by Andrew James
My time in the oasis also gave me an appreciation for the breathtaking beauty of the desert. Raised in foggy London, I found the north-eastern tip of the Sahara an alien place when I arrived. Three years, one scorpion sting, several close shaves with vipers and one revolution later, I left with a heavy heart, realizing that I was in love with the place. In that sense if no other, writing this book changed my life.
During my second year in Siwa a sensation erupted in the international press, with claims that Cambyses’ lost army had at last been found by two Italian archaeologists. Despite the efforts of the Egyptian authorities to vilify the archaeologists and squash the reports, the claims are possibly true. The Director of Antiquities in Siwa admitted to me that the Italians’ real crime was finding the artefacts without official permission, and that probably in a few years the Egyptians will ‘find’ the site again and make an official announcement.
Sadly, by the time I left in late 2011 the Siwa I first visited around 2004 was rapidly changing, with red bricks replacing traditional mud, Toyota pick-ups replacing donkey carts, and the rampant commercialism which always follows tourism wherever it goes. But I will choose always to remember the oasis as a magical place of olive groves and honey-scented date palms, eternal sunshine and glorious blue skies, blazing desert sunrises, soaring falcons and an atmosphere so steeped in history you can smell the ancient air wafting on the desert breeze.
A Note on the History
Blood of Kings is fiction, but based on a framework of historical fact. The truth is that we know little about the period, and I have embellished and created extensively to fill in the gaps. I have altered some things. Cambyses’ reign actually lasted nearly eight years, beginning in 530 BC, and the invasion of Egypt took place in his fifth year, 525 BC. There is no evidence that he murdered Cyrus, although it would not have been out of character.
The ancient Greek historian Herodotus tells us of Cyrus’s rise to power, followed by his death in battle against the Massagetae (another source claims it was the Indians) and the succession of the mad and cruel Cambyses. Herodotus records nothing of Darius’s early life, but says Cyrus dreamt that Darius would take his throne and charged him with treason. At the time, Darius was supposedly too young to fight, and had been left in Persia. We don’t know Herodotus’s source for claiming this, nor do we know Darius’s exact date of birth, but I doubt that the nineteen or twenty-year-old eldest son of a nobleman such as Hystaspes would have been left behind while his father campaigned. Later the Greeks called the Persians soft (for which read ‘civilized’), but in those days they were still a race of warriors. In the novel I have avoided the issue by making Darius twenty-one, so that his place on the campaign could be assured. When Darius was accused, Hystaspes seems to have abandoned his son, but Cyrus died before returning to Persia and Darius survived.
Herodotus later calls Darius a Spearbearer to Cambyses, but gives no details of his role in the invasion. His account of Cambyses taking the throne, murdering his brother Bardiya (or Smerdis/Tanyoxartes, as other accounts have it,) and invading Egypt are all consistent with (but not identical to) Darius’s own account in the Behistun Inscription. Some modern historians suggest that Darius actually killed the real Bardiya to usurp the throne, and made up the story about Cambyses killing his brother. I have tried to reflect this theory in the book. It is unlikely we will ever know the truth.
Herodotus adds that after capturing Egypt, Cambyses dispatched an army of 50,000 men to destroy Siwa and its Oracle, and that, according to the account of the Ammonians: ‘a southerly wind of extreme violence drove the sand over them in heaps … so that they disappeared for ever.’ The description of the wind arising suddenly during the morning is accurate – it is a frequent and distinctive pattern in Siwa. Until the army is conclusively found we have only a few lines of history for these calamitous events. There is no evidence that Darius was present at the scene, nor Phanes, but no matter who led the army the tragedy and drama of the story are overwhelming.
It is fashionable to malign Herodotus and label him dishonest, but like most academic fashions there is no basis for it beyond idle speculation and the need to say something new. I believe that even where he falls into error, Herodotus did his best. Even so, given the paucity of written evidence, the lack of modern communications, and the sheer difficulty of getting to the truth of any situation (just read several modern newspaper reports of a top story, and see how they differ!) I prefer to think of the ancient history which has reached us through the ages as representing themes rather than concrete facts.
