Showing posts with label trousers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trousers. Show all posts
Monday, November 18, 2019
Iranian trousers overview at Book and Sword
Sean Manning yesterday published a look at period trousers geared especially for reenactors who plan to attend Plataea 2021. It's as comprehensive an article as I've seen and includes details on Chehrabad Salt Man 4's pants, which date to the Achaemenid period and a mere 75-100 years after Plataea. Sean's recommendations on how you'll want to construct your trousers are bit more specific than mine have been to date.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Peoples of the empire: The Sogdians
Geographical definition
Sogdia or Sogdiana (O.P. Suguda, Av. Sughdha) was midway along the Zeravshan River, bordered on the northeast by the Massagetae, some ways to the west of Chorasmia and separated from Bactria in the south by the Oxus River. In terms of modern geography, it roughly occupied the confluences of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
History
The Sogdians appear to have arrived in their historical homeland in the early Iron Age; Macaranda - better known as Samarkand, and the most important city in the area - is believed to have been founded between 650 and 550 (the site had been occupied earlier). Unlike their immediate northerly neighbors, the Amyrgian Scythians and Massagetae, the Sogdians were settled farmers; they traded crops to the nomads in exchange for livestock.
Étienne de La Vaissière says that Cyrus conquered Sogdia around 540 and established Cyropolis, "the farthest extent of the Persian empire of the northeast." In the Behistun inscription Darius mentions Sogdia among the lands he ruled, but no mention is made of it rebelling.
Herodotus lists the Sogdians with the Parthians, Chorasmians and Arians as the 16th tax district, assessed at 300 talents yearly. At Persepolis, they are with and indistinguishable from the Chorasmians; the group brings an akinakes, hammers (I think), loop-shaped things and a horse. In Darius' Susa palace inscription, he states that the lapis lazuli and carnelian used therein came from Sogdia. The country did not, apparently, have its own satrap, but was governed from Bactria.
In 494 during the late stages of the Ionian Revolt, the Persians sacked the Apollonic oracle at Didyma in Ionia. There are claims that the Branchidae (the line of priests who tended the oracle) had medized. They are supposed to have either been deported to Sogdia at this time, or relocated there when Ionia was retaken by the Greeks (which would indicate their complicity in the temple's destruction) following the failure of Xerxes' invasion of mainland Greece.
In Herodotus VII the Sogdians serve in Xerxes' army as infantry under "Azanes son of Artaeus." He does not mention which if any battles they participated in.
Events in Sogdia are poorly-known for the rest of the fifth century. In Arrian's Anabasis III.8 Sogdians fight at Gaugamela under Bessus, who commanded the eastern cavalry. The satrap of Bactria, the man whom Alexander held responsible for Darius III's death, fled to Sogdia in the face of Alexander's campaign of revenge in 329. There, his courtiers Spitamenes and Datames surrendered him to Alexander's general Ptolemy after the Greek army managed to cross the Oxus.
In Sogdia, according to Quintus Curtius, Alexander encountered the town of the Branchidae, and had the entire population killed and their town destroyed for their ancestors' perfidy. There seems to be doubt about the veracity of this event. Alexander made Samarkand his regional base, and it was there in 328 that he killed Cleitus the Black.
The next significant incident that our ancient sources care to describe is the siege of the Sogdian Rock, a nearby fortress to which Bessus' companion Oxyartes of Bactria had sent his family in the spring of 327. The Macedonians scaled the fortress' walls with tent pegs at night, and the amazed garrison surrendered peacefully. It was here that Alexander met his first wife, Oxyartes' daughter Roxana.
The same year, Alexander appointed as the new satrap his general Philip. According to Diodorus, he retained this position at the 323 Partition of Babylon. The Historiarum Philippicarum libri XLIV, an imperial Roman document by the otherwise-unknown Marcus Junianius Justinus, lists a Scytheaus as the Sogdian satrap. At the Partition of Triparadisus two years later, Sogdia and Bactria were both given to Stasanor of Soli, which is corroborated by both Diodorus and Arrian.
In 305, the region fell to Seleucus Nicator, and remained part of his empire until the Greco-Bactrians declared their independence in the mid-third century. Traces of Hellenistic-period Greek architecture have been found at Samarkand. Invasions of nomads caused the collapse of Greek rule in Bactria and Sogdia in the mid-second century.
Sogdia's fortunes fluctuated until the latter half of the first millennium AD, when land reclamation and growing populations made it a dominant civilization in Central Asia. For a time, Sogdian was lingua franca on much of the Silk Road.
The country seems to have dwindled under the expansion of Turkic cultures from the east and Persian from the west. Today, Sogdia survives as the province of Sughd in Tajikistan. A descendant of its language is spoken there by the Yaghnobi, who may be considered modern-day Sogdians.
Language
Sogdian was an Eastern Iranian language, but its written corpus dates to the 1st millennium AD and as such its attested stage must have evolved considerably from the Achaemenid period.
Religion
According to de La Vaissière, the historical religion of Sogdia was "an unreformed version of Zoroastrianism, in which Ahuramazda would never achieve primacy... . The chief god appears to have been Nana, inherited from Babylon" (I cannot tell whether this references the Sumero-Akkadian love goddess Nanaya, also called Nanâ, or the Akkadian moon god Sin aka Nanna).
However, these references seem to date to some time after the Achaemenid dynasty. I would venture rather that in our period, religion in the Eastern Iranian cultural spheres was a mix of proto-Iranian polytheism and early Mazdaism.
Clothing
Sogdians are grouped with Chorasmians in Persian royal art and dress the same, in riding coats with bordered edges, loose trousers, low shoes and low-peaked tiaras. The delegation at the apadana may be viewed here at the bottom left. Interestingly, the hems of their trousers appear to be gathered, perhaps with drawstrings or blousing bands, and their shoes show no laces, unlike those of the Mede leading them.
Weapons
Herodotus holds that the Sogdians were equipped like the Bactrians, who had "reed bows" and short spears. Given the region they occupied, I think it likely that they used the gorytos. The Sogdian at Naqs-e Rostam wears an akinakes.
Sogdia or Sogdiana (O.P. Suguda, Av. Sughdha) was midway along the Zeravshan River, bordered on the northeast by the Massagetae, some ways to the west of Chorasmia and separated from Bactria in the south by the Oxus River. In terms of modern geography, it roughly occupied the confluences of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
History
The Sogdians appear to have arrived in their historical homeland in the early Iron Age; Macaranda - better known as Samarkand, and the most important city in the area - is believed to have been founded between 650 and 550 (the site had been occupied earlier). Unlike their immediate northerly neighbors, the Amyrgian Scythians and Massagetae, the Sogdians were settled farmers; they traded crops to the nomads in exchange for livestock.
Étienne de La Vaissière says that Cyrus conquered Sogdia around 540 and established Cyropolis, "the farthest extent of the Persian empire of the northeast." In the Behistun inscription Darius mentions Sogdia among the lands he ruled, but no mention is made of it rebelling.
Herodotus lists the Sogdians with the Parthians, Chorasmians and Arians as the 16th tax district, assessed at 300 talents yearly. At Persepolis, they are with and indistinguishable from the Chorasmians; the group brings an akinakes, hammers (I think), loop-shaped things and a horse. In Darius' Susa palace inscription, he states that the lapis lazuli and carnelian used therein came from Sogdia. The country did not, apparently, have its own satrap, but was governed from Bactria.
