by Matt Waters
3 For an overview of the Elamite language, see M. W. Stolper, “Elamite,” in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages, ed. R. Woodard, 2004, 59–94.
4 For a discussion of the links between Assyrian and Achaemenid art, see M. C. Root, “Elam in the Imperial Imagination: From Nineveh to Persepolis,” in Elam and Persia, eds. J. Álvarez-Mon and M. Garrison, 2011, 418–474.
5 M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, “Gyges and Ashurbanipal: A Study in Literary Transmission,” Orientalia 46, 1977, 68.
6 E. Dusinberre, Aspects of Empire in Achaemenid Sardis, 2003.
7 Herodotus 1.73–74. Cannabalism is a recurrent motif in Greek literature and need not be taken at face value here; cf. the Greek myths of Tantalus and Pelops as well as Atreus and Thyestes’ sons; the motif recurs in Herodotus in the story of Astyages and Harpagus’ children, because Harpagus did not make certain that the infant Cyrus had been killed.
8 Note the various contributions to the volume Continuity of Empire(?): Assyria, Media, Persia, eds. G. Lanfranchi, M. Roaf, and R. Rollinger, 2003.
Chapter 3. Persia Rising. A New Empire
1 Akkadian text is available in R. Borger, Beiträge zum Inscriftenwerk Assurbanipals, 2006, 191–192. Another text relays this same episode and Cyrus’ obeisance to Assyria, but it does not mention Arukku; see Borger, 280–281, lines 115–118.
2 See M. Waters, “Parsumash, Anshan, and Cyrus,” 286–296 and M. Garrison, “The Seal of ‘Kura the Anzanite, Son of epe’ (Teispes), PFS 93*: Susa – Anan – Persepolis,” 375–405, both in Elam and Persia, eds. J. Álvarez-Mon and M. Garrison, 2011.
3 Akkadian text available in H. Schaudig, Die Inschriften Nabonids von Babylon und Kyros’ de Großen, 2001, 417. Whether or not this threat was real or manufactured is a matter of debate: note R. Rollinger, “The Western Expansion of the Median ‘Empire’: A Re-examination,” in Continuity of Empire(?): Assyria, Media, Persia, eds. G. Lanfranchi, M. Roaf, and R. Rollinger, 2003, 291–305.
4 Text from A. K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles, 107 and see 282. Note also on this issue R. Rollinger, “The Median ‘Empire,’ the end of Urartu, and Cyrus the Great’s Campaign in 547 BC (Nabonidus Chronicle II 16),” Ancient West&East 7, 2008, 51–65.
5 A translation of Bacchylides poem may be found in A. Kuhrt, The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period, 2007, 65–66.
6 Among others, S. Zawadzki, “The End of the Neo-Babylonian Empire: New Data Concerning Nabonidus’s Order to Send the Statues of Gods to Babylon,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 71, 2012, 47–51, with references.
7 For the Dynastic Prophecy, column ii, lines 20–21, A. K. Grayson, Babylonian Historical-Literary Texts, 1975, 32–33.
8 Translation slightly adapted from Kuhrt, Persian Empire, 84–85. The first version of the decree is in Hebrew, the second in Aramaic; the Aramaic version is held to be the more reliable. Doubts of the decree’s authenticity persist, and the bibliography is enormous. Among others see P. Bedford, Temple Restoration in Early Achaemenid Judah, 2001.
9 See for a balanced treatment of this issue, A. Kuhrt, “The Problem of Achaemenid ‘Religious Policy,’” in Die Welt der Götterbilder, eds. B. Groneburg and H. Spieckermann, 2007, 117–142.
10 J. Westenholz, Legends of the Kings of Akkade, 1997, 36–50 for the Sargon Legend. Herodotus indirectly taps further into this legend through his etymology of Cyrus’ adoptive mother’s name: Spako, a Median word that Herodotus explains (1.110) meant a female dog. By extension, Cyrus could be understood to have been raised in the wild by a wolf, just as later Roman tradition portrayed Romulus and Remus.
Chapter 4. From Cyrus to Darius I. Empire in Transition
1 Xenophon’s Cyropaedia (8.7) offers a notable exception to most other Greek writers’ claims that Cyrus died in battle at the ends of the earth. Therein the dying Cyrus is the philosopher-king dispensing speeches, gifts, and advice to his family and courtiers, an idealized picture that befits Xenophon’s projected image of the man.
