Achaemenids, Royal Power, and Persian Ethnicity 181Figure 12.1 Behistun Inscription. © German Archaeological Institute, Tehran Branch Photo-
graphic Archive. Photograph by the Bisotun Expedition, 1964.
Cyrus’ reign, demonstrating the continued effectiveness of an ethnic argument similar
in spirit if not in detail.
In each of these examples, the context of the text is critical to understanding the saliency
of ethnic categories, and the association of the ruler with particular groups. For Cyrus,
his Elamite heritage was essential in creating a past for the new empire he founded, while
for Darius, Cyrus himself had to be remade into an ancestor in order to demonstrate
continuity and stability for the reconfigured empire. However, to what degree was Per-
sian, Elamite, or Median identity relevant outside the confines of this imperial dialogue?
Until very recently, it was very difficult to assess the use of ethnic designations outside the
monumental sphere, but in recent years work on written archives from Fars has made it
possible to consider how these categories were deployed in a non-monumental context.
The Persepolis Fortification Archive (509–493BCE) was excavated in 1933–1934 on
the terrace at Persepolis, and it represents some portion of an archive on clay tablets
related to the movement and distribution of foodstuffs and related commodities between
Fars and neighboring satrapies during the reign of Darius I. Between 15,000 and 30,000
tablets were recovered, and many thousands have thus far been published (Hallock 1969;
Lewis 1990; Briant, Henkelman, and Stolper 2008; Henkelman 2008). Although only
about 5,000 of the around 12,000 texts have been edited or studied, the range of lan-
guages represented in the archive is already remarkable; the majority of the texts are in