Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

part iii | cultural and spiritual development
correspondences with Aramaic gradually developed. At the same time, the Aramaic
language used for documents became heavily influenced by the local languages, with
borrowed words (mainly administrative terms) and whole expressions from the local
languages becoming incorporated; Aramaic word order was changed as well.
It would appear that at this time, the inhabitants of Central Asia had already
mastered the Aramaic script. A papyrus in Aramaic found, along with other papyri,
on the island of Elephantine in the lower reaches of the Nile bears witness to this.
The document, dated 464 BC, relates to a property dispute between a Khorezmian,
Dargaman, who served in the military garrison on the island of Elephantine in the
detachment of Artabanus, and a Jew, Mahseiah, from another detachment of the same
garrison. This document, which begins ‘Dargaman, son of Harshin, a Khorezmian
from Artabanus’ detachment in the Elephantine fortress said to Mahseiah…’, shows
that Dargaman, a native of Khorezm who lived on Elephantine Island with his family,
knew the Aramaic language and script.
A few years ago in northern Afghanistan, documents written in Aramaic (in Official
Aramaic) were discovered which then came to London to the famous collector of
antiquities M. Nasser D. Khalili. Among them are 30 documents on leather and 18
on wood, written in ink. One document dates from the 5th century BC, but all the
others are from the 4th century BC. In general the documents cover the period from
353 to 324 BC, corresponding to the reign of the Achaemenid kings Artaxerxes III,
Darius III, Bessus (Artaxerxes V) and Alexander the Great. A preliminary reading of
these documents was published in French by the Israeli scholar S. Shaked in 2004.
The documents contain important information about the economic life, political
events, administrative apparatus and historical geography of Bactria, along with
names of important persons (Akhvamazda, Bagavant). The documents also include
promissory notes and business letters. These documents, in particular, mention cities
of Southern Sogdia, Nikhshapaya (Nakhshab) and Kish, as well as the Artadatana
‘desert’, probably a desert in Northern Afghanistan, etc. The documents indicate
the widespread use of Aramaic script in Bactria in various spheres of activity, about
which, previously, we were only able to guess.
The oldest example of Aramaic script found in Central Asia is a short inscription
that has survived on a storage jar, a khum, found during excavations of the site of
Great Aibugir-Kala (Northern Khorezm) by the archaeologist M. Mambetullaev.
The inscribed letters and archaeological data suggest that it dates from the 5th or 4th
century BC. A few other inscriptions on pottery have been found at other sites in
Khorezm, but their brevity (as a rule they contain only Khorezmian proper names)
makes it impossible to say whether they are Aramaic or Khorezmian texts written
in almost the same script. This is also the case with some inscriptions from Koi-
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