2 One may wonder what other diplomatic marriages Cyrus may have made earlier in his career, to incorporate various Iranian groups under to his rule. See M. Waters, “Cyrus and the Achaemenids,” Iran 42, 2004, 91–102 and note M. Brosius, Women of Ancient Persia, 1996, 35–38 for Cyrus’ wives.
3 The cuneiform evidence is collected and discussed in J. Peat, “Cyrus ‘King of Lands,’ Cambyses ‘King of Babylon’: The Disputed Co-Regency,” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 41, 1989, 199–216.
4 W. Henkelman, “An Elamite Memorial: The umar of Cambyses and Hystaspes,” in A Persian Perspective: Essays in Memory of Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg, eds. W. Henkelman and A. Kuhrt, 2003, 101–172.
5 The archive of Aramaic documents recovered from the Jewish community stationed there is a key source for the Persian administration of Egypt, see B. Porten, Archives from Elephantine: The Life of an Ancient Jewish Military Colony, 1968 and Porten et al. (eds.), The Elephantine Papyri in English: Three Millennia of Cross-Cultural Continuity and Change, Second Revised Edition, 2011.
6 Translation from the French of G. Posener, La Première domination perse en Égypte, 1936, 36. The name “Sma-Towy” (spellings differ) is Cambyses’ Egyptian name as king. For the difficulties surrounding the interpretation of the evidence, see L. Depuydt, “Murder in Memphis: The Story of Cambyses’s Mortal Wounding of the Apis Bull (ca. 523 B. C. E.),” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 54, 1995, 119–126; P. Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire, translated by P. Daniels, 2002, 55–57, 60–61, and 887–888; and A. Kuhrt, The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period, 2007, 122–124 with notes.
7 An excellent overview may be found in J. Wiesehöfer, Ancient Persia, translated by A. Azodi, 2001, 223–242.
8 The Old Persian terms are arika (“disloyal”) and drauga (“Lie”), both terms replete with symbolic significance. Darius moralistic perspective became a linchpin of Achaemenid royal ideology. The term Mazdaean – from the god’s name, Ahuramazda – is preferred here over the more typical “Zoroastrian,” but the two are closely linked (see pp. 152–154).
9 The figures are not only impossible to verify but in many instances difficult to read confidently. See Briant’s discussion, From Cyrus to Alexander, 118–119.
10 The exception was Aspathines, who became prominent later. He was given a prominent place on Darius’ tomb relief, so there is some explanation for Herodotus’ confusion here. The summary version of Ctesias (Fragment 13 §15–18) also relates essentially the same story, though his list of the Seven has significant differences – it may reflect later offspring of the original Seven. See Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander, 107–112.
11 This Dadarshi was different than the homonymous individual, an Armenian, who was sent against rebels in Armenia (DB §26).
12 Note J. Wiesehöfer’s discussion, with all appropriate caveats, “The Achaemenid Empire,” in The Dynamics of Ancient Empires, eds. I. Morris and W. Scheidel, 2009, 76–78.
Chapter 5. Darius, The Great King
1 The literary motif of one year was widespread in the ancient Near East. For Darius’ claims, note E. Bickerman and H. Tadmor, “Darius I, Pseudo-Smerdis and the Magi,” Athenaeum 56, 1978, 239–261; W. Vogelsang, “Four Short Notes on the Bisitun Text and Monument,” Iranica Antiqua 21, 1986, 121–140; and C. Nylander, “Xenophon, Darius, Naram-Sin: A Note on the King’s ‘Year,’” in Opus Mixtum: Essays in Ancient Art and History, 1994, 57–59.
2 For the Naram-Sin stele and its Elamite context, see The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre, eds. P Harper, J. Aruz, and F. Tallon, 1992, 166–170. For Naram-Sin’s inscriptions, see D. Frayne, Sargonic and Gutian Periods (2334–2113 BC), 1993, especially pp. 116–117 for the Susa statue base inscription. Notably, Naram-Sin’s nine battles occurred against only three kings. Darius defeated nine: to outdo your predecessor is always a good thing.
3 Among others M. Liverani, “‘Untruthful Steles�
�: Propaganda and Reliability in Ancient Mesopotamia,” in Opening the Tablet Box: Near Eastern Studies in Honor of Benjamin R. Foster, eds. S. Melville and A. Slotsky, 2010, 229–244 and references.