Leaving aside Ctesias’ Persica, and Xenophon’s Cyropaedia, both ancient texts which are generally considered more or less unreliable if not downright fiction, the only other account we have of Persia at the time is Darius’s own at Behistun, and this is the one I largely follow. The Behistun Inscription is a wonderful monument, almost like talking to the great man himself. It was recorded in three languages: Old Persian, Babylonian and Elamite. The name Nashirmeh in the Elamite version is changed to Paishiyauvada in the Old Persian. Until recently this was thought to be in the west of Persia, but in 2007 Nashirmeh was identified near Bam, far to the east. For those who love desert cities, as I do, the evocative location is superb. In the nearby desert, my thermometer hit 50°C in the shade, higher by one degree than the hottest temperature I experienced in Siwa.
How much of the rest of Blood of Kings is true?
Darius did marry Parmys, among others, although there is nothing to suggest that she was his favourite. I invented her kidnap, but there must have been considerable in-fighting over the succession within the Persian elite, and given that Parmys was Bardiya’s daughter, it is likely that Cambyses was hostile to her. Given Cyrus’s dream, it is also likely that Cambyses was suspicious of Darius.
Udjahor-Resne and Phanes did both defect from Egypt to Persia, although there is nothing to suggest that Darius induced them. Herodotus tells us that Phanes’s sons were killed before the battle at Pelusium by his former soldiers, in revenge for his betrayal, and that their blood was mixed with wine and water then drunk by the Greeks. After the Persian victory Cambyses sent spies south, and then divided his army. A disastrous expedition against Meroe (the Kushites) followed at the same time as the fateful march west towards Siwa. After these calamities Cambyses took revenge on Egypt’s gods by stabbing the Apis Bull, which had a special enclosure in the Temple of Ptah. Incensed, the Egyptians rebelled. Pharoah Psamtek was captured and later killed, and Cambyses almost certainly inflicted vicious reprisals, destroying many temples and carting away their riches to Persia. Racing back to Persia after hearing of Bardiya’s rebellion, Cambyses jumped onto his horse and accidentally stabbed himself with his own sword. The wound led to gangrene, which killed him.
Flimsy evidence is cited today (largely one or two inscriptions including a self-serving account by Udjahor-Resne, who clearly had to justify his treachery somehow) to cast doubt on Cambyses’ destructive revenge. But oral tradition must count for something, and Herodotus was writing only about a century later; he was surely better placed than any modern historian to know the reputation in which Cambyses was held, and the reasons for that reputation.
There is a lot of blood in the novel, but sadly this reflects the reality of the age. Long before the Romans, Darius speaks in the Behistun Inscription of crucifying and flaying his enemies, and there are also numerous contemporary accounts of impalement. Yet the Persians were no bloodier than anyone else.
Military matters …
The clash of the Greek mercenary phalanx and the Persians at Pelusium was one of the earliest major contests between two opposing schools of war. There is little at Pelusium these days to tell how the battle unfolded, and there is no contemporary account of the fighting – Herodotus simply tells us that it was hard fought with heavy casualties on each side, and that the bones were still visible in his day. But in matching the close-packed heavy armour of the West against the more mobile, archer-led assault troops of the
East, the pattern was set for the conflicts that would dominate Europe and Asia for the next three centuries and beyond, into the next millennium, when the Romans would battle the Parthians – a later Persian empire – in similar vein.
