نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
نویسنده
دانشجوی دکتری باستانشناسی دوران تاریخی، دانشگاه تهران، تهران، ایران.
چکیده
در روایتی از تروگ پمپه‌ای، به فرمانی از داریوش اول خطاب به مردم کارتاژ اشاره شده است. فرمانی که داریوش در آن، کارتاژی‌ها را از قربانی کردن انسان و خوردن گوشت سگ منع کرده و از آنها خواسته تا مردگانشان را بجای دفن کردن در زمین، بسوزانند. شواهد باستان‌شناختی نشان می‌دهد، در میان جامعۀ کارتاژ، قربانی انسانی و خوردن گوشت سگ، از سنت‌های کهن محسوب می‌شد. اما چرا داریوش، کارتاژی‌ها را از اجرای آنها منع کرده بود و فرمان او در کدام بستر تاریخی صادر شده بود؟ برای پاسخگویی به این پرسش، مقایسۀ روایت‌های تاریخی با شواهد باستان‌شناختی، امری ضروری است. بر اساس شواهدی همچون پاپیروس‌های الفانتین، هخامنشیان تنها در صورتی در امور مذهبی سرزمین‌های تحت سلطه دخالت می‌کردند که در یک سرزمین، اجرای یک سنت مذهبی از سوی یک قوم، با باورهای مذهبی قوم دیگر در تناقض بود و این تناقض به منازعات مذهبی می‌انجامید. فرمان داریوش، در آستانۀ وقوع نبرد ماراتن صادر شده بود. همزمان، کارتاژی‌ها نیز درگیر یک نبرد سرنوشت‌ساز با یونانی‌ها برای تسلط بر جزیرۀ سیسیل بودند. داریوش می‌توانست با ارسال کمک و نیروهای نظامی به کارتاژ، همزمان با مغلوب ساختن یونانیان در جبهۀ آتن، آنها را در سیسیل نیز دچار مشکل کند. بخش عمدۀ نیروهای اعزامی داریوش، احتمالاً ایرانیان بودند و قربانی انسانی و تغذیه از گوشت سگ برایشان مأنوس و پذیرفتنی نبود. طبق فرضیۀ این مقاله، صدور فرمان مذهبی داریوش به مردم کارتاژ، احتمالاً برای جلوگیری از وقوع درگیری‌های مذهبی میان ایرانیان و کارتاژی‌ها در آستانۀ یک نبرد مهم با یونانیان صورت گرفته است.
کلیدواژه‌ها
موضوعات
Extended Abstract
Study of the political, social and cultural dimensions of the decree of Darius I to the people of Carthage
Introduction
One of the topics mentioned in classical texts is the narration of a decree that Darius I sent to Carthage and asked the Carthaginians to give up some of their traditions and rituals (Justinus, Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus, 19. 1). From the second half of the 7th century BC, the grounds for conflict between the Greeks and the Carthaginians became more prepared (Ameling 2011: 42). The reason for the formation of these conflicts was the beginning of the Greek attempts to expand their influence in western Sicily and near the Phoenician settlements. Military conflicts between the Greeks and the Phoenicians opened the door of Carthage to the Sicilian wars. Carthage soon took control of Sicily's Phoenician settlers and entered into military conflicts on the island. It was under such circumstances that Darius's envoys came to Carthage and took the order of the Achaemenid emperor with them. Description of this command from Trogus (1st century BC) has been quoted by Justinus (the historian of 2nd and 3rd centuries AD):
During the course of these transactions, ambassadors came to Carthage from Darius king of Persia, bringing an edict, by which the Carthaginians were forbidden to offer human sacrifices, and to eat dog's flesh, and were commanded to burn the bodies of the dead rather than bury them in the earth; and requesting, at the same time, assistance against Greece, on which Darius was about to make war. The Carthaginians declined giving him aid, on account of their continual wars with their neighbours, but, that they might not appear uncompliant in everything, willingly submitted to the decree. (Justinus, Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus 19. 1)
The main question is why and in which historical context this decree was issued?
Evidence of human sacrifice and eating dog meat in Carthage
In a narration from Theophrastus, there is information about human sacrifice ceremonies in Carthage (Hughes 1991: 116 cited from Theophrastus 13. 22-6 ). There is another narration from Cleitarchus, speaks about burning children as human sacrifice in Carthage (Mosca 1975: 22). In a part of the book of Levicitus, Yahweh asks Moses to tell to the Israelites not to pass their children through the fire for a god called Molech (Levicitus 18. 21). In 1921, intact evidence of a Phoenician temple in Salammbȏ, near the northern port of Tunis, was first identified. On one of the stelae obtained from the Tanit Temple in Salammbȏ, there is a relief that shows picture of a person holding a naked child and wearing a thin dress. This relief has been dated to 7th-4th centuries BC that is almost contemporary with the Achaemenid period. In the early horizon of the Tanit Temple, the remains of jars containing ashes have been found, inside which a number of deciduous teeth have been reported (MacKendrick 1980: 8).
There is also important evidence of eating dog meat in Carthage. We know from historical accounts that this tradition has been practiced since ancient times among the Berber peoples from Egypt to North Africa and even the Canary Islands (Simoons, 1994: 227).
Such traditions was not acceptable for Iranian peoples. We do not have meaningful evidence about human sacrifice and eating dog meat from Achaemenid sites. But we know, similar traditions has been continued in non-central Achaemenid territory. So why the Achaemenid king forbade the Carthaginians from this traditions?
Conclusion
Darius sent the decree to the people of Carthage around 491 BC and before the Battle of Marathon. It seems, he wanted to conspire with the Carthaginians against the Greeks. The Carthaginians spent all their money on the conflict with the Greeks and got into trouble. Under such circumstances, Carthage naturally needed a military and political supporter, and that supporter could be the Achaemenid Empire. Darius's military support of the Carthaginians and Phoenicians against the Greek immigrants probably must have been accompanied by sending troops to Carthage and Sicily. Military forces, most of whom were Iranians and Persians, and traditions such as human sacrifice and eating dog meat, were unfamiliar and unacceptable to them. The continuation of these religious traditions in the midst of the Sicilian wars could cause religious conflict between the Iranians and the Carthaginians. According to the papyri of Elephantine, we know that the Achaemenid Empire was interfering in religious issues just for preventing a conflict between two groups of people and Darius's order to the Carthaginians can be considered as a strategy to prevent a religious conflict between the Iranians and the allied Carthaginians
)