Marcel. 1997. “L’attitude d’Argos à l’égard des autres cités de l’Argolide.” In The Polis as an Urban Centre and as a Political Community, edited by Mogens Herman Hansen, 321–51. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.4 Piérart, Marcel. 2009. “Récits étiologiques argiens du temps des hommes.” In Antike Mythen: Medien, Transformationen und Konstruktionen, edited by Ueli Dill and Christine Walde, 276–91. Berlin: De Gruyter.
5 Piérart, Marcel, and Gilles Touchais. 1996. Argos: une ville grecque de 6000 ans. Paris: Paris‐Méditerranée.
6 Sauzeau, Pierre. 2005. Les partages d’Argos: sur les pas des Danaïdes. Paris: Belin.
7 Tomlinson, R. A. 1972. Argos and the Argolid: From the End of the Bronze Age to the Roman Occupation. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
ARIABIGNES (Ἀριαβίγνης, ὁ)
PIETRO VANNICELLI
Università di Roma–La Sapienza
Son of DARIUS I and an unnamed daughter of Gobryas (7.97), thus a half‐brother of XERXES along with ARTOBAZANES (7.2.2). In 480 BCE, Ariabignes commanded the Ionian and Carian squadrons in Xerxes’ fleet, and he died in the Battle of SALAMIS (8.89.1).
SEE ALSO: Caria; Gobryas father of Mardonius; Ionians
FURTHER READING
Schmitt, IPGL, 82–83 (no. 34).
ARIANS ( Ἄριοι, οἱ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
In his CATALOGUE of XERXES’ invasion force, Herodotus notes that in ancient times the MEDES were called Arians, until MEDEA arrived (from ATHENS) and, according to the Medes, they changed their name (7.62.1; similarly, Hellanicus BNJ 4 F132). Herodotus’ report reflects the centrality of “Arian” identity among the ACHAEMENID kings of PERSIA (Henkelman 2011, 611–13), seen also in royal Persian INSCRIPTIONS (e.g., XPh §2: “I (am) Xerxes … an Aryan, having Aryan lineage”). The word ārya‐ in Sanskrit means “noble,” whence “Aryan” came to be used in the nineteenth century CE to designate the Indo‐European or Indo‐Iranian language family, before being co‐opted by those propagating the racist myth of Western/European superiority (Poliakov 1974).
SEE ALSO: Areians; Myth
REFERENCES
1 Henkelman, Wouter. 2011. “Cyrus the Persian and Darius the Elamite: A Case of Mistaken Identity.” In Herodot und das Persische Weltreich—Herodotus and the Persian Empire, edited by Robert Rollinger, Brigitte Truschnegg, and Reinhold Bichler, 577–634. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
2 Poliakov, Léon. 1974. The Aryan Myth: A History of Racist and Nationalist Ideas in Europe, translated by Edmund Howard. New York: Basic Books.
ARIANTAS (Ἀριάντας, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Scythian king (4.81.5). Herodotus reports (attributing the story to “the local inhabitants”) that Ariantas, wishing to know how many SCYTHIANS there were, ordered every Scythian to bring him one arrowhead each, with DEATH the penalty for those neglecting their duty. Out of these arrowheads, Ariantas had an enormous BRONZE cauldron made “as a memorial to what he had done”: it was “six fingers thick” (4–5 inches) and capable of holding the contents of 600 amphorae (20,000 liters). He dedicated the cauldron at EXAMPAEUS, where it was shown to Herodotus (or, perhaps, Herodotus means to say that he was told about the object: West 2004, 78–79).
Ariantas is not otherwise attested. The name is Iranian, though its derivation is unknown (Schmitt, IPGL 84–85 (no. 37)).
SEE ALSO: Dedications; Measures; Monuments
REFERENCE
1 West, Stephanie. 2004. “Herodotus and Scythia.” In The World of Herodotus, edited by Vassos Karageorghis and Ioannis Taifacos, 73–89. Nicosia: Foundation Anastasios G. Leventis.
FURTHER READING
Corcella in ALC, 640–41.
ARIAPEITHES (Ἀριαπείθης, ὁ)
ERIC ROSS
University of North Dakota
Scythian king and father of SCYLES (4.78.1). Herodotus cites Ariapeithes’ chief official, TYMNES, as a direct informant (4.76.6), and this Tymnes may be his primary source for Scythian GEOGRAPHY and history. Ariapeithes was killed treacherously by SPARGAPEITHES, king of the AGATHYRSIANS in southern Scythia. He is succeeded by Scyles (4.78.2). As is standard for nomadic tribes of Eurasia, Ariapeithes took multiple wives: the unnamed mother of Scyles; OPOEA, remarried to Scyles after Ariapeithes’ death; and the unnamed daughter of the Thracian king TERES, whose son OCTAMASADES became king and killed his half‐brother Scyles after the latter’s Hellenic practices sparked an uprising by the SCYTHIANS (4.79–80).
SEE ALSO: Nomads; Source Citations
FURTHER READING
Corcella in ALC, 638.
ARIARAMNES (Ἀριαράμνης, ὁ; OP Ariyāramna‐) son of Teispes
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Patronymic, father of ARSAMES and great‐grandfather of the Persian king DARIUS I, according to the lineage XERXES gives for himself (7.11.2). Ariaramnes (OP Ariyāramna) also appears in Darius’ lineage in the BISITUN inscription (DB §2). A brief INSCRIPTION on a GOLD tablet from Hamadan, claiming to be of “Ariaramnes the Great King” (AsH; Lecoq 1997, 179), is believed by most scholars to be an ancient forgery, part of Darius’ effort to legitimize his seizure of the throne (Briant 2002, 16).
SEE ALSO: Achaemenids; Genealogies; Teispes
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 Lecoq, Pierre. 1997. Les inscriptions de la Perse achéménide. [Paris]: Gallimard.
ARIARAMNES (Ἀριαράμνης, ὁ; OP Ariyāramna‐) the Persian
HENRY P. COLBURN
Metropolitan Museum of Art
A
