News and Results

Upcoming events

The project workshop 'Taxation and Administration in the Achaemenid Empire' will be held on  25-27 October 2018 at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. It will be the project's concluding conference, in which  research about taxation and fiscal administration in the various parts of the empire will be brought together and reviewed. The flyer and the program can be found here and here respectively. For more information, please contact dr. Benjamin Dromard at  benjamin.dromard@gmail.com.

Publications (scholarly)

2015

Kristin Kleber, “Taxation in the Achaemenid Empire”, in: Oxford Handbook Online of Classical Studies. Online Publication Date: Nov. 2015. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935390.013.34.

2016

Kristin Kleber, “The Kassite Gold and the Post-Kassite Silver Standards Revisited”, in: K. Kleber, R. Pirngruber (eds.), Silver, Money and Credit. A Tribute to Robartus J. van der Spek on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday. PIHANS 128, Leiden 2016, 39-60.

Mark Tamerus, "Elusive Silver in the Achaemenid Heartland: Thoughts on the Presence and Use of Silver according to the Persepolis Fortification and Treasury Archives’, in: K. Kleber,  R. Pirngruber (eds.), Silver, Money and Credit. A Tribute to Robartus J. van der Spek on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday. PIHANS 128, Leiden 2016,  241-294.

2017

Kristin Kleber, “Arabian Gold for Babylonia”, Kaskal 13 (2016), 121-134.

Kristin Kleber, “Achaemenid Administration in Babylonia”, in: B. Jacobs, W.F.M. Henkelman and M.W. Stolper (eds.), Die Verwaltung im Achämenidenreich – Imperiale Muster und Strukturen / Administration in the Achaemenid Empire – Tracing the Imperial Signature.  Classica et Orientalia 17,  Harassowitz: Wiesbaden 2017, 699-714.

2018

Kristin Kleber (with R.J. van der Spek, J.G. Dercksen and M. Jursa), “Money, Silver and Trust in Mesopotamia”, in: R.J. van der Spek, B. van Leeuwen (eds.), Money, Currency and Crisis. In Search of Trust, 2000 BC to AD 2000, London/New York: Routledge 2018, 102-131.

Kristin Kleber, “Dependent Labor and Status in the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Periods", in: A. Garcia-Ventura (ed.), What’s in a Name? Terminology related to Work Force and Job Categories in the Ancient Near East. AOAT 440, Münster 2018, 441-465.

Mark Tamerus, “Labour in the Achaemenid Heartland", in: A. Garcia-Ventura (ed.), What’s in a Name? Terminology related to Work Force and Job Categories in the Ancient Near East. AOAT 440, Münster 2018, 468-493.

in press

Kristin Kleber, “Power Negotiation, Elite Management and Administration in Babylonia under Persian Rule”, in:  B. Jacobs, R. Rollinger (eds.), A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Routledge (in press).

Lectures for a scholarly audience

2014

Kristin Kleber, “Die Stellung des assertorischen Eides im Beweisverfahren der neubabylonischen Zeit”,  invited lecture held in the Forum Romanum (Juridische Faculteit, Universiteit van Amsterdam)  on 16 December 2014.

Kristin Kleber, „Taxation and Sovereignty in the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Empires“ held in Florence, Italy at an interdisciplinary workshop on 'Taxation and Sovereignty’ organized by New York University on 15 May 2014.

Kristin Kleber, “Steuern und Abgaben im Achämenidenreich” held  in Münster, Institut für Altorientalische Philologie on 30 January 2014.

2016

Kristin Kleber, "Elite Management and Administration in the First Persian Empire (c. 550-330 BC)". Lecture held at the Nederlandse Oudhistoricidag, Amsterdam on 26 January 2016.

Kristin Kleber, "Religious Tolerance or Pragmatic Indifference? Teispid and Achaemenid Religious Policy in Babylonia". Invited lectures held at the conference “Die Religionspolitik der Achaimeniden und die Rolle der Lokalheiligtümer” organized by Excellenzcluster “Religion und Politik" on 24-26 February 2016 in Münster.

Kristin Kleber, "Tablet Format and Book-keeping in Eanna". Invited lecture held at the workshop “Towards a Diplomatics of Archival Cuneiform Documents” organized by the research project “Diplomatics and Palaeography of the Neo- and Late Babylonian Archival Documents” at the Vienna University on 6-7 October 2016.

Mark Tamerus, “Thoughts on Taxation in the Achaemenid Heartland”. Lecture held on 30 May 2016 at the 4th Neo-Babylonian Network (NBN) Conference in Leuven.

Lectures for a general public

2015

Kristin Kleber, „A short introduction to cuneiform“ – lecture and cuneiform writing workshop held  in Groningen upon invitation of the Boreas Student Association, Rijksuniveriteit Groningen on 24 April 2015.

2016

Kristin Kleber, "The Vidi-project “Paying for All the King’s Horses and All the King’s Men: A Fiscal Policy of the Achaemenid Empire”, presentation held at the Nederlandse Nationale Orientalistendag, Amsterdam on 24 June 2016.

Previous meetings / other activities

2014

Meeting with the NaBuCCo-Project (Katholieke Universiteit Leiden), Prof. Dr. Kathleen Abraham, Dr. Shai Gordin  at the VU Amsterdam. Presentation given by Dr. Shai Gordin on the NaBuCCo-Database on 9 December 2014.

2015

Kick-Off-Meeting Vidi-Project “Paying for All the Kings’ Horses and All the King’s Men: A Fiscal History of the Achaemenid Empire” with a lecture presenting the project’s aims held by Kristin Kleber,  at VU Amsterdam on 22 January 2015.

Meeting of the Neo-Babylonian Network Initiative on 1st and 2nd June 2015 in Paris, organized by Prof. Dr. Francis Joannès, Université Paris-Sorbonne 1. Response paper by Kristin Kleber on a presentation held by M. Djabellaoui on ethnic groups first Millennium Babylonia