Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550-330 BCE

by Matt Waters

  The Medes

  No documentary evidence from the Medes themselves has been found. Few confidently identified Median sites have been excavated, and many questions remain about those that have been. Simply identifying a “homeland” of the Medes is a difficult task. The modern city of Hamadan, ancient Ecbatana, served as a capital, which we know from later traditions about Cyrus the Great’s victory over Astyages. Median settlements are mentioned in Assyrian sources, starting from the ninth century, throughout the central and northern Zagros Mountains, especially along the Great Khorasan Road towards modern Tehran.

  We are thus beholden to Herodotus’ account of the rise and organization of the Median Empire, although he was not unique in his consideration of the Medes’ importance. Despite the problems with Herodotus’ portrayal, until recently it had been generally accepted – at least in outline – as an accurate rendition of the Medes’ rise to power. It has thus served as the basis for the picture of the Median Empire that is so prominent in modern scholarship. This is despite its clearly literary elements, and despite the fact that it is hopelessly conflated chronologically. In other words, Herodotus’ account of the Medes must be considered more legend than history. Nevertheless, read carefully, Herodotus has things to teach us about the Medes. If for no other reason than a lesson in historiography, a sketch of Herodotus’ telescoped tale (1.96–106) is useful.

  A Mede named Deioces had designs on taking power, and he took advantage of the general lawlessness of the land. His reputation for justice brought more and more Medes to him to settle their disputes. As his influence grew, Deioces then stepped back; he refused to neglect his own affairs for the benefit of others. When lawlessness soon increased, the Medes decided to make Deioces their king. Once he had accepted the job, Deioces insisted on a bodyguard of spear-bearers and a fortified capital: Ecbatana, constructed with multiple walls, two of which purportedly had battlements plated in silver and gold (1.98). Deioces consolidated his position and then removed himself from sight, thereby making himself exceptional and emphasizing the august status of the king. He further secured his position by implementing certain behavioral protocols, for those few who did gain audience, and by establishing a network of spies and informers. This description matches in theme and outline accounts of the rise of tyrants in Greek city-states, though taken to another, grander level. With regard to the king’s exceptionality and the behavioral protocols, historians have noted the parallels with the later Achaemenid court, or rather, the Greeks’ stereotypical image of it. Many scholars thus take for granted the literary quality of Herodotus’ account of Deioces’ rise.

  To resume the story, Deioces’ successor Phraortes subjugated the Persians and battled the Assyrians. Herodotus then notes a Scythian invasion, which put on hold (for twenty-eight years) the reign of Cyaxeres, who was Phraortes’ successor. Despite numerous ingenious attempts, modern scholars have not been able to reconcile large-scale Scythian invasions anywhere in the Near East in the late seventh century BCE. Assyrian evidence testifies to the Scythians’ and Cimmerians’ threat roughly a generation earlier, during the reign of Esarhaddon. But there is no Assyrian or Babylonian evidence for a “Scythian interlude” during Cyaxeres’ rule of the Medes. If this interlude is not simply a literary device, which is the most likely explanation, it seems that Herodotus or his sources conflated the history and chronology of this part of the narrative.

  It is important at this point to extend the discussion of the early Medes beyond Herodotus and the Greek tradition. In the last decade, an increasing number of scholars have come to assert that even the outline of Herodotus’ account of the Medes, not just the particulars, is inaccurate. With an increase in the accessibility of Assyrian information on the Medes, reconsiderations of this important people and their place in ancient Near Eastern history are currently underway. Assyrian royal inscriptions and correspondence of the eighth and seventh centuries, until circa 650, provide a wealth of detail about the Medes and their interactions with Assyria. Some patterns have emerged.8 First, the Medes mentioned dwelled in fortified settlements, each headed by a city-lord (the Akkadian term bl al). Assyrian incursions into Median territory were undertaken to control important commercial routes and to capture horses, for which the Assyrian appetite – to ride, not to eat – was insatiable. There is a striking consistency in Assyrian texts in descriptions of Medes as horsemen, and on sculptures of Sargon’s palace at Dur-Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad in Iraq) the Medes are all portrayed with horses. By the end of the eighth century, many areas, especially along the Great Khorasan Road, that the Assyrians identified as “Median” were incorporated into the Assyrian Empire. The Median city-lords of these now Assyrian-held territories were bound to the Assyrian king by loyalty oaths. Evidence for the Medes becomes sparse during Ashurbanipal’s reign (669–c. 630 BCE). It is precisely in that period in which we would expect to find a fledgling Median Empire, if such an empire existed. But Assyrian sources for the three decades before Assyria’s collapse in the 610s are thin in detail, which makes historical assessment problematic.

