DOCSLIB.ORG

Darius in the Shadow of Alexander

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Darius in the Shadow of Alexander Darius in the Shadow of Alexander DARIUS IN THE SHADOW OF ALEXANDER PIERRE BRIANT TRANSLATED BY JANE MARIE TODD CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS LONDON, EN GLAND 2015 Copyright © 2015 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First printing Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the French Ministry of Foreign Aff airs and the Cultural Ser vices of the French Embassy in the United States. First published as Darius dans l’ombre d’Alexandre by Pierre Briant World copyright © Librairie Arthème Fayard, 2003. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Briant, Pierre. [Darius dans l’ombre d’Alexandre. En glish] Darius in the shadow of Alexander / Pierre Briant ; translated by Jane Marie Todd. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978- 0- 674- 49309- 4 (alkaline paper) 1. Darius III, King of Persia— 330 B.C. 2. Iran— Kings and rulers— Biography. 3. Iran— History—To 640. 4. Alexander, the Great, 356 B.C.– 323 B.C. I. Title. DS284.7.B7513 2015 935'.705092—dc23 [B] 2014018170 Contents Ac know ledg ments vii Preface to the English- Language Edition ix Translator’s Note xvii Introduction: Between Remembering and Forgetting 1 I THE IMPOSSIBLE BIOGRAPHY 1. A Shadow among His Own 15 2. Darius Past and Present 65 II CONTRASTING PORTRAITS 3. “The Last Darius, the One Who Was Defeated by Alexander” 109 4. Arrian’s Darius 130 5. A Diff erent Darius or the Same One? 155 6. Darius between Greece and Rome 202 vi Contents III RELUCTANCE AND ENTHUSIASM 7. Upper King and Lower King 233 8. Iron Helmet, Silver Vessels 282 9. The Great King’s Private and Public Lives 320 IV DARIUS AND DĀRĀ 10. Dārā and Iskandar 357 11. Death and Transfi guration 394 V A FINAL ASSESSMENT AND A FEW PROPOSALS 12. Darius in Battle: Variations on the Theme “Images and Realities” 425 Abbreviations 451 Greek and Roman Sources 455 General Bibliography 461 Notes 491 Thematic Notes by Chapter 531 Illustration Credits 563 Index 567 Ac know ledg ments I would like to thank all those who off ered me their help, especially in the fi elds of Persian and Arabo- Persian literature and iconography, during the four years I spent preparing and composing this book. Philippe Gignoux (Paris) was kind enough to share with me a manuscript, unpublished at the time, on the Sassa- nid texts that refer to Alexander (the book appeared in 2007 under the title La démonisation d’Alexandre le Grand); Marina Gaillard (Centre National de la Re- cherche Scientifi que, or CNRS, Paris) allowed me to use her French translation of Abū Tāher Tarsusi’s Dārāb-nāmeh, since published in Alexandre en Iran (2005), and was no less generous in sending me unpublished translations of Ibn’ Bakhlī and Dīnawarī. In various ways, Francis Richard (Department of Oriental Man- uscripts at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, or BnF), Dominique Gerin (Coins, Medals, and Antiques Department, BnF), Marjan Mashkour (CNRS, Paris), and Marie- Françoise Clergeau (Collège de France) assisted me in collect- ing images and illustrations: F. Richard guided me in the discovery of manu- scripts and their illustrations; D. Gerin gave me her careful attention during my research in the Coins, Medals, and Antiques Department; M. Mashkour showed me information and illustrations concerning the coff ee house paintings of Iran; and I am indebted to M.-F. Clergeau for allowing me to publish here her remarkable original drawings of an exceptional painting (Fig. 40). My thanks as well to the colleagues who provided me with bibliographical information: Mas- sumeh Fahrad (Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), Charles- Henri de Fou- chécour (Paris), Robert Hillenbrand (University of Edinburgh), Mary Subtelny (University of Toronto), Maria Szuppe (CNRS, Paris), Gilles Veinstein (Collège de France), and Yuriko Yamanaka (Osaka). The librarians at the Collège de France, the Institut d’Études Iraniennes (Université de Paris III), and the Institut viii Ac know ledg ments Français de Recherches en Iran (Tehran) assisted me in gaining access to valu- able collections. Finally, my partner read and reread various drafts and, through her constant encouragement and pertinent suggestions, helped me to see this venture to its conclusion. Editorial Note With the exception of Chapters 11– 12, endnotes in this book have been reduced almost entirely to source references. The reader may consult more extensive notes in “Thematic Notes by Chapter.” Preface to the English- Language Edition Some ten