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.
Showing posts with label tunic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tunic. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
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, August 27, 2013
Peoples of the empire: The Parthians
After the Lydians come a long string of peoples whose histories and cultures in Achaemenid times are too poorly-documented to put together a good article. Skipping through more than a dozen such names finally brings us to the Parthians.
Geographical definition
Parthia (O.P. Parthava) lay on the southwest corner of the Caspian, west of Hyrcania, south of the Kopet Dag mountains that separate modern Iran and Turmenistan, and north of the deserts of central Iran.
History
Parthia may have been subject to the Medes and acknowledged Persian suzerainty after Cyrus conquered Media. The country first appears in the Behistun inscription, where its satrap is Darius the Great's father, Hystaspes. After Darius seized the throne, the Parthians joined Phraortes' revolt and besieged Hystaspes in the Parthian city of Vishpauzâtish, but he defeated them on March 8, 521 and again at Patigrabana on July 11.
With the Arians, Chorasmians and Sogdians, the Parthians made up the 16th tax district, paying 300 talents yearly. At times Parthia formed a joint satrapy with Hyrcania. At the Apadana, they are illustrated bringing bowls and a Bactrian camel. Parthians took part in the 480 invasion of Greece as infantry, marching with the Chorasmians under Artabazus son of Pharnaces. They are not mentioned at the major battles.
Parthia drops off the radar for a century and a half following Xerxes' invasion. We next hear of them at Gaugamela in 331, where together with the Hyrcanians, they fought as cavalry under the joint satrap Phrataphernes in the Persian left wing (commanded overall by Mazaeus). Phrataphernes remained with Darius on his final flight toward Parthia, but after the Persian king was murdered, Phrataphernes submitted peacefully to Alexander and thus retained his office.
Diodorus has Phratapernes still holding this office at the Partition of Babylon, but at Triparadiscus it was reassigned to Philip, formerly of Sogdiana. Philip was deposed and killed in 318 by Peithon, who made his brother Eudamus governor, but the following year the other eastern satraps expelled them and in 316 Seleucus gave Parthia to a satrap of his choosing, Stasander.
The Seleucids maintained nominal control over Parthia until 247, when a political crisis in Antioch motivated the satrap Andragoras to declare Parthia an independent state. Just nine years later, however, a tribe of Eastern Iranian nomads known as the Parni invaded from the north and conquered Parthia. This was the beginning of the Arsacid dynasty, which in the second century BC came to rule most of Greater Iran.
The Arsacids were deposed early in the third century AD by a resurgent Persia under the Sassanids. The Sassanids dissolved Parthia as an administrative unit and made it part of a larger province, Khorasan. While the Parthian language continued to be used (judging from bilingual inscriptions) early in the Sassanid period, the region seems to have become Persianized at least by the time of Ferdowsi in the 10th century. Today the area is divided among several Iranian provinces and is home mostly to native Persian-speakers with Kurds and Turkmens in the north.
By the Arsacid period, the name Parthava had been worn down into Pahlav or Pahlaw, which (as the adjective Pahlavi) survived as a designation of things originating in northeastern Iran.
Language
Parthian was a Western Iranian language and thus more closely related to Persian than Avestan or other Eastern languages, but belonged to the Northwestern sub-branch, whereas Persian belongs to the Southwestern. Parthian is attested in Pahlavi (a script derived from Aramaic) from the Arsacid and early Sassanid dynasties, and was probably different in the Achaemenid period, perhaps resembling Old Persian a little more.
Religion
I can find nothing on Parthian religion under the Achaemenids, but a reasonable guess would be something similar to the Persians, in a transitional state between ancient Iranian polytheism and early Mazdaism.
Clothing
Parthians in royal art wear pullover tunics, loose-fitting trousers and mid-calf pull-on boots. The Apadana delegation wear what look like tiaras that are very full and made of soft woven fabric, though they could instead be a complex kind of turban wrap. The one at Naqs-e Rostam wears a more standard cut of tiara.
