University of Kiel
For Herodotus, Astyages is the last king of the MEDES, the son of CYAXARES and brother‐in‐law of the Lydian king CROESUS. Astyages’ grandson CYRUS (II) overthrows his rule (1.107–30). Originally, the Medes, who freed themselves from Assyrian rule (1.95.2), were given the chance to have a free form of government, but they quickly fell for the tyranny of DEIOCES (1.96.1). Under the latter’s successors, the Medes had, after initial expansionist successes, suffered setbacks due to Scythian invasions (1.103.3). A second expansion of Median power under Cyaxares, which even ASSYRIA could not resist, had been limited by the Lydians in the west, with whom the Medes had sought and found a settlement (political MARRIAGE between Astyages and ARYENIS, the daughter of ALYATTES and sister of Croesus: 1.74). However, both new partners—Astyages and Croesus—lose the power inherited from their fathers to the Persian Cyrus, the son of Astyages’ and Aryenis’ daughter MANDANE and the Persian vassal CAMBYSES (I).
Like his brother‐in‐law, Astyages contributes to his own downfall with sacrilegious deeds: he commits injustice by ordering his infant grandson Cyrus to be killed, when dream‐interpreters portray him as a future rival for power (1.108); he punishes Harpagus, who had not correctly executed the order, in an unimaginably cruel way by means of a “banquet of Atreus” (1.119); and finally he sanctions the MAGI who, like the king himself, had not fully grasped the import of the DREAMS that heralded Cyrus’ reign (1.128.2). It is these intrigues and the harshness of the despot Astyages that make Cyrus and the Persians become rebellious and persuade parts of the Medes to join them (1.125–27). Astyages is defeated in battle but spared by Cyrus. Later, the Medes are said to have regretted their alliance with the Persians and therefore to have revolted from DARIUS I (1.130).
If one takes the Near Eastern tradition into account, there is no evidence for the Median “vassalage” of the Persians. Herodotus’ political marriages, which connect the great powers of the Near East (Lydians, Babylonians, Medes) with each other, also remain a dead letter; they are, nevertheless, relevant to the structure of his work. Astyages (Babylonian Ištumēgu < OIr. *R&c.dotbl;šti‐vaiga‐, “Spear swinger”) is, however, mentioned in the so‐called Chronicle of Nabonidus from BABYLON (ABC 7 in Grayson 1975): in Nabonidus’ sixth year (10 March 550 to 28 March 549 BCE—a leap year with thirteen moons), the chronicle records Astyages’ fatal campaign against the Persians under Cyrus of Anshan, the desertion of Median troops, and the capture and looting of the royal city Ecbatana by Cyrus’ army. It is also worth mentioning that the later Median rebels against Darius (cf. the BISITUN inscription) do not refer back to Astyages, but to his successful predecessor Cyaxares.
SEE ALSO: Anthropophagy; Despotism; Ecbatana (Median); Harpagus the Mede; Labynetus; Lydia; Near Eastern History; Rebellion
REFERENCE
1 Grayson, A. K. 1975. Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles. Locust Valley, NY: J. J. Augustin.
FURTHER READING
1 Bichler, Reinhold. 2000. Herodots Welt: Der Aufbau der Historie am Bild der fremden Länder und Völker, ihrer Zivilisation und ihrer Geschichte, 242–44, 258–61. Berlin: Akademie‐Verlag.
Schmitt, IPGL, 140–43 (no. 103).
ASYCHIS ( Ἄσυχις, ὁ)
TYPHAINE HAZIZA
Université Caen‐Normandie
According to Herodotus, Asychis was an Egyptian king (pharaoh), successor to MYCERINUS (2.136). After praising the propylaia (monumental entrance) Asychis constructed for the temple of HEPHAESTUS (Ptah) at MEMPHIS, Herodotus mentions his creation of two LAWS aimed at the economy before recording the moralizing INSCRIPTION which the king allegedly had inscribed in order to justify his PYRAMID made of bricks. No pharaoh of this name is known; the historical Mycerinus (Menkaure) belongs to the 4th Dynasty, but Herodotus’ CHRONOLOGY overall does not match the Egyptian evidence. Herodotus’ Asychis has been identified with Shoshonq I (22nd Dynasty) as well as Shepseskaf, the successor of Mycerinus, but recently von Lieven (2013) has argued that he reflects the conflation of two New Kingdom private individuals.
SEE ALSO: Egypt; Praise
REFERENCE
1 von Lieven, Alexandra. 2013. “Asychis or Sasychis, That is the Question.” In Herodots Wege des Erzählens: Topos und Logos in den Historien, edited by Klaus Geus, Elisabeth Irwin, and Thomas Poiss, 323–32. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
FURTHER READING
1 Lloyd, Alan B. 1988. Herodotus: Book II, Commentary 99–182, 86–90. Leiden: Brill.
2 Menu, Bernadette. 1999. “Chepseskaf, pharaon intermédiaire?” Égypte 15: 51–56.
ATARANTES (Ἀτάραντες, οἱ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Libyan (North African) tribe of unknown location. Herodotus (4.184.1–2) places the Atarantes third‐to‐last—just before the ATLANTES—on a chain of oases separated by ten‐day journeys stretching west across the Sahara Desert, starting from EGYPT (4.181). The MANUSCRIPTS of the Histories read “Atlantes,” but evidence from later authors, though confused in some respects, supports the modern emendation to “Atarantes” (combining Nicolaus of Damascus, FGrHist 90 F103u, with Steph. Byz. s.v. Ἄτλαντες (A 520); see Corcella in ALC, 707–8). Herodotus singles out the Atarantes as the only people known to have no personal names (see Harrison 1998, 18); he also notes their custom of cursing at the sun during extremely hot WEATHER.
SEE ALSO: Ethnography; Extremes; Insults; Libya; Oasis
REFERENCE
1 Harrison, Thomas. 1998. “Herodotus’ Conception of Foreign Languages.” Histos 2: 1–45.
FURTHER READING
1 Vanhaegendoren, Koen. 1998. Das Afrikanische Volk der Ataranten. Zur ethnographischen Tradition der Antike. Hamburg: LIT.
ATARBECHIS (Ἀτάρβηχις)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
City in EGYPT, on the island of PROSOPITIS in the Nile DELTA which was formed by the Canobic and Sebynnetic branches of the river and a CANAL connecting them (cf. BA 74 D3). According to Herodotus, barges from Atarbechis travel to the rest of Egypt collecting the bones of dead bulls in order to bury them in one place (2.41.5). The city also contains a sanctuary to APHRODITE (Egyptian Hathor). The precise location of Herodotus’ Atarbechis is unclear; the best candidate, the Egyptian city of (Pr) Ḥwt Ḥr Mfk(3t), “House of Hathor Mistress of Turquoise” (modern Terenouthis/Kom Abu Billu), lies on the western, not eastern, bank of the Canobic branch (Robinson 1999,