  The Assyrian evidence is not easily reconciled with the Greek tradition. Through the mid-seventh century, there is no indication of a centralized, Median authority, that is, a sole king, one who could be equated, for example, with Herodotus’ Deioces. Modern scholars have attempted to identify some Medes named in Assyrian sources with those of early Median kings mentioned in the Greek tradition. Median local rulers Dayukku (late eighth century) and Kashtaritu (early seventh century) have been equated with Herodotus’ Deioces and Phraortes, respectively, but beyond the linguistic gymnastics involved the historical context of each does not offer a good fit. Even if Dayukku and Kashtaritu left an imprint on subsequent Median tradition through oral traditions long since lost, there is no way to forge the two perspectives, Assyrian and Herodotean, into agreement.

  What remains in the dark is the critical period circa 650–550 BCE, when the Medes were at the height of their power. It remains unclear how we are to move from Assyrian descriptions of the Medes as seemingly independent city-lords to the Medes as a unified force that Cyaxeres (Umakishtar in the Babylonian sources) was able to unleash against Assyria with such devastating effect in the 610s. Recent approaches have postulated that the Medes were the leaders of a large coalition of mostly Iranian peoples from across northern Iran, a coalition unified by a forceful personality such as Cyaxeres and only for the purpose of defeating Assyria. This coalition, in conjunction with the Babylonians, was successful at that task, but afterwards the coalition splintered. If this reconstruction is accurate, it remains to be reconciled with accounts of the Medes as a major power through the first half of the sixth century, an impression given not only by Greek sources but one alluded to in Babylonian and biblical traditions (such as Jeremiah 25:25–26 and 51:27–28) as well.

  3 Persia Rising: A New Empire

  Cyrus I in an Elamite-Persian Milieu

  The Assyrian Empire was at its height during the reign of Ashurbanipal (669–c. 630 BCE). Sources from Assyria on Elam and the early Persians, especially after the Assyrian sack of Susa in 646, are scarce. Scattered Elamite evidence attests to a number of kings that may be dated to this late period (c. 650–550 BCE). But beyond their names, little is known of these individuals: their chronologies, the scope of their rules, and their relationships with one another are all uncertain. Among those kingdoms was the earliest Persian kingdom ruled by Cyrus the Great’s forefathers, whom Cyrus lists in the famous Cyrus Cylinder, one of the most important extant pieces of evidence for Cyrus’ reign (see discussion later in this chapter). In modern scholarship it has generally been assumed that Cyrus the Great’s grandfather (Kurash in Akkadian), whom Cyrus named “King of Anshan” in the Cyrus Cylinder, is the same as the Cyrus, King of Persia (Parsumash in Akkadian), who sometime in the late 640s sent a delegation to Ashurbanipal.

  Cyrus, the King of Parsumash, heard about my victory. He became aware of the might that I wielded with the aid of
Ashur, Bel, and Nabu, the great gods my lords, with which I leveled the whole of Elam like a flood. He sent Arukku, his eldest son, with his tribute to Nineveh, the city of my lordship, to pay homage to me. He implored my lordship.1

  Such descriptions are typical of the aftermath of Assyrian conquests, both in the fate of the antagonist and the ways in which the neighboring rulers rushed to pay their respects and to curry Assyrian favor. The particulars of the matter, of course, would have been more complicated, even if Ashurbanipal’s rhetoric was true at its core. In the version quoted above, Cyrus’ son, Arukku, was sent as a hostage to the Assyrian court. This was a common practice, a means of ensuring good relations between the Assyrians and their subjects or distant neighbors. The success of such practices was mixed, however. Roughly a decade before the Cyrus of Parsumash episode, Elamite princes that had been given refuge at the Assyrian court were returned and enthroned in Elam with Assyrian help. But these Elamite princes then turned on their erstwhile benefactors and rebelled, which necessitated further Assyrian military action.

