about 14–15 years (for the demographic parameters of the Babylonian epigraphic evidence see Jursa 2010: pp. 37–39).
At first sight, the Persepolis Fortification Archive (for the Archive see Briant et al. 2008; Henkelman 2008: pp. 65–179) seems to be a quite meaningful demographic corpus. However, recent scholarly contributions have clearly proven the pitfalls and biases of the material in that respect (Henkelman 2008: pp. 79–85). For example, attempts to estimate the population of Fars or even only the number of workers involved in the “Persepolis economy” are highly problematic. First, we see only a part of the administrative‐economic system, and we have no idea how large this part really was. Second, the numbers of the workers mentioned in the Elamite “Fortification Tablets” from Persepolis that have been published so far are also problematic; not even in combination with later historians' praise of the fertility and population density of Persis do they enable us to estimate the size of the population of the core province of the empire. The groups of workers mentioned in the texts are not separate units; thus, certain (anonymous) workers might appear in different groups on different occasions. The manual workers and craftsmen employed there were actually members of a special labor force, recruited from all over the empire to serve the king in Fars. The proportion of men to women indicates no more than that some of these workers must have lived in family groups (against Aperghis' view of an underfeeding of male workers (Aperghis 2000; see Tuplin 2008: 319 f). The ratio of different generations does not match other ancient demographic patterns, and an assessment of living and work spaces minimizes the numerical data's meaningfulness. But by looking at a special case (special rations for mothers) (Brosius 1996: pp. 171–178) and at Greek testimonies of the royal policy of reproduction (Hdt. 1.135 f; Str. 15.3.17), it becomes obvious that Persian rulers were interested in the greatest possible number of potential soldiers, officials, and workers (Briant 2002: 277 ff).
What we urgently need are reconstructions of human‐climate‐ecosystem interactions in different parts of the empire to be able to ask questions the answers to which might also lead to demographic insights.1 For Fars, for example, those questions might be: What was the environmental context in which (i) the mobile agro‐pastoralism and nomadism gave way to sedentary lifestyle, and (ii) the first highland urban centers established in the continental Middle East? How did human societies react to climate change and drought events? Were people aware of human‐caused ecosystem change? How did human societies react to ecosystem change caused by anthropogenic disturbance? What was the spatial pattern of agro‐pastoral practices and social organization within the capital area of the empire? What was the impact of major historical events on the dominant lifestyle during the historical period?
One of the most important branches of (ancient) demography is the study of population movements (Hahn 2012; Schunka and Olshausen 2010). However, the paucity of quantifiable evidence and the biases of some of the sources make demographic approaches and attempts of that kind again a difficult and dangerous undertaking. As for the Persian Empire, both the Greek and the indigenous evidence assign much relevance to Achaemenid “forced” or “involuntary migration” as a demographic factor. However, most of the classical reports on cases of deportations or population transfers have to be evaluated against their respective historical background (e.g. the stories of the alleged massacre of the Branchidae by Alexander III or the deportations following the falls of Miletus [494 BCE] and Eretria [490 BCE]), the literary or political traditions they are part of, and their authors' intentions (cf. Olshausen 1997; Kehne 2009). Even the more reliable testimonies of the indigenous administrative evidence (cf. the famous case of the Caro‐Egyptians in Borsippa [Waerzeggers 2006]; cf. also the hatru collectives in Babylonia, organized in terms of their duties, customers, or place of origin, and the abovementioned kurtash of the Persepolis texts) call for sober historical explanations and an evaluation in light of a long Ancient Near Eastern tradition of forced migration.2 Besides, scholars have underlined that deportations should be distinguished from other, somewhat similar sanctions that may occur together with them, for example expropriation and massacre, exile of individuals and their families or adherents, enslavement or military conscription of conquered peoples, and forced sedentarization of nomads. However, there is little to suggest that further studies will be able to provide forced migration statistics (including the numbers of people from Greece and other countries who sought refuge with the Great King and his satraps).
The same holds true for an evaluation of transfers of army personnel, immigration, voluntary movements over long or short distances (settlers, colonists, etc.), seasonal migration, or migration from urban centers to rural areas or vice versa. The relative peace and safety on Persian‐controlled routes and waterways did surely facilitate the voluntary movements of people eager to change places (traders, settlers, etc.). The royal distribution of land and property to Iranian and non‐Iranian officials and officers in newly acquired territories and the service of Achaemenid garrison troops in places far away from their homes also influenced demographic conditions. After all, both of these migratory measures led to the development of an Iranian cultural “diaspora,” especially in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor (for Achaemenid Anatolia and its Nachleben see Dusinberre 2013).
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16 Jacobs,
