The double blind peer-reviewed JOURNAL OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS (JAC) is published annually in two fascicles by the Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations (IHAC, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, Jilin Province, People’s Republic of China). Further details on the review process can be found at our homepage: http://ihac.nenu.edu.cn/JAC.htm
The aim of JAC is to provide a forum for the discussion of various aspects of the cultural and historical processes in the Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean world, encompassing studies of individual civilizations as well as common elements, contacts and interactions among them (e.g. in such traditional fields as Assyriology, Egyptology, Hittitology, Classics, Byzantine Studies, and Sinology, among others). Hence, we publish the work of international scholars while also providing a showcase for the finest Chinese scholarship, and so welcome articles dealing with history, philology, art, archaeology and linguistics that are intended to illuminate the material culture and society of the Ancient Near East, the Mediterranean region, and ancient China. Articles discussing other cultures will be considered for publication only if they are clearly relevant to the ancient Mediterranean world, the Near East, and China. Information about new discoveries and current scholarly events is also welcome. Publishers are encouraged to send review copies of books in the relevant fields. This issue comprises articles that question common frames of ancient historical material and related modern scholarship. Marta Pallavidini looks at formulas used in Hittite diplomatic treaties while Xiaoli Ouyang and Michela Piccin both examine lists as stores of historical narratives in different ANE sources. The latter two articles derive from a workshop at the 64th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in Innsbruck 2018, and all three provide useful insights into the potential of so-called documentary sources beyond the mere “facts.” Peter Herz challenges the widespread view that the Athenian Empire in the 5th century BC brought democratic happiness and economic prosperity to all the polities related to Athens; instead he shows the dark, exploitative side of Athens’ arche. Finally, Kai Ruffing investigates the use of papyrological evidence in the history of studies in ancient economies. Interpretation along the primitivist-modernist schism and recent rise of studies in economic papyri based on New Institutional Economics mirror the importance of current research frames for examining ancient sources, and remind of a perpetual critical review of all historians’ “Standortgebundenheit” as Johann Gustav Droysen has stated in his Historik.
All communications, manuscripts, disks and books for review should be sent to the Assistant Editor, Journal of Ancient Civilizations, Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations, Northeast Normal University, 130024 Changchun, Jilin Province, People’s Republic of China (e-mail: jac@nenu.edu.cn), or to the Executive Editor in Chief, Prof. Dr. Sven Günther, M.A. (e-mail: svenguenther@nenu.edu.cn or sveneca@aol.com).
TABLE OF CONTENTSVolume 35/1 (2020)
ARTICLES
PALLAVIDINI, MARTA: Shaping Diplomacy through Language: Networks of Metaphors in Hittite Diplomatic Texts (pp. 1–12)
OUYANG, XIAOLI: Managing the Treasuries of the Gods – Administration of the KÙ.AN in Ur III Umma (pp. 13–32)
PICCIN, MICHELA: Assyrian Treaties: “Patchwork” Texts (pp. 33–70)
HERZ, PETER: Bilanz eines Imperiums. Anmerkungen zum athenischen Staat des 5. Jh. v.Chr. (pp. 71–94)
RUFFING, KAI: Papyri and the Economy of the Greco-Roman World (pp. 95–131)
ABSTRACTS (pp. 133–134)
ABSTRACTS
Marta PALLAVIDINI (FU Berlin) SHAPING DIPLOMACY THROUGH LANGUAGE: NETWORKS OF METAPHORS IN HITTITE DIPLOMATIC TEXTS (pp. 1–12) Diplomatic language always follows specific rules in order to be effective. In the Late Bronze Age, Near Eastern countries developed a web of intense diplomatic relations that were kept alive by the exchange of messages, goods, and people. In the exchange of messages language plays a key role. This contribution analyses how conceptual metaphors in the Hittite diplomatic texts shaped the diplomatic language and, as a result, the making of diplomacy itself.
Xiaoli OUXANG (History Department, Fudan University, Shanghai) MANAGING THE TREASURIES OF THE GODS – ADMINISTRATION OF THE KÙ.AN IN UR III UMMA (pp. 13–32) The term KÙ.AN is attested in more than a dozen administrative records from Umma of the Ur III period (c. 2112–2004 BC). An analysis of those records with respect to the context, the formula, and the people involved indicates that KÙ.AN may well refer to a treasury where treasures of a deity were kept in a temple. Such an analysis also sheds new light upon the function and organization of this kind of treasuries within the administrative framework of the Umma temples.
Michela PICCIN (North-West University, SA) ASSYRIAN TREATIES: “PATCHWORK” TEXTS (pp. 33–70) The article offers a linguistic and stylistic analysis of the Neo-Assyrian treaties culled from the SAA II (1988). The analysis focuses on defining scribal procedures in building up the text, which may then be conclusively labelled as a “patchwork.” Proceeding through the preamble, list of witnesses, and content, I explore a range of sampling which demonstrates the substantially fixed – albeit expandable – structure of the treaties’ texts. I argue that this evidence shows that the structure of the treaties’ texts had a great communicative efficacy thanks to its standardized character, as well as facilitated the scribes’ editorial work. The fixed nature of these texts was also related to the principles of the legal tradition, which itself was adapted to the historical and political circumstances of the Neo-Assyrian period.
Peter HERZ (Universität Regensburg) BILANZ EINES IMPERIUMS. ANMERKUNGEN ZUM ATHENISCHEN STAAT DES 5. JH. V.CHR. (pp. 71–94) The article aims at correcting some misinterpretations of modern research with regard to Greek public finances, exemplified in a case-study of ancient Athens. The finance-system of Greek poleis was totally different from modern states. While modern states’ revenues are based on the income-taxation of their respective citizens or on taxes of goods and service, ancient states managed their expenditures through liturgies given “voluntarily” by their citizens or incomes from lease of (farm) land. Direct taxation of citizens (eisphora) was usually a sign of an emergency situation, for instance, during war-times and thus reflects the then heavy burden of, and pressure on, the polity. Instead, extraction of tribute (phoros) was a common means of benefitting from rule over other polities, as did Athens in the First League.
Kai RUFFING (University of Kassel) PAPYRI AND THE ECONOMY OF THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD (pp. 95–131) In current research on the economy of the Hellenistic and Roman worlds it is taken for granted to use papyri as evidence for ancient economic structures, practices, and mentalities. Nevertheless, the utility of papyri is all but self-evident, at least as far as research of the 20th century is concerned. Egypt including its source material was considered a special, particular case and thought to be entirely useless for writing economic history of Greece and Rome. This was especially true for primitivist orthodoxy. Moreover, it was particularly German scholarship that showed some neglect towards economic history and thus papyri. Against the background of the general discussion on the character of ancient economy the present paper aims to trace how and to what extent papyri were and are used as evidence. It starts with the outbreak of the Bücher-Meyer controversy and tries to pursue the discussion to the present day.