Satrapal Sardis: Aspects of empire in an Achaemenid capital.

Abstract

When the Persians conquered Lydia in the mid-sixth century B.C., they had to incorporate this large and wealthy province into the empire so that it might function as an integral part of the larger whole. Such a transition affected culture as well as commerce, people as well as politics. How was the superposition of a new administrative hierarchy on the already-existing sociopolitical structure effected, and how did it affect the lives of the people involved? How did the new elite composed of Persians, local personages, and perhaps people from other regions of the empire co-exist and help to establish an ideology of empire in this important province? How were local social structures affected by political and social transformations? This dissertation ties together a study of textual sources with multiple object-oriented approaches to understand the Achaemenid capital of Sardis. Interpretation of abundant Greek literary sources provides information about political and historical events in western Anatolia. More limited but nevertheless significant Near Eastern textual sources provide a different sort of information from a different point of view, that may be used to balance and clarify Hellenic interpretations. A detailed study of the ceramic assemblage suggests that social change was not limited to the elite but rather extended throughout the social spectrum. Analysis of mortuary practices demonstrates new connections to Iranian burial customs coexistent with the maintenance of pre-Achaemenid Lydian traditions. Analyses of artistic style and iconography in glyptic, numismatic, and personal ornaments suggest the conscious development of an interregional symbolic system in the Achaemenid empire, uniting the elite of Achaemenid Lydia with the rest of the empire and legitimating the new political and social hierarchies. Studies of sculptural remains and architecture shed light on religious belief and practice at Sardis, demonstrating both the continuity of Lydian traditions and the new syncretism of different cults from different areas and backgrounds. An interdisciplinary approach to Achaemenid Sardis thus lets us look simultaneously at the construction of new imperial ideologies at the satrapal capital and at the way the implementation of these ideologies affected the local social structures.