The so-called Persepolis Treasury Tablets date from 492–460 BC and, with the exception of one tablet, are written in Elamite (Cameron 1948, p. 1). They were found during excavations at Persepolis in 1936–38, in a block of buildings identified as the royal treasury. The treasury at Persepolis was only one of several royal treasuries, not the treasury of the entire empire (ibid., pp. 11–12). From a monetary perspective, these tablets are important because they provide silver equivalents, expressed in shekels, for sheep and wine:

1 sheep = 3 shekels of silver;

1 jar (marriš) of wine = 1 shekel of silver.

The shekel here refers to a unit of weight of silver, not a coin of that weight. A shekel of silver weighed 8.333 g (Hallock 1969, p. 72), and one marriš represented a volume of 10 quarts, i.e. 9.46 litres (Hallock 1969, p. 717, entry kuršam). These equivalents also allow the values of various agricultural commodities and domestic animals to be expressed as weights of silver. For example, one bar (10 quarts, i.e. 9.46 litres) of barley was usually worth 0.3 shekels of silver (ibid., p. 17).

Equivalents for sheep and wine are stated in Tablets 1, 9, 12–16, 18–19, 21–22, 24, and 26–30 (numbering according to Cameron 1948), with some tablets covering both commodities and others only one. These tablets date from 490/89 BC (Tablet 1, ibid., p. 84) to 470 BC (Tablet 30, ibid., p. 135). They thus fall within the reigns of Darius I (522–486 BC) and Xerxes I (486–465 BC). Tablets 13, 15–16, 18–19, 21–22, and 26–30 explicitly state that these equivalents were established by royal edict. It should therefore be borne in mind that these were administratively determined rates used for payments to royal officials, servants, and hired workers; free-market prices may have differed somewhat.

Tablet 1, reproduced below as an example, orders payment for services performed over the five-month period from 26 October 490 to 20 March 489 BC, in the 32nd year of the reign of Darius I. The translation and a slightly modified summary of the content are taken from Cameron 1948, p. 83, where a transliteration of the Elamite text is also provided. For further information, see ibid., pp. 83–4. Key passages relating to equivalents expressed in silver are marked in bold.

Tablet 1

1	(To) Shakka speak,
2	Baradkama says:
3	3 karsha and 2 shekels
4	(and) a half of a shekel,
5	silver, (to) Haradkama, his name,
6	an Egyptian wood-
7	worker (and) chief-of-hundred,
8	(who) is earning wages
9	at Parsa (and for whom) Vahauka is responsible,
10	give him. Sheep
11	and wine (serve) as the equivalent (of the money):
12	1 sheep for 3 shekels,
13	1 jug (of wine) for 1 (of) the same.
14	Months: Varkazana and
15	Açiyadiya and Anamaka,
16	Samiamantash, Viyaxna—
17	within a total of 5 months
18	in the 32nd year.
19	1 man, per month, 6 shekels
20	and a half
21	of a shekel is to receive. Hipirukka
22	wrote (the tablet), the receipt from Mardukka
23	he received.

Contents

Baradkama informs the treasurer Shakka that the sum of 3 karsha and 2½ shekels of silver should be given to an Egyptian woodworker and “centurion” named Haradkama, who is a wage earner at Persepolis and for whom Vahauka is responsible. The payment is not in cash, however, but in sheep and wine, at a rate of one sheep for three shekels and one jug of wine for one shekel. The sum is paid for services performed over the five-month period from the 8th to the 12th month of the 32nd year of Darius I. One karsha represented 10 shekels (ibid., p. 4), so 3 karsha and 2½ shekels amount to 32.5 shekels. Thus, the Egyptian is to be paid the equivalent of 6.5 shekels per month. Hipirukka, the scribe of the tablet, received a receipt, possibly for the order, from Mardukka.