of the more interesting fragments, like the pahlavi inscriptions of the smallest monument. At Zohab, I took the inscriptions of Ler-é-poul and of Hourin-cheïkh-khan, made plans of the ruins of Ler-é-poul, those of the Sassanian palace of Kasr-é-Chirîon and of Haoueh-Ruri; drew up a map on a scale of 1/250000 of the gates of the Zagros, and of the country around." ..... "Having arrived at Houleilan,..... I found the remains of a large number of towns and castles of the Sassanian epoch, besides some very ancient tépès. At Chirvan, near the fort of the Poncht-é-Kouh, are the ruins of a Sassanian town. I made a plan of it. Near it is a great tell of unburnt brick...... In the valleys, situated near the plain, in the passes are some tells, and it is near one of them that I had the good fortune to find more than eight hundred objects carved in flint. Beyond these tells which guard the frontier of the Semite border, the Poncht-é-Kouh does not contain a single ruin. In antiquity, as to-day, it was inhabited by nomads. On leaving the Poncht-é-Kouh, I entered the valley of the Kukha, where I encountered numerous ruins. I then advanced into Louristan, continually finding tells, of which the principal ones are those of Zakha and of Khorremâbâd. ..... Finally arriving at Susiana, we again found civilization, but also a country well known and that does not form a part of my mission."--Journal Asiatique, No. 2, 1892, pp. 189-200.

COINS OF THE SATRAPS.--1. Money had been invented and was in circulation in the Greek cities of Asia Minor almost two hundred years, when Darius I introduced the daric. The Greek coins in circulation along the coast had not penetrated far from the Mediterranean, even the new Persian coinage was used chiefly in the commerce with the Greeks on the frontier, and for the payment of Greek mercenaries, enrolled in the armies of the Great King. The interior of the empire, during the whole period of the Achæmenidæ, continued to employ wedges of precious metals in exchange. The coinage of the Persian empire divides into four clearly defined groups, according to the direct authority of its issue. (1) The coinage of the Great King; (2) The coinage of the tributary Greek towns; (3) The coinage of the tributary dynasties; (4) The coinage occasionally struck for the satraps, chiefs of the Persian army. It is the last category that is described in the paper here summarized. The towns then, and the tributary dynasties, and, under some circumstances, the satraps enjoyed the right to coin money but only in electrum, silver and bronze; the great King reserved the exclusive right to issue coins in gold; and this principle became universally acknowledged, so that gold effectually became the unique standard of the Persian empire. The few departures from this rule are not worthy of consideration. The towns of Asia Minor paying tribute to the great King continued to issue money, just as they had during their independence, retaining their own types, and betraying in no way their subjection. The tributary kings placed under the surveillance of satraps were allowed various degrees of liberty in issuing coinage, according to their countries and to their varying relations to the persian monarch; the dynasties of Caria, of Cyprus, of Gebal and of Tyre, like the tributary cities mentioned above, continued their old coinage, while those of Sidon and of Cilicia placed upon their coins, the figure of the Achæmenidean prince.

Besides the coinage already mentioned there exists a number of coins bearing the names of satraps, and the questions are raised, under what circumstances were these issued, and with what extraordinary powers was a satrap invested, who was permitted to issue money in his own name? The theory is advanced, that the satraps of the Persian empire never held the right to coin money in their capacity as satraps. All the instances we have of satrapal coins were issued by satraps invested with the command of armies. Fr. Lenormant says: "All the pieces known, which bear the names of high functionaries of Persia, mentioned in history, particularly those of Cilicia, should be ranged in the class of military coins; that is, coins issued by generals placed at the head of armies, on a campaign, and not as satraps exercising their regular powers." The only satrapies in which money was coined, before Alexander, are the following. The sixth satrapy, which comprised Egypt and Cyrenaica. The fifth satrapy or that of Syria, comprising Arabia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Phœnicia, Palestine and the island of Cyprus. The fourth satrapy or that of Cilicia, which acquired in the V century the states north of the Taurus. The first satrapy or that of Ionia, comprising Pamphilia, Lycia, Caria, Pisidia, Ionia and Eolis. The twelfth satrapy, known as the satrapy of Sardis, or of Lydia. The thirteenth satrapy, known also as the satrapy of Phrygia, which comprised, besides the coast of the Hellespont, all the central region of Asia Minor between the Taurus and the Black Sea. This huge province was divided in the fifth century into the satrapies of Greater Phrygia, Lesser Phrygia, and Cappadocia.

