Lords of Asia Minor: An Introduction to the Lydians. By Annick Payne and Jorit Wintjes. Philippik... more Lords of Asia Minor: An Introduction to the Lydians. By Annick Payne and Jorit Wintjes. Philippika, vol. 93. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2016. Pp. x + 144, illus. €29 .80 (paper).
The actuality of this paper is due to the research of the diplomatic relations between West and E... more The actuality of this paper is due to the research of the diplomatic relations between West and East, which is currying out in the modern scholarship. The aim of the paper is to investigate the diplomatic relations between the Persian King Cyrus the Great and the Greeks. The paper is built up on the comparative analysis of the Greek narrative sources that enabled us to give a detailed consideration of the relations between Cyrus and the Greeks. The novelty is that no other works in the literature that consider this subject specially. The main problem of this paper is to clarify how Cyrus the Great did achieve his objectives in the foreign policy by means of a diplomacy, The analysis of the sources shows that Cyrus the Great used diplomacy only to threat to the Greeks. It is argued that this Persian King was deprived of any diplomatic flexibility. It is concluded that he preferred to discuss all the matters with the Greeks relying only to the military pressure. The results of this pa...
The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of inscriptions for study of some Greek di... more The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of inscriptions for study of some Greek diplomatic procedures such as concluding treaties and exchange of envoys between the Greek poleis themselves and the Greeks and the barbarians. The scholars usually study the diplomacy of classical Greece primarily on the basis of literary sources involving inscriptions only for comparing with the evidence of narrative material. The inscriptions provide us with information on the development of treaties’ vocabulary. They allow to determine main features of the Greek allied and peace treaties which were in existence during two centuries in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. It is concluded that the inscriptions when comparing with the narrative sources, on the one hand, allow to study the Greek vocabulary of diplomacy, on the second hand, to understand the Greek diplomatic procedures and their development, on the third hand, to compliment other sources relating to the Greek diplomatic events.
SummaryIn October of 2018 a new trilingual Achaemenid inscription from Naqsh-e Rostam was discove... more SummaryIn October of 2018 a new trilingual Achaemenid inscription from Naqsh-e Rostam was discovered and in March of 2019 a detailed investigation of it with linguistic and historical commentary was published online in ARTA. The inscription includes a previously unknown Old Persian verb, a-f-r-[?]-a-t-i-y, which the first publishers Soheil Delshad and Mojtaba Doroodi read as *ā-fra-yāti(perhaps “he comes forward to”) or *ā-fra-θāti(“he speaks forth to”). They conclude that “an Old Persian verb with the meaning ‘to greet, to bless’ (etc.) seems to be called for”. It is clear that as a result of this discovery we get an Old Persian verb which could refer to an act which the Greek verb προσκυνεῖν may have described relating to the Persians. This new evidence stimulates further discussion about the practice and meaning ofproskynēsisat the royal court in the Achaemenid Empire. My article shows that all literary and pictorial evidences onproskynēsismay be divided into two groups: 1) Greek...
This book is devoted to Plutarch’s use of Persica in his works (primarily, in Artaxerxes) and Plu... more This book is devoted to Plutarch’s use of Persica in his works (primarily, in Artaxerxes) and Plutarch’s method of writing. The volume comprises an introduction, five chapters, a conclusion and two appendices. The table of contents is unfortunately not as clear as it could be because the titles of chapters do not give any clear indication of what kind of information they include. On pages 31–2, however, A. gives a useful outline of each chapter (but not the appendices), which are devoted to the known Persica authors: two chapters for Ctesias, two for Deinon and one for Heracleides. The Persica topic is not new to historiography (see e.g. R.B. Stevenson, Persica. Greek Writing about Persia in the Fourth Century BC [1997]), and several books have been devoted to Ctesias (more recently: J.P. Stronk, Ctesias’ Persian History: Introduction, text, and translation [2010]; L. Llewellyn-Jones & J. Robson, Ctesias’ History of Persia. Tales of the Orient [2012]; M. Waters, Ctesias’ Persica in Its Near Eastern Context [2017]). A. claims that the aim of the book is ‘to build a bridge’ between Achaemenid/Persian Studies and studies of Greek imperial literature (particularly studies of Plutarch) (p. 1). A. wants to understand better the character of the Persica (‘fourth century BCE portrayals of Ancient Persia’, ib.) and the ‘manner of reception and adaptation of these