In 494 during the late stages of the Ionian Revolt, the Persians sacked the Apollonic oracle at Didyma in Ionia. There are claims that the Branchidae (the line of priests who tended the oracle) had medized. They are supposed to have either been deported to Sogdia at this time, or relocated there when Ionia was retaken by the Greeks (which would indicate their complicity in the temple's destruction) following the failure of Xerxes' invasion of mainland Greece.
In Herodotus VII the Sogdians serve in Xerxes' army as infantry under "Azanes son of Artaeus." He does not mention which if any battles they participated in.
Events in Sogdia are poorly-known for the rest of the fifth century. In Arrian's Anabasis III.8 Sogdians fight at Gaugamela under Bessus, who commanded the eastern cavalry. The satrap of Bactria, the man whom Alexander held responsible for Darius III's death, fled to Sogdia in the face of Alexander's campaign of revenge in 329. There, his courtiers Spitamenes and Datames surrendered him to Alexander's general Ptolemy after the Greek army managed to cross the Oxus.
In Sogdia, according to Quintus Curtius, Alexander encountered the town of the Branchidae, and had the entire population killed and their town destroyed for their ancestors' perfidy. There seems to be doubt about the veracity of this event. Alexander made Samarkand his regional base, and it was there in 328 that he killed Cleitus the Black.
The next significant incident that our ancient sources care to describe is the siege of the Sogdian Rock, a nearby fortress to which Bessus' companion Oxyartes of Bactria had sent his family in the spring of 327. The Macedonians scaled the fortress' walls with tent pegs at night, and the amazed garrison surrendered peacefully. It was here that Alexander met his first wife, Oxyartes' daughter Roxana.
The same year, Alexander appointed as the new satrap his general Philip. According to Diodorus, he retained this position at the 323 Partition of Babylon. The Historiarum Philippicarum libri XLIV, an imperial Roman document by the otherwise-unknown Marcus Junianius Justinus, lists a Scytheaus as the Sogdian satrap. At the Partition of Triparadisus two years later, Sogdia and Bactria were both given to Stasanor of Soli, which is corroborated by both Diodorus and Arrian.
In 305, the region fell to Seleucus Nicator, and remained part of his empire until the Greco-Bactrians declared their independence in the mid-third century. Traces of Hellenistic-period Greek architecture have been found at Samarkand. Invasions of nomads caused the collapse of Greek rule in Bactria and Sogdia in the mid-second century.
Sogdia's fortunes fluctuated until the latter half of the first millennium AD, when land reclamation and growing populations made it a dominant civilization in Central Asia. For a time, Sogdian was lingua franca on much of the Silk Road.
The country seems to have dwindled under the expansion of Turkic cultures from the east and Persian from the west. Today, Sogdia survives as the province of Sughd in Tajikistan. A descendant of its language is spoken there by the Yaghnobi, who may be considered modern-day Sogdians.
Language
Sogdian was an Eastern Iranian language, but its written corpus dates to the 1st millennium AD and as such its attested stage must have evolved considerably from the Achaemenid period.
Religion
According to de La Vaissière, the historical religion of Sogdia was "an unreformed version of Zoroastrianism, in which Ahuramazda would never achieve primacy... . The chief god appears to have been Nana, inherited from Babylon" (I cannot tell whether this references the Sumero-Akkadian love goddess Nanaya, also called Nanâ, or the Akkadian moon god Sin aka Nanna).
However, these references seem to date to some time after the Achaemenid dynasty. I would venture rather that in our period, religion in the Eastern Iranian cultural spheres was a mix of proto-Iranian polytheism and early Mazdaism.
Clothing
Sogdians are grouped with Chorasmians in Persian royal art and dress the same, in riding coats with bordered edges, loose trousers, low shoes and low-peaked tiaras. The delegation at the apadana may be viewed here at the bottom left. Interestingly, the hems of their trousers appear to be gathered, perhaps with drawstrings or blousing bands, and their shoes show no laces, unlike those of the Mede leading them.
Weapons
Herodotus holds that the Sogdians were equipped like the Bactrians, who had "reed bows" and short spears. Given the region they occupied, I think it likely that they used the gorytos. The Sogdian at Naqs-e Rostam wears an akinakes.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Peoples of the empire: The Sagartians
Geographical definition
The Sagartians (O.P. Aš-ša-kar-ti-ia) were nomadic herders whose range is uncertain but who are generally thought to have occupied northern Iran. Stephanus of Byzantium (fl. sixth century AD) identifies a peninsula in the Caspian Sea as Sagartia.
History
Herodotus gives the Sagartians as a Persian tribe in I.125 but elsewhere treats them as a separate people. If they lived to the north of Persia proper, then possibly they had either left Persia a long time earlier or had remained in the north when the Persians migrated to the southern Zagros. Some scholars have connected the Sagartians with the Zi-kir-ta-a-a mentioned as residing in the northern Zagros in a late-eighth century BC inscription by Assyrian king Sargon II, but that doesn't necessarily clear things up since we don't know when the Persians arrived in the south.
In Herodotus I.125 they join Cyrus' rebellion against the Medes; thus they were a part of the Persian empire practically before it began. A few decades later, they appear in the Behistun inscription as one of the rebellious provinces under a Tritantaechmes (Ciçantakhma), who claimed to be a descendant of Cyaxares. In the summer of 521, Darius' Median general Takhmaspâda crushed the revolt. Tritantaechmes was taken to the then Assyrian city of Erbil, ritually mutilated and crucified.
Although Darius calls Tritantaechmes' claim to the kingship of Sagartia a lie, he does not mention cutting out his tongue, which leads Lendering to speculate "that the Sagartian leader had indeed been a member of the Median royal house." Due to the apparent placement of the Sagartians in northern Iran, some historians have speculated that they had political ties to the Medes as well as the Persians.
According to Lendering's analysis, the Sagartians were initially distinguished as their own satrapy. At the time of Herodotus, they were in the 14th tax district, with the Drangians, Mycians, Thamanaeans, Utians and people banished to the islands of the Persian Gulf, who together paid six hundred silver talents yearly. At the Persepolis apadana, the Sagartian delegation brings clothes and a bridled horse as tribute.
The Sagartians participated in Xerxes' invasion of Greece as cavalry with the Persians. As Herodotus specifies that all cavalry were grouped with the infantry of their respective nations (with the exception of the Arabian camel-riders, who rode in the rear so as not to disturb the horses - Herodotus believed that horses were frightened of camels) it may be presumed that the Sagartians were also commanded by Otanes, Xerxes' father-in-law. They therefore probably took part in the Battle of Plataea.
After Herodotus, no one writes of the Sagartians, though there is Stephanus' above-mentioned reference to a land called Sagartia a thousand years later. Probably, other Greek writers did not distinguish the Sagartians from other Persian-speakers, and as our Old Persian corpus peters out in the later Achaemenid period, the evolution of distinctions made by Iranians among themselves ceases to be documented. Most likely the Sagartians were reabsorbed by the Persians and other neighboring nations after the empire's fall.
Language
Herodotus states that the Sagartians spoke Persian. I know of no evidence contradicting this.
Religion
While I can't find anything specifically about Sagartian religion, their close association with both the Medes and the Persians makes it seem likely that their religious practices were similar to those practiced by these other Western Iranians.