The weapons described in the novel are authentic, and both the National Museum in Tehran and other museums around the country have well-preserved specimens of swords, maces, daggers, spears and arrowheads. Stirrups and saddles had not yet been invented, which would have made staying mounted while wielding weapons difficult, and greatly limited the ability of cavalry to fight at close quarters. We are unsure about how widespread armour was among the Persians; near contemporary accounts do record ‘fish scale’ armour, made up of metal scales, but in my travels across Iran I saw no sign of any preserved in the museums. The many carvings, and the famous glazed wall tiles from Susa, show the Immortals in ceremonial poses without armour, leading some historians to suggest they wore none. This seems improbable; far more likely that they wore robes for ceremonial and guard duties, like our Coldstream Guards, but wore armour in battle – perhaps beneath their robes, perhaps on top. Their armour was probably lighter and less extensive than that of the Greeks’; they almost certainly did not wear greaves on their shins, nor full face helmets, and their shields were flimsier, but it is hard to believe they fought with no armour at all.
It is fashionable to malign the ancient Persians. Largely this is the result of ignorance. Persian culture was rich and their art and sculpture astonishingly beautiful. Although much was later destroyed by the Mongols, they built great cities and palaces and were accomplished civil engineers. They practised religious tolerance and were perhaps the first multiculturalists, ruling the many nations they conquered with a light touch. The academic fashion that their defeat at Marathon and eventual conquest by Alexander (two and a half centuries after Darius) ‘saved the Western world’ is misguided. It is unsupported by any logical argument or evidence, yet is repeated time and again, so that its truth is blindly assumed.
A.J.
Dramatis Personae
Admiral Udjahor-Resne – Egyptian naval commander.
Ardu – Darius’s distant cousin, a young Persian noble.
Armantidat – Persian noble and Spearbearer.
Arsama – grandfather of Darius. Deposed King of Parsa.
Baba – a Persian soldier.
Bagapata – Chief Eunuch at the Persian court.
Bardiya – Persian prince, younger son of Cyrus the Great.
Cambyses – Crown Prince, elder son of Cyrus the Great.
Cassandane – senior wife of Cyrus the Great.
Croesus – conquered King of Lydia, living at Cyrus’s court.
Cyrus – Cyrus the Great, the Persian King of Kings.
Dadarshi – an Armenian noble in the Persian Imperial army. Brother of Zariadris.
Darius – a young Persian soldier. Son of Hystaspes, grandson of Arsama, the former King of Parsa.
Frada – a young, wealthy Medean noble, and Darius’s boyhood friend.
Gaumata – a Persian magus priest.
Gobryas – a Persian noble, nephew of Megabyzus.
Hadar – an Edomite, son of King Malik-Rammu.
Hystaspes – a poverty-stricken Persian noble, son of deposed king Arsama, father of Darius.
Malik-Rammu – King of the Edomites.
Megabyzus – a Persian noble, related by marriage to the royal family.
Mithrayazna – a Persian soldier.
Otaneh – a Persian noble and senior general with the rank of spadapati.
Parmys – a Persian princess, granddaughter of Cyrus the Great, daughter of Bardiya. Loved by Darius.
Phanes – an Ionian Greek mercenary and military commander in Pharaoh’s pay.
Pharaoh Amasis – Egyptian king, father of Psamtek.
Pharaoh Psamtek – Egyptian king, son of Amasis.
Prophetess of Ammon – seer at the Oracle of Ammon in Siwa.
Si-Ammon – firstborn son of Sutekh-Irdis, the Great Chief of the Desert Lands.
Spantdat – a Persian soldier of the rank Datapatish.
Spargasippa – a Saka prince, son of Tomyris.
Spitameneh – a Persian general, commander of the Immortal guards.
Sutekh-Irdis – Great Chief of the Desert Lands, King of the Ammonian tribes.
Ti – an Egyptian noble.
Timotheus – a Greek mercenary.
Tomyris – Queen of the Ma-Saka, a Scythian tribe.
Turquoise – daughter of Sutekh-Irdis, Great Chief of the Desert Lands.
Vakauka – a Persian noble, father of Ardu.
Vinda – a High Persian noble.
Vivana – a Persian soldier under Darius’s command. A commoner.
Zamasp – a Persian noble and Spearbearer.
Zariadris – an Armenian noble in the Persian Imperial army. Brother of Dadarshi.
