Unveiling of Achaemenid Inscriptions After 84 Years of Absence
More than 1,700 Achaemenid inscriptions that had been entrusted to the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago for study and decoding have been returned to Iran. Researchers believe the inscriptions contain important information about the written history of the Achaemenids.
1,783 Achaemenid inscriptions were returned to Iran after 84 years and, according to the director general of the National Museum of Iran, they have been deposited in the museum. According to ISNA news agency, these tablets arrived in Iran on the evening of October 28 and will be unveiled at the National Museum of Iran on Wednesday, October 10.
Jibril Nokandeh, director of the National Museum of Iran, said that in order to return the Achaemenid inscriptions, Professor Christopher Woods, head of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, personally traveled to Tehran to hand over the loan to the Iranian Museum.
Researchers consider these inscriptions to be valuable documents for deciphering an important part of the written history of the Achaemenids.
How did the petroglyphs end up in America?
In 1933-1934, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago was conducting archaeological excavations in Persepolis. The group's excavations included tablets that, with the consent of the Iranian government, were transferred to the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in 1937, on loan. It was intended that after the completion of studies on the tens of thousands of tablets, they would be returned to Iran.
Experts date these inscriptions to the reign of Darius I, around 500 BC.
The first shipment of the tablets was returned to Iran after the Islamic Revolution. The second shipment, which arrived in Iran nearly 13 years ago, made headlines. Two Jewish families who viewed the tablets from a commercial perspective and believed they were Iranian property in the United States that should be auctioned, sought to have them confiscated. The plaintiffs argued that the millions of dollars in proceeds should have been paid to the families of those killed in the 1997 Jerusalem bombing.
In March 2015, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Iran in the Achaemenid Tablets case.
Valuable historical information in Achaemenid inscriptions
Dr. Abdul Majid Arfaei, a researcher and expert in ancient Akkadian and Elamite languages who has followed the Achaemenid tablets from his student days until the court ruling in favor of Iran, explained the history of these inscriptions in an interview with "Hamshahri Online" and pointed out their subject and importance.
The researcher considers these tablets to contain valuable information from a scientific perspective, from references to Iranian, Babylonian, and Egyptian names to religious ceremonies, the Achaemenid payment system, and financial documents. In this interview, Arfaei mentions, for example, “two sets of inscriptions that contain annual reports,” “just like a daily diary.” In the interview, the researcher mentions, for example, the issue of women during that period, saying, “There are interesting issues about paying them wages or bonuses. There are women workers who, because of their specialization, are even paid more than men. There are also 10 women who are the heads of labor groups and are highly paid.” Dr. Arfaei also mentions the name of a prisoner who “has a wage, because he also has to eat.”
Iranian officials express hope that other bills will be returned to Iran soon.
In October of last year, at the same time as Hassan Rouhani returned from the UN headquarters, an Achaemenid soldier who had left Iran about 80 years ago was returned to Iran.
Source: DW
