Aspathines

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Aspathines ( Greek  Ἀσπαθίνης , Old Persian Aspačanā , Elamite Ašbazana ), son of Prexaspes , was a Persian nobleman of the Achaemenid Empire in the 5th century BC.

His father had already served the great king Cambyses II , murdered Prince Bardiya for him and on the eve of the coup d'état of 522 BC. Taken life. Aspathines had another brother who was killed by Cambyses II.

Aspathines is known for its relief representation on the grave of the great king Dareios I in Naqsch-e Rostam . Here he is shown as the only named dignitary of the royal court, alongside Gobryas . Dressed in Median costume, he carries the king's weapons, a bow in his left hand, a bow sheath over his left shoulder and a battle ax in his right hand. Further images can be ascribed to him in the throne room and treasury of Persepolis , although here without an inscription. Its existence up to the third year of the reign of Xerxes I (483 BC) can be documented through preserved clay tablet finds, from which its patronymic can be inferred .

Confusion with Herodotus

In his listing of the seven conspirators against the usurper Gaumata (the false Bardiya), the Greek historian Herodotus had also named an "Aspathines, son of Prexaspes" who was of "high Persian nobility". Compared to the list of names in the Behistun inscription , however, there is a discrepancy in one of the names. Because instead of an Aspathines, Ardumaniš, son of Vahauka , is named as a co-conspirator. Obviously Herodotus made a mistake here in the correct rendering of the conspirators' names, which is otherwise correct except for this one. It cannot be ruled out that he made this mistake under the impression of the prominent position of Aspathines at the royal court in the late years of Darius I and early Xerxes I, especially since he also knew about the biography of his father Prexaspes It ends a few paragraphs before the coup d'état of 522 BC. Had still described. Ardumaniš, on the other hand, does not seem to have emerged in a prominent position apart from his involvement in the conspiracy, as there is no further evidence of him apart from the Behistun inscription, perhaps because of an early death. The Aspathines standing so prominently at the Darius tomb next to the conspirator Gobryas must therefore have been out of the question for Herodotus as a co-conspirator involved.

Herodotus was not the only one who had made a mistake about the names of the conspirators. Aeschylus had made Artaphernes , a brother of Dareios, a conspirator , apparently in confusion with Intaphrenes , and Ktesias , who lived at the court of the Achaemenids, even named five completely wrong or strongly alienated names.

The also from Herodotus for the year 480 BC. The naval commander named Prexaspes, son of Aspathines, was probably the son of the armorer Aspathines and not the conspirator Ardumaniš.

literature

  • Rykle Borger: The armor bearers of King Darius: A contribution to Old Testament exegesis and Semitic lexicography. in: Vetus Testamentum. Vol. 22 (1972), pp. 385-398.
  • Ilya Gershevitch: The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 2: The Median and Achaemenian Periods. Cambridge University Press, 1985.
  • Pierre Briant : From Cyrus to Alexander. A History of the Persian Empire. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake 2002.
  • David Asheri, Oswyn Murray, Alfonso Moreno: A Commentary on Herodotus Books I – IV. Oxford University Press, 2007.

Remarks

  1. ↑ See Borger, p. 390.
  2. ↑ See Gershevitch, p. 204.
  3. ↑ Herodotus , Historíai . 3, 70.
  4. ↑ Behistun-Inscription (DB), plate 4, §68 in: Roland G. Kent, Old Persian-Grammar Texts Lexicon . American Oriental Society, 1953.
  5. ↑ See Asheri, Murray, Moreno, p. 467.
  6. ↑ Aeschylus , Persai . Lines 775-780. Ktesias of Knidos , Persica . in: The Fragments of the Greek Historians . No. 688, question. 13, 16 [based on the edition by Dominique Lenfant ].
  7. ↑ Herodotus, Historíai. 7, 97. See Briant, p. 339.

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personal data
SURNAME Aspathines
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aspačanā; Ašbazana
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Persian nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 5th century BC Chr.