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Ancient Archives Brosius PDF
Ancient Archives Brosius PDF
Ancient Archives Brosius PDF
and Archival
Traditions
Concepts of Record-Keeping
in the Ancient World
Edited by
MARIA BROSIUS
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Contents
List of Illustrations IX
Abbreviations XI
Index 360
-·
I
MARIA BROSIUS
Our oldest archival records originate from the ancient Near East.
Systems of archival record-keeping developed over several millen-
nia in Mesopotamia before spreading to Egypt, the Mycenaean
world, and the Persian empire, continuing through the hellenistic
and Seleucid periods. In mainland Greece of the classical period,
however, record-keeping appears to have developed differently. Ro-
man administrative practices were subsequently drawn on tradi-
tions derived from both the Near East and Greece. Although extant
archival materials are extensive and reflect a, range of ancient soci-
eties, modern scholars know surprisingly little about the purpose,
functioning, and management of these archives. The number of
unanswered questions far exceeds those for which we can marshal
a convincing explanation.
Few modern scholars have addressed the issues of archival tra-
ditions rigorously and in detail, or have dealt with questions of
continuity across a comparable range of time, space, and political
systems. The work of Ernst Posner (1972) is still unsurpassed in
its attempt to discuss archival traditions of different civilizations.
His contribution can only serve as a general introduction, while
a detailed investigation of archival practices is still outstanding.
The volume edited by Klaas Veenhof on cuneiform archives and
libraries (Veenhof 1986a) offers detailed discussions on individual
archives of the Near East, but does not provide a systematic ap-
proach to archival traditions and questions of continuity. Likewise,
the contributors to Archives before Writing (Ferioli, Fiandra, et al.
must have been regularly updated, such as when tablets were added
to the archive, or when others were discarded. These archival rooms
were therefore subject to constant change. Perhaps the term 'active'
or 'working' archive is best equipped to express the fact that an
archive was in constant use during its lifetime. By applying a more
flexible meaning to the term 'archives', expressions such as 'fonds
d'archives' (i.e. collections of documents accumulated by a person
or an institution on a specific issue for a limited time-cf. Veenhof
I 986b: 7 ), and 'assemblages of documents' become synonyms. Fur-
thermore, within such assemblages there existed 'dossiers', sets of
documents grouped together through a common subject matter.
Greek archives seem to contrast with the Near Eastern and Myce-
naean definition of archives. The difference is mainly due to the fact
that the term. 'archives' here refers to public buildings controlled
by the state, e.g. by the council or the demos. Documents stored
in these 'public record offices' included official legal texts, but also
private contracts and records of loans, gifts, and liberation of slaves
(Posner I972: 95). As Davies suggests, the copying or display of
private transactions might have been due to the interest of pri-
vate individuals (estate owners, ex-slaves) who might require the
support of the state, or may have been prescribed by the state for
tax purposes (Davies, below, p. 332). Thus, a Greek public archive
included private documents as a matter of course. However, it is
worthy of note that the kind of private documents stored in a public
space were those concerned with finance and taxation, and there-
fore the question may be asked whether they were stored in these
locations because they were the concern of the state. This practice
also does not exclude the possibility that there were other copies
of these private documents, which individual citizens kept in their
own 'private' archives.
We need to distinguish clearly between the storing of records in
a public archive and their permanent public display on stone in the
polis (cf. Posner I 972: 97). It was decided that certain documents
were essential to the political life of the polis, and these were stored
in the public archive. Accordingly, different types of material were
chosen on which to write the texts, such as whitened boards or
papyrus. The choice of media used to record these documents may
have reflected contemporary views on how long the texts should
remain accessible, since the choice of writing material related, even
if only implicitly, to the strategy for retaining or disposing of a
10 Maria Brosius
document. Of these documents, some were copied on stone for
public display, either for consultation or for propaganda (cf. Davies,
below).
However, it must first be noted that the modern definition of
what constitutes an archive in classical Greece is determined by
the fact that no economic texts have survived from this period. If
they had, it is feasible to suggest that traders, timber merchants,
shipbuilders, bankers would have kept archives in their houses to
keep track of incoming and outgoing goods, of outstanding bills and
loans. These documents may no longer exist, but it does not mean
they were never there. The narrow definition given to ancient Greek
archives by modern scholars is due (from a Near Eastern view) to
the limited types of sources. Decrees and legal texts intended for the
public would in Near Eastern terminology be classified as library
material. Near Eastern libraries stored exactly this type of docu-
ment, but this did not exclude the public display of some of these
legal documents on stone, as it did in Greece. It can subsequently
be observed that even if their contents differ, the Greek and Near
Eastern definitions of an 'archive' are not contradictory in their
description of archives as 'assemblages of documents retained sys-
tematically for some reason' (Davies, below, p. 324) and dossiers as
'groups of documents on a single theme' (Davies, ibid.).
The following definition can be offered for standardization. Ar-
chives are first a physical space within a public space (palace or
temple complex, public archive) or within a private building or
private complex of buildings, and second a collection of stored
documents. The building which housed archival records was a
'house of tablets', while an archival room in the.. private sphere
was a guarded place (Akk. maHartum) or simply a storeroom (Akk.
hursum). A collection of records reflects a deliberate choice or se-
lection of documents. These documents cover a certain period of
time, ranging from the number of reigning years of a king to sev-
eral generations of a business family. For the duration of storage,
distinctions were made between longer and shorter· periods of stor-
age, and these were physically expressed by housing documents in
different archival rooms. A certain flexibility existed in the alloca-
tion of documents between these rooms, reflecting the process of
administering a document and whether it was likely to be required
for regular immediate access or more irregular and long-term re-
trieval. Archive complexes could contain older documents from
Ancient Archives and Concepts of Record-Keeping I I
3· Text Formulae
Apart from the relationship between the tablet shape and its con-
tents, textual markers come to facilitate the recognition of types of
documents. Steinkeller describes the receipt tablets as using certain
verbal forms, and points out that the receipt tablets from Umma
were sealed. He furthermore identifies a clear layout in the bal-
anced accounts. For the Neo-Babylonian practice these formulae
are pointed out by Postgate and receive a detailed investigation
by Baker. In continuation of these conventions, Oelsner points out
the similar practices in documents of the hellenistic period, using
recognized formulae. Finally, lnvernizzi states that practices from
the Neo-Assyrian period were adapted in the Seleucid period; clay
sealings were used as much as before, but they were now applied to
papyri and parchment.
4· Procedures of Record-Keeping
BIBLIOGRAPHY
FERIOLI, P., FIANDRA, E., et al. (eds.) (1994), Archives before Writing (Tu-
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F!SSORE, G. G. (1994), 'Conceptual Development and Techniques of Orga-
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Fiandra, et al. (1994), 339-61. ·
PEDERSEN, 0. (1998), Archives and Libmries in the Ancient Near East ISOO-
soo Be (Bethesda).
PosNER, E. (1972), Archives in the Ancient World (Cambridge, Mass.).
VEENHOF, K. R. (ed.) (1986a), Cuneiform Archives and Libmries: Papers
Read at the 30' Rencoutre Assyriologique llltemationale, Leiden, 4-8 July
I983 (Leiden).
- - (1986b), 'Cuneiform Archives: An Introduction', in Veenhof (1986a),
1-36.
WENDEL, C. (1949), Die griechisch-romische Buclzbeschreibung vergliclzenmit
der des vorderen Orients (Halle a.d. Saale).