years after the publication of the French edition of Darius dans l’ombre d’Alexandre, I am particularly happy that Harvard University Press is introduc- ing it to anglophone readers, because studies and refl ections on Alexander in English- speaking countries have traditionally been so plentiful and so stimulat- ing. With the passage of time, it would appear useful to explain to new readers what my project was and to place it within the context of Achaemenid history as it is now being written, but also within the context of the refl ections that have multiplied on the relationship the historian maintains with his or her sources and documentary materials. The text itself has not been modifi ed, apart from some adjustments in wording here and there and a few updated bibliographical references and ex- planatory notes. That might seem surprising, given the fl ood of publications on Alexander that have appeared in the last ten years, including an abundance of studies on the Alexander Romance (chap. 10).1 The reason is simple: since 2003 the subject I deal with here— the construction of images of Darius III in the Greek and Latin literature of the Roman period and in the Persian and Arabo-Persian literature, in all its chronological diversity—has not been the occasion for any specifi c articles, with the exception of the reviews of the French edition of this book published in various journals. The motivations that led me to undertake that vast inquiry, unprece dented at the time, therefore remain fully valid. The pro cess of reconstituting in detail the personality and reign of Darius III re- mains an insurmountable challenge, despite a few recent documentary discov- eries that enhance both the history of the Macedonian conquest and the history of the transition from Darius to Alexander.2 This book is therefore not a biogra- phy of the last of the Great Kings, and there is nothing about the last sentence x Preface to the English- Language Edition of my introduction that I would change: “The objective of this book is instead to explain why Darius, along with so many others, is condemned to haunt the realm of historical oblivion.” The French version was generally well received, especially with respect to the method of analysis I applied to the texts.3 I do not intend to go on at length about these reviews or to engage in polemics: rather, I would like to initiate a dialogue. Some of the reservations and criticisms the reviewers expressed are worthy of attention and sparked methodological refl ections on my part that I believe it would be useful to share with readers. This will also be an opportu- nity to explain more clearly my way of thinking, just as my book is becoming available to a broader audience. Reviewers regularly pointed out the continuity between this book and an earlier one I wrote, devoted to the history of the Persian Empire. I myself had remarked on this, referring readers to the chapter in which I had attempted to reconstitute Darius’s strategy between 334 and 330.4 Although I would like to remind readers that this new book has a diff erent object, I also wish to add that the kinship and continuities between the two books go well beyond that simple observation, and that my inquiry really makes sense only when it is placed within an even broader time frame. The nature of the documentary materials collected for this book made it inevitable that, willingly or not (because the historian cannot choose his docu- ments), I would focus on an analysis of the Greco-Latin sources. Unsurpris- ingly, therefore, my refl ections developed within the larger context of a prob- lematic well known to historians of the Achaemenid Empire: How and to what extent can one write Achaemenid history on the basis of the classical sources? I have continually contended with that question since the early 1970s and at- tempted to give a preliminary and provisional response to it in a 1982 article.5 Without going into detail about the discussions (sometimes pointlessly polemi- cal) that continue to take place on that issue, I observe simply that my book constitutes a new contribution to the debate, in the form of a completely indi- vidualized and identifi ed set of issues. At the same time, the context within which research is now being con- ducted has been profoundly transformed by the unearthing and/or publication in the last forty years of a large number of corpora originating in diff erent re- gions of the Achaemenid Empire. From Bactriana to Egypt and from Asia Mi- nor to Persia proper (Fārs), the new documentation and our new knowledge are extremely impressive.6 Apart from ancient Macedonia, few historical