4 See S. Parpola, “Excursus: The Substitute King Ritual,” in his Letters from Assyrian Scholars to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal Part II, 1982, xii–xxxii and K. Radner, “The Trials of Esarhaddon: The Conspiracy of 670 BC,” ISIMU: Revista sobre Oriente Próximo y Egipto en la Antigüedad 6, 2003, 171–172.
5 A. Kuhrt, The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period, 2007, 477–479 and 485–486 has full English translations of the Darius statue and stele inscriptions from Egypt, with references.
6 On the Skudrians, see W. Henkelman and M. Stolper, “Ethnic Identity and Ethnic Labelling at Persepolis: The Case of the Skudrians,” in Organisation des pouvoirs et contacts culturels dans les pays de l’empire achéménide, eds. P. Briant and P. Chauveau, 2009, especially 288–289.
7 Getting one’s adversaries drunk before disposing of them was a popular motif in Greek literature. In this case, as many scholars have noted, the story is probably a later revision that attempted to spin Macedon’s pro-Persian stance. This would have applied especially during the fifth century and Herodotus’ time, when Macedon’s past as a Persian subject-state would place it in an often uncomfortable light.
8 This Datiya is identified with the Datis who led the campaign that ended at Marathon in 490. The record is from a Persepolis Fortification Tablet (PF-NN 1809), see Kuhrt, Persian Empire, 224 for translation and references.
Chapter 6. Mechanics of Empire
1 A minutely detailed account of the foodstuffs for the King’s feast is preserved by the Greek author Polyaenus 4.3.32, probably from a fourth-century BCE writer such as Ctesias. A translation of the text may be found in A. Kuhrt, The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period, 2007, 604–607 with references in footnote 1. Note also the thorough discussion in W. Henkelman, “Parnakka’s Feast: ip in Parsa and Elam,” in Elam and Persia, eds. J. Álvarez-Mon and M. Garrison, 2011, 89–166.
2 Babylonian documents also mention high-ranking Persian women. Kuhrt, Persian Empire, 595–604 contains a sampling of relevant translated texts. See in general the treatment of Brosius, Women in Ancient Persia (559–331 B.C.), 1996.
3 The Athenaeus passage is from his only extant work, Deipnosophistai (“the Learned Banquet”) 12.514b. For concubines in Esther, note in particular passages 2.2–3 and 2.12–14. The story of Esther, and how her influence with the king saves the Jewish people from annihilation, is the foundation for the Jewish festival of Purim.
4 Another inscription from Susa (DSaa) and the Darius statue also contain dahyu lists, and there is disagreement about the translation of some of the terms. For discussion see W. J. Vogelsang, Rise and Organisation of the Achaemenid Empire: The Eastern Iranian Evidence, 1992, 96–119 and P. Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire, translated by P. Daniels, 2002, 172–175.
5 See O. Armayor, “Herodotus’ Catalogues of the Persian Empire in the Light of the Monuments and the Greek Literary Tradition,” Transactions of the American Philological Association 108, 1978, 1–9 and see Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander, 390–393 and chapter 10. Kuhrt, Persian Empire, chapter 14 contains a variety of examples on collection of tribute and revenue – note in particular a lengthy Aramaic document from Elephantine in Egypt, which gives examples of harbor dues (pp. 681–703).
6 D. Kaptan, The Daskyleion Bullae: Seal Images from the Western Achaemenid Empire, 2002. For the Bactria documents, see S. Shaked, Le satrap de Bactriane et son gouverneur: documents araméen du IV s. av. notre ère provenant de Bactriane, 2004, also J. Naveh and S. Shaked, Ancient Aramaic Documents from Bactria, 2012.
7 PF 1404 in R. Hallock, Persepolis Fortification Tablets, 1969, 396.
8 Translated by Hallock, Persepolis Fortification Tablets, 205, 207, 209 and Kuhrt, Persian Empire, 782–783.
9 Note the discussion in Briant with tablet data and citations, From Cyrus to Alexander, 429–442.
10 See for example E. Dusinberre, Aspects of Empire in Achaemenid Sardis, 2003, especially chapter 8 for nonelites.
11 Xenophon also made reference to this extensive system, Cyropaedia 8.6.17–18. Engraved on the Post Office building at 8th Avenue and 33rd Street in New York is the saying: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” – it is widely but erroneously considered the United States Postal Service’s official motto. That inscription is an adaptation of the Herodotus passage about the Persian messenger system along the Royal Road. For remains of one of these staging posts, see A. Mousavi, “The Discovery of an Achaemenid Station at Deh-Bozan in the Asadabad Valley,” Archäologishe Mitteilungen aus Iran 22, 1989, 135–138.