Clothing
At the Persepolis apadana (left, third from the top), the Sagartians appear dressed like Medes, except wearing tiaras with low peaks and with the earflaps either tied under the chin or above the head. For what it's worth, Herodotus calls their clothing "somewhat between the Persian and the Pactyan" (the Pactyans probably being Pakhtuns/Pashtuns).
Weapons
Herodotus asserts that the Sagartians fought only with braided leather lassoes and daggers. Judging by ethnography and location, their daggers were almost certainly of an akinakes type. They fought from horseback by snaring enemy men or horses and dragging them close, presumably dispatching them with the dagger.
The Sagartians (O.P. Aš-ša-kar-ti-ia) were nomadic herders whose range is uncertain but who are generally thought to have occupied northern Iran. Stephanus of Byzantium (fl. sixth century AD) identifies a peninsula in the Caspian Sea as Sagartia.
History
Herodotus gives the Sagartians as a Persian tribe in I.125 but elsewhere treats them as a separate people. If they lived to the north of Persia proper, then possibly they had either left Persia a long time earlier or had remained in the north when the Persians migrated to the southern Zagros. Some scholars have connected the Sagartians with the Zi-kir-ta-a-a mentioned as residing in the northern Zagros in a late-eighth century BC inscription by Assyrian king Sargon II, but that doesn't necessarily clear things up since we don't know when the Persians arrived in the south.
In Herodotus I.125 they join Cyrus' rebellion against the Medes; thus they were a part of the Persian empire practically before it began. A few decades later, they appear in the Behistun inscription as one of the rebellious provinces under a Tritantaechmes (Ciçantakhma), who claimed to be a descendant of Cyaxares. In the summer of 521, Darius' Median general Takhmaspâda crushed the revolt. Tritantaechmes was taken to the then Assyrian city of Erbil, ritually mutilated and crucified.
Although Darius calls Tritantaechmes' claim to the kingship of Sagartia a lie, he does not mention cutting out his tongue, which leads Lendering to speculate "that the Sagartian leader had indeed been a member of the Median royal house." Due to the apparent placement of the Sagartians in northern Iran, some historians have speculated that they had political ties to the Medes as well as the Persians.
According to Lendering's analysis, the Sagartians were initially distinguished as their own satrapy. At the time of Herodotus, they were in the 14th tax district, with the Drangians, Mycians, Thamanaeans, Utians and people banished to the islands of the Persian Gulf, who together paid six hundred silver talents yearly. At the Persepolis apadana, the Sagartian delegation brings clothes and a bridled horse as tribute.
The Sagartians participated in Xerxes' invasion of Greece as cavalry with the Persians. As Herodotus specifies that all cavalry were grouped with the infantry of their respective nations (with the exception of the Arabian camel-riders, who rode in the rear so as not to disturb the horses - Herodotus believed that horses were frightened of camels) it may be presumed that the Sagartians were also commanded by Otanes, Xerxes' father-in-law. They therefore probably took part in the Battle of Plataea.
After Herodotus, no one writes of the Sagartians, though there is Stephanus' above-mentioned reference to a land called Sagartia a thousand years later. Probably, other Greek writers did not distinguish the Sagartians from other Persian-speakers, and as our Old Persian corpus peters out in the later Achaemenid period, the evolution of distinctions made by Iranians among themselves ceases to be documented. Most likely the Sagartians were reabsorbed by the Persians and other neighboring nations after the empire's fall.
Language
Herodotus states that the Sagartians spoke Persian. I know of no evidence contradicting this.
Religion
While I can't find anything specifically about Sagartian religion, their close association with both the Medes and the Persians makes it seem likely that their religious practices were similar to those practiced by these other Western Iranians.
Clothing
At the Persepolis apadana (left, third from the top), the Sagartians appear dressed like Medes, except wearing tiaras with low peaks and with the earflaps either tied under the chin or above the head. For what it's worth, Herodotus calls their clothing "somewhat between the Persian and the Pactyan" (the Pactyans probably being Pakhtuns/Pashtuns).
Weapons
Herodotus asserts that the Sagartians fought only with braided leather lassoes and daggers. Judging by ethnography and location, their daggers were almost certainly of an akinakes type. They fought from horseback by snaring enemy men or horses and dragging them close, presumably dispatching them with the dagger.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Peoples of the empire: The Phrygians
Geographical definition
The Phrygians were widespread through Anatolia, living in regions from the Hellespont to Cappadocia. Phrygia proper lay in central Anatolia and centered around the Sakarya River, just west of Cappadocia, directly east of Lydia and considerably to the north of Lycia. Their name for themselves is not known, nor is the name by which the Persians called them.
History
Herodotus believed (and some modern scholars agree) that the Phrygians were relatively recent immigrants to Anatolia descended from an offshoot of the Bryges, who lived in the Balkans. He also further states that they were in turn ancestral to the Armenians, which is uncertain. Greek mythology has the Phrygians fighting on the side of the Trojans during the Trojan War, and Gordium was the home of the legendary kings named Midas (of whom there were three).
The Phrygian kingdom in central Anatolia reached its peak in the eighth century BC. Around 675 Gordium was sacked, an act the Greeks attributed to Cimmerian invaders. The Cimmerians were driven out around 620 by the Lydians, who made Phrygia one of their provinces. Gordium was built up with Lydian financing. The accidental slayer of Croesus' son in Herodotus I.34-45 was Adrastus, a prince of Gordium.
As a Lydian province, Phrygia passed to Persia when the latter conquered Lydia some time after 547. By the time of Herodotus, it was placed with the Hellespont, Paphlagonia, Syria, the Mariandynians and the Thracians of Asia in the third imperial tax district, whose yearly tribute totaled 360 talents.
The satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia was split off around the turn of the fifth century. Its capital was Dascylium. Lendering notes that "[t]he architectural remains from this age are not very monumental" though a terrace wall in Dascylium shows similarity to walls at Pasargadae and Persepolis.
In the 480 invasion of Greece, Phrygians served together with the Armenians under Artochmes, one of Darius' sons-in-law. We are not told what role they played in the fighting, but Herodotus says that some Phrygians were picked by Mardonius to remain in Greece after Xerxes left and it seems reasonable that they participated at Plataea if nowhere else.
Our history of Greater (interior) Phrygia is poor, due to its isolation from the Greek world and dearth of surviving domestic or Persian documents. However it was still in the empire's hands by the time Alexander arrived in Gordium in 334. In 333, he appointed the satrapy to his general Antigonus, founder of the Antigonid dynasty.
As a reward for his leadership of the surviving Persian army out of Greece, Artabazus (*Artavazdâ), Xerxes' first cousin and formerly commander of the Chorasmian and Parthian cavalry contingents, was given the satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia in 477. His descendants held this office until the invasion of Alexander the Great.
Artabazus' son Pharnabazus may or may not have been satrap. His grandson Pharnaces was satrap by 430, when he tried to open talks with Sparta to involve himself in the political side of the Peloponnesian War, but this initiative went nowhere. Pharnaces remained in office at least until 422 and possibly later. His son Pharnabazus II succeeded him before the winter of 413-12, when he and his rival, Tissaphernes of Lydia, tried separately to ally themselves with Sparta against Athens. Again, little was accomplished due to Athens' naval supremacy until Cyrus the Younger became involved, but this subject falls outside the scope of this article.