works nearly five hundred years later’ (ib.). A. supposes that it will enable us ‘to appreciate the information given on Persia in extant texts of Plutarch’ and allow us to understand better Plutarch’s method of writing his works (p. 2). First, A. presents an analysis of the more significant parts of Plutarch’s Persica (Ctesias), then he presents the work with the parts of Persica that are less represented in Plutarch’s texts (Deinon and Heracleides). In the first chapter, ‘Ctesias (a)’, A. considers the places in Plutarch’s texts where he indicates the use of Ctesias’ Persica directly, and the second chapter, ‘Ctesias (b)’, is dedicated to those sections that were probably taken from Ctesias by Plutarch, but without direct reference. Also in this chapter, A. compares information from Ctesias’ fragments with similar evidence from other sources, reflecting upon how Plutarch dealt with the differences between Ctesias and other texts. A. rightly notes that Plutarch censured the ‘mythical’ element in Ctesias’ writing, and, alongside other ancient authors, drew attention to the limitations of Ctesias’ work: bias, excessive digressions, verbosity and dubious descriptions (p. 255). Nevertheless, THE CLASSICAL REVIEW 419
Summary The problem of the meaning of earth and water in the context of the language of Achaemeni... more Summary The problem of the meaning of earth and water in the context of the language of Achaemenid imperial diplomacy towards the Greeks is considered in this paper. It is concluded that the Persian demand for subjugation was a verbal expression of Persian diplomacy while earth and water themselves as material things that could have different symbolic meanings for different peoples was its non-verbal expression. The Greeks might have perceived the giving of earth and water simply as an acknowledgement of the Persians’ superiority by both land and sea. It is argued in this paper that the Persian official conception of earth and water would have been dependent on imperial ideology seeing the earth as meaning a land / territory and the water as symbolizing seas or / and rivers as limit of this territory.
Автор рассматривает характер македонско-персидских отношений во 2 половине IV в. до н.э. на приме... more Автор рассматривает характер македонско-персидских отношений во 2 половине IV в. до н.э. на примере анализа договора о дружбе и союзе между Артаксерксом III и Филиппом II. Автор приходит к выводу, что договор следует признать историчным. Также автор полагает, что с инициативой подписания мирного договора выступал Артаксеркс III Ох
Lords of Asia Minor: An Introduction to the Lydians. By Annick Payne and Jorit Wintjes. Philippik... more Lords of Asia Minor: An Introduction to the Lydians. By Annick Payne and Jorit Wintjes. Philippika, vol. 93. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2016. Pp. x + 144, illus. €29 .80 (paper).
The actuality of this paper is due to the research of the diplomatic relations between West and E... more The actuality of this paper is due to the research of the diplomatic relations between West and East, which is currying out in the modern scholarship. The aim of the paper is to investigate the diplomatic relations between the Persian King Cyrus the Great and the Greeks. The paper is built up on the comparative analysis of the Greek narrative sources that enabled us to give a detailed consideration of the relations between Cyrus and the Greeks. The novelty is that no other works in the literature that consider this subject specially. The main problem of this paper is to clarify how Cyrus the Great did achieve his objectives in the foreign policy by means of a diplomacy, The analysis of the sources shows that Cyrus the Great used diplomacy only to threat to the Greeks. It is argued that this Persian King was deprived of any diplomatic flexibility. It is concluded that he preferred to discuss all the matters with the Greeks relying only to the military pressure. The results of this pa...
The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of inscriptions for study of some Greek di... more The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of inscriptions for study of some Greek diplomatic procedures such as concluding treaties and exchange of envoys between the Greek poleis themselves and the Greeks and the barbarians. The scholars usually study the diplomacy of classical Greece primarily on the basis of literary sources involving inscriptions only for comparing with the evidence of narrative material. The inscriptions provide us with information on the development of treaties’ vocabulary. They allow to determine main features of the Greek allied and peace treaties which were in existence during two centuries in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. It is concluded that the inscriptions when comparing with the narrative sources, on the one hand, allow to study the Greek vocabulary of diplomacy, on the second hand, to understand the Greek diplomatic procedures and their development, on the third hand, to compliment other sources relating to the Greek diplomatic events.
