The legal system of the Achaemenid Empire in the biblical tradition
https://doi.org/10.26907/2541-7738.2025.5-6.7-19
Abstract
This article examines the ways the legal system of the Achaemenid Empire is represented in the biblical tradition, focusing on the Books of Ezra and Esther, which provide the most important information about the Achaemenid law. Particular emphasis is placed on the interpretation of key legal terms that denote law (dāt), royal order (db̲ar-malk̲ût̲ or db̲ar-hamelek), royal message (pithgam hamelek), and royal decree (tēm). The Book of Ezra, which cites certain royal decrees in Aramaic, uses the legal terminology accepted for referring to such decrees in the Semitic countries (for example, the term tēm is rendered in Babylonian as ṭēmu). However, in two instances where this Semitic tradition is abandoned, the word dāt for law corresponds most closely to the Old Persian term dāta-. In the Book of Esther, the Hebrew lexical unit dāt, considered as a borrowing from the Old Persian dāta- (law), appears in three main meanings: court regulations, traditional Persian customs, and royal decrees.
Keywords
biblical tradition,
Book of Ezra,
Book of Esther,
“king’s law,
” legal system,
royal court,
Achaemenid Empire
Supporting agencies: This study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project no. 23-28- 01562, “Legal System of the Achaemenid Persian Empire”).
About the Author
E. V. Rung
Russian State University for the Humanities
Россия
Россия
Eduard V. Rung, Dr. Sci. (History), Full Professor, Department of Ancient History
Moscow, Russia
References
1. Kleber K. dātu ša šarri: Gesetzgebung in Babylonien unter den Achämeniden. Zeitschrift für Altorientalische und Biblische Rechtsgeschichte, 2010, Bd. 16, S. 49–75. (In German)
2. Dandamaev M.A., Lukonin V.G. Kul’tura i Ekonomika Drevnego Irana [The Culture and Economy of Ancient Iran]. Moscow, Nauka, 1980. 415 p. (In Russian)
3. Briant P. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Winona Lake, IN, Eisenbrauns, 2002. 1196 p.
4. Kent R.G. Old Persian: Grammar, Texts, Lexicon. American Oriental Ser. Vol. 33. New Haven, CT, Am. Orient. Soc., 1950. xiv, 216 p.
5. Schmitt R. Wörterbuch der altpersischen Königsinschriften. Wiesbaden, Reichert Verl., 2014. 330 S. (In German)
6. Hinz W., Koch H. Elamisches Wörterbuch. T. 1–2, Berlin, Verl. von Dietrich Reimer, 1987. 736 S. (In German)
7. Oppenheim A.L., Reiner E., Harris R. (Eds.). The Assyrian Dictionary. Vol. 3 (D). Chicago, IL, Orient. Inst., 1959. xiv, 203 p.
8. Koehler L., Baumgartner W. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Richardson M.E.J. (Ed.). Vol. I: Leiden, New York, NY, Köln, E.J. Brill, 1994. cv, 365 p. Vol. II: Leiden, Boston, MA, Köln, Brill, 2001. xiv, pp. 907–2094.
9. Isakova A.S., Rung E. “I established kingdom on its place”: An idea of law and order in the Achaemenid Empire. Vostok (Oriens), 2023, no. 3, pp. 45–59. https://doi.org/10.31857/S086919080025213-1. (In Russian)
10. Voigtlander E.N. The Bisitun Inscription of Darius the Great. Babylonian Version. Ser.: Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum. Pt. I: Inscriptions of Ancient Iran. Vol. II. The Babylonian versions of the Achaemenian inscriptions. Texts I. London, Lund Humphries, 1978. xiv, 73 p.
11. Malbran-Labat F. La version akkadienne de l’inscription trilingue de Darius à Behistun. Ser.: Documenta Asiana. Vol. I. Roma, GEI, 1994. 174 p. (In French)
12. Steve M.-J. Nouveaux mélanges épigraphiques: Inscriptiones royales de Suse et de la Susiane. Ser.: Mémoires de la Délégation archéologique française en Iran. Vol. LIII. Mission de Susiane. Ville Royale de Suse. Vol. 7. Nice, Editions Serre, 1987. 111 p. (In French)
13. Démare-Lafont S. dātu ša šarri. La «loi du roi» dans la Babylonie achéménide et séleucide. Droit et Cultures, 2006, vol. 52, no. 2, p. 13–26. (In French)
14. Jursa M., Paszkowiak J., Waerzeggers C. Three court records. Archiv für Orientforschung. 2003/2004, Bd. 50, S. 255–268.
