Jan Stronk
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781474414258
- eISBN:
- 9781474430975
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474414258.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, World History: BCE to 500CE
In Semiramis’ Legacy, the history of Persia (in its widest sense) is followed as it has been described by the Greek author Diodorus of Sicily (first century bc) as a part of his Historical Library. ...
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In Semiramis’ Legacy, the history of Persia (in its widest sense) is followed as it has been described by the Greek author Diodorus of Sicily (first century bc) as a part of his Historical Library. Diodorus starts his description with the legendary Queen Semiramis, an Assyrian queen who was said to also have ruled ancient Persia and ends it with the situation in his own days. This makes it the fullest description of ancient Persian history we have from antiquity, subsequently focusing on the vicissitudes of Assyrians (from their legendary rulers Ninus and Semiramis onward) and their direct successors, the Medes and Chaldeans, then the Achaemenid kings, Alexander the Great, the Seleucids, and the arrival of Rome in the Ancient Near East. Semiramis’ Legacy is the first complete translation of Diodorus entirely focused on the historiography of Persia (apart from the translation of his whole work in the Loeb Classical Library). Different from that edition, this book has been provided with an array of comments to give the reader the maximum of background information. As such, this study, therefore, contains as first the selected comprehensive account of ‘Ancient Persian History’, its contacts, and its context as seen by a relatively well informed Greek.Less
In Semiramis’ Legacy, the history of Persia (in its widest sense) is followed as it has been described by the Greek author Diodorus of Sicily (first century bc) as a part of his Historical Library. Diodorus starts his description with the legendary Queen Semiramis, an Assyrian queen who was said to also have ruled ancient Persia and ends it with the situation in his own days. This makes it the fullest description of ancient Persian history we have from antiquity, subsequently focusing on the vicissitudes of Assyrians (from their legendary rulers Ninus and Semiramis onward) and their direct successors, the Medes and Chaldeans, then the Achaemenid kings, Alexander the Great, the Seleucids, and the arrival of Rome in the Ancient Near East. Semiramis’ Legacy is the first complete translation of Diodorus entirely focused on the historiography of Persia (apart from the translation of his whole work in the Loeb Classical Library). Different from that edition, this book has been provided with an array of comments to give the reader the maximum of background information. As such, this study, therefore, contains as first the selected comprehensive account of ‘Ancient Persian History’, its contacts, and its context as seen by a relatively well informed Greek.
Rosalind Thomas
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199693979
- eISBN:
- 9780191745324
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199693979.003.0010
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter examines the looser type of legend and story patterns familiar to Herodotus' audience. It considers the possibility of legends and stories that seem to belong primarily to the Persian or ...
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This chapter examines the looser type of legend and story patterns familiar to Herodotus' audience. It considers the possibility of legends and stories that seem to belong primarily to the Persian or Near Eastern sphere and which Herodotus uses himself, taking two examples as case studies: Pythius and Lydian (7.38–40) and Deioces the Mede (1.96–101). It uses these to examine the sorts of truth, understanding, and interpretation that a Greek writer might derive from a foreign logos or tale — supposing that these might derive from, or be related to some Persian or Median tales. It then goes on to examine how such tales might be taken, understood or misunderstood, and re-used in the Greek and specifically Herodotean schema. The chapter is thus in part related to the problem of the ‘unintelligibility’ of one society's tales, and indeed customs, to members of another society.Less
This chapter examines the looser type of legend and story patterns familiar to Herodotus' audience. It considers the possibility of legends and stories that seem to belong primarily to the Persian or Near Eastern sphere and which Herodotus uses himself, taking two examples as case studies: Pythius and Lydian (7.38–40) and Deioces the Mede (1.96–101). It uses these to examine the sorts of truth, understanding, and interpretation that a Greek writer might derive from a foreign logos or tale — supposing that these might derive from, or be related to some Persian or Median tales. It then goes on to examine how such tales might be taken, understood or misunderstood, and re-used in the Greek and specifically Herodotean schema. The chapter is thus in part related to the problem of the ‘unintelligibility’ of one society's tales, and indeed customs, to members of another society.
Pietro Vannicelli
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199693979
- eISBN:
- 9780191745324
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199693979.003.0011
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter considers the rich set of traditions Herodotus reports about the origins of the Medes and the Persians. It first investigates the traditions regarding Perseus and his descendants, and ...