Pharnabazus was ruler when the survivors of the Ten Thousand passed through there in 400 on their way back to Greece, when Tissaphernes of Lydia redirected a campaign by Spartan king Thibron in 399 and by Agesilaus II in 396-95; Pharnabazus then campaigned in the Aegean with the Athenian admiral Conon during the Corinthian War. As a result of his and the empire's gains in this conflict, he was assigned to reconquer Egypt, but failed to do so though he tried repeatedly.
In the meantime, his son Ariobarzanes (*Ariyabrdna) succeeded him as satrap. He joined the Revolt of the Satraps in 366, receiving aid from Sparta when Caria and Lydia attacked him, and in recognition of his opposition to the great king, Athens made him an honorary citizen, but his son Mithradates betrayed him to the king in 363 or 362, leading to his crucifixion.
His brother Artabazus II succeeded him and likewise decided to rebel after the death of Artaxerxes II in 358, hiring Athenian mercenaries who defeated an imperial army sent against Artabazus in 355. But Artaxerxes III was able to intimidate Athens into recalling its forces by threatening to send the Persian navy to support Athens' own rebellious territories in the Social War. Artabazus was forced to flee to Macedon in 353.
Hellespontine Phrygia was given to Arsites, who led the satraps at the Battle of the Granicus in 334 and committed suicide after their defeat. Alexander appointed his general Calas as the first Macedonian satrap. Upon the partition of Babylon it was given to Alexander's bodyguard Leonnatus, while Greater Phrygia remained with Antigonus.
Although now part of the Hellenistic world, at least some Phrygians spoke their own language until the fifth century AD. In the third century BC, Hellespontine Phrygia was invaded by a Celtic people whom the Greeks called Galatai, and with the spread of their language the region became known as Galatia. Greater Phrygia also suffered from these invasions, which destroyed Gordium. In 188 it came under rule of the Greek Attalid dynasty of western Anatolia, which Attalus III left in his will to the Roman republic. As such, the name of Phrygia was retained for administrative purposes from 133 BC until the final end of Byzantium in AD 1453.
Language
The Phrygian language is scarcely attested from two bodies of inscriptions, one dating from the turn of the ninth century BC and after, the other from the turn of the first century AD. It was an Indo-European language bearing some similarities to Greek and the two may form a subfamily.
The earlier group of inscriptions were written in a particular script derived from Phoenician which may or may not have come through Greek. The latter were written in the Greek alphabet.
Religion
The Phrygians worshiped a wide variety of their own gods and Anatolian ones. Their (apparent) supreme gods were Sabazios, the sky god and horseman whom the Greeks equated variously with Zeus or Dionysus, and the native Anatolian mother goddess Cybele (Phrygian Matar Kubileya), identified strongly with the Anatolian wilderness. Like the Lycians, the Phrygians tended to carve shrines and idols directly into living rock.
Clothing
Phrygian clothing was similar to Medo-Persian, with snug-fitting (probably footed) trousers and long-sleeved tunics covered in bold patterns. The Phrygian cap was similar to a tiara but lacked earflaps and had a tall, stiff peak curling forward (Phrygians also sometimes wore tiaras with earflaps).
Weapons
Herodotus' Phrygians are armed "like the Paphlagonians," with woven helmets, small shields, short spears, javelins and daggers (VII.72). I suppose it is not impossible that the woven helmets were in fact tiaras or Phrygian caps, though it would be an unusual choice of words on Herodotus' part. The small shields were, I suspect, most likely crescents, given that these were used both in West Asia and to the north in Thracia.
The Phrygians were widespread through Anatolia, living in regions from the Hellespont to Cappadocia. Phrygia proper lay in central Anatolia and centered around the Sakarya River, just west of Cappadocia, directly east of Lydia and considerably to the north of Lycia. Their name for themselves is not known, nor is the name by which the Persians called them.
History
Herodotus believed (and some modern scholars agree) that the Phrygians were relatively recent immigrants to Anatolia descended from an offshoot of the Bryges, who lived in the Balkans. He also further states that they were in turn ancestral to the Armenians, which is uncertain. Greek mythology has the Phrygians fighting on the side of the Trojans during the Trojan War, and Gordium was the home of the legendary kings named Midas (of whom there were three).
The Phrygian kingdom in central Anatolia reached its peak in the eighth century BC. Around 675 Gordium was sacked, an act the Greeks attributed to Cimmerian invaders. The Cimmerians were driven out around 620 by the Lydians, who made Phrygia one of their provinces. Gordium was built up with Lydian financing. The accidental slayer of Croesus' son in Herodotus I.34-45 was Adrastus, a prince of Gordium.
As a Lydian province, Phrygia passed to Persia when the latter conquered Lydia some time after 547. By the time of Herodotus, it was placed with the Hellespont, Paphlagonia, Syria, the Mariandynians and the Thracians of Asia in the third imperial tax district, whose yearly tribute totaled 360 talents.
The satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia was split off around the turn of the fifth century. Its capital was Dascylium. Lendering notes that "[t]he architectural remains from this age are not very monumental" though a terrace wall in Dascylium shows similarity to walls at Pasargadae and Persepolis.
In the 480 invasion of Greece, Phrygians served together with the Armenians under Artochmes, one of Darius' sons-in-law. We are not told what role they played in the fighting, but Herodotus says that some Phrygians were picked by Mardonius to remain in Greece after Xerxes left and it seems reasonable that they participated at Plataea if nowhere else.
Our history of Greater (interior) Phrygia is poor, due to its isolation from the Greek world and dearth of surviving domestic or Persian documents. However it was still in the empire's hands by the time Alexander arrived in Gordium in 334. In 333, he appointed the satrapy to his general Antigonus, founder of the Antigonid dynasty.
As a reward for his leadership of the surviving Persian army out of Greece, Artabazus (*Artavazdâ), Xerxes' first cousin and formerly commander of the Chorasmian and Parthian cavalry contingents, was given the satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia in 477. His descendants held this office until the invasion of Alexander the Great.
Artabazus' son Pharnabazus may or may not have been satrap. His grandson Pharnaces was satrap by 430, when he tried to open talks with Sparta to involve himself in the political side of the Peloponnesian War, but this initiative went nowhere. Pharnaces remained in office at least until 422 and possibly later. His son Pharnabazus II succeeded him before the winter of 413-12, when he and his rival, Tissaphernes of Lydia, tried separately to ally themselves with Sparta against Athens. Again, little was accomplished due to Athens' naval supremacy until Cyrus the Younger became involved, but this subject falls outside the scope of this article.
Pharnabazus was ruler when the survivors of the Ten Thousand passed through there in 400 on their way back to Greece, when Tissaphernes of Lydia redirected a campaign by Spartan king Thibron in 399 and by Agesilaus II in 396-95; Pharnabazus then campaigned in the Aegean with the Athenian admiral Conon during the Corinthian War. As a result of his and the empire's gains in this conflict, he was assigned to reconquer Egypt, but failed to do so though he tried repeatedly.
In the meantime, his son Ariobarzanes (*Ariyabrdna) succeeded him as satrap. He joined the Revolt of the Satraps in 366, receiving aid from Sparta when Caria and Lydia attacked him, and in recognition of his opposition to the great king, Athens made him an honorary citizen, but his son Mithradates betrayed him to the king in 363 or 362, leading to his crucifixion.
