DAPHNAE, MAREA) and set out for ETHIOPIA. When Psammetichus attempted to persuade them not to abandon their gods and families, they pointed to their genitals and responded that wherever those went, they would find wives and CHILDREN. The Ethiopian king utilized the Asmach to drive out his enemies and then settled them on the land; their presence brought civilized ways to Ethiopia (2.30).
A recently published papyrus fragment contains part of an Egyptian narrative written in Demotic in which “those on the right” and “left” of the army revolt from the king, probably Psamtik I (Ryholt 2012). The demotic term for “left,” smḥ, is almost certainly the derivation for Herodotus’ term Asmach (Quack 2013, 75). Other ancient authors relate the story (including Strabo 17.1.2/C786; Plin. HN 6.191), referring to the Asmach by various names (Lloyd 1976, 126–32).
SEE ALSO: Egypt; Gestures; Short Stories
REFERENCES
1 Lloyd, Alan B. 1976. Herodotus: Book II, Commentary 1–98. Leiden: Brill.
2 Quack, Joachim Friedrich. 2013. “Quelques apports récents des études démotiques à la compréhension du livre II d’Hérodote.” In Hérodote et l’Égypte: regards croisés sur le livre II de l’Enquête d’Hérodote, edited by Laurent Coulon, Pascale Giovanelli‐Jounna, and Flore Kimmel‐Clauzet, 63–88. Lyon: Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée.
3 Ryholt, Kim. 2012. “A Demotic Narrative in Berlin and Brooklyn concerning the Assyrian Invasion of Egypt.” In Forschung in der Papyrussammlung: Eine Festgabe für das neue Museum, edited by Verena M. Lepper, 337–53. Berlin: Akademie‐Verlag.
ASONIDES (Ἀσωνίδης, ό)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Asonides commanded a TRIREME from AEGINA that was captured near SCIATHOS by an advance squadron of the Persian fleet shortly before the Battle of ARTEMISIUM in 480 BCE (7.181.1). His ship was notable because a soldier under his command, PYTHEAS SON OF ISCHENOUS, displayed such valor during the fighting that the Persians felt compelled to treat his wounds and shower him with honors. Asonides presumably shared the fate of the rest of his captured men and was enslaved (7.179–81). One family of MANUSCRIPTS of the Histories reads “Astonides.” Neither name is otherwise attested (Wilson 2015, 146).
SEE ALSO: Prisoners of War; Slavery
REFERENCE
1 Wilson, N. G. 2015. Herodotea. Studies on the Text of Herodotus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ASOPODORUS (Ἀσωπόδορος, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Son of TIMANDER, Asopodorus commanded the Theban CAVALRY on the Persian side at PLATAEA in 479 BCE, inflicting heavy damage on the Megarian and Phleiasian HOPLITES (9.69.2). Asopodorus’ son (named Herodotus) is the honorand of PINDAR’s Isthmian 1 for a victory in the chariot race. The references to Asopodorus’ fate in the poem (ll. 32–40) seem to indicate a post‐war EXILE at ORCHOMENUS. If so, he, unlike other Theban leaders, escaped execution at the hands of PAUSANIAS (Hdt. 9.88).
SEE ALSO: Attaginus; Horses; Medize; Thebes (Boeotian)
FURTHER READING
1 Instone, Stephen, ed. 1996. Pindar, Selected Odes: Olympian One, Pythian Nine, Nemeans Two and Three, Isthmian One, 80–87, 170–88. Warminster: Aris & Phillips.
2 Woodbury, Leonard. 1981. “The Victor’s Virtues: Pindar, Isth. 1.32 ff.” TAPA 111: 237–56.
ASOPUS RIVER (ὁ Ἀσωπὸς ποταμός), Boeotia
CAMERON G. PEARSON
University of Warsaw
The major river in southern Boeotia that flows from below Mt. CITHAERON eastward into the southern Euboean Gulf (Müller I, 455–56; RIVERS of the same name are found in TRACHIS, THESSALY, the PELOPONNESE, and PHRYGIA). In Greek mythology, Asopus had many daughters (Bowra 1938), including AEGINA and THEBE, who are the answer to a typically enigmatic oracle which tells the Thebans to ask “their nearest” for aid (5.80). Because the nymphs connect their eponymous CITIES genealogically, THEBES asks AEGINA for support in fighting ATHENS. There are many varying traditions (e.g., Hom. Od. 11.260–65), and the Peloponnesian Asopus and Boeotian Asopus vie for the same offspring (Bacchyl. 9.39–56; Paus. 2.5.2). Herodotus generally seems to agree with PINDAR that by ZEUS, Aegina bore AEACUS, who begets PELEUS and TELAMON, the respective fathers of Achilles and AJAX (Pind. Pyth. 8.98–100, Isthm. 8.16–20; Hdt. 6.35.1). At 9.51.2 OËROË, a tributary of Asopus, is also his daughter (as in Paus. 9.4.4). Herodotus tells us that the Asopus is the border between Plataean and Hysiaean territory and that of Thebes (6.108). It is also frequently mentioned in the topography of the Battle of PLATAEA in Book 9. (For the river in inscriptions see CEG 114 = SEG 41‐53 and Matthaiou 2014, 218.)
SEE ALSO: Boeotians; Myth; Oracles
REFERENCES
1 Bowra, C. M. 1938. “The Daughters of Asopus.” Hermes 73.2: 213–21.
2 Matthaiou, A. P. 2014. “Four Inscribed Bronze Tablets From Thebes: Preliminary Notes.” In The Epigraphy and History of Boeotia: New Finds, New Prospects, edited by Nikolaos Papazarkadas, 211–22. Leiden: Brill.
FURTHER READING
1 Cahn, Herbert A. 1984. “Asopos I and II.” In LIMC II.1, 901.
2 Nagy, Gregory. 2011. “Asopos and His Multiple Daughters: Traces of Preclassical Epic in the Aeginetan Odes of Pindar.” In Aegina: Contexts for Choral Lyric Poetry. Myth, History, and Identity in the Fifth Century BC, edited by David Fearn, 41–78. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ASOPUS RIVER (ὁ Ἀσωπὸς ποταμός), Trachis
MELODY WAUKE
University of Notre Dame
A small river in TRACHIS, today once again called Asopos (formerly known as the Karvounaria; Müller I, 315–17). According to Herodotus, the ANOPAEA path above THERMOPYLAE began where the Asopus River flows through a gorge. In 480 BCE the Persians crossed over the Asopus in order to travel along this path (7.216–217.1). In Herodotus’ time it emptied directly into the MALIAN GULF (7.200.1), whereas today it empties into the SPERCHEIUS RIVER.
SEE ALSO: Aegina, daughter of Asopus; Asopus River (Boeotia); Rivers
ASPATHINES (Ἀσπαθίνης, ὁ; OP Aspačanā)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
