Yasuyuki Mitsuma. “General (Who Is) Above the Four Generals in the Seleucid and Arsacid Periods”
Yasuyuki Mitsuma. “General (Who Is) Above the Four Generals in the Seleucid and Arsacid Periods”, Anabasis 10, 2021, p. 27-48.
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1Mitsuma deals with the Seleucid and early Arsacid Babylonian office of the “General above four Generals”, which appears several times in the most ancient Babylonian cuneiform documents. He identifies the Seleucid office of the governor-general of the "Upper Satrapies" with the “General above four Generals” referred to in the astronomical diaries. With the western Arsacid expansion and the conquest of Mesopotamia, the authority of the office was restricted to Babylonia only. The first officers bear Greek names and reside in Seleucia in the Tigris indicating that the newcomers valued the members of the Seleucid administration and preserved the system. In the 120s BC, the situation changed: a member of the Arsacid dynasty, the son of Bagayashsa is appointed to the office, indicating a closer control of the royal house, just before the creation of a new office, that of the rabbi uqāni or “marshal”, meant to replace the “General above four Generals”.
References
Electronic reference
Leonardo Gregoratti, “Yasuyuki Mitsuma. “General (Who Is) Above the Four Generals in the Seleucid and Arsacid Periods””, Abstracta Iranica [Online], Volume 44 | 2022, document 15, Online since 30 December 2022, connection on 05 October 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/abstractairanica/55601; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/abstractairanica.55601
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