[JNES 78 no. 2 (2019)] © 2019 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0022–2968/2019/7802–0001$10.00. DOI: 10.1086/705163 185 Taxing Achaemenid Arachosia: Evidence from Persepolis RHYNE KING, University of Chicago* Introduction: The Green Chert Objects from the Persepolis Treasury During the Oriental Institute’s exploration of the Persepolis Treasury, excavators found some 269 ob- jects and fragments made of green chert stone. 1 In the publication of the finds, Erich Schmidt divided these objects into roughly equal numbers of plates, mortars, and pestles, with a much smaller number of trays. Schmidt interpreted these as “ritual objects,” with his evidence being a seal, depicting the ritual use of a mortar and pestle, that was found impressed on six clay tags in a context separate from the green chert objects. 2 However, no emic evidence immediately * I would especially like to thank Wouter Henkelman for invit- ing me to Berlin and supervising my research on Achaemenid Ara- chosia while there. In addition to his comments, I also benefitted from the remarks of Alain Bresson, Richard Payne, Matthew Stol- per, and the two anonymous peer reviewers. Additional gratitude is due to Seth Richardson for his fastidious editorial work. Any errors of fact or interpretation lie solely with me. The research presented in this article was supported by a fellowship from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst. 1 Erich F. Schmidt, Persepolis II: Contents of the Treasury and Other Discoveries, OIP 69 (Chicago, 1957), 53–56. 2 For a description of the seal, see ibid., 26. The clay tags with this seal were all found in Room 11 or neighboring Portico 18 of the Persepolis Treasury. Most of the green chert objects were suggested that these were ritual objects, and Schmidt himself noted the similarity in shape of these plates with other plates identified as royal tableware. 3 At least 203 of the 269 objects carried an Aramaic inscription, and George Cameron ofered a tentative translation of the formula therein, which appeared administrative, and not ritual, in nature. 4 Further interpretation of the production and use of the green chert objects would require editions and translations of the lot. In 1970, Raymond Bowman published editions and translations of these texts under the title Aramaic Ritual Texts from Persepolis. 5 Reviewers of Bowman quickly and universally rejected Bowman’s thesis that the texts documented a haoma-crushing ritual, and instead all noted that they were in fact administra- tive documents. 6 Ilya Gershevitch provided a pithy found in Hall 38, and none were found in Room 11 or Portico 18 (ibid., 54.). 3 Ibid., 53. 4 George G. Cameron apud ibid., 55. 5 Raymond A. Bowman, Aramaic Ritual Texts from Persepolis, OIP 91 (1970). Bowman only published 163 of the objects, as a number were lost after the field report. 6 Major contributions include Paul Bernard, “Les mortiers et pilons inscrits de Persépolis,” Studia Iranica 1 (1972); Baruch Levine, “Aramaic Texts from Persepolis. Review of Aramaic Rit- ual Texts from Persepolis by Raymond A. Bowman,” JAOS 92/1 (1972); Joseph Naveh and Shaul Shaked, “Ritual Texts or Treasury