His brother Artabazus II succeeded him and likewise decided to rebel after the death of Artaxerxes II in 358, hiring Athenian mercenaries who defeated an imperial army sent against Artabazus in 355. But Artaxerxes III was able to intimidate Athens into recalling its forces by threatening to send the Persian navy to support Athens' own rebellious territories in the Social War. Artabazus was forced to flee to Macedon in 353.
Hellespontine Phrygia was given to Arsites, who led the satraps at the Battle of the Granicus in 334 and committed suicide after their defeat. Alexander appointed his general Calas as the first Macedonian satrap. Upon the partition of Babylon it was given to Alexander's bodyguard Leonnatus, while Greater Phrygia remained with Antigonus.
Although now part of the Hellenistic world, at least some Phrygians spoke their own language until the fifth century AD. In the third century BC, Hellespontine Phrygia was invaded by a Celtic people whom the Greeks called Galatai, and with the spread of their language the region became known as Galatia. Greater Phrygia also suffered from these invasions, which destroyed Gordium. In 188 it came under rule of the Greek Attalid dynasty of western Anatolia, which Attalus III left in his will to the Roman republic. As such, the name of Phrygia was retained for administrative purposes from 133 BC until the final end of Byzantium in AD 1453.
Language
The Phrygian language is scarcely attested from two bodies of inscriptions, one dating from the turn of the ninth century BC and after, the other from the turn of the first century AD. It was an Indo-European language bearing some similarities to Greek and the two may form a subfamily.
The earlier group of inscriptions were written in a particular script derived from Phoenician which may or may not have come through Greek. The latter were written in the Greek alphabet.
Religion
The Phrygians worshiped a wide variety of their own gods and Anatolian ones. Their (apparent) supreme gods were Sabazios, the sky god and horseman whom the Greeks equated variously with Zeus or Dionysus, and the native Anatolian mother goddess Cybele (Phrygian Matar Kubileya), identified strongly with the Anatolian wilderness. Like the Lycians, the Phrygians tended to carve shrines and idols directly into living rock.
Clothing
Phrygian clothing was similar to Medo-Persian, with snug-fitting (probably footed) trousers and long-sleeved tunics covered in bold patterns. The Phrygian cap was similar to a tiara but lacked earflaps and had a tall, stiff peak curling forward (Phrygians also sometimes wore tiaras with earflaps).
Weapons
Herodotus' Phrygians are armed "like the Paphlagonians," with woven helmets, small shields, short spears, javelins and daggers (VII.72). I suppose it is not impossible that the woven helmets were in fact tiaras or Phrygian caps, though it would be an unusual choice of words on Herodotus' part. The small shields were, I suspect, most likely crescents, given that these were used both in West Asia and to the north in Thracia.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Peoples of the empire: The Bactrians
Ancient Bactria (O.P. Bâkhtriš, Bactrian Baktra) is approximately equivalent to modern Balkh province in the middle of northern Afghanistan, which is bordered on the north by the Amu Darya. But in ancient times the name was extended as far south as the Hindu Kush. Thus, within the historical region, mountains, fertile plains and deserts could all be found in a fairly small area.
History
Much of Greater Iranian history is linked with Bactria. Some archaeologists believe the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (c. 2300-1700 BC) is the material culture of early proto-Indo-Iranians. The prophet Zoroaster is widely believed to have lived here c. 1000 BC, and the city of Baktra is named in the later Vendidad among the Sixteen Lands of Ahura Mazda as "crowned with banners" (or "the town with the high-lifted banners"). Popular legend identified Zoroaster's great ally in the Avestas, Vištāspa (later Gushtasp or variants), as a Kayanid king of Bactria.
In the Achaemenid period, at some point special importance was attached to the satrapy (which was the 12th and also incorporated neighboring Margiana), as its satrap became the crown prince of the empire. According to Iranica, the nobles of Bactria retained their power under the Achaemenid government. Bactria was a wealthy land due to both trade and agriculture, and was taxed 360 silver talents yearly.
The land enters written history with the Behistun inscription, at which point it is already a satrapy (whether Cyrus or one of his sons conquered it, or it was already tributary to the Medes, is unknown). According to Darius, Margiana revolted under the native leader Frâda. At Darius' behest, Dâdarši, satrap of Bactria - not to be confused with the Armenian general of the same name - invaded Margiana and defeated the revolt in battle on December 28, 521.
Bactrians took part in Xerxes' invasion of Greece as both infantry and cavalry; they were marshalled with the Scythians under the command of Xerxes' brother, also called Vištāspa (Hystaspes in Greek) after their paternal grandfather, the father of Darius the Great. The Bactrian contingents notably fought at the Battle of Plataea, where, according to Herodotus, Mardonius placed them between the Medes and Indians, opposing the Greeks of Epidaurus, Troezen, Lepreum, Tiryns, Mycenae and Phlius (IX.31).
A century and a half later, they would also fight at the Battle of Gaugamela under their satrap, Bessus. When Darius III fled to Bactria the following year, Bessus and the other satraps executed a coup d'etat, possibly planning to hand the Great King over to Alexander to protect themselves and their offices. Alexander sent a force to attack the conspirators in July of 330, inducing them to hastily murder Darius and flee (Lendering regards this as a calculated move on Alexander's part to unite the Persians behind him in his war against the king's deposers).
According to Arrian of Nicomedia (c. AD 86-160) the fatal blows were struck by Nabarzanes, a palace officer, and Barsaentes, satrap of Arachosia and Drangiana. Regardless, Bessus, who was a relative of Darius and ruled one of the most important satrapies, now proclaimed himself King Artaxerxes V. However, Alexander invaded Bactria in the spring of 329 and pursued Bessus across the desert to Sogdia, where Bessus' courtiers Spitamenes and Datames surrendered him to Alexander's general Ptolemy (the future diadochus of Egypt). Biographers differ on what grisly manner of death Alexander bestowed on Bessus as punishment for usurpation, but all agree it was really freakin' grisly.
Bactria revolted against Greek rule several times in the 320s. For a while it remained in the hands of the Seleucids, but around 250 (the date is hard to establish) the satrap Diodotus declared independence and founded the Hellenistic kingdom of Bactria. During this period, Bactria expanded both east and west, acting as a trade link between the Mediterranean and China in the development of the Silk Road. It was also a destination for Buddhist emissaries from India from the time of Aśoka the Great. In the latter 2nd century BC the Greek dynasts were pushed out by migrating Yuezhi, who would later found the Kushan empire. In the ensuing centuries, the land would be conquered again and again, leading to the disappearance of distinctly Bactrian culture. Today the majority of people in Balkh are Tajiks, Persian-speakers of Central Asia, but the region is home to many different Iranic and Turkic peoples, and Arabs who descend from settlers of the early caliphates.
Religion
As the reputed home of Zoroaster, Bactria was a center of Iranian religion in ancient times. The capital also housed a shrine to Anahita. For more on the state of Iranian religion, see my previous entry. The Rabatak inscription of the Kushan king Kanishka names many gods worshipped there, but this inscription dates to about four centuries after the Achaemenid period and it would be risky to put much stock into it as a source on Classical Bactrian religion.
Language
Bactrian was an Eastern Iranian language. In the Greek-alphabet inscriptions of the Kushan kingdom it is called the "the Aria (Aryan) language." It is not, however, attested during the Achaemenid period, when it was probably significantly different (compare the significant changes between Old and Middle Persian).