fi elds Preface to the English- Language Edition xi have undergone such a radical upheaval over such a brief period of time. The change is not only quantitative but also qualitative: these new documents have sometimes radically changed the makeup of the materials that historians of the empire collect and use. In par tic u lar, it has not escaped anyone’s attention that the new archaeological and iconographical documents, and the multilingual written corpora, sometimes from the central administration (Persepolis, Susa) or the administration of the satrapies (western Asia Minor, Egypt, Idumea, Babylonia, Bactriana), provide a remarkable new perspective on the contribu- tions of the classical sources.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Orontids of Armenia by Cyril Toumanoff
    The Orontids of Armenia by Cyril Toumanoff This study appears as part III of Toumanoff's Studies in Christian Caucasian History (Georgetown, 1963), pp. 277-354. An earlier version appeared in the journal Le Muséon 72(1959), pp. 1-36 and 73(1960), pp. 73-106. The Orontids of Armenia Bibliography, pp. 501-523 Maps appear as an attachment to the present document. This material is presented solely for non-commercial educational/research purposes. I 1. The genesis of the Armenian nation has been examined in an earlier Study.1 Its nucleus, succeeding to the role of the Yannic nucleus ot Urartu, was the 'proto-Armenian,T Hayasa-Phrygian, people-state,2 which at first oc- cupied only a small section of the former Urartian, or subsequent Armenian, territory. And it was, precisely, of the expansion of this people-state over that territory, and of its blending with the remaining Urartians and other proto- Caucasians that the Armenian nation was born. That expansion proceeded from the earliest proto-Armenian settlement in the basin of the Arsanias (East- ern Euphrates) up the Euphrates, to the valley of the upper Tigris, and espe- cially to that of the Araxes, which is the central Armenian plain.3 This expand- ing proto-Armenian nucleus formed a separate satrapy in the Iranian empire, while the rest of the inhabitants of the Armenian Plateau, both the remaining Urartians and other proto-Caucasians, were included in several other satrapies.* Between Herodotus's day and the year 401, when the Ten Thousand passed through it, the land of the proto-Armenians had become so enlarged as to form, in addition to the Satrapy of Armenia, also the trans-Euphratensian vice-Sa- trapy of West Armenia.5 This division subsisted in the Hellenistic phase, as that between Greater Armenia and Lesser Armenia.
    [Show full text]
  • Artaxerxes II
    Artaxerxes II John Shannahan BAncHist (Hons) (Macquarie University) Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Department of Ancient History, Macquarie University. May, 2015. ii Contents List of Illustrations v Abstract ix Declaration xi Acknowledgements xiii Abbreviations and Conventions xv Introduction 1 CHAPTER 1 THE EARLY REIGN OF ARTAXERXES II The Birth of Artaxerxes to Cyrus’ Challenge 15 The Revolt of Cyrus 41 Observations on the Egyptians at Cunaxa 53 Royal Tactics at Cunaxa 61 The Repercussions of the Revolt 78 CHAPTER 2 399-390: COMBATING THE GREEKS Responses to Thibron, Dercylidas, and Agesilaus 87 The Role of Athens and the Persian Fleet 116 Evagoras the Opportunist and Carian Commanders 135 Artaxerxes’ First Invasion of Egypt: 392/1-390/89? 144 CHAPTER 3 389-380: THE KING’S PEACE AND CYPRUS The King’s Peace (387/6): Purpose and Influence 161 The Chronology of the 380s 172 CHAPTER 4 NUMISMATIC EXPRESSIONS OF SOLIDARITY Coinage in the Reign of Artaxerxes 197 The Baal/Figure in the Winged Disc Staters of Tiribazus 202 Catalogue 203 Date 212 Interpretation 214 Significance 223 Numismatic Iconography and Egyptian Independence 225 Four Comments on Achaemenid Motifs in 227 Philistian Coins iii The Figure in the Winged Disc in Samaria 232 The Pertinence of the Political Situation 241 CHAPTER 5 379-370: EGYPT Planning for the Second Invasion of Egypt 245 Pharnabazus’ Invasion of Egypt and Aftermath 259 CHAPTER 6 THE END OF THE REIGN Destabilisation in the West 267 The Nature of the Evidence 267 Summary of Current Analyses 268 Reconciliation 269 Court Intrigue and the End of Artaxerxes’ Reign 295 Conclusion: Artaxerxes the Diplomat 301 Bibliography 309 Dies 333 Issus 333 Mallus 335 Soli 337 Tarsus 338 Unknown 339 Figures 341 iv List of Illustrations MAP Map 1 Map of the Persian Empire xviii-xix Brosius, The Persians, 54-55 DIES Issus O1 Künker 174 (2010) 403 333 O2 Lanz 125 (2005) 426 333 O3 CNG 200 (2008) 63 333 O4 Künker 143 (2008) 233 333 R1 Babelon, Traité 2, pl.
