against Greece (7.97; cf. 7.236.1). When the news of Xerxes’ death (465) and of the ensuing political struggle reached Egypt, and while Achaemenes was away from his satrapy, a new REBELLION broke out, led by the Libyan INAROS. Achaemenes died in Egypt c. 459/8, defeated by the Egyptian rebels in the Battle of PAPREMIS (Hdt. 3.12.4; Ctesias FGrHist 688 F14.36–39, where the name is “Achaemenides”; cf. also Diod. Sic. 11.74).
SEE ALSO: Artaxerxes; Persia; Satrapies
FURTHER READING
1 Bigwood, Joan M. 1976. “Ctesias’ Account of the Revolt of Inaros.” Phoenix 30: 1–25.
2 Ruzicka, Stephen. 2012. Trouble in the West: Egypt and the Persian Empire, 525–332 BC. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ACHAEMENIDS (Ἀχαιμενίδαι, οἱ)
ROBERT ROLLINGER
University of Innsbruck
Herodotus uses the term Achaemenids (Ἀχαιμενίδαι) as designation of an extended FAMILY or clan but not as a characterization of a ruling family or “dynasty” (Briant 1984, 123; Vannicelli 2012). He leaves no doubt that DARIUS I and his family are members of this clan, but there is no distinct relation between the Achaemenids and “royal lineage.” The relationship of CYRUS (II) and his son CAMBYSES (II) to this clan remains ambiguous, although Herodotus gives some hints that such a relationship was thought (or claimed) to have existed.
In his excursus on the Persian genea (here meaning “tribes”), Herodotus mentions the Achaemenids for the first time, introducing them as a ϕρήτρη (phrētrē, “clan”) of the PASARGADAE, the noblest Persian genos. The Persian kings are members of this clan, but they are further distinguished as Perseids (Περσεῖδαι, 1.125.3). This statement is not directly connected to the person of Cyrus himself and provides, at best, only a vague connection between him and the Achaemenids. This is also true for Cambyses who, after he heard that the “false” SMERDIS had usurped the Persian throne and with DEATH imminent, charges all Persians, but chiefly the attendant Achaemenids, to prevent the sovereignty from falling again into the hands of the MEDES (3.65.6). Darius (and by extension his son XERXES) is referred to as a member of this clan when his father Hystaspes is explicitly designated as an “Achaemenid man” (1.209.2). The tripartite GENEALOGY, as given by Herodotus (Darius–Hystaspes–Arsames = Achaemenids) mirrors the “short” genealogy given by Darius himself in his BISITUN inscription (DB §1). Darius does not appear as a relative of Cyrus but as a threat, since a DREAM reveals to the Great King that the eldest son of Hystaspes will someday become his successor. In fact, no ruling king in the Histories is directly characterized as an Achaemenid. Instead we find a number of “Achaemenid” relatives of Darius and Xerxes, most of whom occupy high‐ranking positions during the wars against the Greek states: MEGABATES, cousin to Darius (5.32), TIGRANES (7.62.1), ARTACHAEES (7.117.1); only SATASPES’ position, if any, is unknown (4.43). Whether this relative frequency is due to the fact that Achaemenes, Xerxes’ brother and satrap of EGYPT, perished during the Athenian‐backed revolt of the Libyan INAROS (7.7), remains an interesting speculation.
Although it is clear that Darius and Xerxes belong to the Achaemenid clan, this is less evident for Cyrus and Cambyses. When Cambyses’ officer PREXASPES reveals Cyrus’ male lineage, he gives an abbreviated version, consisting only of a beginning (Achaemenes) and an end (Cyrus) with no intermediate members (3.75.1). However, one may take this neither as proof that Cyrus was an Achaemenid nor that Herodotus believed him to be one. Rather it is evidence for the existence of a tradition that speculated about the relationship between Darius and Cyrus (Rollinger 1998, 183–84). Moreover, Herodotus can be seen as consistently questioning the trustworthiness of Prexaspes (3.35.1, 63.1, 75.2), who is even once explicitly presented as a liar (3.67.1). This critical distance is also apparent when Cambyses’ mother CASSANDANE is qualified as daughter of PHARNASPES, “an Achaemenid man” (3.2.2). The passage is part of a larger discourse (3.2–3) where Herodotus, by referring to alternative stories, casts serious doubt on Cambyses’ descent from (Achaemenid) Cassandane. This has convincingly been explained as critical distance towards Darius’ genealogical manipulations (Irwin 2017).
Finally, there is the famous lineage presented by Xerxes in a confrontation with his uncle ARTABANUS: Darius, HYSTAPES, ARSAMES, ARIARAMNES, TEISPES, CYRUS (I), CAMBYSES (I), Teispes, Achaemenes (7.11). Although we, as well as Herodotus’ readers, can only speculate about the identities of this elder Cyrus and Cambyses, one might see them as referring to the preceding Great Kings, or at least one of them, and thus as testimony for their connection to the Achaemenids (Jacobs 2011, 653–57). This list betrays some striking parallels to the Achaemenid lineage as presented by Darius himself at Bisitun (Rollinger 1998, 189–99): Darius and Xerxes are “Achaemenids,” and Darius is the ninth member of a distinct line of descent. But a relationship towards Cyrus and Cambyses is only suggested vaguely.
SEE ALSO: Achaemenes son of Darius; Perses; Persia
REFERENCES
1 Briant, Pierre. 1984. “La Perse avant l’empire.” IA 19: 71–118.
2 Irwin, Elizabeth. 2017. “Just Why Did Cambyses Conquer Egypt? Herodotus’ logos of Cambyses’ Egyptian Campaign: His Story as History.” In Die Sicht auf die Welt zwischen Ost und West (750 v. Chr.–550 n. Chr.)—Looking at the World from the East and the West (750 BCE–550 CE), edited by Robert Rollinger, Teil A, 95–141. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
3 Jacobs, Bruno. 2011. “‘Kyros der große König, der Achämenide’. Zum verwandtschaftlichen Verhältnis und zur politischen und kulturellen Kontinuität zwischen Kyros dem Großen und Dareios I.” In Herodot und das Persische Weltreich—Herodotus and the Persian Empire, edited by Robert Rollinger, Brigitte Truschnegg, and Reinhold Bichler, 635–63. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
4 Rollinger, Robert. 1998. “Der Stammbaum des achaimenidischen Königshauses oder die Frage der Legitimität der Herrschaft des Dareios.”AMI(T) 30: 155–209.
5 Vannicelli, Pietro. 2012. “The Mythical Origins of the Medes and the Persians.” In Myth, Truth, and Narrative in Herodotus, edited by Emily Baragwanath and Mathieu de Bakker, 255–68. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ACHAEUS (Ἀχαιός, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Mythical, patronymic, father of PHTHIUS and grandfather of ARCHANDER (2.98.2). Achaeus is the eponymous ancestor of the Achaeans (cf. Apollod. Bibl. 1.7.3; Paus. 7.1; Strabo 8.7.1/C383), one branch of the Greek ethnic tree, probably invented during the ARCHAIC AGE when the Hellenic GENEALOGIES developed. Earlier, HOMER had used “Achaeans” as one of his names (along with Argives and Danaans) for the Greeks as a whole.
SEE ALSO: Achaeans (Peloponnesian); Achaeans of Phthiotis; Ethnicity
FURTHER READING
1 Fowler, Robert L. 2013. Early Greek Mythography. Vol. 2, Commentary, 122–23. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2 Hall, Jonathan M. 2002. Hellenicity: Between Ethnicity and Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
ACHELOUS