Avestan was once known as "Old Bactrian" on the notion that it was ancestral to the historical Bactrian language; this is not considered to be the case today, although they are both in the Eastern Iranian sub-branch.
Clothing and arms
Clothing
Interestingly I have found a sticking point when reviewing relief images: Livius.org's image of "A Bactrian" is the same Persepolis relief that Nirupars labels as "Arachosier," while Livius' image of "An Arachosian" seems to be dressed very similarly (though only the head and shoulder are shown) except that the end of his headband isn't tucked in. Meanwhile at Naqš-e Rostam the Bactrian dresses in a fashion that is almost Median (closed tunic, close-fitting trousers and ankle boots) but with a headband instead of a domed cap. Lastly, Herodotus has gone on record describing the Bactrians as wearing "headgear very similar to the Median," which is mighty confusing, as none of these figures do. If you want to portray a clearly Bactrian figure, my advice is to go with the headband.
Weapons
Herodotus describes the Bactrians carrying short spears and "reed bows" (toxa de kalamina), which are an intriguing topic about which I can find very little information. He states that their cavalry were armed the same as their infantry. Lastly, the one at Naqš-i Rostam wears an akinakes, portrayed in Medo-Persian fashion.
P.S. Sorry to say I don't expect to be able to post next week, as I have a test coming up on Monday.
History
Much of Greater Iranian history is linked with Bactria. Some archaeologists believe the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (c. 2300-1700 BC) is the material culture of early proto-Indo-Iranians. The prophet Zoroaster is widely believed to have lived here c. 1000 BC, and the city of Baktra is named in the later Vendidad among the Sixteen Lands of Ahura Mazda as "crowned with banners" (or "the town with the high-lifted banners"). Popular legend identified Zoroaster's great ally in the Avestas, Vištāspa (later Gushtasp or variants), as a Kayanid king of Bactria.
In the Achaemenid period, at some point special importance was attached to the satrapy (which was the 12th and also incorporated neighboring Margiana), as its satrap became the crown prince of the empire. According to Iranica, the nobles of Bactria retained their power under the Achaemenid government. Bactria was a wealthy land due to both trade and agriculture, and was taxed 360 silver talents yearly.
The land enters written history with the Behistun inscription, at which point it is already a satrapy (whether Cyrus or one of his sons conquered it, or it was already tributary to the Medes, is unknown). According to Darius, Margiana revolted under the native leader Frâda. At Darius' behest, Dâdarši, satrap of Bactria - not to be confused with the Armenian general of the same name - invaded Margiana and defeated the revolt in battle on December 28, 521.
Bactrians took part in Xerxes' invasion of Greece as both infantry and cavalry; they were marshalled with the Scythians under the command of Xerxes' brother, also called Vištāspa (Hystaspes in Greek) after their paternal grandfather, the father of Darius the Great. The Bactrian contingents notably fought at the Battle of Plataea, where, according to Herodotus, Mardonius placed them between the Medes and Indians, opposing the Greeks of Epidaurus, Troezen, Lepreum, Tiryns, Mycenae and Phlius (IX.31).
A century and a half later, they would also fight at the Battle of Gaugamela under their satrap, Bessus. When Darius III fled to Bactria the following year, Bessus and the other satraps executed a coup d'etat, possibly planning to hand the Great King over to Alexander to protect themselves and their offices. Alexander sent a force to attack the conspirators in July of 330, inducing them to hastily murder Darius and flee (Lendering regards this as a calculated move on Alexander's part to unite the Persians behind him in his war against the king's deposers).
According to Arrian of Nicomedia (c. AD 86-160) the fatal blows were struck by Nabarzanes, a palace officer, and Barsaentes, satrap of Arachosia and Drangiana. Regardless, Bessus, who was a relative of Darius and ruled one of the most important satrapies, now proclaimed himself King Artaxerxes V. However, Alexander invaded Bactria in the spring of 329 and pursued Bessus across the desert to Sogdia, where Bessus' courtiers Spitamenes and Datames surrendered him to Alexander's general Ptolemy (the future diadochus of Egypt). Biographers differ on what grisly manner of death Alexander bestowed on Bessus as punishment for usurpation, but all agree it was really freakin' grisly.
Bactria revolted against Greek rule several times in the 320s. For a while it remained in the hands of the Seleucids, but around 250 (the date is hard to establish) the satrap Diodotus declared independence and founded the Hellenistic kingdom of Bactria. During this period, Bactria expanded both east and west, acting as a trade link between the Mediterranean and China in the development of the Silk Road. It was also a destination for Buddhist emissaries from India from the time of Aśoka the Great. In the latter 2nd century BC the Greek dynasts were pushed out by migrating Yuezhi, who would later found the Kushan empire. In the ensuing centuries, the land would be conquered again and again, leading to the disappearance of distinctly Bactrian culture. Today the majority of people in Balkh are Tajiks, Persian-speakers of Central Asia, but the region is home to many different Iranic and Turkic peoples, and Arabs who descend from settlers of the early caliphates.
Religion
As the reputed home of Zoroaster, Bactria was a center of Iranian religion in ancient times. The capital also housed a shrine to Anahita. For more on the state of Iranian religion, see my previous entry. The Rabatak inscription of the Kushan king Kanishka names many gods worshipped there, but this inscription dates to about four centuries after the Achaemenid period and it would be risky to put much stock into it as a source on Classical Bactrian religion.
Language
Bactrian was an Eastern Iranian language. In the Greek-alphabet inscriptions of the Kushan kingdom it is called the "the Aria (Aryan) language." It is not, however, attested during the Achaemenid period, when it was probably significantly different (compare the significant changes between Old and Middle Persian).
Avestan was once known as "Old Bactrian" on the notion that it was ancestral to the historical Bactrian language; this is not considered to be the case today, although they are both in the Eastern Iranian sub-branch.
Clothing and arms
Clothing
Interestingly I have found a sticking point when reviewing relief images: Livius.org's image of "A Bactrian" is the same Persepolis relief that Nirupars labels as "Arachosier," while Livius' image of "An Arachosian" seems to be dressed very similarly (though only the head and shoulder are shown) except that the end of his headband isn't tucked in. Meanwhile at Naqš-e Rostam the Bactrian dresses in a fashion that is almost Median (closed tunic, close-fitting trousers and ankle boots) but with a headband instead of a domed cap. Lastly, Herodotus has gone on record describing the Bactrians as wearing "headgear very similar to the Median," which is mighty confusing, as none of these figures do. If you want to portray a clearly Bactrian figure, my advice is to go with the headband.
Weapons
Herodotus describes the Bactrians carrying short spears and "reed bows" (toxa de kalamina), which are an intriguing topic about which I can find very little information. He states that their cavalry were armed the same as their infantry. Lastly, the one at Naqš-i Rostam wears an akinakes, portrayed in Medo-Persian fashion.
P.S. Sorry to say I don't expect to be able to post next week, as I have a test coming up on Monday.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Peoples of the empire: The Arachosians
Arachosia (O.P. Harauvatiyâ) was located just to the south of Aria and Bactria, around the Arghandab River and straddling modern Afghanistan and Pakistan. The name is cognate to Sanskrit Sarasvati and refers to bodies of water (rivers or ponds).