    [Show full text]
  • The Satrap of Western Anatolia and the Greeks
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2017 The aS trap Of Western Anatolia And The Greeks Eyal Meyer University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons Recommended Citation Meyer, Eyal, "The aS trap Of Western Anatolia And The Greeks" (2017). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2473. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2473 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2473 For more information, please contact [email protected]. The aS trap Of Western Anatolia And The Greeks Abstract This dissertation explores the extent to which Persian policies in the western satrapies originated from the provincial capitals in the Anatolian periphery rather than from the royal centers in the Persian heartland in the fifth ec ntury BC. I begin by establishing that the Persian administrative apparatus was a product of a grand reform initiated by Darius I, which was aimed at producing a more uniform and centralized administrative infrastructure. In the following chapter I show that the provincial administration was embedded with chancellors, scribes, secretaries and military personnel of royal status and that the satrapies were periodically inspected by the Persian King or his loyal agents, which allowed to central authorities to monitory the provinces. In chapter three I delineate the extent of satrapal authority, responsibility and resources, and conclude that the satraps were supplied with considerable resources which enabled to fulfill the duties of their office. After the power dynamic between the Great Persian King and his provincial governors and the nature of the office of satrap has been analyzed, I begin a diachronic scrutiny of Greco-Persian interactions in the fifth century BC.
    [Show full text]
  • Alexander's Seventh Phalanx Battalion Milns, R D Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1966; 7, 2; Proquest Pg
    Alexander's Seventh Phalanx Battalion Milns, R D Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1966; 7, 2; ProQuest pg. 159 Alexander's Seventh Phalanx Battalion R. D. Milns SOME TIME between the battle of Gaugamela and the battle of A the Hydaspes the number of battalions in the Macedonian phalanx was raised from six to seven.1 This much is clear; what is not certain is when the new formation came into being. Berve2 believes that the introduction took place at Susa in 331 B.C. He bases his belief on two facts: (a) the arrival of 6,000 Macedonian infantry and 500 Macedonian cavalry under Amyntas, son of Andromenes, when the King was either near or at Susa;3 (b) the appearance of Philotas (not the son of Parmenion) as a battalion leader shortly afterwards at the Persian Gates.4 Tarn, in his discussion of the phalanx,5 believes that the seventh battalion was not created until 328/7, when Alexander was at Bactra, the new battalion being that of Cleitus "the White".6 Berve is re­ jected on the grounds: (a) that Arrian (3.16.11) says that Amyntas' reinforcements were "inserted into the existing (six) battalions KC1:TCt. e8vr(; (b) that Philotas has in fact taken over the command of Perdiccas' battalion, Perdiccas having been "promoted to the Staff ... doubtless after the battle" (i.e. Gaugamela).7 The seventh battalion was formed, he believes, from reinforcements from Macedonia who reached Alexander at Nautaca.8 Now all of Tarn's arguments are open to objection; and I shall treat them in the order they are presented above.
