Historical Studies on the Rule of Provinces in the ancient Near Eastern
“Empires” Synthesising Philological and Archaeological Studies

Archaeology Team: Shuichi Hasegawa (Principal Investigator; Rikkyo University; coordinator)
Hidetoshi Tsumoto (Co-Investigator; Ancient Orient Museum; metal objects)
Takuzo Onozuka (Co-Investigator; Tokyo National Mueseum; pottery)
Mariya Masubuchi (Co-Investigator; National Institutes for Cultural Heritage Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties; metal objects)
Shuji Miyazaki (Research Collaborator; Rikkyo University; burial system)
Katsuyuki Okada (Research Collaborator; Kuamamoto University; zooarchaeology)
Yitzhak Paz (Research Collaborator; Israel Antiquities Authority; pottery)
Andrea Squitieri (Research Collaborator; University of Munich; stone vessels)
Alessandro Moriconi (Research Collaborator; University of Rome; images)
Florian Janoscha Kreppner (Research Collaborator; Berlin Free University; architecture)
Asuka Kanto (Research Collaborator; Aoyama Gakuin University; archaeomagnetism)

Philology Team

Shuichi Hasegawa (Principal Investigator; Rikkyo University; coordinator)
Assyria Team
Shigeo Yamada (Co-Investigator; University of Tsukuba; early royal inscriptions)
Sanae Ito (Co-Investigator; JSPS Overseas Research Fellow; royal correspondences)
Saki Kikuchi (Research Collaborator; University of Heidelberg; religious documents)
Karen Radner (Research Collaborator; University of Munich; coordinator)
Jamie Novotny (Research Collaborator; University of Munich; late royal inscriptions)
Babylonia Team
Yoko Watai (Research Collaborator; JSPS Research Fellow; economic documents)
Nathan Morello (Research Collaborator; University of Munich; Chronicles)
Persia Team
Yasuyuki Mitsuma (Co-Investigator; University of Tokyo; astronomical records; economic documents)
Seiro Haruta (Co-Investigator; Tokai University; royal inscriptions; religious documents)
Hebrew Bible Team
Shuichi Hasegawa (Principal Investigator; Rikkyo University)
Daewook Kim (Research Collaborator; Rikkyo University; Books of Ezra and Nehemiah)
Kota Tachibana (Research Collaborator; Rikkyo University; Books of Ezra and Nehemiah)
Hui Liang (Research Collaborator; Zheijian University; Book of Chronicles)

Purpose of Research

This research aims at elucidating the actual state of the rule in the administrative provinces during the periods of the three successive empires during the seventh to fifth centuries BCE (Neo-Assyria, Neo-Babylonia, and Achaemenid Persia) by using mutually complementarily the results of archaeological research and those of philological historical studies. Special attention will be paid to the common as well as chronologically and geographically distinct features in the administrative strategy of each empire, by analysing multifaceted features such as land system, military system, commodity distribution, religious culture, and dietary culture. Further, socio-historical and ideological background such as “imperial ideology” of each empire will be investigated based on the results of the above-mentioned analyses of the administrative strategies.

Plan and Method of Research

This synthesising research will be based both on the archaeological research conducted in Israel for four years and on the philological studies of historical sources. Our archaeology team will conduct excavations at Tel Rekhesh in Israel from 2017 and 2020, whereas our philology team will collect sources at various archives located abroad in 2018 and 2020. At the end of each fiscal year, the results of those researches will be presented and discussed. The results of the excavation at Tel Rekhesh will be reported at ICAANE in 2018, and those of philology team will be presented at RAI in 2019. A symposium synthesising the results of the two teams will be held in the latter half of the fiscal year 2020. The results are planned to be published in academic journals both in English and Japanese, and the final results are planned to be published in a monograph in English.