Weapons
Herodotus has the Parthians armed like Bactrians, who carry "reed bows" and spears. I think you would be safe using trilobate bronze arrowheads, which were common in both western Iran and Scythia. In Arsacid times the Parthians were known for their cavalry, but they probably took heavy influence from the Arsacids' nomadic ancestors. The Parthian at Naqs-e Rostam wears a Medo-Persian akinakes. It is probable that the Parthian akinakes was more like the Scythian in style.
Geographical definition
Parthia (O.P. Parthava) lay on the southwest corner of the Caspian, west of Hyrcania, south of the Kopet Dag mountains that separate modern Iran and Turmenistan, and north of the deserts of central Iran.
History
Parthia may have been subject to the Medes and acknowledged Persian suzerainty after Cyrus conquered Media. The country first appears in the Behistun inscription, where its satrap is Darius the Great's father, Hystaspes. After Darius seized the throne, the Parthians joined Phraortes' revolt and besieged Hystaspes in the Parthian city of Vishpauzâtish, but he defeated them on March 8, 521 and again at Patigrabana on July 11.
With the Arians, Chorasmians and Sogdians, the Parthians made up the 16th tax district, paying 300 talents yearly. At times Parthia formed a joint satrapy with Hyrcania. At the Apadana, they are illustrated bringing bowls and a Bactrian camel. Parthians took part in the 480 invasion of Greece as infantry, marching with the Chorasmians under Artabazus son of Pharnaces. They are not mentioned at the major battles.
Parthia drops off the radar for a century and a half following Xerxes' invasion. We next hear of them at Gaugamela in 331, where together with the Hyrcanians, they fought as cavalry under the joint satrap Phrataphernes in the Persian left wing (commanded overall by Mazaeus). Phrataphernes remained with Darius on his final flight toward Parthia, but after the Persian king was murdered, Phrataphernes submitted peacefully to Alexander and thus retained his office.
Diodorus has Phratapernes still holding this office at the Partition of Babylon, but at Triparadiscus it was reassigned to Philip, formerly of Sogdiana. Philip was deposed and killed in 318 by Peithon, who made his brother Eudamus governor, but the following year the other eastern satraps expelled them and in 316 Seleucus gave Parthia to a satrap of his choosing, Stasander.
The Seleucids maintained nominal control over Parthia until 247, when a political crisis in Antioch motivated the satrap Andragoras to declare Parthia an independent state. Just nine years later, however, a tribe of Eastern Iranian nomads known as the Parni invaded from the north and conquered Parthia. This was the beginning of the Arsacid dynasty, which in the second century BC came to rule most of Greater Iran.
The Arsacids were deposed early in the third century AD by a resurgent Persia under the Sassanids. The Sassanids dissolved Parthia as an administrative unit and made it part of a larger province, Khorasan. While the Parthian language continued to be used (judging from bilingual inscriptions) early in the Sassanid period, the region seems to have become Persianized at least by the time of Ferdowsi in the 10th century. Today the area is divided among several Iranian provinces and is home mostly to native Persian-speakers with Kurds and Turkmens in the north.
By the Arsacid period, the name Parthava had been worn down into Pahlav or Pahlaw, which (as the adjective Pahlavi) survived as a designation of things originating in northeastern Iran.
Language
Parthian was a Western Iranian language and thus more closely related to Persian than Avestan or other Eastern languages, but belonged to the Northwestern sub-branch, whereas Persian belongs to the Southwestern. Parthian is attested in Pahlavi (a script derived from Aramaic) from the Arsacid and early Sassanid dynasties, and was probably different in the Achaemenid period, perhaps resembling Old Persian a little more.
Religion
I can find nothing on Parthian religion under the Achaemenids, but a reasonable guess would be something similar to the Persians, in a transitional state between ancient Iranian polytheism and early Mazdaism.
Clothing
Parthians in royal art wear pullover tunics, loose-fitting trousers and mid-calf pull-on boots. The Apadana delegation wear what look like tiaras that are very full and made of soft woven fabric, though they could instead be a complex kind of turban wrap. The one at Naqs-e Rostam wears a more standard cut of tiara.
