LINCOLN
University of Chicago
Fifth king in the ACHAEMENID dynasty, who ruled from 465–424 BCE. The second‐born son of XERXES, Artaxerxes I acceded to the throne after his father’s assassination; he then consolidated power with the execution of his elder brother (Darius, whom he blamed—perhaps mistakenly or even disingenuously—for his father’s death) and defeat of his younger brother (Hystaspes, who led a revolt against him). Herodotus says nothing about these events, which occurred well after the period of the PERSIAN WARS, although he does group Artaxerxes with DARIUS I and Xerxes as the kings who inflicted greatest evils on Greece (6.98.2). In the same passage, he offers etymologies for the names of these rulers, taking Artaxerxes to mean “Great Warrior” (megas arēios). Like the others, this is incorrect and the name properly means “He whose kingship is Truth” (OP Arta‐xšaça; Schmitt, IPGL 105–7 (no. 64a)). Although his epithet “Longhand” signaled the ambitious reach of the Achaemenid empire, Artaxerxes shifted policy in the northwest from continued military confrontation to one that fostered rivalry among the Greek poleis via diplomacy and bribes (Dandamaev 1989, 250–57). Again, Herodotus says little about this, but mentions that CALLIAS (2) was negotiating with the Great King on behalf of ATHENS around the same time (449 BCE?) ARGOS reaffirmed its pact of friendship with him (7.151.1).
SEE ALSO: Delian League; Etymology; Persia
REFERENCES
1 Dandamaev, M. A. 1989. A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire, translated by W. J. Vogelsang. Leiden: Brill.
FURTHER READING
1 Briant, Pierre. 2002. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire, translated by Peter T. Daniels, 569–87. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
2 Waters, Matt. 2014. Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550–330 BCE, 157–67. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ARTAŸCTES (Ἀρταΰκτης, ὁ)
PIETRO VANNICELLI
Università di Roma–La Sapienza
Descendant of Artembares and son of CHERASMIS, Artaÿctes was the Persian governor of SESTOS, on the European side of the HELLESPONT (9.116.1). He commanded the MACRONES and MOSSYNOECIANS in XERXES’ land army in 480 BCE (7.78). During Xerxes’ expedition, Artaÿctes plundered and desecrated the sanctuary of PROTESILAUS, the first Greek killed during the TROJAN WAR, at ELAEUS (9.116; cf. 7.33). Artaÿctes’ impiety was punished: during the Athenian SIEGE of Sestos in 479 he tried to escape but was captured, taken back to Sestos, and despite his offer of a ransom, crucified at the insistence of the people of Elaeus and with the agreement of the Athenian general XANTHIPPUS; his son was also stoned to death before his eyes (9.117–20). The siege of Sestos, undertaken by the Athenians alone, and the execution of Artaÿctes are the last events Herodotus narrates in the Histories—a conclusion that replays some of the work’s central themes, including divine retribution for human impiety; the conflict between West and East, going back to mythical times; the Trojan War as mythical paradigm of the PERSIAN WARS; and finally the future assumption of the hegemony by ATHENS and the potential parallels between them and PERSIA.
SEE ALSO: Artembares the Persian; End of the Histories; Punishment; Reciprocity; Sacrilege; Temples and Sanctuaries
FURTHER READING
1 Flower, Michael A., and John Marincola, eds. 2002. Herodotus: Histories Book IX, 302–11. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schmitt, IPGL, 112–14 (no. 71).
ARTAŸNTE (Ἀρταΰντη, ἡ)
ROBERT ROLLINGER
University of Innsbruck
In a famous story about court intrigue, SEX and crime, incest, and atrocities staged within the walls of an inaccessible Persian palace and withheld from the views of a large public, Artaÿnte, XERXES’ niece and daughter‐in‐law (daughter of his brother MASISTES and wife of his son DARIUS) becomes the object of Xerxes’ DESIRE after the Great King first unsuccessfully yearned for Masistes’ anonymous wife (9.109–12). The story is a didactic play of unlimited DESPOTISM and the ruthless violation of established social structures (Bichler 2000, 358–59). Xerxes’ wife AMESTRIS takes terrible VENGEANCE, not against Artaÿnte but against her mother, whom she orders to be maimed. As a consequence Masistes and his family are extinguished. The name is Iranian with good Iranian etymology (Schmitt, IPGL 114–15 (no. 72)).
SEE ALSO: End of the Histories; Mutilation; Short Stories; Violence; Women in the Histories
REFERENCES
1 Bichler, Reinhold. 2000. Herodots Welt: Der Aufbau der Historie am Bild der fremden Länder und Völker, ihrer Zivilisation und ihrer Geschichte. Berlin: Akademie‐Verlag.
FURTHER READING
1 Müller, Carl Werner. 2006. Legende—Novelle—Roman. Dreizehn Kapitel zur erzählenden Prosaliteratur der Antike, 290–300. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
ARTAŸNTES (Ἀρταΰντης, ὁ) son of Artachaees
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Artaÿntes son of ARTACHAEES was named co‐commander, along with MARDONTES, of the Persian naval forces during the winter of 480/79 BCE (after their defeat at SALAMIS); he brought his nephew ITHAMITRES as another co‐commander. They joined the fleet, now with 300 ships, at SAMOS in the spring and kept watch over the Greek cities of Ionia, waiting to see how MARDONIUS and the Persian army would fare on the Greek mainland (8.130.2–4). Artaÿntes and his nephew escaped from the Persian defeat at MYCALE later in 479 (9.102.4). Herodotus recounts how Artaÿntes nearly killed MASISTES, XERXES’ brother, on the retreat to SARDIS after Masistes accused him of commanding the troops at Mycale “worse than a woman” (9.107). The name probably derives from OP *Arta‐vanta‐, “pursuing justice.”
SEE ALSO: Artaÿntes son of Ithamitres; Generals and Generalship; Insults; Naval Warfare; Xeinagoras
FURTHER READING
1 Flower, Michael A., and John Marincola, eds. 2002. Herodotus: Histories Book IX, 289–91. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2 Schmitt, Rüdiger. 2007. “Zu einigen Perser‐Namen bei Herodot.” BN 42.4: 381–405.
ARTAŸNTES (Ἀρταΰντης, ὁ) son of Ithamitres
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre
