The Arabian World

Graf, David F.; Hausleiter, Arnulf

doi:10.1002/9781119071860.ch38

Cited by 2 publications

References 24 publications

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The Persian Empire in Contact with the World

Rollinger¹

2023

The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East Volume V

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The chapter argues that the Persian Empire became the center of an entangled Afro-Asian world and offered one of the very first conceptions of the world as being diverse and variegated. This concept of diversity was consciously and officially propagated. It was not inserted into a dichotomized world view of “we” and “they,” “inside” and “outside,” but was equated with the world as such, a diversified world ruled by the Persian king. Moreover, the Persian Empire introduced a novel conception of empire that was both self-contained and universalistic at the same time. From an outside perspective, the concept was self-contained since it defined an imperial space that pretended to represent the world but evidently did not match this claim. From an official, interior perspective, the concept was universalistic since it professed to constitute the world, but less obviously did not reflect “reality.” The dynamic between these two concepts became especially manifest in imperial border zones that created a hotbed for specific developments of adaptations and adoptions but also propelled processes of delimitation and alienation, identity-shaping, and binary worldviews. The Persian Empire’s reach into an outside world far beyond its rulers’ direct control was the essential trigger and ingredient for these dynamic developments. Contacts and transfers were intense throughout the empire’s entire existence, pushing forward integration as well as disintegration.

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The Persian Empire in Contact with the World

Rollinger¹

2023

The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East Volume V

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The Status of Gaza in the Persian Period: Imperial Dynamics, Local Agency, and Long-Distance Trade

Boehm

2024

Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History

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Although Gaza was among the largest and most important cities of the southern Levant, it has played a relatively minor role in recent reassessments of the reoccupation of the Palestinian coast and its administration in the Persian period. The widely-held scholarly view that Gaza fell outside of direct Achaemenid control, in a coastal zone conceded to a confederation of Arabian tribes ruled by the king of Qedar, is a primary factor in according it a separate status from the other cities of Philistia. This article argues that the sources do not support the notion that Gaza and its environs belonged to an Arabian district. Rather, Gaza, like the other coastal cities of Philistia, seems to have been redeveloped in the late sixth century BCE by Phoenician agents, likely from Tyre. While Gaza held a distinct position as the main outlet of Arabian and Egyptian trade, it was culturally and economically oriented around the wider Phoenician maritime network and integrated into a dense network of Achaemenid military and administrative infrastructure in the region. In the early fourth century BCE, however, the loss of Egypt and the eclipse of the Qedarites fundamentally transformed the nature of Achaemenid authority in the region. Gaza may have been lost during much or all of this period, and the Achaemenid response is visible across this border region. Nevertheless, Gaza retained its central commercial position across these disturbances.

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The Arabian World

Cited by 2 publications

References 24 publications

The Persian Empire in Contact with the World

The Persian Empire in Contact with the World

The Status of Gaza in the Persian Period: Imperial Dynamics, Local Agency, and Long-Distance Trade

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