ORIENT ALIA LOV ANIENSIA ANALECTA ---136--- LATE ACHAEMENID AND HELLENISTIC BABYLON BY T. BOIY UITGEVERIJ PEETERS and DEPARTEMENT OOSTERSE STUDIES LEUVEN - PARIS - DUDLEY, MA 2004 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Boiy, T. Late Achaemenid and Hellenistic Babylon I by T. Boiy. p. cm. -- (Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta ; 136) Includes bibliographical references. I. Babylon (Extinct city)--History. I. Title. II. Series. DS70.5.B3B65 2004 935--dc22 2004043518 © 2004, Peeters Publishers & Department of Oriental Studies Bondgenotenlaan 153, B-3000 Leuven/Louvain (Belgium) All rights reserved, including the rights to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form. D. 2004/0602/56 ISBN 90-429-1449-1 (Peeters, Leuven) Aan mijn ouders Alex en Rita, voor hun steun en aanmoediging van zolang ik het mij kan herinneren Aan de vrouwen in mijn /even, Els, Elin, Lene en Anke, voor hun (meer dan welkome) afleidingsmaneuvers Zij verlangden naar Babylon. De stad lokte hen, lokte hen ... V66r zij, overwinnaars, naar huistoe keerden, wilden zij Babylon zien, de stad der ongelooflijke immensiteit en legende ... L. Couperus, lskander. De roman van Alexander de Grote (Verzamelde werken XI), pp. 451-452 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is a revised version of my doctoral dissertation "Laatachae menidisch en hellenistisch Babylon. Portret van een Mesopotamische stad in een cultureel spanningsveld" written under the supervision of Prof. Dr. K. Van Lerberghe and Prof. Dr. H. Hauben. The research was sponsored by the Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders and it was carried out at the section Ancient Near East of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven within the framework of the Interuniversity Attraction Poles Programme (IAP PS/14). I am indebted to several people who made this book possible in one way or another, especially the authorities and staff of several museums (C.B.F. Walker, British Museum; W.W. Hallo, Yale Univer sity; E. Leichty, University Museum Philadelphia; M. van de Mieroop, Columbia University; P. Steinkeller and J.A. Armstrong, Harvard Semitic Museum), the members of the jury (Prof. Dr. M. Geller, Prof. Dr. A. Kuhrt and Prof. Dr. A. Berlejung) and teachers, fellow students, colleagues and friends. A special word of thanks goes to my parents and to Els, Elin, Lene and Anke. Leuven, March 2004 CHRONOLOGICAL CORRIGENDA In our discussion of Babylon during the wars of the Successors (pp. 117-137) we used the so-called "low chronology" - which dates the Triparadisus division in 320 BC and the arrival of Antigonus Monophthalmus in Babylon in 315 BC - on the basis of the informa tion of the so-called Chronicle of the Successors (ABC 10) dating the arrival of Perdiccas in Egypt in spring 320 BC. In the meantime we have prepared a contribution on the chronology of the years 350-300 BC for the colloquium "La transition entre )'empire achemenide et Jes royaume hellenistiques" (College de France, Paris, November 2004). In the course of this research it has become clear on the basis of Aramaic ostraca form Idumea that for the arrival of Antigonus Monophthalmus in Palestine - and, as result, for the arrival of Antigonus in Babylonia and for the second and third War of the Successors - the high chronology is the only possible reconstruction. Since it was too late to incorporate this information in the present work, it is necessary to change the dates on pp. 120-123 from the low into the high chronology, which