    [Show full text]
  • Aus: Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 83 (1990) 194–214 © Dr
    IAN WORTHINGTON ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND THE DATE OF THE MYTILENE DECREE aus: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 83 (1990) 194–214 © Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn 194 ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND THE DATE OF THE MYTILENE DECREE The Mytilene decree1 is almost as controversial a document as the circumstances in which it was passed. Its contents, centring on the means by which returning exiles to Mytilene on the island of Lesbos could be reconciled with those resident there, point to a dating, presumably, of 324 BC, the year in which Alexander III of Macedon issued the famous Exiles Decree, applicable to the Greek cities.2 The text of the Exiles Decree is given at Diodorus 18.8.4, although it is quite likely that he did not quote it in its entirety since in this passage he states that all exiles except for those under a curse are to be restored to their native cities; elsewhere (17.109.1), he says those charged with sacrilege and murder are also excluded (cf. Curtius 10.2.4 and Justin 13.5.2), whilst Pseudo-Plutarch (Mor. 221a) indicates that the Thebans were also excluded.3 Although the Exiles Decree is inextricably linked to any assessment of the Mytilene decree, it is the latter which is the subject of this paper. 1 IG xii 2, 6, OGIS 2 = Tod, GHI ii no.201, SEG xiii 434. Especially significant is the new redaction (based on autopsy) and photograph (the first made available) of A.J. Heisserer, Alexander the Great and the Greeks: The Epigraphic Evidence (Norman: 1980) – hereafter Heisserer, Alexander – pp.
    [Show full text]
  • Jones, David Albert, the Soul of the Embryo
    J The Soul of the Embryo: An enquiry into the status of the human embryo in the Christian tradition DAVID ALBERT JONES • , continuum A LONDON • NEW YORK Continuum The Tower Building 15 East 26th Street 11 York Road New York London, SE1 7NX NY 10010 www.continuumbooks.com C) David Jones 2004 Contents All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Abbreviations A catalogue record for this book is available from The British Library. Foreword ISBN 0 8264 6296 0 Introduction 1 Moulded in the Earth The embryo in the Hebrew Scriptures: creation, Typeset by BookEns Ltd, Royston, Herts. providence, calling Printed and hound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wilts. 2 Curdled Like Cheese Ancient embryology: Hippocrates and Aristotle 3 Discarded Children • Exposure, infanticide and abortion in ancient Greece and Rome 4 Grieving in Ramah Jewish attitudes to infanticide and abortion 5 Medicinal Penalties Early Christianity and abortion: Celtic/Anglo-Saxon penances, Greek/Latin canons 6 Soul Talk Soul as the principle of life, body and soul, the I would like to thank Fr Michael Hayes, Head of the School of Theology, spiritual soul Philosophy and History at St Mary's College for supporting an ethos of research 7 Whence the Soul? and scholarship within the School; Robin Baird-Smith of Continuum books for The Church Fathers on the origin of the soul: his great patience; and the Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics for the use of pre-existence, traducianism, creationism their excellent library.
    [Show full text]
  • The Court of Alexander the Great As Social System
    Originalveröffentlichung in Waldemar Heckel/Lawrence Tritle (Hg.), Alexander the Great. A New History, Malden, Mass. u.a. 2009, S. 83-98 5 The Court of Alexander the Great as Social System Gregor Weber In his discussion of events that followed Alexander ’s march through Hyrcania (summer 330), Plutarch gives a succinct summary of the king ’s conduct and reports the clash of his closest friends, Hephaestion and Craterus (Alex. 47.5.9-11).1 The passage belongs in the context of Alexander ’s adoption of the traditions and trap ­ pings of the dead Persian Great King (Fredricksmeyer 2000; Brosius 2003a), although the conflict between the two generals dates to the time of the Indian campaign (probably 326). It reveals not only that Alexander was subtly in tune with the atti­ tudes of his closest friends, but also that his changes elicited varied responses from the members of his circle. Their relationships with each other were based on rivalry, something Alexander - as Plutarch ’s wording suggests - actively encouraged. But it is also reported that Alexander made an effort to bring about a lasting reconcili ­ ation of the two friends, who had attacked each other with swords, and drawn their respective troops into the fray. To do so, he had to marshal “all his resources ” (Hamilton 1969; 128-31) from gestures of affection to death threats. These circumstances invite the question: what was the structural relevance of such an episode beyond the mutual antagonism of Hephaestion and Craterus? For these were not minor protagonists, but rather men of the upper echelon of the new Macedonian-Persian empire, with whose help Alexander had advanced his con ­ quest ever further and exercised his power (Berve nos.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of Sexuality, Volume 2: the Use of Pleasure
