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[German version] (Old Persian ḫšaçapāvan-, 'protector of the kingdom/dynasty', Elamic šá-ak-šá-ba-ma, Akkadian aḫšadrapanu, Imperial Aramaic ḥšatrapan, Greek usually σατράπης/ satrápēs [9]; Latin satrapa, -es, satraps). Title of a Persian-Achaemenid (seminal: [3]), later also Seleucid, Parthian and Sassanid provincial governor (Parthian ḥštrp / ḫšahrap/; Middle Persian štrp / šahrap/). The title appears first in the Bīsutūn inscription of Darius [1] I [11. DB III 14.56], where it denotes two appointees of the new king in Bactria and Arachosi…

In the narrower sense, the term S. designates the members of the Iranian dynasty of the descendants of Sāsān; in the broader sense, it designates the inhabitants of the Sassanid Empire or its political elite (3rd-7th cents. AD). [German version] I. Evidence Among the written sources (discussion and literature in [25. 153-164, 283-287]; cf. also [1; 6; 27]), the contemporary indigenous evidence should have priority, esp.: a) the inscriptions, some multilingual, of kings and dignitaries (of the 3rd cent. AD) of Persis, the ancestral homeland of the S. [4; 9; 14; 15]; b) the M…

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(Κυαξάρης, ancient Persian Uvaxštra-, etymology uncertain). [German version] [1] Median king of the 7th or 6th cent. BC Median ‘king’ of the 7th/6th cents. BC. In the Median lógos of Herodotus (Hdt. 1,73f.; 103-107) C. appears as τύραννος/ týrannos or βασιλεύς/ basileús of the Medes, as the son of  Phraortes, grandson of  Deioces and father of  Astyages. During his 40-year reign, he is said -- after a Scythian interregnum -- to have conquered the Assyrians and to have fought against Alyattes of Lydia (probably for possession of Cappado…

(Στάτειρα/ Státeira; Latin Statira). [German version] [1] Wife of Artaxerxes [2] II, c. 400 BC Daughter of Hydarnes, sister of Terituchmes and wife of Artaxerxes [2] II (Ktesias FGrH 688 F 15), who was beloved by the peopl…

(Ὑστάσπης; Hystáspēs, ancient Persian/Avestian Vi/īštāspa-, ‘with untied horses (for the race)’). Name of various Iranian personalities. [German version] [1] Patron of Zarathustra As kauui- (Kavi, prince) the decisive patron of Zarathustra ( Zoroaster [4. 13,100]); son of Auruuaṯ.aspa-, husband of Hutaosā. In the Graeco-Roman world oft-used and quoted ‘Oracles’, which were conc…

[German version] (Γλῶς/ Glôs, Diod. Sic. 14,19,6; Γλοῦς/ Gloûs, Xen. An. 2,1,3). Son of the ‘Egyptian’ Tamos of Memphis (probably the Carian Tamos, born in Memphis), marched with Cyrus the Younger against his brother Artaxerxes II in 401 BC and after Cyrus' death defected to the other side (Xen…

(Middle Persian ērān, genitive plural of ēr, in Ērān-šahr, ‘land of the  Aryans/Iranians’ < Middle Persian ēr, Sassanid inscriptions and Paḫlavī literature of the 9th cent. AD < Old Iranian * arya-, Old Persian ariya-, Avestan airya-). [German version] I. History of the term Although ariya- in itself carries ethnical meaning (the Achaemenids referred to themselves as ariya- ‘Aryan’ or respectively ariyaciça-, respectively ‘of Aryan descent’), the term I. (or respectively Ērān-šahr) as an ethical, religious, and political concept is an early Sassanid creation. Under Sapor I (AD 240-272), Ērān…

[German version] The term iuvenes, although also related to adults or non-junior teams, usually refers to the Roman or Italian youth of military training or serving age. The organizations of the iuventutes…