SummaryIn October of 2018 a new trilingual Achaemenid inscription from Naqsh-e Rostam was discove... more SummaryIn October of 2018 a new trilingual Achaemenid inscription from Naqsh-e Rostam was discovered and in March of 2019 a detailed investigation of it with linguistic and historical commentary was published online in ARTA. The inscription includes a previously unknown Old Persian verb, a-f-r-[?]-a-t-i-y, which the first publishers Soheil Delshad and Mojtaba Doroodi read as *ā-fra-yāti(perhaps “he comes forward to”) or *ā-fra-θāti(“he speaks forth to”). They conclude that “an Old Persian verb with the meaning ‘to greet, to bless’ (etc.) seems to be called for”. It is clear that as a result of this discovery we get an Old Persian verb which could refer to an act which the Greek verb προσκυνεῖν may have described relating to the Persians. This new evidence stimulates further discussion about the practice and meaning ofproskynēsisat the royal court in the Achaemenid Empire. My article shows that all literary and pictorial evidences onproskynēsismay be divided into two groups: 1) Greek...
This book is devoted to Plutarch’s use of Persica in his works (primarily, in Artaxerxes) and Plu... more This book is devoted to Plutarch’s use of Persica in his works (primarily, in Artaxerxes) and Plutarch’s method of writing. The volume comprises an introduction, five chapters, a conclusion and two appendices. The table of contents is unfortunately not as clear as it could be because the titles of chapters do not give any clear indication of what kind of information they include. On pages 31–2, however, A. gives a useful outline of each chapter (but not the appendices), which are devoted to the known Persica authors: two chapters for Ctesias, two for Deinon and one for Heracleides. The Persica topic is not new to historiography (see e.g. R.B. Stevenson, Persica. Greek Writing about Persia in the Fourth Century BC [1997]), and several books have been devoted to Ctesias (more recently: J.P. Stronk, Ctesias’ Persian History: Introduction, text, and translation [2010]; L. Llewellyn-Jones & J. Robson, Ctesias’ History of Persia. Tales of the Orient [2012]; M. Waters, Ctesias’ Persica in Its Near Eastern Context [2017]). A. claims that the aim of the book is ‘to build a bridge’ between Achaemenid/Persian Studies and studies of Greek imperial literature (particularly studies of Plutarch) (p. 1). A. wants to understand better the character of the Persica (‘fourth century BCE portrayals of Ancient Persia’, ib.) and the ‘manner of reception and adaptation of these works nearly five hundred years later’ (ib.). A. supposes that it will enable us ‘to appreciate the information given on Persia in extant texts of Plutarch’ and allow us to understand better Plutarch’s method of writing his works (p. 2). First, A. presents an analysis of the more significant parts of Plutarch’s Persica (Ctesias), then he presents the work with the parts of Persica that are less represented in Plutarch’s texts (Deinon and Heracleides). In the first chapter, ‘Ctesias (a)’, A. considers the places in Plutarch’s texts where he indicates the use of Ctesias’ Persica directly, and the second chapter, ‘Ctesias (b)’, is dedicated to those sections that were probably taken from Ctesias by Plutarch, but without direct reference. Also in this chapter, A. compares information from Ctesias’ fragments with similar evidence from other sources, reflecting upon how Plutarch dealt with the differences between Ctesias and other texts. A. rightly notes that Plutarch censured the ‘mythical’ element in Ctesias’ writing, and, alongside other ancient authors, drew attention to the limitations of Ctesias’ work: bias, excessive digressions, verbosity and dubious descriptions (p. 255). Nevertheless, THE CLASSICAL REVIEW 419
Summary The problem of the meaning of earth and water in the context of the language of Achaemeni... more Summary The problem of the meaning of earth and water in the context of the language of Achaemenid imperial diplomacy towards the Greeks is considered in this paper. It is concluded that the Persian demand for subjugation was a verbal expression of Persian diplomacy while earth and water themselves as material things that could have different symbolic meanings for different peoples was its non-verbal expression. The Greeks might have perceived the giving of earth and water simply as an acknowledgement of the Persians’ superiority by both land and sea. It is argued in this paper that the Persian official conception of earth and water would have been dependent on imperial ideology seeing the earth as meaning a land / territory and the water as symbolizing seas or / and rivers as limit of this territory.
Автор рассматривает характер македонско-персидских отношений во 2 половине IV в. до н.э. на приме... more Автор рассматривает характер македонско-персидских отношений во 2 половине IV в. до н.э. на примере анализа договора о дружбе и союзе между Артаксерксом III и Филиппом II. Автор приходит к выводу, что договор следует признать историчным. Также автор полагает, что с инициативой подписания мирного договора выступал Артаксеркс III Ох
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