King and Court in Ancient Persia 559 to 331 BCE

289 Pages·2013·5.3 MB·English

by  Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

DEBATES AND DOCUMENTS IN ANCIENT HISTORY DEBATES AND DOCUMENTS IN ANCIENT HISTORY
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Series Editors: Emma Stafford and Shaun Tougher c
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‘This is a very important contribution not only to Achaemenid studies but also to the wider P
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literature on royal courts in general. It is very well written and ably supported by source e Ancient Persia

material which will render it invaluable for students and scholars alike.’ ra
St John Simpson, Curator, The British Museum sn
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An exploration of monarchy and elite society at the political 5 C 559 to 331
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and cultural hub of the vast Persian Empire o
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The Persians established the biggest land empire the world had seen, and seated at ot
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However, a new vision of Persian kingship is now emerging from Iranian and other

Near Eastern sources – literary, visual, and archaeological – which shows the monarchs b
in a very different light. Inscriptions of Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, and their heirs, present c
a propagandistic image of Persian rulers as liberators, peace-makers, valiant warriors, e
righteous god-fearing judges, and law-makers. Around about them, the kings established
a lavish and sophisticated court, the centre of political decision-making and the hub of
cultural achievements in which the image of monarchy was endorsed and advanced by an
almost theatrical display of grandeur and power.
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones explores the representation of Persian monarchy and the court of the
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Achaemenid Great Kings from the point of view of the ancient Iranians themselves (as well L
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as other Near Eastern peoples) and through the sometimes distorted prism of Classical
and Biblical sources. Y
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Key Features L
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• Draws on rich Iranian and Classical sources and exposes new evidence and E
interpretations W
• Accesses the rarefied but dangerous world of Persia palace life E
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• Includes a comprehensive timeline, further reading, and web resources to encourage L
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research N
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Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Edinburgh. J
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Cover design: riverdesign.co.uk
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Cover image: Esther Denouncing
Haman Ernest Normand c. 1915 ISBN 978-0-7486-4125-3
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www.euppublishing.com r LLOYD LLEWELLYN-JONES
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King and Court in Ancient Persia 559 to 331 bce
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DEBATES AND DOCUMENTS IN ANCIENT HISTORY
general editors
Emma Staff ord, University of Leeds and
Shaun Tougher, Cardiff University
Focusing on important themes, events or periods throughout ancient
history, each volume in this series is divided into roughly equal parts. Th e
fi rst introduces the reader to the main issues of interpretation. Th e second
contains a selection of relevant evidence supporting diff erent views.
published
Diocletian and the Tetrarchy
Roger Rees
Julian the Apostate
Shaun Tougher
Rome and its Empire, ad 193–284
Olivier Hekster with Nicholas Zair
Roman Imperialism
Andrew Erskine
King and Court in Ancient Persia 559 to 331 bce
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
forthcoming
Th e Family in the Roman World
Mary Harlow and Tim Parkin
Sex and Sexuality in Classical Athens
James Robson
Justinian and the Sixth Century
Fiona Haarer
Th e Emperor Nero
Steven Green
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King and Court in Ancient
Persia 559 to 331 bce
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
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For David