Weapons
Herodotus has the Parthians armed like Bactrians, who carry "reed bows" and spears. I think you would be safe using trilobate bronze arrowheads, which were common in both western Iran and Scythia. In Arsacid times the Parthians were known for their cavalry, but they probably took heavy influence from the Arsacids' nomadic ancestors. The Parthian at Naqs-e Rostam wears a Medo-Persian akinakes. It is probable that the Parthian akinakes was more like the Scythian in style.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Peoples of the empire: The Lydians
Geographical definition
Lydia (Lydian Śfard, O.P. Sparda) lay in the middle of western Anatolia, north of Caria, south of Mysia on the northern coast, and east of Ionia and Aeolia on the western coast. Its capital Sardis is today the village of Sart. The name Lydia derives from the Assyrian name for the region, Luddu.
History
Politically, Lydia postdates the Bronze Age collapse, but it occupied the area of a Luwian-speaking kindom called Mirâ and Lendering suggests that "there is considerable continuity between Mirâ and Lydia". While agriculturally productive, Lydia contained few large cities and most people lived in smaller towns.
Much of Lydia's wealth and power was founded on gold mined from the river Pactolus (the modern Sart Çayı), which flows through Sardis and where King Midas was said in Greek mythology to have washed away his power of turning things into gold. According to Herodotus, the Lydians invented gold and silver coins.
The late Lydian kings belonged to the Mermnad or Gygian dynasty, founded by the usurper Gyges, whom Herodotus says was obliged by the queen to murder her husband, King Candaules, after some funny business. Others say otherwise, as others are wont to do.
In any event, the Mermnad dynasty expanded Lydian power considerably, so that by the end it was a sizable empire that ruled most of western Anatolia, including the Greek cities of Ionia. Lydia was accidentally ended by King Croesus, who decided to attack Cyrus after the Persian prince overthrew Astyages, possibly wishing to reinstate Astyages (with whom Lydia had a treaty), or seize land for himself. He did this, the historian says, after the Oracle of Delphi promised him that if he did, a great empire would fall. Now, you and I could guess how that ends, but Croesus was, as Jamie Rieger put it, a "first time customer."
Together with the Egyptians, Babylonians and Spartans, the Lydians launched an invasion of formerly Median territory across the Halys River (modern Kızılırmak) in central Anatolia. Traditionally, this event is said to have happened in 547 BC, but that's based on a misreading of a damaged part of the Nabonidus Chronicle which is actually more likely referring to Urartu, not Luddu.
In any case, the two kings fought inconclusively at the Battle of Pteria in Cappadocia, and with winter drawing on, Croesus dismissed his allies and returned to his capital, only to notice too late that Cyrus was standing right behind him. According to the Greek poet Bacchylides, Croesus tried to immolate himself as his capital fell, but Apollo spirited him away. Herodotus rewrites the story a bit and has Cyrus decide to burn Croesus alive because hey, you only king of the world once. Then he thought better of it, but at that point the pyre was already raging and Croesus nearly died before Apollo sent a storm to extinguish it.
Per Herodotus, Cyrus appointed two officials to rule Lydia, a native named Pactyes as civil administrator and a Persian named Tabalus as satrap. Upon Cyrus' departure, Pactyes rebelled. Cyrus prepared to level Sardis, but Croesus entreated him to punish only those who had rebelled and to pacify Lydia by reordering the economy so that the Lydians became hedonistic girlymen (really). Lydia, and particularly Sardis, was and remained a center of craftsmanship, famous for ceramics and goldwork. Darius would later employ Lydian ivory carvers at Susa. Lydians at the Persepolis apadana bear ornate beakers, bowls and small horses or donkeys in fancy harness drawing a chariot.
As for Pactyes, he fled to Aeolia and bounced around for a while before being captured on Chios just off the Aeolian coast. Nothing is said of his death, but I think it's safe to assume that it was swift and squicky.
Lydia became a satrapy with its capital remaining at Sardis. Around 530, Oroetus became its satrap, and in 522 murdered the Greek conqueror Polycrates of Samos. Oroetus himself met a bad end because of Darius' distrust of him. Bagaeus may have succeeded him; afterward came Otanes, one of Darius' six companions, who conquered Samos outright, and finally the great king's brother, Artaphernes. Under his rule, Lydia was the site of intense fighting during the Ionian Revolt. Much of Sardis was burned by the rebels, but Artaphernes held the citadel and led the Persian counterattack.
