BAGŌAS, the Greek name of two eunuchs from the Achaemenid period. 1. The chief eunuch and general under Artaxerxes III….

AZDĀKARA (from Old Persian azdā- “announcement” and kara- “maker”), officials of the Achaemenid chancery, the heralds, who made known, for…

ASSYRIA i. The Kingdom of Assyria and its Relations with Iran Sources. Assyrian sources of the second millennium B.C. contain…

ARTOXARES, a Paphlagonian eunuch at the court of Artaxerxes I and satrap of Armenia. He helped Darius II to ascend…

ARUKKU (Assyrian A-ru-uk-ku), a son of Cyrus I, king of Parsumaš and grandfather of Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II). After…

ASSYRIA ii. Achaemenid Aθurā Old Persian Aθurā “Assyria” goes back to Akkadian Aššur, the name of the city of Aššur…

ARABIA i. The Achaemenid province Arabāya In the Bīsotūn (1.15) and several other Old Persian inscriptions (see Kent, Old Persian, pp. 169-70) that…

ABROCOMAS, Persian satrap of Syria and commander under Artaxerxes II. In 401 B.C. he prepared an army to reconquer Egypt,…

ABDADĀNA, region in western Media, mentioned in Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions and annals (for references see S. Parpola, Neo-Assyrian Toponyms, Neukirchen-Vluyn,…

ABIRĀDŪŠ, a village in Elam. According to the inscriptions DSf and DSz of Darius I, the stone pillars used on…

ABROCOMES, a son of Darius I by Phrataguna, daughter of his brother Artanes. He perished at the battle of Thermopylae…

KASHTARITI (kaš-ta-ri-ti, the Old Iranian Khshathrita), a city lord of Karkashshi which was located in the Central Zagros mountains. He…

MEDIA, ancient population region and kingdom in northwestern Iran. The name is attested as Gk. Mēdía, OPers. Māda (Kent, Old…

BABYLONIAN CHRONICLES, as sources for Iranian history. In a number of cases Babylonian chronicles provide valuable information about the political…

PERSEPOLIS ELAMITE TABLETS, administrative records in Elamite inscribed on clay tablets. Parts of two archives of such tablets were discovered…

CARDUCHI (Latin form of Greek Kardoûkhoi), warlike tribes that in antiquity occupied the hilly country along the upper Tigris near…

DIAKONOFF (D’yakonov), Igor’ Mikhaĭlovich (b. Petrograd, 30 December 1914 [Old style]/12 January 1915; d. St. Petersburg, 2 May 1999), Russian…

LUKONIN, Vladimir Grigor’evich (b. Leningrad, 21 January 1932; d. Leningrad, 10 September 1984, FIGURE 1), outstanding Russian scholar in the…

CASSANDANE, wife of Cyrus II, an Achaemenian, sister of Otanes and daughter of Pharnaspes. She bore four children: Cambyses II,…

CHALDEANS (Kaldu), West Semitic tribes of southern Babylonia attested in Assyrian texts from the early 9th century B.C. By the…

MESOPOTAMIA i. Iranians in Ancient Mesopotamia Medes. Beginning with the 9th century BCE, the Assyrians regularly raided the territory of…

ĀÇINA, an Old Persian name beginning with *āç- “fire;” cf. Hašina and Atrinā/Ašina, which are respectively the Elamite and Akkadian…

ACHAEMENES (Greek Achaiménēs), Old Persian proper name Haxāmaniš, traditionally derived from haxā- “friend” and manah “thinking power” (but see Achaemenid…

ACHAEMENID TAXATION,  a most important component of the Achaemenid state administration. According to Herodotus (3.89), in the Persian empire under…

AKES (Greek Akēs), a river in Central Asia, the modern Tejen or Harī-rūd (q.v.). According to Herodotus (3.117), before the…

ARAXA (Elamite ḫa-rak-qa, Akkadian a-ra-ḫu), Old Persian form of the name of a leader of a Babylonian rebellion against Darius…

ARBACES, Greek form of an Old Iranian proper name. 1. Arbaku (Ar-ba-ku), ruler of the Median district Arnasia, one of…

ARTABĒ, the Greek form of a Median and Old Persian measure of volume. The word appears as a loanword in…

ARTABANUS (Achaemenid personal name, Greek Artábanos, Akkadian Atarbanuš, Elamite Irtabanuš, Aramac ‘rtbnw, Lydian Artabãna, Mid. Pers. Ardawān), Latinized form of…

ARIOBARZANES, Greek form of an Old Iranian proper name *Ārya-bṛzāna-, perhaps signifying “exalting the Aryans;” the Old Persian form is…

ARTABAZUS (Gk. Artábazos, Elam. Ir-du-masda. Av. Ašavazdah from Old Iranian *Ṛta-vazdah; cf. Artavasdes), Old Iranian personal name. 1) Son of…