History
Arachosia enters history with the Behistun inscription, wherein it is already a Persian satrapy under a Vivâna, who successfully put down the rebellion in that area in 522-521 BC in the midst of the chaos that followed Darius' killing of Gaumâta. The leader of the rebellion, Vahyazdâta, was (so said Darius) a Persian who claimed to be the deceased Bardiya/Smerdis and sent his army into Arachosia. Thus there is no reason to suppose that Arachosia itself was a rebellious satrapy. After being defeated, Vahyazdâta was brought back to Persia and crucified. Vivâna's successor was Bakabaduš.
Herodotus does not mention Arachosians among the participants in the invasion of Greece. However, Rüdiger Schmitt suggests that the people of Arachosia were known to Herodotus as the Thamanaei, while the later writer Ptolemy refers to several tribes, the Parsyetae, Sydri, Rhoplutae and Eoritae.
Currently an editor at Wikipedia is saying that the Arachosians were Pactyes (who are probably the same as the Pashtuns), this sounds plausible, especially as Persian sources do not mention Pactyes and they clearly come from around the same area. But I'm not willing to assume that this is the case, since neither Iranica nor Livius.org give it any mention. The quote from Isidore of Charax's Parthian Stations, "And the Parthians call this Pakhtara...", is very suspect indeed since the vast majority of translations have him say, "And the Parthians call this White India..." I can't track down a copy of the original Greek online, but for the record, if the usual translation is correct, the original should read Indike Leuke. For the time being, I am treating the Arachosians and Pactyes as different peoples.
At Persepolis, the Arachosian delegation appears bearing ornate pottery and leading a Bactrian camel adorned with a bell.
Little or nothing is known of the history of the region from the time of Vivâna and Vahyazdâta until Alexander's invasion, when in March of 329 he visited the satrapy, then ruled by someone named Barsaëntes, who joined Bessus in opposing Alexander. According to Jona Lendering, Alexander renamed the satrapal capital Kapisakaniš as Alexandria in Arachosia.
(Some historians believe that this city is identical to modern Kandahar, and its name derives from a mutation of "Alexandria"; others believe the name comes from the nearby land of Gandhara, while others think connect it to the Persian and Pashto word for "candy" because the area is known for producing fruit.)
Like many regions, Arachosia was fought over by a series of kingdoms from the Seleucids onward. The Indo-Scythians settled in Arachosia and Drangiana in the 2nd century BC, giving the region the alternative name of Sakastan ("land of the Saka"), which was later contracted to Sistan. Like Aria, the rule of Sistan was contested in recent centuries by Iran and Afghanistan. This time, the dispute was arbitrated by the British (who were heavily involved in the region at the time) and the region divided into modern Sistan and Baluchestan Province in Iran and Nimruz, Kandahar and Zabul provinces in Afghanistan.
I can find virtually nothing about the religion or language of Arachosia in Achaemenid times, though it is plausible that Eastern Iranian languages were dominant. From the Islamic conquest of Iran until the 11th century, Arab writers said that the Sistanis worshipped a god named Zun, of whom was made a golden statue with ruby eyes.
Clothing and arms
Arachosians and Drangians, who are portrayed identically at Persepolis and Naqš-e Rostam (the tomb of Darius) wear close-fronted tunics like the Medes and Persians, combined with baggy trousers seen more among Eastern Iranians. Like the Arians, their trousers are tucked into pull-on boots with pointed, upturned toes, similar to heel-less cowboy boots. The ones at Persepolis come up to just over the ankle, those at Naqš-e Rostam are knee-high. Some of the Persepolis boots have little cords hanging over the front of the boot tops, possibly a forerunner of blousing bands.
Persepolis also provides some excellent illustrations of Arachosian accessories. Instead of hats, they wear headbands with square ends, tied in the back, and the hanging ends pulled up and tucked in. They also wear distinct earrings consisting of a ring from which hang two beads and then a long inverted-teardrop pendant.
Almost nothing is shown of their weapons other than the one at Naqš-e Rostam who wears an akinakes. Spears and B-style bows carried in gorytoi are plausible but I can neither confirm nor deny at this time.
History
Arachosia enters history with the Behistun inscription, wherein it is already a Persian satrapy under a Vivâna, who successfully put down the rebellion in that area in 522-521 BC in the midst of the chaos that followed Darius' killing of Gaumâta. The leader of the rebellion, Vahyazdâta, was (so said Darius) a Persian who claimed to be the deceased Bardiya/Smerdis and sent his army into Arachosia. Thus there is no reason to suppose that Arachosia itself was a rebellious satrapy. After being defeated, Vahyazdâta was brought back to Persia and crucified. Vivâna's successor was Bakabaduš.
Herodotus does not mention Arachosians among the participants in the invasion of Greece. However, Rüdiger Schmitt suggests that the people of Arachosia were known to Herodotus as the Thamanaei, while the later writer Ptolemy refers to several tribes, the Parsyetae, Sydri, Rhoplutae and Eoritae.
Currently an editor at Wikipedia is saying that the Arachosians were Pactyes (who are probably the same as the Pashtuns), this sounds plausible, especially as Persian sources do not mention Pactyes and they clearly come from around the same area. But I'm not willing to assume that this is the case, since neither Iranica nor Livius.org give it any mention. The quote from Isidore of Charax's Parthian Stations, "And the Parthians call this Pakhtara...", is very suspect indeed since the vast majority of translations have him say, "And the Parthians call this White India..." I can't track down a copy of the original Greek online, but for the record, if the usual translation is correct, the original should read Indike Leuke. For the time being, I am treating the Arachosians and Pactyes as different peoples.
At Persepolis, the Arachosian delegation appears bearing ornate pottery and leading a Bactrian camel adorned with a bell.
Little or nothing is known of the history of the region from the time of Vivâna and Vahyazdâta until Alexander's invasion, when in March of 329 he visited the satrapy, then ruled by someone named Barsaëntes, who joined Bessus in opposing Alexander. According to Jona Lendering, Alexander renamed the satrapal capital Kapisakaniš as Alexandria in Arachosia.
(Some historians believe that this city is identical to modern Kandahar, and its name derives from a mutation of "Alexandria"; others believe the name comes from the nearby land of Gandhara, while others think connect it to the Persian and Pashto word for "candy" because the area is known for producing fruit.)
Like many regions, Arachosia was fought over by a series of kingdoms from the Seleucids onward. The Indo-Scythians settled in Arachosia and Drangiana in the 2nd century BC, giving the region the alternative name of Sakastan ("land of the Saka"), which was later contracted to Sistan. Like Aria, the rule of Sistan was contested in recent centuries by Iran and Afghanistan. This time, the dispute was arbitrated by the British (who were heavily involved in the region at the time) and the region divided into modern Sistan and Baluchestan Province in Iran and Nimruz, Kandahar and Zabul provinces in Afghanistan.
I can find virtually nothing about the religion or language of Arachosia in Achaemenid times, though it is plausible that Eastern Iranian languages were dominant. From the Islamic conquest of Iran until the 11th century, Arab writers said that the Sistanis worshipped a god named Zun, of whom was made a golden statue with ruby eyes.
Clothing and arms
Arachosians and Drangians, who are portrayed identically at Persepolis and Naqš-e Rostam (the tomb of Darius) wear close-fronted tunics like the Medes and Persians, combined with baggy trousers seen more among Eastern Iranians. Like the Arians, their trousers are tucked into pull-on boots with pointed, upturned toes, similar to heel-less cowboy boots. The ones at Persepolis come up to just over the ankle, those at Naqš-e Rostam are knee-high. Some of the Persepolis boots have little cords hanging over the front of the boot tops, possibly a forerunner of blousing bands.