    The Use of Pleasure Volume 2 of The History of Sexuality Michel Foucault Translated from the French by Robert Hurley Vintage Books . A Division of Random House, Inc. New York The Use of Pleasure Books by Michel Foucault Madness and Civilization: A History oflnsanity in the Age of Reason The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences The Archaeology of Knowledge (and The Discourse on Language) The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaeology of Medical Perception I, Pierre Riviere, having slaughtered my mother, my sister, and my brother. ... A Case of Parricide in the Nineteenth Century Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison The History of Sexuality, Volumes I, 2, and 3 Herculine Barbin, Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth­ Century French Hermaphrodite Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977 VINTAGE BOOKS EDlTlON, MARCH 1990 Translation copyright © 1985 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in France as L' Usage des piaisirs by Editions Gallimard. Copyright © 1984 by Editions Gallimard. First American edition published by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., in October 1985. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Foucault, Michel. The history of sexuality. Translation of Histoire de la sexualite. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Contents: v. I. An introduction-v. 2. The use of pleasure. I. Sex customs-History-Collected works.
    [Show full text]
  • Persian Royal Ancestry
    GRANHOLM GENEALOGY PERSIAN ROYAL ANCESTRY Achaemenid Dynasty from Greek mythical Perses, (705-550 BC) یشنماخه یهاشنهاش (Achaemenid Empire, (550-329 BC نايناساس (Sassanid Empire (224-c. 670 INTRODUCTION Persia, of which a large part was called Iran since 1935, has a well recorded history of our early royal ancestry. Two eras covered are here in two parts; the Achaemenid and Sassanian Empires, the first and last of the Pre-Islamic Persian dynasties. This ancestry begins with a connection of the Persian kings to the Greek mythology according to Plato. I have included these kind of connections between myth and history, the reader may decide if and where such a connection really takes place. Plato 428/427 BC – 348/347 BC), was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. King or Shah Cyrus the Great established the first dynasty of Persia about 550 BC. A special list, “Byzantine Emperors” is inserted (at page 27) after the first part showing the lineage from early Egyptian rulers to Cyrus the Great and to the last king of that dynasty, Artaxerxes II, whose daughter Rodogune became a Queen of Armenia. Their descendants tie into our lineage listed in my books about our lineage from our Byzantine, Russia and Poland. The second begins with King Ardashir I, the 59th great grandfather, reigned during 226-241 and ens with the last one, King Yazdagird III, the 43rd great grandfather, reigned during 632 – 651. He married Maria, a Byzantine Princess, which ties into our Byzantine Ancestry.
    [Show full text]
  • Arta 2006.002
    ARTA 2006.002 Hermann Hunger - Vienna Robartus J. van der Spek - Amsterdam An astronomical diary concerning Artaxerxes II (year 42 = 363-2 BC): Military Operations in Babylonia1 Introduction - The document discussed here is a small piece of an astronomical diary in the collection of the British Museum. It is part of the corpus of texts published by Hermann Hunger in three volumes containing the dated astronomical diaries from Babylonia (Sachs & Hunger 1988; 1989; 1996). The document studied here was not included in the corpus since it previously could not be dated. Now, however, we are confident that we have established its date. The historical part of the tablet was studied, transliterated and translated in London in December 2005 by Van der Spek, with the help of Irving Finkel; the astronomical part has subsequently been the subject of a renewed study by Hunger. Following the convention of the edition of the diaries, this 1 AD no. -362; BM 36742 (= 80-6-17, 475) + 37478 (= 80-6-17, 1235). Achemenet Juin 2006 1 ARTA 2006.002 diary can be added to Volume I (1988) under No. -362. We thank the Trustees of the British Museum for the possibility to study the text and present it in an on-line publication. Description of the tablet - The fragment as it is preserved is the upper part of a larger tablet and consists of two pieces, joined by the late Abraham Sachs in 1957. The obverse contains astronomical observations; the preserved part of the reverse contains historical information. The text ends with a colophon on the upper edge.