means that the events mentioned there happened one year earlier. In addition, our reconstruction of Demetrius' attempt to reconquer Babylonia after the battle of Gaza differs slightly with some more respect for the information presented by Diodorus' account and in line with the reconstruction by P.V. Wheatley. How the informtion from ABC IO on the first War of the Successors - and, as a result, on the date of the Triparadisus Division - can be fitted into this high chronological scenario for the second War of the Successors is at present not clear. We hope the Paris colloquium results in some new insights and we therefore refer to the publication of its results that will appear in 2005 in the collection "Persika". CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . VII CHRONOLOGICAL CORRIGENDA. VIII CONTENTS . IX ABBREVIATIONS xv INTRODUCTION SOURCES . . . 8 SOURCES FROM BABYLON 8 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOURCES 8 EPIGRAPIDCAL SOURCES 13 Cuneiform tablets 13 legal and administrative tablets 13 Legal tablets . . . . 13 Administrative tablets 17 Letters . . . . 20 Other documents 20 literary texts 21 Historiographical and historical literature 21 Topographical literature. 22 Literature . . . . 23 Religious literature 23 Rituals 23 Cult songs 24 Incantations 25 Feast calendars 26 Om in a 26 Sciences 27 Astrology 27 Astronomy 29 Mathematics 36 Medicine 38 Lexical lists and school texts 38 x CONTENTS Unidentified literary texts 39 Greek inscriptions and ostraca 39 Graeco-Babyloniaca . 41 lexical lists 42 Other literary texts 42 Colophons . . . 43 Aramaic incantation bowls 44 NUMISMATIC SOURCES . . • 44 Coins made in Babylon 44 Coins found in Babylon 45 SOURCES ON BABYLON 47 LITERARY SOURCES 47 Classical authors 47 Descriptions of the city 47 Historical information 48 Other information on Babylon from classical literature 50 Talmud . 51 Arab geographers 51 EPIGRAPHICAL SOURCES 52 Cuneiform sources 52 Greek inscriptions and papyri 53 Inscriptions from Palmyra 54 TOPOGRAPHY . . . . . . 55 BABYLON DURING THE NED-BABYLONIAN PERIOD . 56 BABYLON'S WALL • • • • . 56 57 ROADS AND CANALS IN BABYLON QUARTERS IN BABYLON 58 TEMPLES IN BABYLON • 59 PALACES IN BABYLON . 62 NED-BABYLONIAN BABYLON ACCORDING TO BEROSSUS 62 THE CITY OF BABYLON DURING THE ACHAEMENID PERIOD . 66 CHANGES DURING THE ACHAEMENID PERIOD • • • 66 DESCRIPTIONS OF BABYLON BY CLASSICAL AUTHORS 67 Herodotus I 178-186. . 67 Ctesias FGrHist 688 Fl 70 ACHAEMENID BABYLON 72 BABYLON DURING THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD 73 HELLENISTIC BABYLON ON THE BASIS OF CLASSICAL LITERATURE 73 City descriptions 73 CONTENTS XI Other information based on classical literature. 74 The image of Babylon in classical literature . . 77 HELLENISTIC BABYLON ON TIIE BASIS OF TOPOGRAPHICAL INFOR- MATION FROM CUNEIFORM TABLETS . . • . • 78 The Euphrates channel in Hellenistic Babylon 78 Babylon's wall . . . . . . . 79 City quarters in Hellenistic Babylon . 80 Temples in Hellenistic Babylon . . . 81 Other buildings in Hellenistic Babylon 93 Suburbs in Hellenistic Babylon 95 HELLENISTIC BABYLON 97 POLITICAL HISTORY 99 A "CITY" IN MESOPOTAMIAN HISTORY 99 BABYLON DURING THE ACHAEMENID PERIOD 101 FROM CYRUS THE GREAT UNTIL XERXES (539-465 BC) 101 BABYLON DURING THE LATE ACHAEMENID PERIOD • . 102 BABYLON DURING THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD • . • . 104 BABYLON AND ALEXANDER THE GREAT (331-323 BC) 104 Alexander's first visit to Babylon (331 BC) . . 