Iranica Antiqua, vol. LI, 2016 doi: 10.2143/IA.51.0.3117832 ATHENAEUS, CLEARCHUS AND THE DRESS OF THE PERSIAN APPLE BEARERS BY Michael B. CHARLES and Eva ANAGNOSTOU-LAOUTIDES (Southern Cross University and Monash University) Abstract: This article examines Clearchus of Soli’s reference to the effeminate dress and equipment of the Persian μηλοφόροι or Apple Bearers, the infantry guard of the Great King, as preserved by Athenaeus in his Deipnosophistae. We argue that Athenaeus’ description of the μηλοφόροι being deliberately dressed in Median fashion so as to taunt the Medes is likely to be a misinter- pretation of Clearchus’ original text. In agreement with recent evaluations of Athenaeus, we therefore suggest that his rendition of Clearchus’ original text cannot be accepted at face value, and that the μηλοφόροι were dressed and equipped in a luxurious fashion so as to conform with the standard Near Eastern visual language of majesty and power. Keywords: Medes, Persians, Apple Bearers, Athenaeus, Clearchus of Soli Among the many curious details surrounding the Achaememid military is the assertion, found in a fragment of Clearchus of Soli (49 Wehrli = FHG II 304), transmitted by Athenaeus (12.514d) in his wide-ranging Deipnosophistae (late second or early third century A.D.), that the μηλοφόροι or Apple Bearers lived in a luxurious manner in a deliberate attempt to recall the τρυφή or softness, often understood in connection with effeminate luxury, of the now-subjugated Medes and their court1. Now, it is well recognized that these soldiers were the most elite of the 1 The words τρυφάω/τρυφή and their derivatives are often used in classical sources in connection with effeminate luxury and soft living, perceived as characteristic of the peoples of the East, including Ionian Greeks; see, e.g., Eur. Bacch. 969-970; Phoen. 1491; Or. 1113; Pl. Alc. 1.122c; Grg. 492c; Leg. 637e, 900e-901a; Resp. 590b; see also Ar. Lys. 387 and 405; Eccl. 974; Nub. 48; Vesp. 1455. Isocrates (Paneg. 149-151) also discusses effeminacy resulting from the Persian’s interest in luxury. Furthermore, see Gorman and Gorman 2007 and 2010: passim, with more references to Athenaeus and his use of the notion of hubristic luxury, which he (according to the authors) imposes on Clearchus’ Περί Βίων. On the Median court, see Asheri 1989: 328-329, who emphasizes that the Medes imitated many of the court customs of the Assyrians and were then, in turn, imitated by 001_98160_Iran_Antiqua_51.indb 149 1/03/16 12:47 150 M.B. CHARLES – E. ANAGNOSTOU-LAOUTIDES Great King’s infantry, and also guarded the sovereign at his court, as well as in the field. Their commander is also generally regarded as the most important chiliarch in the land, more so since he is said to have controlled access to the king2. The guard’s supposed emulation of the Medes may have extended, as postulated recently by Charles (2012: 261), to the adop- tion of the characteristic apple- or pomegranate-shape butts affixed to the base of their spears. Clearchus’ floruit was around 320 B.C. and was there- fore close to the death of Alexander the Great, who is also specifically mentioned in a number of ancient sources as having rejected the Median royal dress, although he was keen to adopt a magnificent hybrid of Achae- menid-Persian costume in his effort to impress his Iranian subjects3. It is worth presenting the relevant passage of Athenaeus in full: Κλέαρχος δὲ ὁ Σολεὺς ἐν τετάρτῳ Βίων προειπὼν περὶ τῆς Μήδων τρυφῆς καὶ ὅτι διὰ ταύτην πολλοὺς εὐνουχίσαιεν τῶν περικτιόνων, ἐπιφέρει καὶ τὴν παρὰ Μήδων γενέσθαι Πέρσαις μηλοφορίαν μὴ μόνων ὧν ἔπαθον τιμωρίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς τῶν δορυφορούντων τρυφῆς εἰς ὅσον ἦλθον ἀνανδρίας ὑπόμνημα∙ δύναται γάρ, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἡ παράκαιρος ἅμα καὶ μάταιος αὐτῶν περὶ τὸν βίον τρυφὴ καὶ τοὺς ταῖς λόγχαις καθωπλισμένους ἀγύρτας ἀποφαίνειν. Clearchus of Soli in Book IV of the Lives begins by describing the Medes’ addiction to luxury and the fact that this motivated them to turn many of their neighbours into eunuchs, and then goes on to say that the Persians got the practice of ‘apple-bearing’ [μηλοφορία] from the Medes, not just as revenge for what had been done to them, but also as a reminder of the bodyguards’ addiction to luxury and of the Persians; see also Gabelmann 1984: 23-31. On the μηλοφόροι, see especially Charles 2011: 114-133, with reference to most of the previous literature on this unit. 2 There has been some controversy relating to which chiliarch (literally, “leader of a thousand men”) was the Chiliarch, which official is regarded as being one of the most important men in the Empire. The prevailing view is summarized by Collins 2001: 271 and id. 2012a: 162-163; see also Keaveney 2010: 499, who, building on his discussion at id. 2003: 119-129, likewise asserts that there was only one chiliarch par excellence. On controlling access to the king, see Diod. Sic. 11.69.1, where the commander of the δορυφόροι, which unit is presumably the μηλοφόροι, is assumed to be the official with most influence over the king; see also Plut. Them. 27.2. 