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This chapter considers the rich set of traditions Herodotus reports about the origins of the Medes and the Persians. It first investigates the traditions regarding Perseus and his descendants, and highlights the important role played by the genealogical link between Perseus and the Persians in the propaganda against Argos in the aftermath of the Persian wars. It next considers the great army list of book 7, in which the origins the Persians are presented in detail. After illustrating the phenomenon evident elsewhere in the Histories of the double-root of traditions about the origins of a people, with a distinction between the people and their eponymous hero on the one hand, and the ancestor of the royal dynasty on the other, it addresses the possibility of a similar double-root to Herodotus' traditions about the origins of the Persians and their kings. Various passages of the Histories indeed supply two different approaches to the origins of the Persian Kings, one of which contains Persian elements (a linear genealogy going back to Achaemenes: 7.11.2; cf. 3.75.1), while the other is purely Greek and connects them with Perseus (on Perseus: 1.125.3; cf. 7.220.4).Less
This chapter considers the rich set of traditions Herodotus reports about the origins of the Medes and the Persians. It first investigates the traditions regarding Perseus and his descendants, and highlights the important role played by the genealogical link between Perseus and the Persians in the propaganda against Argos in the aftermath of the Persian wars. It next considers the great army list of book 7, in which the origins the Persians are presented in detail. After illustrating the phenomenon evident elsewhere in the Histories of the double-root of traditions about the origins of a people, with a distinction between the people and their eponymous hero on the one hand, and the ancestor of the royal dynasty on the other, it addresses the possibility of a similar double-root to Herodotus' traditions about the origins of the Persians and their kings. Various passages of the Histories indeed supply two different approaches to the origins of the Persian Kings, one of which contains Persian elements (a linear genealogy going back to Achaemenes: 7.11.2; cf. 3.75.1), while the other is purely Greek and connects them with Perseus (on Perseus: 1.125.3; cf. 7.220.4).
Lisa Yarger
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469630052
- eISBN:
- 9781469630076
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469630052.003.0026
- Subject:
- History, Family History
Still waiting on Joy’s baby, Lovie and the narrator do yard work together. Lovie reflects on her past dream to work in Alaska and reminisces about her mother and the songs she used to sing, including ...
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Still waiting on Joy’s baby, Lovie and the narrator do yard work together. Lovie reflects on her past dream to work in Alaska and reminisces about her mother and the songs she used to sing, including the ballad “Barbry Allen.” On Sunday the narrator reluctantly accompanies Lovie once again to church, where the narrator enjoys watching Lovie interact with a baby. Back at Lovie’s, Lovie wants to figure out what contemporary nation the Medes (mentioned in church earlier in the day) occupied, and the narrator spends half the day in her room, desperate for time alone.Less
Still waiting on Joy’s baby, Lovie and the narrator do yard work together. Lovie reflects on her past dream to work in Alaska and reminisces about her mother and the songs she used to sing, including the ballad “Barbry Allen.” On Sunday the narrator reluctantly accompanies Lovie once again to church, where the narrator enjoys watching Lovie interact with a baby. Back at Lovie’s, Lovie wants to figure out what contemporary nation the Medes (mentioned in church earlier in the day) occupied, and the narrator spends half the day in her room, desperate for time alone.
Jan P. Stronk
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781474414258
- eISBN:
- 9781474430975
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474414258.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, World History: BCE to 500CE
In this chapter Diodorus himself gets the stage. The story is about the rise and decline of the Assyrian empire, starting with the reigns of Ninus and Semiramis and the construction of subsequently ...
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In this chapter Diodorus himself gets the stage. The story is about the rise and decline of the Assyrian empire, starting with the reigns of Ninus and Semiramis and the construction of subsequently Nineveh and Babylon and ending with the reign of Sardanapallus and the fall of Nineveh. Next follows an account on the rule of the Medes, in which features amongst others also Queen Zarinaea of the Scythians. Finally, attention is paid to the Chaldeans and their importance for astronomy.Less
In this chapter Diodorus himself gets the stage. The story is about the rise and decline of the Assyrian empire, starting with the reigns of Ninus and Semiramis and the construction of subsequently Nineveh and Babylon and ending with the reign of Sardanapallus and the fall of Nineveh. Next follows an account on the rule of the Medes, in which features amongst others also Queen Zarinaea of the Scythians. Finally, attention is paid to the Chaldeans and their importance for astronomy.
D. T. Potts
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199330799
- eISBN:
- 9780199366842
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199330799.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Archaeology: Classical
An influx of groups with a nomadic background occurred in the late second or early first millennium bc when the earliest Iranian speakers entered the Iranian plateau from the north, whether via the ...
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An influx of groups with a nomadic background occurred in the late second or early first millennium bc when the earliest Iranian speakers entered the Iranian plateau from the north, whether via the Caucasus or Central Asia. The use of the horse was particularly important among these groups and evidence suggests that, while there is sporadic evidence of horse use in parts of western Iran prior to the first millennium, horse breeding increased markedly with the coming of the Iranians. Assyrian sources confirm the presence of groups and individuals with etymologically Iranian names in western Iran beginning in the ninth century bc These were ancestral to the groups identified as nomads by Herodotus.Less
An influx of groups with a nomadic background occurred in the late second or early first millennium bc when the earliest Iranian speakers entered the Iranian plateau from the north, whether via the Caucasus or Central Asia. The use of the horse was particularly important among these groups and evidence suggests that, while there is sporadic evidence of horse use in parts of western Iran prior to the first millennium, horse breeding increased markedly with the coming of the Iranians. Assyrian sources confirm the presence of groups and individuals with etymologically Iranian names in western Iran beginning in the ninth century bc These were ancestral to the groups identified as nomads by Herodotus.
