<Article>Dascylium: An Overview of the Achaemenid Satrapal City

Abstract

Dascylium was an Achaemenid administrative centre, and a satrapal seat of north-western Anatolia. This paper investigates this satrapal capital's status, particularly its cultural association with the Persian heartland, and in addition serves to compare Dascylium to similar studies of Lydia, and its capital of Sardis. Archaeological evidence reveals that Dascylium's governors did not inherit monumental structures which they could adopt for their use as public buildings, despite the fact that history of the city dates back to the pre-Persian period. Instead, a new landscape evolved that we assume is the ideal satrapal centre, which can now be studied as a result of the excavations at Dascylium. Among them is included the most intriguing find; an assemblage of bullae – clay lumps bearing seal impressions – recovered from the site of the acropolis. A great number of king's legends shown on the bullae likely point to an intimate relationship between Persian sovereigns and subjects in the capital of their westernmost satrapy. The motifs of impressions also help reconstruct our image of cultural life as it was experienced by the Persian immigrants; for instance, the worship of Ahura Mazda, and hunting in paradeisoi. The reflections gleaned from these materials seem to represent those aspects of life colonists enjoyed at the empire's centre and thus brought with them to their new homeland. Some evidence also suggests the persistence of local cultures, but in a much reduced form compared to what is seen in Lydian or Sardian studies.