8.B Tools of Economic Activity in the Arsakid Empire

Abstract

Our knowledge of the economy of the Arsakid Empire is far more limited than that of the Hellenistic and Roman Empires in the Near East. While some cities or regions are relatively well documented, others are not at all. The rather patchy sources, moreover, cover very different aspects of the economy and administration of particular regions and places: some give us titles of administrative personnel, transactions, and accounting practices in specific tributary contexts; others preserve contracts relating to particular legal traditions; yet others offer glimpses into regional minting. The Stathmoi Parthikoi (“Parthian Stations”) describe the forts and road stations of the main imperial road in great detail, while the Palmyrene caravan inscriptions show the incentives that drove the use of another route for commercial purposes.1 Furthermore, the documentary evidence from the Arsakid period, written in several languages, is not evenly distributed chronologically, with much pertaining to just a few decades in the life of an empire that lasted over 400 years; questions of diachronic development can rarely be addressed. These limitations are all the more frustrating as the Arsakid court had authority over relatively autonomous imperial subregions. Economic and administrative diversity must have been even greater than in other ancient imperial states.2 Given that there are, in terms of administrative personnel and terminology, long-term continuities from the Achaemenid to the Sasanian period, scholars tend to assume some long-term administrative continuities that were maintained throughout the Arsakid period.3 Yet we must be careful not to overlook important differences, especially in those aspects where there are strong indications of change. Such differences stand out in the coin policy of the Arsakids, which shows important innovations.4 Another area of change can be noted in the military system, which seems to have been more decentralized than under the empires before and after.5 Given that military organization is closely related to fiscal politics, this will have changed economic life in important ways.6