New research on the Bactrian tax-receipt

Journal article

The so-called Bactrian tax-receipt is a small leather document written in Greek, from the early 2nd century BC. Found in 1994, it is a rare administrative document from the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom. It was uniquely dated in the reigns of three kings: Antimachos (I) Theos, and his joint-regents Eumenes and Antimachos. For this paper, further technical analyses, including an IR photograph, were made to analyse traces of damaged text. The correct reading of the last line is affirmed, and the name of a fourth king, Apollodotos, could possibly be reconstructed. The political framework for the dating formula is also studied; including its possible connection to the rare Attic tetradrachms of the Indo-Greek ruler Apollodotos I. Finally, a remarkable passage in the 1st Book of Maccabees claims that Eumenes II of Pergamon, in the treaty of Apamea in 188 BC, was awarded Seleucid lands in Media and India. An analysis is made about whether the treaty may have actually included a clause about (apparently only nominal) Pergamene influence over eastern Seleucid vassal-states, and whether there might possibly be a connection to the otherwise unattested ruler Eumenes in the tax-receipt.

Authors: Jakobsson, J; Glenn, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: St. Olaf College
• Journal: Ancient History Bulletin
• Volume: 32
• Issue: 1-2
• Pages: 61-71
• Publication date: 2018-06-06
• Acceptance date: 2018-02-14
• EISSN: 1700-3334
• ISSN: 0835-3638
• Language: English