Mandans

Mandane (* before 595 BC) was the wife of the Persian king Cambyses I and mother Cyrus II.

Herodotus

According to Herodotus , Mandane was a daughter of the Median king Astyages and the queen Aryenis . However, Christian Settipani assigns her to another mother, whose name is so far unknown.

Herodotus reports that Astyages was plagued by a dream in which Mandane let out so much water that his entire kingdom was inundated. In fear of his throne, he did not give Mandane to a Mede, but to the Achaemenid vassal prince Cambyses I as wife.

In another dream of the Astyage, Mandane grew a vine from the belly which, like the river, spread over Ekbatana and Asia. The dream interpreters of Astyage interpreted the dream as a danger to the Median rule, which could arise from a future son of his daughter, the later Cyrus II.

Thereupon Astyages had his daughter brought home from Persia and after the birth of their son wanted Harpagos to kill him, but the infant, Cyrus II, was saved in a miracle story based on the example of older legends, communicated by Herodotus. He later overthrew the Mede King and established the Persian Empire, which made Astyages' dream come true.

There is no cuneiform evidence for the Herodotus reports . They are therefore at least partially rated as a legend . When Mandane died is unknown.

Other reports

Even after Xenophon , Mandane was the daughter of Astyages, wife of Cambyses I and mother of Cyrus II. According to Xenophon, however, he only came to his grandfather Astyages with his mother at the age of 13. Nikolaos of Damascus , who relies on the historian Ktesias of Knidos , reports that the daughter of Astyages was named Amytis , first married the Medes Spitamas and then married Cyrus II.

literature

Heidemarie Koch : Achaemenid Studies. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1993, ISBN 3-447-03328-2 .
Josef Wiesehöfer : Ancient Persia 550 BC Chr to 650 AD Patmos, Düsseldorf 2005, ISBN 3-491-96151-3 .
Herodotus : histories . Published by Hans Wilhelm Haussig . Kröner, Stuttgart 1971.

Web links

Mention of Mandane in the chronicles of Astyages (English)

Notes and individual references

↑ Herodotus , Histories 1,107 ff.
↑ Xenophon, Education of Cyrus 1,2,1.
↑ Nikolaos of Damascus in Felix Jacoby , The Fragments of the Greek Historians (FGrH), No. 90, F 66; on this Ktesias, FGrH, No. 688, F 9.

personal data
SURNAME	Mandans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	royal wife of the old Persian king Cambyses I.
DATE OF BIRTH	before 595 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	5th century BC Chr.

[Herodot-1] Herodotus , Histories 1,107 ff.

[2] Xenophon, Education of Cyrus 1,2,1.

[3] Nikolaos of Damascus in Felix Jacoby , The Fragments of the Greek Historians (FGrH), No. 90, F 66; on this Ktesias, FGrH, No. 688, F 9.