University of Göttingen
Herodotus is the first known author to use the expression “Atlantic Sea” for the vast body of water lying to the west of the MEDITERRANEAN and beyond the PILLARS OF HERACLES. In this word combination, “Atlantic” derives from the Titan Atlas, who is supposed to hold up the sky “at the ends of the earth” near the sweet‐singing Hesperides (Hes. Theog. 517–20), i.e., in the westernmost SEA (see also Hom. Od. 1.52–54; Nesselrath 2006, 267). The adjective Atlantikos as a marker of far‐western regions is also found in two plays of Euripides (Hipp. 3, 1053; Heracl. 234–35), so it seems to have been current in Herodotus’ time. Some decades later, Plato established his famous “Atlantis” in the same SEA, but he playfully inverts the ETYMOLOGY of the name by claiming that the Atlas after whom the island and the surrounding sea was called was a son of POSEIDON and one of the first kings of Atlantis (Criti. 114a).
Later authors call the western sea both “Atlantic” and “Oceanus” (Polyb. 16.29.6; Arist. [Mund.] 393a16–7), but Herodotus uses “Oceanus” in this way only once (4.8.2), and he immediately adds that he very much doubts the common belief that it runs round the whole earth. He states this skepticism several times (2.21, 23; 4.36.2), and it is probably the reason that he introduces the expression “Atlantic Sea” in 1.202.4, where he recognizes its connection with the ERYTHRAEAN SEA (i.e., the sea to the south and east of Africa and ASIA) but carefully avoids bringing in the notion of a surrounding OCEAN (Nesselrath 2005, 155).
SEE ALSO: Atlantes; Atlas River; Geography; Libya
REFERENCES
1 Nesselrath, Heinz‐Günther. 2005. “‘Where the Lord of the Sea Grants Passage to Sailors Through the Deep‐Blue Mere No More’: The Greeks and the Western Seas.” G&R 52: 153–71.
2 Nesselrath, Heinz‐Günther. 2006. Platon, Kritias: Übersetzung und Kommentar. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
ATLAS MOUNTAIN, see ATLANTES
ATLAS RIVER (ὁ Ἄτλας ποταμός)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
River in northern THRACE, tributary of the ISTER (Danube), flowing north from Mt. HAEMUS along with the AURAS and TIBISIS (4.49.1). The exact location and identification of this Atlas are unknown, though the name is thought to be Thracian.
SEE ALSO: Atlantes; Rivers
FURTHER READING
1 Corcella in ALC, 618.
2 Duridanov, Ivan. 1985. Die Sprache der Thraker, 23–24. Neuried: Hieronymus.
ATOSSA ( Ἄτοσσα, ἡ)
ROBERT ROLLINGER
University of Innsbruck
As wife of DARIUS I, daughter of CYRUS (II), and mother of XERXES, Atossa was a powerful female agent at the Persian court. Herodotus elaborates a Greek tradition found in AESCHYLUS’ Persians, where she was already a prominent figure (Brosius 1996, 8, 16–17, 48–51, 106–9). However, although activities of royal women are well‐attested in the PERSEPOLIS Fortification and Treasury Archives, Atossa is only mentioned twice in these texts, if at all (Ú‐du‐sa‐na in PF 0162, 0163, according to Henkelman 2010, 703 with n. 136; Tavernier 2007, 212 ad 4.2.835; Schmitt, IPGL 147 (no. 105), is skeptical).
According to Herodotus she was previously married to her brother CAMBYSES (II) (3.88.2) and became part of SMERDIS’ court (3.68.3–5). When Darius ascended to the throne, he immediately married Atossa and ARTYSTONE, another daughter of Cyrus (3.88.2), although the conspirators had previously agreed only to marry wives of their households (3.84.2). Thus Herodotus combines Darius’ striving for legitimacy with the king’s striking penchant for manipulation and dishonesty (Rollinger 2018). Darius and Atossa have four sons: Xerxes (7.2.2–3), HYSTAPES (7.64.2), MASISTES (7.82), and ACHAEMENES (7.97).
Herodotus attributes her an extraordinary, powerful position at court (7.3.4). This is in accordance with the Greek cliché of dominant Persian queens, although Atossa is not yet the stereotypical scheming female found later in CTESIAS’ Persica. Herodotus believes Xerxes became heir apparent over his elder half‐brother ARTOBAZANES due to his mother’s dominance and not because he was the first prince born while his father held the throne (Xerxes’ not being Darius’ eldest son is indirectly confirmed by an inscription from PERSEPOLIS (XPl)). It is also Atossa’s influence that results in the first Persian activities aimed at HELLAS (3.134). This is part of a famous anecdote about DEMOCEDES of CROTON, a PRISONER OF WAR who becomes Darius’ and Atossa’s private physician (Griffiths 1987). After Democedes had successfully treated the Persian queen for a swelling on her breast (3.133), Atossa fulfills his request to convince Darius to campaign against the Greeks. Democedes joins the succeeding reconnaissance expedition and grasps the opportunity to escape. Through this lens Herodotus offers a sophisticated explanation for the origins of the PERSIAN WARS: a Greek physician’s desire for FREEDOM, a thwarted and cunning Persian queen prepared to manipulate her husband to fulfill her DESIRE for female servants from Greece (3.134.5), as well as a Persian king’s overriding desire to expand his empire all lead to this final confrontation. A Persian queen at the center of DECISION‐MAKING and a Greek physician with access to the very private parts of the palace (and the queen’s body) are the enthralling ingredients of this master narrative (Bichler 2000, 288–91).
SEE ALSO: Causation; Medicine; Monarchy; Orientalism; Persia; Persica; 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.
2 Brosius, Maria. 1996. Women in Ancient Persia, 559–331 BC. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
3 Griffiths, Alan. 1987. “Democedes of Croton: A Greek Doctor at the Court of Darius.” In Achaemenid History II: The Greek Sources, edited by Heleen Sancisi‐Weerdenburg and Amélie Kuhrt, 37–51. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten.
4 Henkelman, Wouter. 2010. “‘Consumed Before the King’: The Table of Darius, That of Irdabama and Irtašuna, and That of his Satarap Karkiš.” In Der Achämenidenhof—The Achaemenid Court, edited by Bruno Jacobs and Robert Rollinger, 667–775. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
5 Rollinger, Robert. 2018. “Herodotus and the Transformation of Ancient Near Eastern Motifs: Darius I, Oebares, and the Neighing Horse.” In Interpreting Herodotus, edited by Thomas Harrison and Elizabeth Irwin, 125–48. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
6 Tavernier, Jan. 2007. Iranica in the Achaemenid Period (ca. 550–330 B.C.): Lexicon of Old Iranian Proper Names and Loanwords, Attested in Non‐Iranian Texts. Leuven: Peeters.
FURTHER READING
1 Sancisi‐Weerdenburg, Heleen. 1983. “Exit Atossa: Images of Women in Greek Historiography on Persia.” In Images of Women in Antiquity, edited by Averil