    [Show full text]
  • The Greek Sources Proceedings of the Groningen 1984 Achaemenid History Workshop Edited by Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg and Amélie Kuhrt
    Achaemenid History • II The Greek Sources Proceedings of the Groningen 1984 Achaemenid History Workshop edited by Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg and Amélie Kuhrt Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten Leiden 1987 ACHAEMENID HISTORY 11 THE GREEK SOURCES PROCEEDINGS OF THE GRONINGEN 1984 ACHAEMENID HISTORY WORKSHOP edited by HELEEN SANCISI-WEERDENBURG and AMELIE KUHRT NEDERLANDS INSTITUUT VOOR HET NABIJE OOSTEN LEIDEN 1987 © Copyright 1987 by Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten Witte Singe! 24 Postbus 9515 2300 RA Leiden, Nederland All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form CIP-GEGEVENS KONINKLIJKE BIBLIOTHEEK, DEN HAAG Greek The Greek sources: proceedings of the Groningen 1984 Achaemenid history workshop / ed. by Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg and Amelie Kuhrt. - Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten.- (Achaemenid history; II) ISBN90-6258-402-0 SISO 922.6 UDC 935(063) NUHI 641 Trefw.: AchaemenidenjPerzische Rijk/Griekse oudheid; historiografie. ISBN 90 6258 402 0 Printed in Belgium TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations. VII-VIII Amelie Kuhrt and Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg INTRODUCTION. IX-XIII Pierre Briant INSTITUTIONS PERSES ET HISTOIRE COMPARATISTE DANS L'HIS- TORIOGRAPHIE GRECQUE. 1-10 P. Calmeyer GREEK HISTORIOGRAPHY AND ACHAEMENID RELIEFS. 11-26 R.B. Stevenson LIES AND INVENTION IN DEINON'S PERSICA . 27-35 Alan Griffiths DEMOCEDES OF CROTON: A GREEKDOCTORATDARIUS' COURT. 37-51 CL Herrenschmidt NOTES SUR LA PARENTE CHEZ LES PERSES AU DEBUT DE L'EM- PIRE ACHEMENIDE. 53-67 Amelie Kuhrt and Susan Sherwin White XERXES' DESTRUCTION OF BABYLONIAN TEMPLES. 69-78 D.M. Lewis THE KING'S DINNER (Polyaenus IV 3.32).
    [Show full text]
  • Arsenokoités and Malakos: Meanings and Consequences by Dale B
    Arsenokoités and Malakos: Meanings and Consequences by Dale B. Martin The New Testament provides little ammunition to those wishing to condemn modern homosexuality. Compared to the much more certain condemnations of anger, wealth (sometimes anything but poverty), adultery, or disobedience of wives and children, the few passages that might be taken as condemning homosexuality are meager. It is not surprising, therefore, that the interpretation of two mere words has commanded a disproportionate amount of attention. Both words, arsenokoités and malakos, occur in a vice list in 1 Cor. 6:9, and arsenokoités recurs in 1 Tim. 1:10. Although the translation of these two words has varied through the years, in the twentieth century they have often been taken to refer to people who engage in homosexual, or at least male homosexual, sex, and the conclusion sometimes then follows that the New Testament or Paul, condemns homosexual "activity." Usually the statement is accompanied by a shrugged-shoulder expression, as if to say, I'm not condemning homosexuality! I'm just reading the Bible. It's there in the text. Such protestations of objectivity, however, become untenable when examined closely. By analyzing ancient meanings of the terms, on the one hand, and historical changes in the translation of the terms on the other, we discover that interpretations of arsenokoités and malakos as condemning modern homosexuality have been driven more by ideological interests in marginalizing gay and lesbian people than by the general strictures of historical criticism. In the end, the goal of this chapter is not mere historical or philological accuracy.
    [Show full text]