Artaphernes was apparently relieved of his post in 492 by his son, also called Artaphernes, who co-led the first invasion of Greece along with Datis in 492-490, and commanded the Lydians as infantry in Xerxes' 480 invasion.
During the fifth century, Lydia was settled by many foreigners, Persian and Ionian estate owners and foreign garrisons like the Hyrcanians on the rivers Caicus and Hermus (modern Bakırçay and Gediz). Religion began to show Iranian influences; deities like Anahita were adopted, and the god Pldans was associated (according to Lendering) with Ahura Mazda.
The Greeks who are our main sources lose interest in Lydia after 480. The next known news is the 440 attempt of the satrap Pissuthnes to take Samos after it revolted against the Athenian empire. During the first decade of the Peloponnesian War, Pissuthnes backed Athens' rebellious holdings.
In 420, he himself rebelled against Darius II, but was arrested and executed by Tissaphernes, who was then given the satrapy around 415. Tissaphernes had to continue fighting Pissuthnes' son Amorges, who lived in Iasus in Caria and had Athenian support. Tissaphernes countered him by backing the Spartans, so the two Persians had become players in the Peloponnesian War. As part of the treaty, the Spartans sailed to Iasus and arrested Amorges in the winter of 412-411. The continued Persian support of Sparta probably hastened the defeat of Athens.
Having run out of common enemies, Persia and Sparta once again had to fight. In 399, the Spartan Thibron or Thimbron invaded Asia Minor and captured some cities, but his siege of Larissa failed in its aim of gaining concessions from Tissaphernes. Agesilaus II had considerably more success and raided as far as Sardis itself. Tissaphernes was then (394) killed by a Persian courtier, Tithraustes, who may have acted on behalf of Parysatis for Tissaphernes' role in the defeat and death of her son Cyrus the Younger.
Tithraustes briefly replaced Tissaphernes and persuaded Agesilaus to attack Phrygia. In 393, Tithraustes was replaced by Tiribazus, who began to funnel money to Sparta to counter Athens' growing power in the Corinthian War. Artaxerxes II disagreed with this course and replaced Tiribazus in 392 with Struthas, who attacked the Spartans. The Spartans in return began raiding Lydia once again. In or before 387, Tiribazus returned to Lydia and renewed his cooperation with Sparta, bringing the Corinthian War to an end.
The next known satrap of Lydia was Autophradates, who fought for years in the Revolt of the Satraps, mainly on the king's side but at one point (362) defecting to the rebels. Autophradates may have been the same commander who, together with Pharnabazus, commanded Persian operations in the Aegean after the death of Memnon of Rhodes. He appears to have left his post before 334, by which time we hear of the Lydian satrap Spithridates fighting and dying against Alexander the Great at the Granicus.
With the satraps' failure to stop Alexander there, western Anatolia fell. Sardis surrendered in the summer of 334. It was given to Alexander's general Menander at the Partition of Babylon (323), then to Cleitus the White at the Partition of Triparadisus (321) The satrapy was initially under the control of the empire of Antigonus, then Lysimachus, one of Alexander's bodyguards, from 301-281, and finally, when he was killed, Lydia passed to the Seleucids for 91 years until falling into the Roman sphere of influence.
Throughout the Hellenistic period, Lydia was settled by Greeks and became Hellenized. In the first century BC, Strabo wrote that the Lydian language had become extinct in Lydia itself though still spoken in Kibyra to the south. From this time, the country could perhaps be regarded as only a traditional placename.
Language
Lydian was an Anatolian language, but differed in certain ways from its closest known relatives so that its exact line of descent is unknown. While attested from the seventh to third centuries, the majority of the Lydian corpus dates to the Achaemenid period. The Lydian alphabet was derived from or related to Greek.
Religion
Lydians were polytheists, but beyond the names of their gods, not much is known about their religious practices. It appears that native Lydian altars were (or included) open-air structures. Greek-style temples are known from Sardis, and the patronage described by Herodotus of Gyges, Alyattes and Croesus to the Oracle of Delphi may imply religious links with the Greeks.