15. MacGinnis J. A judgement of Darius the King. Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 2008, vol. 60, pp. 87–99. https://doi.org/10.1086/JCS25608624.
16. Grabbe L.L. The “Persian documents” in the Book of Ezra: Are they authentic? In: Lipschits O., Oeming M. (Eds.) Judah and the Judeans in the Persian Period. Winona Lake, IN, Eisenbrauns, 2006, pp. 531–570. https://doi.org/10.5325/j.ctv1bxgzgk.25.
17. Williamson H.G.M. The Aramaic documents in Ezra revisited. Journal of Theological Studies, 2008, vol. 59, pt. 1, pp. 41–62. https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flm097.
18. Llewellyn-Jones L. Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther: Achaemenid Court Culture in the Hebrew Bible. London, New York, NY, Oxford, New Delhi, Sydney, I.B. Tauris, 2023. xxii, 258 p.
19. McCullough W.S. Ahasureus. In: Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. 1, Fasc. 6. 1984, pp. 634–635.
20. Bickerman E.J. The Edict of Cyrus in Ezra 1. Journal of Biblical Literature, 1946, vol. 65, no. 3, pp. 249–275. https://doi.org/10.2307/3262665.
21. Rung E.V. The orders of Darius I and Xerxes in the corpus of the Achaemenid royal inscriptions. Vestnik Drevnei Istorii, 2024, vol. 84, no. 1, pp. 27–46. https://doi.org/10.31857/S032103910024546-3. (In Russian)
22. Rung E. War and ideology in Achaemenid Persia. In: Hyland J., Rezakhani Kh. (Eds.) Brill’s Companion to War in the Ancient Iranian Empires. Ser.: Brill’s Companions to Classical Studies: Warfare in the Ancient Mediterranean World. Vol. 9. Leiden, Boston, MA, Brill, 2025, pp. 84–119. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004710771_004.
23. Ruiz-Ortiz F.-J. The Dynamics of Violence and Revenge in the Hebrew Book of Esther. Ser.: Vetus Testamentum, Supplements. Vol. 175. Leiden, Boston, MA, Brill, 2017. xiii, 275 p. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004337022.
24. Koller A. Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought. New York, NY, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014. xiii, 262 p.
25. Schmitt R. Dātabara. In: Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. 7, Fasc. 2. 1994, p. 115.
26. Tuplin C. The Justice of Darius: Reflections on the Achaemenid Empire as a rule-bound environment. In: Fitzpatrick-McKinley A. (Ed.) Assessing Biblical and Classical Sources for the Reconstruction of Persian Influence, History and Culture. Ser.: Classica et Orientalia. Vol. 10. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verl., 2015, pp. 73–126.
27. Cowley A. (Ed.) Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923. xxxii, 319 p.
28. Porten B., Faber J.-J., Martin C.J., Vittmann G. The Elephantine Papyri in English: Three Millennia of Cross-Cultural Continuity and Change. Ser.: Documenta et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui. Vol. 22. Leiden, New York, NY, Köln, E.J. Brill, 1996. xvii, 633 p. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004669079.
29. Naveh J., Shaked S. (Eds.). Aramaic Documents from Ancient Bactria (Fourth Century BCE): From the Khalili Collections. London, The Khalili Family Trust, 2012. xxi, 294 p.
30. Tuplin C.J. The Bodleian letters: Commentary. In: Tuplin C.J., Ma J. (Eds.) Aršāma and His World: The Bodleian Letters in Context. Vol. 1: The Bodleian letters. Ser.: Oxford Studies in Ancient Documents. Oxford, Oxford Univ. Press, 2020, pp. 61–286.
Review
For citations:
Rung E.V. The legal system of the Achaemenid Empire in the biblical tradition. Kazan Journal of Historical, Linguistic, and Legal Research. 2025;167(5-6):7-19. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.26907/2541-7738.2025.5-6.7-19
Views:
11
JATS XML
Email this article 