(& César-Phoebus and Maisie)
© Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, 2013
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
22 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LF
www.euppublishing.com
Typeset in 11/13 Minion
by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire, and
printed and bound in Great Britain by
CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7486 4126 0 (hardback)
ISBN 978 0 7486 4125 3 (paperback)
ISBN 978 0 7486 7710 8 (webready PDF)
ISBN 978 0 7486 7711 5 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7486 7712 2 (Amazon ebook)
Th e right of Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
to be identifi ed as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published with the support of the Edinburgh University Scholarly
Publishing Initiatives Fund.
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Contents
Series Editors’ Preface xi
Preface xiii
A Note on Abbreviations xvii
Timeline xix
Map of the Persian Empire xxvii
Map of Iran xxviii
Plan of the Terrace at Persepolis xxix
Part I Debates
Introduction 3
Chapter 1 Th e Great King and His Men 12
Chapter 2 Pomp and Circumstance: Monarchy on Display 42
Chapter 3 Th e Great King in His Empire: Th e Movable Court 74
Chapter 4 Harem: Royal Women and the Court 96
Chapter 5 Th e Pleasures and Perils of Court Life 123
Part II Documents
A1. Th e royal investiture 151
A2. Coronation hymn of Ashurbanipal 151
A3. Th e ‘vassal treaty’ of Esarhaddon 152
A4. Princely education 152
A5. Succession debates 152
A6. Xerxes as co-regent? 153
A7. Co-regency 153
A8. Greek speculations on Persian royal divinity 154
A9. Uncompromising advice to a ruler 154
A10. Achaemenid royal ideology 155
A11. Yahweh and the command for genocide 155
A12. A dream omen of Ashurbanipal 155
A13. Court propaganda: a fi ghting king 156
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vi King and Court in Ancient Persia
A14. Darius III: warrior king 156
A15. Th e destruction of Sidon 156
A16. A who’s who of Israelite courtiers 157
A17. Explaining the nature of the court and Empire 157
A18. King and councillors 158
A19. Darius II issues commands through his satrap Aršama 159
A20. City walls and a plague of locusts 159
B1. Rituals of dining 160
B2. Seating etiquette 160
B3. Th e invention of inaccessibility 160
B4. Invisible monarchs of the past 161
B5. Th e invisible king 161
B6. Darius and Xerxes on the building of Persepolis 162
B7. Th e creation of Darius’ palace at Susa 162
B8. Th e beauty of Darius III and his womenfolk 163
B9. Moulding the bodies of infant royalty 163
B10. Cyrus the Great adopts Median dress, cosmetics, and
deportment 163
B11. Th e dress and good looks of Astyages of Media 164
B12. Court beauticians and body servants 164
B13. Wigs or hair-pieces 165
B14. Breaching the etiquette of sleeves 165
B15. Semiramis wears the king’s robe and rules 165
B16. Courtiers’ muddy robes 165
B17. Royal punishment and clothing 166
B18. Intaphrenes and his wife 166
B19. Th e Gate of All Nations 167
B20. Imagining Th emistocles’ royal audience 167
B21. Esther before the king 168
B22. Overwhelming emotions of a royal audience 168
B23. Th e royal footsool 169
B24. Alexander’s makeshift footstool 169
B25. Carpets and thrones 169
B26. Obeisance to the king 170
B27. Obsequious salutations to the pharaoh of Egypt 170
C1. Th e king’s lands 170
C2. Th e Empire at large 170
C3. Th e diverse Empire 171
C4. Criss-crossing the Empire 171
C5. Aršama the satrap of Egypt orders rations for a travelling
party 171
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Contents vii
C6. Cyrus’ search for an uninterrupted springtime 172
C7. Th e pleasure of relocation 172
C8. Bigger is not better: criticising the king’s migrations 172
C9. Relocating across Greece is better than traversing an
Empire 172
C10. Th e luxury of traversing the Empire 173
C11. Th e spawning of the mackerel – and the Great King 173
C12. Th e Great King on the toilet 174
C13. An Empire on the move: Darius III and his court journey
through Babylonia 174
C14. All the king’s horses 175
C15. Th e Egyptian satrap commissions an equestrian statue 176
C16. King as horseman warrior 176
C17. Horses sacrifi ced to Cyrus’ memory 176
C18. Royal camels 176
C19. Clearing the king’s path of scorpions 177
C20. Modest gift s of food and drink 177
C21. Th e origin of the king’s largess towards women 178
C22. Baziš: small livestock 178
C23. Gift s of abundance 179
C24. Figs from Athens 179
C25. Cyrus’ camp and tent 180