Persepolis also provides some excellent illustrations of Arachosian accessories. Instead of hats, they wear headbands with square ends, tied in the back, and the hanging ends pulled up and tucked in. They also wear distinct earrings consisting of a ring from which hang two beads and then a long inverted-teardrop pendant.
Almost nothing is shown of their weapons other than the one at Naqš-e Rostam who wears an akinakes. Spears and B-style bows carried in gorytoi are plausible but I can neither confirm nor deny at this time.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Peoples of the empire: The Arians
The inhabitants of Haraiva, the Old Persian name for the valley around a length of the Hari River (or approximately the same as Herat Province in western Afghanistan), are confusingly klept in Greek sources by the same word used for the Aryans, Arioi. I will herein use the common English translation of Arians for the people of Haraiva with my fingers crossed that it won't cause too much confusion, although this word has also been used as a variant spelling of Aryans in older English historiography.
History
Aria is believed to have been sobject to the Medes before the Achaemenid dynasty. Darius mentions it as a territory in his Behistun inscription, but not among the countries that rebelled following the death of Cambyses in 522 BC. Graeco-Roman historians in the early Roman period named the Achaemenid capital of Aria as Artacoana (or Articaudna, etc.).
The Arian contingent at Xerxes' invasion was led by Sisamnes, son of Hydarnes (Vidarna) who commanded the Immortals on the same expedition - not, obviously, to be confused with the judge Sisamnes who was earlier executed by Cambyses for accepting bribery.
In 330, Bessus fled through Aria after murdering Darius III. When Alexander pursued him, Satibarzanes, satrap of Aria, acknowledged Alexander as king, and thus retained his own office. However, after Alexander left, Satibarzanes rebelled. Alexander returned, captured Artacoana and killed or enslaved its inhabitants. He (or his successors) re-founded the city as Alexandria Ariana.
Aria remained part of the Seleucid empire until 240, when it was taken by the Hellenistic kingdom of Bactria. Thereafter it was fought over by nearly ever new major power that arose in Central and West Asia, in recent centuries passing between the Afghans and Iranians. The British Empire intervened in the 19th century, securing Herat as part of Afghanistan in their effort to take control of Central Asia away from the Russians. Today, Herat is populated mainly by Pashtuns and Tajiks (Persian-speakers of Central Asia).
I can find no sources on the language or religion of the Arians, but given their position between Bactria and Media, it seems plausible that some form of Mazdaism prevailed, and the language was likely an Eastern Iranian dialect, as are the historical languages of the region (Avestan, Bactrian and Pashto among them).
Clothing and arms
On the Persepolis Apadana (central photo, second from bottom) the Arians are seen in belted tunics or riding coats with loose trousers tucked into pointy-toed boots. The boots do not appear to secured around the ankle, in contrast to the chukka-like laced shoes of the Mede leading them. The Persepolis images unfortunately show the Arians turned sideways to the viewer, but the one on the tomb of Darius the Great, while heavily damaged, seems to be wearing tunic like the Bactrian next to him, rather than an open-fronted coat like the Sogdian and Chorasmian further along.
Their other distinctive item of clothing is a headdress which wraps around the neck and can apparently be drawn over the mouth. It looks like a bashlyk or a larger, baggier version of the Scytho-Persian tiara, but whether it was constructed in a similar way or was rather a length of fabric wrapped similarly to (for example) a Tuareg-style turban is difficult to say.
Herodotus lists the Arians with the infantry rather than the cavalry in Xerxes' army. He describes them as "equipped with Median bows, but in all else like the Bactrians..." (VII.66), which brings up a worrying point: It indicates that the Medes' and Bactrians' bows were different in some significant way, but I have no evidence for how. Otherwise it would seem presumable that all these people used the common B-shaped recurved bow. Herodotus also leaves unclarified whether the Arians used Median-style archery accessories (gorytoi and arrows).
The tomb figure wears an akinakes. It's in a Medo-Persian scabbard, but I'm beginning to think that's artistic convention. I can't think of any other style of akinakes scabbard being portrayed in Achaemenid art, but we know that several styles existed with the same basic shape (1, 2).
History
Aria is believed to have been sobject to the Medes before the Achaemenid dynasty. Darius mentions it as a territory in his Behistun inscription, but not among the countries that rebelled following the death of Cambyses in 522 BC. Graeco-Roman historians in the early Roman period named the Achaemenid capital of Aria as Artacoana (or Articaudna, etc.).
The Arian contingent at Xerxes' invasion was led by Sisamnes, son of Hydarnes (Vidarna) who commanded the Immortals on the same expedition - not, obviously, to be confused with the judge Sisamnes who was earlier executed by Cambyses for accepting bribery.
In 330, Bessus fled through Aria after murdering Darius III. When Alexander pursued him, Satibarzanes, satrap of Aria, acknowledged Alexander as king, and thus retained his own office. However, after Alexander left, Satibarzanes rebelled. Alexander returned, captured Artacoana and killed or enslaved its inhabitants. He (or his successors) re-founded the city as Alexandria Ariana.
Aria remained part of the Seleucid empire until 240, when it was taken by the Hellenistic kingdom of Bactria. Thereafter it was fought over by nearly ever new major power that arose in Central and West Asia, in recent centuries passing between the Afghans and Iranians. The British Empire intervened in the 19th century, securing Herat as part of Afghanistan in their effort to take control of Central Asia away from the Russians. Today, Herat is populated mainly by Pashtuns and Tajiks (Persian-speakers of Central Asia).
I can find no sources on the language or religion of the Arians, but given their position between Bactria and Media, it seems plausible that some form of Mazdaism prevailed, and the language was likely an Eastern Iranian dialect, as are the historical languages of the region (Avestan, Bactrian and Pashto among them).
Clothing and arms
On the Persepolis Apadana (central photo, second from bottom) the Arians are seen in belted tunics or riding coats with loose trousers tucked into pointy-toed boots. The boots do not appear to secured around the ankle, in contrast to the chukka-like laced shoes of the Mede leading them. The Persepolis images unfortunately show the Arians turned sideways to the viewer, but the one on the tomb of Darius the Great, while heavily damaged, seems to be wearing tunic like the Bactrian next to him, rather than an open-fronted coat like the Sogdian and Chorasmian further along.
Their other distinctive item of clothing is a headdress which wraps around the neck and can apparently be drawn over the mouth. It looks like a bashlyk or a larger, baggier version of the Scytho-Persian tiara, but whether it was constructed in a similar way or was rather a length of fabric wrapped similarly to (for example) a Tuareg-style turban is difficult to say.
Herodotus lists the Arians with the infantry rather than the cavalry in Xerxes' army. He describes them as "equipped with Median bows, but in all else like the Bactrians..." (VII.66), which brings up a worrying point: It indicates that the Medes' and Bactrians' bows were different in some significant way, but I have no evidence for how. Otherwise it would seem presumable that all these people used the common B-shaped recurved bow. Herodotus also leaves unclarified whether the Arians used Median-style archery accessories (gorytoi and arrows).
The tomb figure wears an akinakes. It's in a Medo-Persian scabbard, but I'm beginning to think that's artistic convention. I can't think of any other style of akinakes scabbard being portrayed in Achaemenid art, but we know that several styles existed with the same basic shape (1, 2).
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