  Beyond the political ramifications, this type of exchange – royal children and their entourages living at the Assyrian court – undoubtedly played a role in the transmission of cultural knowledge. In this instance, we know nothing further of Arukku. But what if, after a long stretch at the Assyrian court, he returned home? What sorts of knowledge would he have brought with him? What sorts of commercial or cultural ties might this episode have forged between Assyria and early Persia? Persia was clearly indebted to Elam, Babylonia, and Assyria for modes of imperial organization and ideological expression. How such knowledge was transmitted is rarely easy to specify, and to attribute too much influence to one individual would distort the reality. But an Arukku who spent several years at the Assyrian court – quite likely with elite hostages (whom the Assyrians would have considered “guests”) from other areas – would have been exposed to a variety of other peoples and influences, at the highest levels of Assyrian society.

  Another piece of critical evidence for the earliest Persian kings is the inscribed seal impression of one “Cyrus, the Anshanite, son of Teispes” (Figure 3.1). This seal impression recurs with some frequency on the Persepolis Fortification Tablets from the reign of Darius I. We do not know the identity of the person who used the seal, but it was clearly a prestige item, perhaps an heirloom. The image portrays a rider running through an enemy, who holds a broken bow – a widespread symbol of defeat and humiliation in the ancient Near East. The rider is presumed to be the Cyrus of the inscription, who is identified with the grandfather of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Empire. There is ongoing debate about the date of this seal’s manufacture, and whether or not the Cyrus of its inscription may be identified with the Cyrus of Parsumash who paid obeisance to Ashurbanipal. The link is attractive, but it is not a settled issue.2

  Figure 3.1 Collated line drawing of PFS 93* from the Persepolis Fortification Archive. Courtesy Persepolis Seal Project.

  The Fall of Assyria and Its Aftermath

  After Ashurbanipal’s death, the Assyrian Empire was ruled briefly by his son Ashur-etil-ilani (c. 630–627 BCE) and then the latter’s brother, Sin-sharru-ishkun (627–612 BCE). The Babylonians under Nabopolassar began already in the 620s to throw off the Assyrian yoke. An essential source for this period is the so-called Babylonian Chronicle series that records each year’s notable political, military, and religious activities. There are several different chronicle texts, each with a different chronological range. Those of main concern here are closely related and often treated as one document. They provide a consistent record from the mid-eighth century through Cyrus’ conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE, but there are many gaps. The copies of the chronicles that we possess date to later periods (the Achaemenid period, sometimes later) and may have undergone revisions that we cannot track.

  What is most surprising in these accounts is the prominent place given to the Medes in Assyria’s downfall. Nabopolassar and the Babylonianshad been fighting Assyria for ten years, when the Medes appear in the chronicle: they were involved in an attack on Arrapha (modern Kirkuk, roughly 60 miles east of Ashur) in 615 BCE. In 614, the attacks against Assyrian cities continued, and the Median king Umakishtar (Cyaxeres in the Greek tradition) made a pact of alliance with Nabopolassar, the terms of which the chronicle does not divulge. The great Assyrian capital city of Nineveh was sacked in 612, and in 609 the last Assyrian king, Ashur-uballit II, and the remnants of his army were destroyed near Harran in northwestern Mesopotamia. Thus ended Assyria. The Elamites, whom one might expect to have been involved in their bitter enemy’s overthrow, do not appear in any sources relating the downfall of Assyria. The Persians make no appearance either, though references to them in Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions or chronicles are scarce before Cyrus.

  Cyrus’ Conquest of the Medes

  Cyrus’ impact on the course of history was broad, if often underrated, and the Near Eastern accounts of his conquests are supplemented by the biblical and, especially, the Greek traditions. Not until the reign of the Babylonian king Nabonidus (reigned 556–539 BCE) do we gain significant insight into the Persians as a rising power. In one of his inscriptions, Nabonidus relayed a dream-omen that occurred to him at the beginning of his reign. The Medes posed a threat to Nabonidus’ reconstruction efforts of the Ehulhul temple, dedicated to the moon god at Harran, which had been destroyed during the last stage of the overthrow of Assyria. In the dream dialogue, the god Marduk commands Nabonidus to get to work. Nabonidus expresses concern about the Medes, but his concern is unwarranted. The term umman-manda used to describe the Medes has negative connotations in Akkadian literary tradition.3

  (Marduk replies to Nabonidus) “The umman-manda of whom you speak, he, his land, and the kings who go at his side, are no longer a threat.” When the third year came, the gods roused Cyrus, king of Anshan, his young servant, against the umman-manda. With his small army he dispersed the vast umman-manda. Cyrus seized Ishtumegu (Astyages), the king of the umman-manda, and took him captive to his land.