105 Babylon during Alexander's campaign to the East 108 Alexander's second visit to Babylon (323 BC) . . 112 BABYLON DURING THE WARS OF THE SUCCESSORS (323-305 BC). 117 The division of Alexander's empire at Babylon (323 BC) . 117 The division of Triparadisus (320 BC) . . . . . 118 Babylon during the reign of Antigonus (315-311 BC) 123 Seleucus' return to Babylon (311 BC) . . . . 125 BABYLON DURING THE SELEUCID DYNASTY (305-141 BC) 137 Babylon in the third century BC: from world centre to provincial town 137 Seleucus I 137 Antiochus I . 140 Antiochus II . 145 Seleucus II . 149 Seleucus Ill . 153 Antiochus Ill 154 Babylon in the second century BC 158 Seleucus IV . 158 Antiochus IV 159 Antiochus V and Demetrius I 162 XII CONTENTS The last years of Seleucid rule in Babylonia . . . . 165 BABYLON DURING ARSACID RULE (141-61 BC) • • • . . • 166 First part of Parthian rule: ten years of political instability . 166 Short revival of the Seleucid dynasty in Babylonia 171 Hyspaosines of Characene in Babylon . 175 Second Parthian rule . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Political instability at the beginning of the new Parthian rule 176 Babylon during the reign of Mithradates II (124-88 BC) 180 Babylon during the Parthian "Dark Age" (88-61 BC) 184 Babylon's end . . . . . . . . 186 INSTITUTIONS IN HELLENISTIC BABYLON 193 BABYLON'S CIVIL ORGANISATION • • • • • • • 193 CENTRAL ORGANISATION AFfER TIIE ACHAEMENID PERIOD 193 THE SATAMMU AND KIN/STU OF ESAGIL 194 The satammu of Esagil . . . . . . . . . 196 The kinistu of Esagil . . . . . . . . . . 202 THE PAUAT BAB/LI AND 7t0Attat (WHO ARE IN BABYLON) 204 The pii!Jiit Biibili . . . . . . 204 The noA.itat (who are in Babylon) 206 The institution "pii!Jiit Biibili and nolitat (who are in Babylon)" . . . . . . . . 207 OTHER OFFICIALS FROM HELLENISTIC BABYLON . 209 BABYLON AS A PART OF THE SELEUCID AND PARTHIAN EMPIRE 214 MILITARY PRESENCE IN HELLENISTIC BABYLON • • • 217 THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN HELLENISTIC BABYLON • • • . • 218 APPENDIX: THE TEMPLE STATE JERUSALEM DURING THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD. • . 220 SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION 226 DEMOGRAPHIC STUDY OF BABYLON 226 SOURCES • • . 226 POPULATION SIZE • 229 FAMILY STRUCTURE 234 Women . 234 Children. 236 Slaves. . 236 ECONOMIC LIFE 237 THE MARKET IN BABYLON 237 CONTENTS XIII 'fEMPLEECONOMY 240 PROFESSIONS • • 241 Craftsmen . 242 Carpenter (naggiiru) 242 Smith (kutimmu, nappiibu and qurqurru). 243 Jeweller (kabsarru) . . 244 Reed-weaver (atkuppu) . . . . 245 leather worker (askiipu) . . . . 246 Bleacher (pu~ayu) or fuller (asliiku) 246 Weaver (isparu). . . . 247 Potter (pabiiru) . . . . 247 Builder (itinnularad ekalli) 247 Food preparers 248 Miller ( ararru) . 249 Brewer (siriisu). 250 Baker/cook (nubatimmu) . 251 Cook/arranger of the sacrificing table (mubannu) 252 Butcher ([iibibu) 252 Porters and cleaners . . . 253 Porter (atu) . . . . . 253 Doorkeeper (ma~~ar biibi) 253 Cleaners (murammiku or muremmiku, musesiru) 254 Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Agricultural labourer (ikkaru) . . . . 254 Shepherd (musiikil immeriiti) and cowherd (rab biili) 255 Bird-catcher (usandu) 255 Fisher (bii'iru) . . . . . 255 Scribes . . . . . . . . 256 Cuneiform scribe ({upsarru) 256 Alphabetic scribe (sepiru) 257 Others . . . . . . 258 Wage labourer (agru). 258 Workman (epis dulliitu) 258 Boatman (maliibu) . . 258 Boat-tower (saddidu) . 258 rab bane . . . . . 259 "Peiformer" (1';tu = riisinu) 260 5 10U.MUG . . . 261 ECONOMY OF BABYLON • 262