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a Greek author from the city of Miletus in Asia Minor (fl. between 560 and 418 BCE), author of a geographical survey of the regions and the peoples in the Achaemenid empire. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 1, pp. 111-112 HECATAEUS OF MILETUS, a Greek author from the city of Miletus in Asia Minor (fl. between 560 and 418 B.C.E.), who is the author of a geographical survey of the regions and the peoples in the Achaemenid Empire. He is considered to be the most influential of the early Ionian prose writers (Herodotus 5.36, called him a logopoios “prose writer”). H…

lit. “leader, governor, forerunner”; ancient Persian title. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 2, pp. 195 FRATARAKA “leader, governor, forerunner” ( fratara- ; Av. fratara- “fore-, former”; BSogd. prtr; cf. OInd. pratarám, Gk. proteros; Brandenstein and Mayrhofer, p. 119), ancient Persian title. In the Achaemenid period. Frataraka was the title of the administrative head of a district or province in Egypt (q.v. i), immediately under the satrap at Memphis. Three fratarakā are known by name from Egyptian Aramaic papyri: rmndyn- *Ramnadainā (Porten a…

the Persian dynasts who between the 2nd century BCE and 3rd century CE ruled as Parthian representatives in Persis, southwestern Iran. PERSIS, KINGS OF, the Persian dynasts who between the 2nd century BCE and 3rd century CE ruled as Parthian representatives in Persis, southwestern Iran (TABLE 1). The sources for Persis between about 140 BCE and 224 CE are scant, and it is very difficult to write its history. The archeological evidence for the Parthian period yields very little. Aside from the mostly late literary evidence for the rise of the…

(d. 242 CE), the founder of the Sasanian empire. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 4, pp. 371-380 ARDAŠĪR I (?-242 A.D.), the founder of the Sasanian empire. ARDAŠĪR I i. History Ardašīr, Middle Persian spelling ʾrthštr ( = Parthian ʾrthštr), pronounced Artašīr, later Ardašīr, is derived from Old Iranian *Ṛtaxšira, a two-stem hypocoristic name (* ṛta-xš-ira) to a full name *ṚtaxšΘra (R. Schmitt, “Artaxerxes, Ardašīr und Verwandte,” in Incontri Linguistici 5, 1979, pp. 61-72 and below under Artaxerxes). Family and early career. Sources on Ardašīr’s …

various aspects of gift giving in Persia. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 6, pp. 604-617 blod:GIFT GIVING in Persia. The following articles constitute a preliminary attempt at studying various aspects of gift giving in a chronological and historical framework, from the pre-Islamic era to the early modern period. An anthropological approach, dealing with the practice of gift exchange in local communities, tribal clans, villages, extended families, neighborhoods, and urban quarters nee…