[German version] (Συέννεσις/ Syénnesis). Term for indigenous Cilician dynasts with their centre at Tarsus (Xen. An. 1,2,23). According to Hdt. 1,74, one S. is supposed to have mediated the accord between the Lydians and the Medes; in the war between Croesus and Cyrus [2], Cilicia was on the Persian side (Hdt. 1,28). Another S. took part in Xerxes's campaign against Hellas (Hdt. 7,98; Aesch. Pers. 326-328). It is generally assumed that the duplicity of the third known S., the husband of Epyaxa, duri…

[German version] (Τισσαφέρνης/ Tissaphérnēs). Son of Hydarnes [4], grandson of Hydarnes [1]. After the removal of the rebellious satrap Pissuthnes T. became a satrap in 413 BC in Sardis and a káranos (Thuc. 8,5,4: stratēgòs tôn kátō, 'army leader of the lands on the coast') in the west of Asia Minor. As such he concluded a subsidy treaty with Sparta against Athens in 412 BC; in return Sparta entrusted the Greeks of western Asia Minor to the Great King (Thuc. 1,115,4; 8,5,4 f.; 8,17 f.; 8,43; 8,52 and 8,58; renewal of the treaty in…

[German version] ( Sīmǎ Qiān). C. 145 - c. 85 BC, author of the first Chinese dynastic history, the Shǐjì…

[German version] (Περσίς/ Persís, Str. 15,3,1, etc.; Old Persian Pārsa). Region in Southwest Iran, which (as Anshan) belonged to the kingdom of Elam and was later the home of the dynasty of the Achaemenids [2] and Sāssānids (see below).…

(Ἐλυμαῖοι; Elymaîoi). [German version] [1] Inhabitants of the Elymais Inhabitants of the  Elymais, described by ancient authors mainly as mountain dwellers or rather, in a military context, as mounted archers (cf. i.a. App. Syr. 32; Str. 16,1,17; Liv. 37,40,9). Wiesehöfer, Josef (Kiel) [German version] [2] Inhabitants of the Elburz region According to Pol. 5,44,9 neighbours to the inhabitants of  Media Atropatene in the Elburz region along the south-western corner of the Caspian Sea. Plut. Pompeius 36 reports of a ‘king of the Elymaei …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Achaemenids | Alexander | Hellenistic states | Hellenistic states (τὰ Ζαδρακάρτα/ tà Zadrakárta; Arr. Anab. 3,23,6; 25,1). Largest city and fortified Achaemenid residence in Hyrcania, whose precise location is not certain (Sārī?, Qale Ḫandān?). Alexander [4] the Great passed through Z. while pursuing Bessus in 331 BC. Wiesehöfer, Josef (Kiel)

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[German version] The peoples of ancient India and ancient Iran, who spoke Aryan languages referred to themselves as A. (cf. Old Indo-Aryan árya-, Iranian arya-; etymology disputed). In the 19th cent. the until then purely linguistic terms A./Aryan were for a time used synonymously with Indo-Europeans/Indo-Germanic and in this way came to be used in anthropology and ethnology, which in the Nazi era perverted them with an anti-Semitic bias into the positive counterpart of Jews/Jewish. Linguistic and religious-historical reasons support the belief that the A. were an ori…

[German version] (Ἐλυμαίς; Elymaís). Greek name of a region in south-west Iran ( Ḫūzestān) within the territory of the ancient empire of  Elam. Originally probably mainly used for the mountainous Baḫtı̄ārı̄ region (in contrast with the Susiana plains), the term increasingly also included the expanding territory of the Hellenistic-Parthian ‘kingdom’ of E. [1. 39-45; 2. 3-8]. E./Susiana was one of the political and economic core regions of the Achaemenid and Seleucid empires; however, for the actual E., it is to be expected that…

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[German version] (ἡ Ῥάγα/ hē Rhága: Str. 11,13,6; ἡ Ῥάγη/ hē Rhágē: Tobit 6,10; Ῥάγοι/ Rhágoi: Tobit 1,14 et alibi; (αἱ) Ῥάγαι/ (hai) Rhágai: Str. 11,9,1; Arr. Anab. 3,20,2 etc.). City (and district with a large population) of eastern Media, today an expanse of ruins south of Tehran. In the district of (Old Persian) Ragā (Elamic Rakka, B…