Chapter 7. Xerxes, the Expander of the Realm
1 Also called the Audience Relief, this sculpture is the subject of much debate beyond simply the identity of the figures portrayed. See A. Kuhrt, The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period, 2007, 536 for a succinct summary and references.
2 C. Waerzeggars, “The Babylonian Revolts against Xerxes and the ‘End of Archives,’” Archiv für Orientforschung 50, 2003/2004, 150–173 has analyzed all the relevant tablets to confirm a 484 BCE date.
3 See W. Henkelman, “Der Grabhügel,” in Ktesias’ Welt, eds. J. Wiesehöfer, R. Rollinger, and G. Lanfranchi, 2011, 111–139.
4 The final part of the translation “as appropriate” glosses a number of convoluted translation issues best referred to the specialist literature, including how to interpret the Old Persian word arta here, often translated as “truth” (in opposition to drauga). See Kuhrt, Persian Empire, 304–306 with notes and references. The religious sensibilities expressed in XPh find forerunners in both Elamite and Mesopotamian traditions. For example, the Assyrian king Esarhaddon (reigned 680–669) refers to people telling lies and abandoning their gods and rites, see E. Leichty, The Royal Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (680–669 BC), 2011, 203, lines 23f.
5 Artabanus’ acting the part of Xerxes, to see if he too would be visited by the ominous dream (7.15–18), is another Greek variation of the Mesopotamian substitute-king ritual (p. 75).
6 D. Graf, “Medism: The Origin and Significance of the Term,” Journal of Hellenic Studies 104, 1984, 15–30 and C. Tuplin, “Medism and Its Causes,” Transeuphratène 13, 1997, 155–185.
7 H. Diels and W. Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, Vol. 1, 1956, Fragment 22, 134.
8 See A. Kuhrt, “Earth and Water,” in Achaemenid History III: Method and Theory, eds. A. Kuhrt and H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, 1988, 87–99.
9 Note T. Harrison, Writing Ancient Persia, 2011, 61 for discussion of Xerxes’ whipping of the Hellespont and the army’s marching through Pythius’ son’s corpse.
10 On the return trip, Xerxes built a palace at the important city of Kelainai (Celaenae), in southwestern Phrygia of central Anatolia. An Achaemenid era tomb has revealed a spectacular monument and tomb with painted scenes including one of a Persian battle. See for discussion and references C. Tuplin, “Historical Significance of the Tatarli Tomb Chamber” and L. Summerer, “Wall Paintings,” both in Tatarli: The Return of Colors, eds. L. Summerer and A. Kienlin, 2010, 186–195 and 120–185, respectively.
Chapter 8. Anatomy of Empire
1 Two prominent examples of such are the inscriptions of Darius I’s grandfather Arsames and great-grandfather Ariaramnes, on gold tablets, purportedly from Hamadan. Most scholars consider them forgeries. See R. J. Kent, Old Persian: Grammar, Texts, Lexicon, 1953, 12 n. 2, 107, and 116 and also L. Allen, The Persian Empire, 2005, 64 and 188, n. 12.
2 The free translation “in need of attention” interprets the problematic Old Persian phrase rendered by various translators as “which was not complete” or “was put out of its place.” After Kent, Old Persian, 142 and note A. Kuhrt, The Persian
Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period, 2007, 491–492 with notes.
3 It is a matter of debate what specific event this relief sequence may have portrayed, the Iranian N Rz (New Year) festival, various religious ceremonies, or even a celebration of the King’s birthday.
4 Strabo (15.3.1) identifies the Pateischoreans as one of the Persian tribes.
5 These inscriptions are a linchpin of modern Achaemenid historiography, and the bibliography is enormous. For summaries and discussions of the problem, see inter alia D. Stronach, “Darius at Pasargadae: A Neglected Source for the History of Early Persia,” Topoi, Supplement 1, 1997, 351–363. Another inscription labeled “CMb” in the scholarship consists of roughly thirty fragments that are not able to be confidently reassembled. It is not clear that the various fragments are even from a single inscription.