The Lydian gods included Levs, a weather god who may or may not have been head of the pantheon (FWIW the Greeks interpreted him as Zeus), Baki (Dionysus) for whom they put on song and dance numbers, and Kuvava (Cybele) who had a temple at Sardis, but the most important goddess in Sardis was Artemis. Many of their deities, including Kuvava, the vegetation goddess Kore (Greek for "young woman," perhaps implying an identification with Persephone), Santas (regarded by the Greeks as Heracles), and the moon god Pldans or Qldans, are or may be derived from much older Anatolian deities, particularly Hittite.
Candaules, whose name is thought to mean "dog throttler," may be connected with the discovery of dog bones in cooking pots at Sardis, which were perhaps cooked and buried as sacrifices to him. The Greeks also documented temple prostitution in Lydia, as in other parts of the Mediterranean, though no fertility goddess of the sort usually connected with this practice is known here.
Clothing
Lydians at the Persepolis apadana wear long, seemingly un-belted tunics with fine verical pleats and short, horizontally-pleated sleeves. The texture reminds me of a linen tunic that a reenactor at Marathon wore; he said that it was produced by twisting the tunic up tightly while it was wet and allowing it to dry so the pleats were set, but I may be completely off-base in thinking that the effects are one and the same. The Persepolis Lydians also wear pull-on boots that rise to just above the ankle, rounded conical hats with several broad horizontal pleats or seams, long cords with bead-like finials hanging from the head just behind the ears (these look like part of the hat but are also seen on those with no hats), and a flowing cloak pinned over the left shoulder and passing under the right arm.
Weapons
Herodotus says simply that "Lydian armor was most similar to the Greek" (tr. Godley). I have never seen depictions of Lydian weapons other than the figure at Naqs-e Rostam who wears a longsword on a sling, an image I am beginning to suspect is too consistent across the many nations on this table to be realistic. Assuming Herodotus to be correct, an Argive shield and spear with a sauroter would probably be safe choices. The famous Spangenhelm-like helmet found at Sardis may be either Lydian or Persian.
Note: Much of the above information, particularly on religion, is culled from the long and detailed report by Annick Peyne to be found here.
Lydia (Lydian Śfard, O.P. Sparda) lay in the middle of western Anatolia, north of Caria, south of Mysia on the northern coast, and east of Ionia and Aeolia on the western coast. Its capital Sardis is today the village of Sart. The name Lydia derives from the Assyrian name for the region, Luddu.
History
Politically, Lydia postdates the Bronze Age collapse, but it occupied the area of a Luwian-speaking kindom called Mirâ and Lendering suggests that "there is considerable continuity between Mirâ and Lydia". While agriculturally productive, Lydia contained few large cities and most people lived in smaller towns.
Much of Lydia's wealth and power was founded on gold mined from the river Pactolus (the modern Sart Çayı), which flows through Sardis and where King Midas was said in Greek mythology to have washed away his power of turning things into gold. According to Herodotus, the Lydians invented gold and silver coins.
The late Lydian kings belonged to the Mermnad or Gygian dynasty, founded by the usurper Gyges, whom Herodotus says was obliged by the queen to murder her husband, King Candaules, after some funny business. Others say otherwise, as others are wont to do.
In any event, the Mermnad dynasty expanded Lydian power considerably, so that by the end it was a sizable empire that ruled most of western Anatolia, including the Greek cities of Ionia. Lydia was accidentally ended by King Croesus, who decided to attack Cyrus after the Persian prince overthrew Astyages, possibly wishing to reinstate Astyages (with whom Lydia had a treaty), or seize land for himself. He did this, the historian says, after the Oracle of Delphi promised him that if he did, a great empire would fall. Now, you and I could guess how that ends, but Croesus was, as Jamie Rieger put it, a "first time customer."
Together with the Egyptians, Babylonians and Spartans, the Lydians launched an invasion of formerly Median territory across the Halys River (modern Kızılırmak) in central Anatolia. Traditionally, this event is said to have happened in 547 BC, but that's based on a misreading of a damaged part of the Nabonidus Chronicle which is actually more likely referring to Urartu, not Luddu.