C26. Tented luxury 180
C27. Alexander commandeers the royal tent 181
C28. Alexander’s marriage tent 181
C29. Alexander’s royal tent and court 182
C30. Th e cost of feeding a peripatetic court 182
C31. Expenditure on food 183
C32. Food as tribute 183
C33. Th e king’s dinner 183
C34. Th e royal table and food distribution 184
C35. Paradeisoi as royal storage units 185
C36. Paradeisoi of the satrap Pharnabazus at Daskyleion 185
C37. A paradeisos near Uruk? 185
C38. Cyrus generates a storm 185
C39. Artaxerxes II controls the weather 186
D1. Greek speculations on Persian moral and cultural decline
and the idea of harem upbringing 186
D2. Th e honour of the king’s wife 187
D3. ‘Oriental’ seclusion 187
D4. Breaching etiquette 188
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viii King and Court in Ancient Persia
D5. Keeping a distance from the royal concubines 188
D6. Concubines show deference to royal wives 188
D7. Prestige of royal ladies 188
D8. Dynastic politics and the king’s mother 188
D9. Sexual shenanigans and punishment 189
D10. A ration of sheep to Queen Irtašduna 190
D11. Th e king commands that virgins be brought to the royal
harem at Susa 190
D12. Th e ‘second harem’: concubinage as a royal ‘fi nishing
school’ 190
D13. Captive Sidonian women enter the Babylonian palace of
Artaxerxes III 191
D14. Th e capture of concubines as part of the royal household 191
D15. Th e lower status of concubines 191
D16. Concubines as mothers of kings 191
D17. Th e 360 concubines of Artaxerxes II 192
D18. Th e 360 concubines of Darius III 192
D19. Th e Persian concubines of Alexander the Great 192
E1. A concubine’s song 192
E2. Songs about Cyrus 193
E3. Angares, a Persian bard 193
E4. A Persian love story 193
E5. Professional wrestlers at the court of Darius II 195
E6. Etiquette of the king’s dinner 195
E7. Th e pleasure of a royal banquet 195
E8. Frustrations of hunting in a paradeisos 196
E9. Th e splendour of the royal chase 196
E10. Royal Egyptian lion hunts 197
E11. Royal Assyrian lion hunts 197
E12. Alexander kills a lion 198
E13. Artaxerxes I’s new hunting etiquette 198
E14. Rivalry and revenge: Xerxes’ women 198
E15. Bad feelings among the royal ladies 200
E16. Poisoning the king’s wife 200
E17. Poison at the Persian court 201
E18. Cup-bearer and taster 201
E19. Exclusive Indian poison at the Persian court 201
E20. Poison and the death of Alexander 202
E21. A eunuch king-maker 202
E22. Succession struggles: the ‘Dynastic Prophecy’ 202
E23. A Babylonian account of Xerxes’ assassination 203
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Contents ix
E24. Accounts of the death of Xerxes 203
E25. Patricide and regicide: the death of Artaxerxes II 203
E26. Court conspiracy: the plot and execution of Prince
Darius 204
E27. Fratricide at court 207
F1. Doorjamb from the Tripylon (Council Hall) at Persepolis
depicting the Great King and two courtiers (represented
on a smaller scale than the king) in procession 208
F2. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iran’s last monarch,
crowns himself with a Sasanian-style crown 209
F3. Re-creation of the Treasury relief, Persepolis 210
F4. A tiny lapis lazuli head of an Achaemenid courtier from
Persepolis 211
F5. Darius I’s relief and inscription at Bisitun 212
F6. Th e Elamite king Anubanini, from a rock relief at Sar-i
Pol, Luristan 213
F7. An Achaemenid king (possibly Xerxes or Artaxerxes I)
in his role as ‘Persian hero’ kills an Asiatic lion 214
F8. Detail of a glazed brick wall depicting an Immortal
guard with a quiver and bow slung over his shoulder 215
F9. A eunuch or beardless courtier from the palace of
Darius, Persepolis 216
F10. Egyptianising monumental statue of Darius I from
Susa 217
F11. Reconstructed details of the Apadana north staircase,
Persepolis, depicting tribute-bearers from across the
Empire 218
F12. Th e peoples of the Empire support the king’s throne 219
F13. Achaemenid courtier in the ‘riding habit’ 220
F14. Line drawing of an Achaemenid king wearing the court
robe 221
F15. Reconstruction of Xerxes’ Gate of All Nations 222
F16. Reconstructed views of the north elevation and north
staircase and portico of the Apadana at Persepolis 223
F17. Th rone-bearers from across the Empire support Darius I
as he worships Ahuramazda 224
F18. Darius I’s name seal 225
F19. A small part of the extensive L-shaped harem block at
the southern end of the Persepolis platform as seen from
Xerxes’ palace 226
F20. A female audience scene 227
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