who brought to an end the rule of the MAGI—the “false” SMERDIS and his brother PATIZEITHES—in 522 BCE. Aspathines was invited to join the conspiracy by OTANES (1) (3.70) and wounded by one of the Magi during the struggle in the palace at SUSA (3.78.2). His son Prexaspes served as one of the four admirals of the Persian fleet under XERXES in 480 (7.97).
Aspathines’ name is the only one of the seven in Herodotus which does not correspond to those on the BISITUN inscription (DB §68), where “Ardumaniš” is restored based on the Babylonian text. However, in the reliefs on the tomb of DARIUS I at Naqsh‐i Rustam, an Aspačanā (Elam. Ašbazana) appears as a high‐ranking officer whose title (vaçabara‐) means “garment‐bearer” (DNd 1; see Kuhrt 2007, 500–1 fig. 11.14). Most scholars identify this figure with Aspathines. His presence in Herodotus’ narrative of the end of the rule of the Magi would then result from the prominence he gained during Darius’ reign. His name also appears on tablets and seals from PERSEPOLIS (Garrison 1998).
SEE ALSO: Persia; Prexaspes son of Aspathines; Sources for Herodotus
REFERENCES
1 Garrison, Mark B. 1998. “The Seals of Ašbazana (Aspathines).” In Studies in Persian History: Essays in Memory of David M. Lewis, edited by Maria Brosius and Amélie Kuhrt, 115–31. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten.
2 Kuhrt, Amélie. 2007. The Persian Empire. A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period. London and New York: Routledge.
FURTHER READING
1 Briant, Pierre. 2002. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire, translated by Peter T. Daniels, 107–38. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
2 Schmitt, IPGL, 135–36 (no. 97).
ASSA ( Ἄσσα)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
City on the north coast of the Gulf of SINGUS (Chalcidice), between the ATHOS and SITHONIA peninsulas, in northern Greece (BA 51 B4; Müller I, 150–51). XERXES’ fleet picked up troops from Assa and other CITIES in the region after it passed through the Athos CANAL in 480 BCE (7.122). This is probably the same city which appears as “Assera” in the Athenian Tribute Lists (e.g., IG I3 266.II.26) and the historian THEOPOMPUS (BNJ 115 F147).
SEE ALSO: Chalcidians in Thrace; Pilorus
FURTHER READING
1 IACP no. 564 (826).
2 Zahrnt, Michael. 1971. Olynth und die Chalkidier: Untersuchungen zur Staatenbildung auf der Chalkidischen Halbinsel im 5. und 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr., 162–66. Munich: C. H. Beck.
ASSEMBLY
DAVID YATES
Millsaps College
Neither Herodotus nor the Greeks generally had a single fixed term for a political assembly. Herodotus uses ekklēsiē, haliē, agorē, and dēmos along with the names of the groups assembled. Assemblies appear as DECISION‐MAKING bodies across the Greek world: ATHENS (below), SAMOS (below), CYRENE (4.161), THEBES (5.79–80), and SPARTA (7.134.2). They are also present in the Near Eastern societies of Media (below) and PERSIA (1.125.2).
Herodotus presents a complex picture of assemblies (see, for example, Fornara 1971, 48–50; Van der Veen 1996, 99–103; Saxonhouse 1996, 31–57). At one end of the spectrum, they can be incredibly effective. On the eve of XERXES’ invasion in 480 BCE, the Athenians debate the meaning of a potentially ominous ORACLE in open assembly. Although the experts in oracular interpretation conclude that it advised flight, the Athenians choose rather to follow THEMISTOCLES’ more optimistic interpretation to resist by SEA (7.142–43). Herodotus then notes that on a previous occasion Themistocles persuaded the dēmos to invest in a fleet (7.144). Both decisions contribute directly to the Greek victory over Persia (7.139). On the other end of the spectrum, however, Herodotus’ assemblies are capable of immense folly. PEISISTRATUS tricks the Athenians into providing him with a bodyguard which he subsequently uses to seize control of the state (1.59.3–5). DEIOCES maneuvers the MEDES into making him king (1.97).
On several occasions Herodotus explicitly juxtaposes PRAISE and criticism for the capacity of popular assemblies to manage public business. In the CONSTITUTIONAL DEBATE, OTANES (1) commends the benefits of bringing decisions before the people (3.80.6) immediately before MEGABYXUS (1) (3.81.1–2) and Darius (3.82.4) accuse such popular assemblies of rank incompetence. MAEANDRIUS (II), the TYRANT of Samos, hopes to be thought the most just of men by handing power to the people and calls an assembly for that purpose, but during the meeting a prominent Samian demands he give an account of his rule. Maeandrius becomes frightened, the opportunity is lost, and Samos remains a tyranny (3.142–43). Later, Herodotus credits freedom of speech (isēgoriē) in the new Athenian DEMOCRACY with the meteoric rise of that state (5.78). But soon thereafter ARISTAGORAS (1), the tyrant of MILETUS, fools the assembly into contributing ships to the IONIAN REVOLT, a decision Herodotus calls “the beginning of evils for both Greeks and BARBARIANS” (5.97). King CLEOMENES of Sparta rejected the same offer earlier (5.50–51), and the contrast prompts Herodotus to observe that the whole of the assembly was easier to deceive than a single man (5.97.2).
Much work has been done on the Athenian assembly and the related concept of isēgoriē (see Saxenhouse 1996, 2006). For more on Greek assemblies generally, see the brief survey by Mitchell (2006, 370–73) or the more extensive treatment by Ruzé (1997).
SEE ALSO: Advisers; Deception; Freedom; polis
REFERENCES
1 Fornara, Charles W. 1971. Herodotus: An Interpretative Essay. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
2 Mitchell, Lynette. 2006. “Greek Government.” In A Companion to the Classical Greek World, edited by Konrad H. Kinzl, 367–86. Malden, MA: Wiley‐Blackwell.
3 Ruzé, Françoise. 1997. Délibération et pouvoir dans la cité grecque: de Nestor à Socrate. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne.
4 Saxonhouse, Arlene W. 1996. Athenian Democracy: Modern Mythmakers and Ancient Theorists. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
5 Saxonhouse, Arlene W. 2006. Free Speech and Democracy in Ancient Athens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
6 Van der Veen, J. E. 1996. The Significant and the Insignificant. Five Studies in Herodotus’ View of History. Amsterdam: Gieben.
ASSESUS (Ἀσσησός, ἡ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Modern Mengerevtepe, in the territory of ancient MILETUS (see Map 4 in Gorman 2001, 283), site of an archaic temple of ATHENA. Herodotus reports (1.19–22) that the temple was accidentally burned down by the invasion force of the Lydian king ALYATTES, who then fell ill. He was instructed by the PYTHIA at DELPHI to restore it. In the meantime, he came to a peace agreement with Miletus, after which he