In any case, the two kings fought inconclusively at the Battle of Pteria in Cappadocia, and with winter drawing on, Croesus dismissed his allies and returned to his capital, only to notice too late that Cyrus was standing right behind him. According to the Greek poet Bacchylides, Croesus tried to immolate himself as his capital fell, but Apollo spirited him away. Herodotus rewrites the story a bit and has Cyrus decide to burn Croesus alive because hey, you only king of the world once. Then he thought better of it, but at that point the pyre was already raging and Croesus nearly died before Apollo sent a storm to extinguish it.
Per Herodotus, Cyrus appointed two officials to rule Lydia, a native named Pactyes as civil administrator and a Persian named Tabalus as satrap. Upon Cyrus' departure, Pactyes rebelled. Cyrus prepared to level Sardis, but Croesus entreated him to punish only those who had rebelled and to pacify Lydia by reordering the economy so that the Lydians became hedonistic girlymen (really). Lydia, and particularly Sardis, was and remained a center of craftsmanship, famous for ceramics and goldwork. Darius would later employ Lydian ivory carvers at Susa. Lydians at the Persepolis apadana bear ornate beakers, bowls and small horses or donkeys in fancy harness drawing a chariot.
As for Pactyes, he fled to Aeolia and bounced around for a while before being captured on Chios just off the Aeolian coast. Nothing is said of his death, but I think it's safe to assume that it was swift and squicky.
Lydia became a satrapy with its capital remaining at Sardis. Around 530, Oroetus became its satrap, and in 522 murdered the Greek conqueror Polycrates of Samos. Oroetus himself met a bad end because of Darius' distrust of him. Bagaeus may have succeeded him; afterward came Otanes, one of Darius' six companions, who conquered Samos outright, and finally the great king's brother, Artaphernes. Under his rule, Lydia was the site of intense fighting during the Ionian Revolt. Much of Sardis was burned by the rebels, but Artaphernes held the citadel and led the Persian counterattack.
Artaphernes was apparently relieved of his post in 492 by his son, also called Artaphernes, who co-led the first invasion of Greece along with Datis in 492-490, and commanded the Lydians as infantry in Xerxes' 480 invasion.
During the fifth century, Lydia was settled by many foreigners, Persian and Ionian estate owners and foreign garrisons like the Hyrcanians on the rivers Caicus and Hermus (modern Bakırçay and Gediz). Religion began to show Iranian influences; deities like Anahita were adopted, and the god Pldans was associated (according to Lendering) with Ahura Mazda.
The Greeks who are our main sources lose interest in Lydia after 480. The next known news is the 440 attempt of the satrap Pissuthnes to take Samos after it revolted against the Athenian empire. During the first decade of the Peloponnesian War, Pissuthnes backed Athens' rebellious holdings.
In 420, he himself rebelled against Darius II, but was arrested and executed by Tissaphernes, who was then given the satrapy around 415. Tissaphernes had to continue fighting Pissuthnes' son Amorges, who lived in Iasus in Caria and had Athenian support. Tissaphernes countered him by backing the Spartans, so the two Persians had become players in the Peloponnesian War. As part of the treaty, the Spartans sailed to Iasus and arrested Amorges in the winter of 412-411. The continued Persian support of Sparta probably hastened the defeat of Athens.
Having run out of common enemies, Persia and Sparta once again had to fight. In 399, the Spartan Thibron or Thimbron invaded Asia Minor and captured some cities, but his siege of Larissa failed in its aim of gaining concessions from Tissaphernes. Agesilaus II had considerably more success and raided as far as Sardis itself. Tissaphernes was then (394) killed by a Persian courtier, Tithraustes, who may have acted on behalf of Parysatis for Tissaphernes' role in the defeat and death of her son Cyrus the Younger.
Tithraustes briefly replaced Tissaphernes and persuaded Agesilaus to attack Phrygia. In 393, Tithraustes was replaced by Tiribazus, who began to funnel money to Sparta to counter Athens' growing power in the Corinthian War. Artaxerxes II disagreed with this course and replaced Tiribazus in 392 with Struthas, who attacked the Spartans. The Spartans in return began raiding Lydia once again. In or before 387, Tiribazus returned to Lydia and renewed his cooperation with Sparta, bringing the Corinthian War to an end.
