Marduk-remanni was a Babylonian man who lived in the provincial town of
Sippar during the first decades of Persian rule in Mesopotamia (second
half of the sixth century BC). His archive of c. 187 cuneiform texts was
found in 1881 during excavations carried out on behalf of the British
Museum, but since then it has received little attention. On first sight,
the historical relevance of Marduk-remanni's records seems minimal. They
relate to his private assets, business enterprises, and legal concerns -
matters that barely seem to transcend the personal and local spheres.
But upon closer scrutiny, it becomes clear that Marduk-remanni was at
the centre of a far-flung personal network and that his life, despite
his having lived far from the political centre, reflects many of the
developments and changes taking place at the highest imperial level. He
was a child when Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylonia, and
although this regime change caused little upheaval outside the political
arena at first, by the time of Marduk-remanni's death several decades
later, the world of his childhood had changed. His life had taken a
completely different course than that of his father and grandfather. He
had traveled near and far, visiting the Persian court at Susa on several
occasions. No longer were the horizons of his world confined to the
Babylonian heartland, as they had been for his father and grandfather.
Marduk-remanni was born in provincial Babylonia, but he died as a
citizen of a world empire. This book traces the social, economic and
political dynamics that transformed his life.