3 Collins 2012b: 372-373, citing, among others, Eratosthenes of Cyrene (FGrH 241 F 30 = Plut. Mor. 329f-330a), Plutarch (Alex. 45.2) and Diodorus Siculus (17.77.5). 001_98160_Iran_Antiqua_51.indb 150 1/03/16 12:47 ATHENAEUS, CLEARCHUS AND THE DRESS OF THE PERSIAN APPLE BEARERS 151 what cowards they had become, because their inopportune and fool- ish addiction to luxury in the way they lived was, apparently, capable of converting even men armed with spears into eunuch priests4. From this, it would appear that the μηλοφόροι lived in the luxurious manner of the Medes, so that one might reasonably extrapolate that they were dressed in their opulent attire, and that their characteristic spears, with golden ‘apples’ at their butts, as described by Herodotus in his Histories (7.41.2: μῆλα)5, was a Median invention, and not a Persian one. Throughout history, elite military units have sometimes taken on, as a mark of respect, the trappings of the glorious vanquished, mainly so as to recall the bravery of these units in battle, and the difficulty experienced in overcoming them. One remembers, for example, the adoption of metal cuirasses by the British Life Guards to honour the bravery of the French cuirassiers defeated at Waterloo, and the engagement at Quatre Bras in particular, in 1815; or the use of flamboyant oriental dress by Napoleon’s Escadron de Mamalukes, which recalled the equipment of an ethnic group whom he had defeated in Egypt in 1798, at the Battle of the Pyramids6. Closer to our period, one might remember the adoption of the gladius his- paniensis (or hispanicus) by the legionaries of Rome, for the Iberians, who used similarly short double-edged swords, had proved so doughty in war, and their weapons so effective, that the Romans sought to emulate their distinctive equipment. There are, of course, many other examples. But it is difficult to recall the case of an elite military unit being equipped so as to recall the effeminacy and cowardice, rather than the bravery, of the defeated. Even if we accept Curtius’ reading of Alexander’s adoption of oriental dress as a public display of war spoils (6.6.5)7, an ideology which the Persians may also have used and applied to the dress code and equip- ment of the μηλοφόροι, ancient multi-ethnic empires tended to emphasize 4 Translation of Olson 2010: 23. 5 These men, though not specifically called μηλοφόροι, are described as being the “spearmen” (αἰχμοφόροι) positioned closest to the Great King in Xerxes’ army, which would suggest that they are, indeed, the infantry unit of interest to us. 6 This squadron, which was attached to the Guard Chasseurs à Cheval, was originally composed of Mamluks. But as these soldiers were killed or injured, they were replaced by men of other nationalities, including French cavalrymen. 7 Collins 2012b: 374-375, with nn. 18-20. 001_98160_Iran_Antiqua_51.indb 151 1/03/16 12:47 152 M.B. CHARLES – E. ANAGNOSTOU-LAOUTIDES the figure of the king as a uniting, supra-ethnic entity rather than an aggres- sive conqueror8. Therefore, Clearchus’ reference clearly warrants some explanation, more so since the matter has largely been passed over by previous commentators dealing with the Achaemenid military9. Indeed, precisely why an elite military unit, in fact the bodyguard of the Great King, would want to emulate the lack of manliness of a former enemy by adopting the physical manifestations of that former foe’s effeminacy and cowardice represents something of a mystery — and one which is not aided, unfortunately, by the scanty nature of the available evidence. Of course, the fact that all we have of the original anecdote from Clearchus’ Lives is a periphrasis by the much later Athenaeus, writing under the Roman Empire, further problematizes our interpretation of the alleged differentiation between the supposedly decadent Medes and the originally manly Persians — a group who, at least according to Greek writ- ers, eventually fell victim to the excessive sophistication and tyrannical excesses of their former oppressors10. This view, it must be understood, largely serves a rhetorical purpose, namely that of explaining away osten- sible Persian effeminacy (read military weakness) by the time that the Persians had come into regular and prolonged contact with the Greek world. As Castriota (2005: 94) points out, it is the Persians’ “uncontrol- lable appetite, immoderation, and insatiable desire”, together with their inability to persevere with their grandiose and hubristic designs, that makes them effeminate in the eyes of the Greeks — particularly when the latter sought to explain, in literature as well as visual art, how they could over- come such a numerically superior foe.