Archaeological Evidence for Persian Elites in the Fifth Century B.C.

Abstract

An analysis of a group of the administrative texts from the Persepolis Fortification Archive gives the impression that the Fahliyān region in northwestern Fārs was probably the heart of the territory in which the Patischorian tribe and Gobryas family were centered in the Achaemenid period. This article attempts to examine hypothetically the connection between archaeological remains discovered in the Fahliyān region with the Patischorian tribe. Above all, the monumental building excavated in Jenjān and the well-known rockcut tomb of Dā-u Dokhtar might have been a tribal seat and a tomb of Gobryas respectively. An argument on the possible connection between the seals used on the so-called Gobryas texts and the Gobryas family is also of especial significance with the interesting result that the stamp was a favorable type-seal for this family. Both of this evidence seems to suggest the Elamite and Greek personal trends of Gobryas, a fact inherited in his role in the political events of the age.