The next known satrap of Lydia was Autophradates, who fought for years in the Revolt of the Satraps, mainly on the king's side but at one point (362) defecting to the rebels. Autophradates may have been the same commander who, together with Pharnabazus, commanded Persian operations in the Aegean after the death of Memnon of Rhodes. He appears to have left his post before 334, by which time we hear of the Lydian satrap Spithridates fighting and dying against Alexander the Great at the Granicus.
With the satraps' failure to stop Alexander there, western Anatolia fell. Sardis surrendered in the summer of 334. It was given to Alexander's general Menander at the Partition of Babylon (323), then to Cleitus the White at the Partition of Triparadisus (321) The satrapy was initially under the control of the empire of Antigonus, then Lysimachus, one of Alexander's bodyguards, from 301-281, and finally, when he was killed, Lydia passed to the Seleucids for 91 years until falling into the Roman sphere of influence.
Throughout the Hellenistic period, Lydia was settled by Greeks and became Hellenized. In the first century BC, Strabo wrote that the Lydian language had become extinct in Lydia itself though still spoken in Kibyra to the south. From this time, the country could perhaps be regarded as only a traditional placename.
Language
Lydian was an Anatolian language, but differed in certain ways from its closest known relatives so that its exact line of descent is unknown. While attested from the seventh to third centuries, the majority of the Lydian corpus dates to the Achaemenid period. The Lydian alphabet was derived from or related to Greek.
Religion
Lydians were polytheists, but beyond the names of their gods, not much is known about their religious practices. It appears that native Lydian altars were (or included) open-air structures. Greek-style temples are known from Sardis, and the patronage described by Herodotus of Gyges, Alyattes and Croesus to the Oracle of Delphi may imply religious links with the Greeks.
The Lydian gods included Levs, a weather god who may or may not have been head of the pantheon (FWIW the Greeks interpreted him as Zeus), Baki (Dionysus) for whom they put on song and dance numbers, and Kuvava (Cybele) who had a temple at Sardis, but the most important goddess in Sardis was Artemis. Many of their deities, including Kuvava, the vegetation goddess Kore (Greek for "young woman," perhaps implying an identification with Persephone), Santas (regarded by the Greeks as Heracles), and the moon god Pldans or Qldans, are or may be derived from much older Anatolian deities, particularly Hittite.
Candaules, whose name is thought to mean "dog throttler," may be connected with the discovery of dog bones in cooking pots at Sardis, which were perhaps cooked and buried as sacrifices to him. The Greeks also documented temple prostitution in Lydia, as in other parts of the Mediterranean, though no fertility goddess of the sort usually connected with this practice is known here.
Clothing
Lydians at the Persepolis apadana wear long, seemingly un-belted tunics with fine verical pleats and short, horizontally-pleated sleeves. The texture reminds me of a linen tunic that a reenactor at Marathon wore; he said that it was produced by twisting the tunic up tightly while it was wet and allowing it to dry so the pleats were set, but I may be completely off-base in thinking that the effects are one and the same. The Persepolis Lydians also wear pull-on boots that rise to just above the ankle, rounded conical hats with several broad horizontal pleats or seams, long cords with bead-like finials hanging from the head just behind the ears (these look like part of the hat but are also seen on those with no hats), and a flowing cloak pinned over the left shoulder and passing under the right arm.
Weapons
Herodotus says simply that "Lydian armor was most similar to the Greek" (tr. Godley). I have never seen depictions of Lydian weapons other than the figure at Naqs-e Rostam who wears a longsword on a sling, an image I am beginning to suspect is too consistent across the many nations on this table to be realistic. Assuming Herodotus to be correct, an Argive shield and spear with a sauroter would probably be safe choices. The famous Spangenhelm-like helmet found at Sardis may be either Lydian or Persian.
Note: Much of the above information, particularly on religion, is culled from the long and detailed report by Annick Peyne to be found here.
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.
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