2. The coinage in circulation in Egypt, during the Achæmenidean supremacy was all of foreign origin, the staters of the Kings of Tyre and Sidon and the tetradrachmas of Athens. The commerce with Greece, and especially the incessant wars in which Greek mercenaries were largely employed, tended to make Athenian silver popular in the eastern countries. For the pay of these mercenaries, the Persians and Egyptians had recourse to silver money, and especially to those types with which the Greeks were acquainted. Thus the prevalence of Athenian coins in the Orient is accounted for by these circumstances. The generals of the Persian and Egyptian armies made use of the Athenian coins which had long been in circulation in the country. They merely imprinted upon the coin of Attic origin a counter-mark to officially authorize the circulation, and when the original Athenian coins in the country were insufficient to pay the troops, they struck off others as nearly like them as possible--these, however, are easily recognized by the defects of workmanship and altered inscriptions. One sort has in place of the Greek lettering an Aramean inscription. On a certain number of these we find the name Mazaios, the famous satrap of Cilicia, who undertook to subdue the insurgent king of Sidon.

The imitation of Athenian coins and the coins of Alexander was continued in Arabia down to the first century of our era. The Athenian coins were not the only ones copied in Egypt, Palestine, and Arabia. The coinage of the kings of Sidon were frequently imitated by the Aramean chiefs, of whom Bagoas was one. Then, too, the kings of Sidon had supreme command of the imperial fleet and had the paying of the naval army. Later, Mazaios, placed at the head of the Persian army, for a time imitated the Sidonian coins, substituting his name for that of the Sidonian dynasty. Bagoas, in turn, did likewise.

3. In Phœnicia and northern Syria, which formed the greater part of the fifth satrapy, a great quantity of coins were struck off by the tributary dynasties. The kings of Tyre, Sidon, Gebal, and Aradus had their own coinage, but there seems to have been no satrapal coinage struck off in Phœnicia. In northern Syria, when Mazaios added this satrapy to his own, he levied and assembled troops from that entire region; this accounts for the numerous issues of coins in northern Syria at that time.

4. The dynasties of Cilicia coined money under the same conditions as did the cities of Phœnicia, Caria and Lydia. The chief mint of Cilicia was at Tarsus, but money was also coined at Soli and at Mallus. About the end of the fifth century a coinage was issued from these mints which is ascribed to uncertain satraps. The distinguishing mark of these coins, according to Mr. Waddington, is the use of the neuter adjective in ικον, but this theory is not conclusive. Besides these anonymous coins there were others coined in Cilicia bearing the names of satraps, who were the envoys of the great king to raise armies and equip fleets. The satrap Tiribazus employed the mints at Issus, at Soli and Mallus; the satrap Pharnabazus established his mints in various cities in Cilicia, particularly at Nagidus; Datamus also issued coinage in Cilicia. M. Six holds that Mazaios coined money, not only in Cilicia, but also in Syria and Mesopotamia, and preserved the right to a coinage under Alexander, but always in a military capacity.

5. After the conquest of Alexander, his generals issued coinage under his name in their satrapal authority. These were the coins of Alexander, bearing on one side the particular symbol of the generals who had issued them; there were the eagle of Ptolemy, the demi-lion of Lysimachus or the horned horse of Seleucus. Those of the generals who became kings, in 306, issued coins in their own name, preserving on them the personal emblems which they had employed in their satrapal authority. The generals who did not become kings never issued a coinage in their own names.

6. On the island of Cyprus are found numerous coins which present all the distinctive signs of satrapal money; they are believed to have been struck by Evagoras II, the successor of Nicocles I; but the question arises, Were these satrapal pieces of Evagoras coined on the island? It has been held that they were issued from a mint on the continent, in Caria, because the army of Evagoras was recruited in Asia Minor, and because their weights are Rhodian, but the form of the letters is Phœnician, as upon all Cypriote corns; while, on the other hand, in Asia Minor the Semitic money is inscribed with Aramean characters. Moreover, all symbols and types which figure on these coins are essentially Cypriote.--E. BABELON in Revue Numismatique, 1892, p. 277.

SASSANIAN COINS.--The Museum of the Hermitage has just come into possession of the collection of coins of General Komarof, once governor of Russian Turkistan. It consists of more than two thousand pieces, of which sixty are of gold. The most remarkable coins of this rich collection are: Four Sassanian pieces in gold, unpublished, (one of Hormuzd II and three of Sapor II), a dinar of Nasr I, a dinar of Kharmezi of Tamerlan, a dinar of Abdallah-ben-Khazim, and about fifty unpublished Sassanian silver coins.--Revue Numismatique, 1892, p. 348.

PERSEPOLIS.--CASTS OF SCULPTURES.--The English archæologist Mr. Cecil Smith has lately returned from an expedition to Persia. He had with him two Italian makers of casts, and by their means has obtained a valuable series of casts of the sculptures of Persepolis from moulds of a fibrous Spanish paper. Among the casts are those of a long frieze (perron) which decorated the stairway of the main hall or "apadâna," erected by Xerxes; it represents a procession of figures presenting to the king the reports of his governors and the offerings of his subjects. Another cast is that of the famous monolith of Cyrus. --Chron. des Arts, 1892, No. 31. We understand that the collection of casts of the Metropolitan Museum is to receive a copy of all these casts.