ARTASYRAS, Greek rendering of an Old Iranian name *Ṛta-sūra “powerful through Arta” (Akkadian Ar-ta-sur-ru, Elamite Ir-da-šu-ra), see M. Mayrhofer, Onomastica…

ARTAVARDIYA, Old Persian personal name (Elamite Ir-du-mar-ti-ya, Akkadian Ar-ta-mar-zi-ya, Aramaic ʾrtwrzy), from Old Pers. arta- and *vard -, meaning “doer…

i. History of Babylonia in the Median and Achaemenid Periods I. Political history. Babylonia came into being early in the…

AUTOPHRADATES (Greek rendering of Old Persian *Vāta-fradāta, Lycian Wataprddata). The bearers of this name include: 1. A satrap of Lydia…

ARTEMBARĒS, Greek form of an Old Iranian proper name * Ṛtam-para- (Lycian Arttumpara), meaning “who encourages the order.” 1) A…

BARDIYA, the younger son of Cyrus the Great. The name is derived from proto-Iranian *bardz-“be high.” In the Elamite version…

BARIKĀNU, a town in Media, which was conquered and forced to pay a tribute by the Assyrian king Sargon II…

BIBLE i. The Bible as a Source for Median and Achaemenid History The old biblical texts arose in various historic…

GRANTOVSKIĬ, EDVIN ARVIDOVICH (b. 16 February 1932 in Moscow; d. 28 June 1995; Figure 1), Russian Iranologist of Latvian descent….

HAMĀRAKARA (*hmāra-kara-, lit. “account-maker”), “bookkeeper,” an Old Iranian title attested in various sources of Achaemenid and later times. It occurs…

BICKERMAN, ELIAS JOSEPH (1897-1981), a lead­ing scholar of Greco-Roman history and the Hellenistic world, whose research interests extended to Judaism,…

FISCAL SYSTEM in Persia. i. ACHAEMENID PERIOD There probably was no clear distinction between state and royal incomes in the…

ANDIA, district to the south or east of lake Urmia which is often mentioned in close connection with Zikirtu in…

CITIZENSHIP  i. In the Achaemenid Period All freeborn inhabitants of the Achaemenid empire were considered subjects of the Persian king….

MAGI (OPers. magu-, Baby. maguš,  Gr. mágos [μάγος], Lat. magus),  the only recorded designation of priests of all western Iranians…

MAGOPHONIA (slaughter of the Magi).  According to Herodotus (3.79: τα μαγοφóνια; see also Ctesias, frag. 15: μαγοφονι α), when Darius…

COURTS AND COURTIERS i. In the Median and Achaemenid periods Available information on the Median and Achae­menid imperial courts is…

COMMERCE ii. In the Achaemenid period In the Achaemenid period trade, both within the empire and outside it, developed on…

EDUCATION i. IN THE ACHAEMENID PERIOD Little is known of the training of children during the Achaemenid period. In two…

ECONOMY iii. IN THE ACHAEMENID PERIOD The Achaemenid empire, extending from the Indus river to the Aegean sea, comprised such…

EBER-NĀRI (Aram. Abar Naharā, “Beyond/Across the river”), the Akkadian name used in Assyrian and Babylonian records of the 8th-5th centuries…

DOCUMENTS, production and registration of. i. In pre-Islamic periods. ii. Babylonian and Egyptian documents in the Achaemenid period. iii. In…

DIVORCE, legal termination of marriage. In the following series of articles only those communities are taken into consideration which are…

DĀDARŠIŠ, Old Persian name derived from darš “to dare” (Kent, Old Persian, p. 189). Three men with this name are…

CYRUS iii. Cyrus II The Great Cyrus II the Great (also known to the Greeks as Cyrus the Elder; b….

CYRUS iv. The Cyrus cylinder The Cyrus cylinder (British Museum, no. 90920; Walker, p. 158; Budge, pl. XL; Rawlinson, pl….

CONTRACTS (usually ʿaqd), legally enforceable undertakings between two or more consenting parties. Contract law is concerned with such questions as…

CAMBYSES (OPers. Kambūǰiya-, Elamite Kanbuziya, Akkadian Kambuziya, Aram. Knbwzy), the name of two kings of the Achaemenid dynasty. Accord­ing to…

BARDA and BARDA-DĀRI i. In the Achaemenid Period At the beginning of the Achaemenid period, the institution of slavery was…

HARPAGOS, a Median magnate and the trusted advisor of the last Median king Astyages (q.v.). In 550 B.C.E, during the…

FRĀDA, a Margian leader. According to the Bīsotūn (q.v.) inscription of Darius I (3.10-21), the people of Margiana, (i.e., Marv)…