  This is the first reference to Cyrus the Great, initially as king of the city and region of Anshan in ancient Parsa, modern Fars in southwestern Iran. It appears to date Cyrus’ conquest of the Medes to Nabonidus’ third year, 553 BCE. One of the Babylonian chronicles dates Cyrus’ victory to 550. That account relates Astyages’ attack on Cyrus, the defection of Astyages’ army to Cyrus, Cyrus’ subsequent victory and the sack of Ecbatana (Astyages’ royal city), and the removal of plunder from Ecbatana to Anshan.

  These two testimonies tell the same story but with some significant variation, which historians attempt to reconcile. The difference in date is one. Since the chronicle series is considered more accurate than royal inscriptions, 550 is the date generally followed. For much of twentieth century scholarship, the reference to “his young servant” in the Nabonidus text was taken to mean that Cyrus was Asytages’ servant. This interpretation bolstered the Classical tradition that portrayed the Persians as subject to the Medes. The relationship between the two peoples remains unclear, but to understand the phrase “his young servant” as a reference to Cyrus being a subordinate of Astyages is not a given. The phrase appears to refer to the god Marduk, who chose Cyrus as the instrument to implement his divine will – a common motif in ancient Near Eastern texts for centuries. In positive answer to Nabonidus’ concern, Marduk assured Nabonidus that he would send his (i.e., Marduk’s) young servant, Cyrus, to destroy the Medes. The phrasing “the kings who go at his (the Median king’s) side” is also noteworthy. Although these kings are not specified in Nabonidus’ inscription, the Greek writer Ctesias’ later account identifies the kings of the Hyrcanians, Parthians, Scythians, and Bactrians as beholden to the Median king (Fragment 8d §46). If these peoples were indeed subject to the Medes, that could have been the basis for a significant Median power in the sixth century.

  Cyrus’ Conquest of Lydia and Ionia

  In many modern works, Cyrus’ campaign agai
nst Lydia is precisely dated to the year 547 BCE, based on an entry in one of the Babylonian chronicles:

  In the month of Nisan (= March/April), Cyrus king of Persia mobilized his army and crossed the Tigris River downstream from Arbela (in Assyria). In the month of Ayaru (April/May) [he marched] to …4

  The tablet is damaged exactly where the name of the place against which Cyrus marched was written. The difficulty provides an excellent example how the reading of one cuneiform sign, in one text, may impact historical analysis and reconstruction. Depending on whether one reads the crack running through the tablet as hiding one part of a cuneiform sign, or as just a crack in the tablet, makes a difference in what country name is read there: Lydia or Urartu. For much of twentieth-century scholarship, the reading “Lydia” was favored, and that interpretation has had remarkable staying power. Many Achaemenid historians now accept the reading of Urartu (so followed here), and thus for the year 547 assign Cyrus’ campaign against that region in southeastern Anatolia, not against Lydia.

  Even scholars who accept the reading Urartu in that line of the chronicle still date the Lydian conquest in the 540s, though no longer precisely to 547/546. This interpretation is dependent primarily on evidence from the Classical tradition and, mainly, the sequential order of Cyrus’ conquests as given in Herodotus, who is thus our main source for Cyrus’ Lydian campaign. Herodotus’ detailed account of the Lydian royal house contains all sorts of object lessons relevant to the study of Greek literature, less so for Lydia’s history. A classic story in Herodotus (1.53–54) illustrates this. During his preparations to confront Cyrus, Croesus sought the advice of the Oracle of Delphi. The oracle predicted that if Croesus made war against the Persians, he would destroy a mighty empire. Croesus took the oracle to mean that he would be victorious. He was wrong, though he did destroy a mighty empire: his own.