Cadusier

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The Kadusians ( Greek : Καδουσιοι, Kadoúsioi; Latin : Cadusii) were an ancient people who lived on the southwest coast of the Caspian Sea . The Kadusians are not mentioned in ancient Iranian sources and apart from the ancient Greek works there are no references to this people.

The Kadusians lived in an area that was named Kadusien after them and which stretched roughly in the north to the river Kyros (today: Kura ) and in the south to the river Mardus (today: Sefid Rud ). This means that their settlement area largely corresponds to the present-day Iranian provinces of Gilan and Ardabil . Strabo describes the Kadusier as mountain dwellers with war experience, who fought mainly on foot and were skilled in handling spears and lances.

Early days

Apparently the Kadusians were often at war with their neighbors. At first they were evidently dependent on the Assyrians (at least Diodorus ), then there was a loose dependence on the Medes , the southern neighbors of the Kadusians, until they rose up against the Median king Artaios . Diodorus reports that a Persian general by the name of Parsodes fled from the Medes to the Kadusi and was elected by them to be the leader against the Medes. The Medes were repulsed and the Cadusians raised Parsodes as thanks to their king. The dynasty he founded subsequently waged constant wars with the Median Empire until its destruction by the Persians in 550 BC. Chr.

Cadusians and Persians

Apparently there had been a permanent fighting alliance between the Kadusians and the Persians against the Medes, so that after their overthrow, the Kadusians and the Persians became neighbors, the Kadusians became loyal allies of the Persians and their great king Cyrus during the subjugation of Babylonia in 539 BC. . AD supported. The allegiance seems to have been subordinate to an imperial association, since a satrapy is documented for Kadusien , for which Cyrus appointed his son Tanaoxares as satrap. However, Herodotus does not name the Kadusians, nor do they appear in Persian lists of submissive peoples, so that the extent of Persian control over the Kadusians is uncertain. For the year 406 BC Chr. Is a campaign of the Persian prince , Cyrus the Younger is against the cadusii who had rebelled against Persian rule. This campaign ended successfully for the Persians: In the battle of Kunaxa the Kadusians fight in 401 BC. Chr. , Under the command of King Artaxerxes II. Against Cyrus. For the years 385 BC BC and 358 BC Chr. However, further uprisings cadusii are occupied. The first uprising was crushed by an army under Artaxerxes II, with the general Datames standing out on the Persian side ; the second uprising could from King Artaxerxes III. be suffocated. The Persian general Kodomannos, who later became Darius III. Persian great king.

Alexander the great and aftermath

The Kadusians remained loyal to the last Persian great king in the fight against Alexander the great , but were defeated by him in the battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. Beaten. Alexander's general Parmenion then ensured that Kaduzien was incorporated into the Alexander Empire.

After Alexander's death, the Seleucid Empire became the most important power in the area of ​​the former Persian Empire and the Kadusians often appear as its allies, for example at the Battle of Raphia in 217 BC. Chr. Against the Egyptians, Antiochus III. calls them to the Greeks as one of the peoples who are subject to him. A certain degree of independence can nevertheless be assumed, since the Atropatene empire was located between the Kadusi and the Seleucid empire , for which an independent policy of the rulers of the Atropatids is documented. In the 2nd century BC The Seleucid Empire fell into disrepair, and in the long term it was no match for the war on two fronts against the Romans in the west and the Parthians in the east . The fate of the Kadusians at this time is largely in the dark, presumably they were conquered by the Parthians relatively soon. The last time the Kadusians are mentioned in a source from the year 260, after that they are likely to have merged with other peoples of the region.

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