THALES, perhaps corresponding to one occurring in May 585) occurred during one of their battles in the fifth year, both sides decided to arrange a peace, brokered by SYENNESIS of CILICIA and LABYNETUS of BABYLON. The latter of these has been identified with Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, whom Cyrus will depose. To cement the alliance, Alyattes’ daughter ARYENIS married Cyaxares’ son ASTYAGES, the next king of the Medes. This MARRIAGE serves as one of Croesus’ motivations for attacking the Persians after the Persians had taken Media.
Alyattes’ tomb is one of the few wonders of Lydia (1.93). Herodotus claims that it was built by traders, artisans, and prostitutes, and that the prostitutes were the greatest contributors. The tomb has been identified as one of the tumuli at Bin Tepe, north of SARDIS (modern day Sart, Turkey), and is one of the largest in the world.
One curious mention of Alyattes comes in Book 3 of the Histories. When Periander was TYRANT in CORINTH, he sent three hundred sons of leading Corcyraeans to Alyattes to be castrated. The Samians prevented this from happening (3.48). Diogenes Laertius repeats the story (1.94).
SEE ALSO: Allies; Burial Customs; Disease; Mermnadae; Near Eastern History; Prostitution; thōmata
REFERENCE
1 Eder, Walter, and Johannes Renger, eds. 2007. Brill’s New Pauly Supplements. Vol. 1, Chronologies of the Ancient World. Names, Dates and Dynasties, translated by Wouter F. M. Henkelman. Leiden: Brill.
FURTHER READING
1 Ratté, Christopher. 1994. “Not the Tomb of Gyges.” JHS 114: 157–61.
AMASIS ( Ἄμασις, ὁ) king of Egypt
TYPHAINE HAZIZA
Université de Caen Normandie
Amasis (Ahmose II, ruled 570–526 BCE) is the last pharaoh whom Herodotus presents in his Egyptian LOGOS (Book 2). It is also Amasis who receives the most developed treatment from Herodotus: not less than eleven chapters are devoted to his reign (2.172–82), not counting those which recall his seizure of power from the legitimate pharaoh APRIES, who is disavowed by the Egyptian soldiers (2.162–63).
There may be multiple explanations for Herodotus’ interest in the second‐to‐last pharaoh of the 26th (Saite) Dynasty, but the principal reason rests no doubt on the very strong links which tied Amasis to the Greeks. Beyond rich DEDICATIONS in the Greek world (DELPHI, CYRENE, LINDUS, and SAMOS), relations of FRIENDSHIP and alliance—in particular, through a MARRIAGE with the Cyrenean LADICE—and the use of Greeks in the military (even being used as bodyguards for the king, in preference to Egyptians: 2.154.3), Amasis was especially distinguished in the eyes of the Greeks by his actions in connection with NAUCRATIS. Indeed, even if (contrary to what we gather from Herodotus: “he gave Naucratis as a POLIS to settle in,” 2.178) Amasis did not, properly speaking, “found” the EMPORION of Naucratis, he was its principal organizer, in conceding to the Greeks a certain number of privileges —in particular religious (the HELLENION)—in order to facilitate an operation which aimed above all at better control of the activity of Greek merchants in the DELTA.
In addition to this figure of a “philhellenic” king (2.178), other images, sometimes at first sight contradictory, coexist in Herodotus’ long biographical notice. One can note those of the philosopher‐king, legislator, or builder; but also, what is perhaps more original, the intimate (not to say satirical) portrait which is drawn of this ruler “of popular origin” (2.172) across several anecdotes (cf. 2.162, 172, 173, 174, 181). This could account simultaneously for an Egyptian tradition—this image being concordant with that found in texts of demotic literature—and a Greek re‐interpretation of Egyptian history, in particular, of the prosperous reign of Amasis.
SEE ALSO: Egypt; Humor; Mercenaries; Nitetis; Psammenitus; Sais; Trade
FURTHER READING
1 Agut Labordère, Damien. 2012. “Le statut égyptien de Naucratis.” In Communautés locales et pouvoir central dans l’Orient hellénistique et romain, edited by Christophe Feyel et al., 353–73. Nancy: A.R.D.A.
2 Bresson, Alain. 2000. La cité marchande, 13–63. Bordeaux: Ausonius.
3 Coulon, Laurent, Pascale Giovanelli‐Jounna, and Flore Kimmel‐Clauzet, eds. 2013. Hérodote et l’Égypte: regards croisés sur le livre II de l’Enquête d’Hérodote. Lyon: Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée.
4 Haziza, Typhaine. 2009. Le kaléidoscope hérodotéen. Images, imaginaire et représentations de l’Égypte à travers le livre II d’Hérodote. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
5 Haziza, Typhaine. 2013. “Ladiké et Phérétimé: deux Cyrénéennes en Égypte (Hérodote, II, 181 et IV, 165–67; 200–5).” In L’Hellénisme, d’une rive à l’autre de la Méditerranée. Mélanges offerts à André Laronde à l’occasion de son 70ème anniversaire, edited by Jean‐Christophe Couvenhes, 311–24. Paris: de Boccard.
6 Leahy, Anthony. 1988. “The Earliest Dated Monument of Amasis and the End of the Reign of Apries.” JEA 74: 183–99.
7 Lloyd, Alan B. 1988. Herodotus: Book II, Commentary 99–182, 174–241. Leiden: Brill.
AMASIS ( Ἄμασις, ὁ), Persian general
HENRY P. COLBURN
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Amasis was a Persian general placed in charge of the army dispatched by ARYANDES to attack the Greek city of BARCA in LIBYA c. 513 BCE (4.167.1). After capturing Barca by means of a deceitful exchange of OATHS, Amasis refused to allow the Persian naval commander BADRES of PASARGADAE to attack CYRENE as well (4.201–3).
As given by Herodotus, Amasis’ name matches the Greek rendering of the Egyptian name “Ahmose.” Yet Herodotus identifies Amasis as a member of the Persian Maraphian tribe. There are several possible explanations. First, Amasis may be an Iranian name which has become corrupted or confused, either in Herodotus’ source or subsequently (Schmitt, IPGL 69–70 (no. 16)). It is also possible that it was his given name; the name Ahmose (in Egyptian) occurs on a seal attested in the PERSEPOLIS Fortification Archive (Garrison and Ritner 2010, 28–33, 47–49), suggesting it had some currency there during this period. A third possibility is that Amasis assumed this name in addition to his own, in accordance with the Egyptian practice of “double naming” (Briant 2002, 482). Amasis is sometimes identified with the Arsames who, according to Polyaenus (Strat. 7.28.1), led an expedition against Barca, but there is no good reason for this identification (Chamoux 1953, 164–66).
SEE ALSO: Amasis (king of Egypt); Deception; Maraphians; Pheretime
REFERENCES
1 Briant, Pierre. 2002. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire, translated by Peter T. Daniels. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
2 Chamoux, François. 1953. Cyrène sous la monarchie des Battiades. Paris: de Boccard.
3 Garrison, Mark B., and Robert K. Ritner. 2010. “From the Persepolis Fortification Archive Project, 2: Seals with Egyptian Hieroglyphic