Historical Notes
The Persian Military
Persian cavalry were either asabari (horse-mounted) or usabari (camel-mounted). They were skilled riders, sitting on just a saddlecloth. Without saddle or stirrups a horse made an unstable fighting platform; nevertheless the Persians were renowned mounted archers, who also fought with the curved kopis scimitar (on which the cutting edge is located on the inside of the blade, like a Gurkha kukri), spiked maces, spears and javelins. When they were dismounted, their main weapon apart from the bow and spear was the akinakes, a narrow, iron-bladed stabbing sword. Persian infantry carried a leather and wicker shield, a spear, a sword or dagger and often a bow. Adopting the Assyrian system, the front line of each unit was often protected by a tall shield called a spara, from behind which archers could fire their powerful recurved composite bows in safety. Nobles were trained for war from the age of five, learning to fight both on horseback and on foot. In a famous inscription Darius tells us that ‘as a horseman I am a good horseman; as a bowman I am a good bowman, both on foot and on horseback; as a spearman, I am a good spearman, both on foot and on horseback’.
Persian armour was lightweight, normally made of bronze scales on a leather backing. Later, horses were armoured too, but in Darius’s day this was probably limited to a bronze chest plate. The army was divided on a decimal system, with units of ten men, a hundred, a thousand and ten thousand. Cyrus reorganized the military, replacing the Kara – the ‘People’s Army’, probably tribally organized – with the Spada, a permanent force with professional officers and units from subject nations.
The Spada ranks
spadapati – field marshall.
baivarapatish – commander of 10,000 soldiers.
hazarapatish – commander of a hazara, or 1,000 soldiers (confusingly, hazarapatish is sometimes said to be a ‘chief minister’, but I believe this to be a misunderstanding and have not used it in this sense).
satapatish – commander of a sata, or 100 soldiers.
datapatish – commander of a data, or10 soldiers.
The Persian Calendar
The year began in March or April, in the spring months, and the New Year was celebrated by the festival of Nowruz.
Adukanaisa – March/April.
Thuravahara – April/May.
Thaigracish – May/June.
Garmapada – June/July.
Turnabazish – July/August.
Karbashiyash – August/September.
Bagayadish – September/October.
Virkazana – October/November.
Aciyadiya – November/December.
Anamaka – December/January.
Samiyamash – January/February.
Viyakana – February/March.
Weights and Measurements
One talent (28–30 modern kilograms) equalled 60 mina.
One mina equalled six karsha.
One karsha equalled ten shekel – a fraction over 8 grams.
The Persian unit of distance was a parsang, or farsang, which was as far as a man could walk in an hour – generally reckoned as about 5 kilometres.
In this book, for convenience, I have had the Persians use cubits (about 45 centimetres) to judge size.
Coinage
In the reigns of Cyrus and Cambyses, this consisted of gold staters, introduced from Lydia, although coins were a relatively recent invention and most transactions would probably have been by barter, or perhaps weighing a piece of metal rather than using a centrally minted coin.
Bibliography
For anyone interested in the Persians, there are a few ancient texts which are helpful in whole or part. These include The Histories by Herodotus, who wrote in the fifth century BC; and two works by Xenophon, who wrote in the fourth century BC: Cyropaedia (Loeb Classical Library edn), which is of curiosity value rather than informative, as it was probably based on the Spartans; and The Persian Expedition (Penguin Classics, translated by R. Warner). Although the latter book relates to battles a hundred years later than Darius’s time, it is still useful as a guide to military equipment and tactics. For the order of march of the Persian army, and other details, see also The History of Alexander, an ancient Roman text by Quintus Curtius Rufus (Penguin Classics, translated by J. Yardley). What remains of Ctesias’ Persica and Indica written in the fifth century BC are of interest, but not thought reliable.
For a deeper understanding of the historical roots of the Persians, see J. P. Mallory’s In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth (Thames & Hudson, London, 1989); and The Idea of Iran: Volume 1, Birth of the Persian Empire, edited by Vesta Sarkosh Curtis and Sarah Stewart (I. B. Taurus, London, 2005)