1990s (Graeve 1995) approximately 4 miles southeast of the ancient city of Miletus uncovered evidence for a sanctuary, including Greek SCULPTURES from the tenth through the sixth century BCE and a cup (phiale) bearing an inscription to Athena Assesia (Herrmann et al. 2006, 173). The temple appears to have been destroyed around 600—which would fit Herodotus’ Alyattes story—and then again in 494, when the Persians sacked Miletus during the IONIAN REVOLT.
The mention of an archon (magistrate) of Assesus in a fragment of Nicolaus of Damascus (FGrHist 90 F52) may indicate the presence of a community there with some measure of autonomy in the ARCHAIC AGE.
SEE ALSO: Archaeology; Temples and Sanctuaries
REFERENCES
1 Gorman, Vanessa B. 2001. Miletos, the Ornament of Ionia: A History of the City to 400 B.C.E. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
2 Graeve, Volmar von. 1995. “Milet 1992–1993.” AA 1995/2: 195–333.
3 Herrmann, Peter, Wolfgang Günther, and Norbert Ehrhardt, eds. 2006. Inschriften von Milet, Teil 3: Inschriften n. 1020–1580. Berlin: De Gruyter.
FURTHER READING
IACP, p. 1082.
ASSYRIANS
JOSEF WIESEHÖFER
Kiel University
Herodotus offers little concrete information about the Assyrians, and their relationship with the Babylonians remains relatively vague. What is certain for him is that the Assyrians once ruled a large territory that included BABYLON, and that their empire lasted for about 520 years before the MEDES revolted and the Assyrians lost a large part of their former ALLIES (1.95.2). In the end, the Assyrians were defeated by the Medes under their king CYAXARES, who also conquered the Assyrian capital of Ninus (i.e., NINEVEH). Herodotus knows nothing of the anti‐Assyrian Medo‐Babylonian coalition which destroyed Nineveh in 612 BCE (ABC 3 in Grayson 1975), and for him Babylon is the most important city of the Assyrians and their royal center after the fall of Nineveh. As for the kings of Assyria, he mentions NINUS, whom he considers to be the eponymous founder of the metropolis of the same name, and his son SARDANAPALLUS (2.150). Presumably, Ninus is to be equated with BELUS’ son of the same name, the father of AGRON; Agron was the great‐great‐grandson of HERACLES and founded the Heraclid dynasty of LYDIA (1.7), which would result in all imperial power in ASIA—according to Herodotus—being traced back to Heracles. In the context of Egyptian history, Herodotus mentions the robbery of the treasures of Sardanapallus (2.150), but unlike his contemporaries (such as Aristophanes, Av. 1021) and especially CTESIAS later, there is no mention of an effeminate and scandalous ruler of this name. SENNACHERIB, king of the ARABIANS and Assyrians, is Herodotus’ last Assyrian king. He starts a campaign against king SETHOS of EGYPT, which miraculously fails because field‐mice gnaw the leather parts of the Assyrian soldiers’ weapons (2.141).
SEE ALSO: Cross‐references; Heracleidae; Near Eastern History; Syrians
REFERENCE
1 Grayson, A. K. 1975. Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles. Locust Valley, NY: J. J. Augustin.
FURTHER READING
1 Bichler, Reinhold. 2007 [2004]. “Some Observations on the Image of the Assyrian and Babylonian Kingdoms within the Greek Tradition.” In Historiographie—Ethnographie—Utopie. Gesammelte Schriften, Teil 1: Studien zu Herodots Kunst der Historie, edited by Robert Rollinger, 209–28. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
2 Rollinger, Robert. 2017. “Assyria in Classical Sources.” In A Companion to Assyria, edited by Eckart Frahm, 570–82. Malden, MA: Wiley‐Blackwell.
ASTACUS (Ἀστακός, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Mythical, patronymic, father of MELANIPPUS (5.67.2). Melanippus was one of the seven defenders of THEBES in the conflict between ETEOCLES and POLYNEICES. Astacus himself was a Theban hero, descendant (or one) of the “Spartoi.” Some traditions credited him with the foundation of the city of Astacus in Asia Minor.
SEE ALSO: Heroes and Hero Cult; Myth
FURTHER READING
1 Asheri, David. 1978. “On the ‘Holy Family’ of Astakos.” In Studien zur Religion und Kultur Kleinasiens. Festschrift für Friedrich Karl Dörner zum 65. Geburtstag am 28. Februar 1976, edited by Sencer Şahin, Elmar Schwertheim, and Jörg Warner, 93–98. Leiden: Brill.
ASTER (Ἀστήρ, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Patronymic, Spartan, father of ANCHIMOLUS (5.63.2). Anchimolus led an unsuccessful invasion of Attica c. 511 BCE in an attempt to drive out the Peisistratid tyrant HIPPIAS. Aster (“Star”) is a rare name until the imperial Roman period, though names derived from that root are more common (Hornblower 2013, 186). Nothing more is known of this Aster.
SEE ALSO: Sparta
REFERENCE
1 Hornblower, Simon, ed. 2013. Herodotus: Histories Book V. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ASTONIDES, see ASONIDES
ASTRABACUS (Ἀστράβακος, ὁ)
SARAH BOLMARCICH
Arizona State University
Astrabacus was a Spartan hero and the alleged father of King DEMARATUS. He supposedly visited Demaratus’ mother as a phantom in the form of her husband, King ARISTON, on the night Demaratus was conceived (6.69).
Astrabacus was the great‐grandson of the legendary King Agis I. With his brother Alopecus he discovered a statue of ARTEMIS Orthia under a bush and was instantly driven mad (Paus. 3.16.9). While it is unknown what made him worthy of hero‐worship to the Spartans, his shrine stood at the gates of Ariston’s house (Paus. 3.16.6) and offerings of wreaths were left for him there.
SEE ALSO: Agis son of Eurysthenes; Apparitions; Heroes and Hero Cult
FURTHER READING
1 Boedeker, Deborah. 1987. “The Two Faces of Demaratus.” Arethusa 20: 185–201.
2 Scott, Lionel. 2005. Historical Commentary on Herodotus Book 6, 273–75. Leiden: Brill.
ASTRONOMY, see CALENDARS; ECLIPSE; SCIENCE
