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The death of Cyrus the Younger

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Sherylee R. Bassett
Sherylee R. Bassett
Affiliation:
University of Western Australia, [email protected]
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Plutarch's excerpt of Ctesias' version of the death of Cyrus makes fascinating reading. Although Ctesias has an unenviable reputation among scholars from antiquity onwards for fabrication and self-promotion, his description of the effects of trauma to the temple match well the clinical signs listed in a modern study of such injuries. Since he was a doctor from a family of doctors, this is not surprising, but it does suggest that his account here can be relied upon.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , December 1999 , pp. 473 - 483
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1999

References

1 See, for example, Breitenbach, H. R., ‘Xenophon’, RE IXA, 2 (Stuttgart, 1967), 1569–2052;Google ScholarBigwood, J. M., ‘The ancient accounts of the battle of Cunaxa’, AJP 104 (1983), 340–57;Google ScholarJacoby, F., ‘Ctesias’, RE XI, 2 (Stuttgart, 1922), 2032–73;Google ScholarCawkwell's, G. introduction to R., Warner (trans.), Xenophon: The Persian Expedition (London, 1972); and most recentlyGoogle ScholarLendle, O., Kommentar zu Xenophons Anabasis (Darmstadt, 1995), 74–5.Google Scholar

2 FGrH 688 F 20 = Plu. Art. 11; B., Perrin (trans.), Plutarch's Lives XI (London, 1926), 148–53.Google Scholar All references in this paper to Ctesias are to this passage unless otherwise specified.

3 FGrH 688 F 21 = Xen. An. 1.8.24–9; Brownson, C. L. (trans.), Xenophon Anabasis (London, 1992), 78–81.Google Scholar

4 FGrH 690 F 17 = Plu. Art. 10; Perrin (n. 2), 146–9. All references in this paper to Deinon are to this passage unless otherwise specified.

5 Ctesias left the court as a messenger from Artaxerxes II to Evagoras and Conon (FGrH 688 F 30; FGrH 688 F 32; Plu. Art. 21.1–3). These negotiations apparently began in the summer of 397, after Dercylidas' truce with Pharnabazus (DS 14.39.2; cf. 38. 3 with Xen. Hell. 3.2.20). The campaign proper opened in 396 after a build-up of forces in Cilicia (Philochorus, FGrH 328 F 144/5; Xen. Hell. 3.4.1). On the chronology of these events, see Lewis, D. M., Sparta and Persia (Leiden, 1977), 140–1Google Scholar with n. 41; Hornblower, S., ‘Persia’, in Lewis, D. M., J., Boardman, S., Hornblower, and M., Ostwald (edd.), CAH2 vol. 6, The Fourth Century B.C. (Cambridge, 1994), 67.Google Scholar

6 The dating of the Anabasis is controversial. Internal evidence, particularly 5.3.4–13, suggests that it was written when Xenophon was resident in Corinth after 369. Xenophon's references to Ctesias at 1.8.26–7 can hardly be a later gloss, as suggested by Dürrbach, F., ‘L'apologie de Xenophon dans I’ Anabase', REG 6 (1893), 343–86,Google Scholar at 363–4. Bigwood (n. 1), 348 considers that Xenophon is implying at 1.8.27 that he does not believe the figure given by Ctesias, but this is a device which enables Xenophon to imply that the number was large without actually giving a definite figure.

λέγεται occurs at Xen. An. 1.8.24 regarding Artagerses' death, 1.8.28 concerning Artapates' death, and 2.6.29 referring to the death of Menon the Thessalian. Xenophon uses λέγεται on eleven occasions in the Anabasis. Apart from the three references mentioned, only one other reference is to events at the time of the march up country. At 1.2.14 Xenophon reports that it was said the Cilician queen asked Cyrus to exhibit the army. This would presumably have been a record of gossip circulating in the camp at the time. There are three instances which relate to Persian history: 1.2.9 Xerxes' palace, 3.4.11 Medea the king's wife, and 3.5.15 Ecbatana. Three references are concerned with myth: 1.2.8 Apollo flayed Marsayas, 1.2.13 Midas caught the satyr, and 6.2.2 Heracles and Hades. At 5.7.7 Xenophon refers to a common saying.

7 Stevenson, R. B., ‘Fourth century Greek historical writing about Persia in the period between the accession of Artaxerxes II Mnemon and that of Darius III (404–336 B.C.)’, D.Phil. Thesis (Oxford, 1985), at 116–17, 186–7. Cf. id.,Google Scholar‘Lies and invention in Deinon's Persica’, in H., Sancisi Weerdenburg and A., Kuhrt (edd.), Achaemenid History II—The Greek Sources—Proceedings of the Groningen 1984 Achaemenid History Workshop (Leiden, 1987), 27–35, at 29–31.Google Scholar

8 Plut. Art. 14 states that Artaxerxes wished people to think that he himself had killed Cyrus, and chapters 14–16 = FGrH 688 F 26 describe the punishment of Mithridates and the Carian for claiming that they had inflicted the fatal injuries.

9 Contract between the Greeks and Ariaeus, Tissaphernes, and their armies, Xen. An. 2.1.3–5, 2.1.7–23, 2.2.1–2, 2.2.8–12, 2.3.1–2.4.2, 2.4.9–2.4.22, 2.5.2, 2.5.27; Tissaphernes' loyalty, An. 1.2.4–5, 1.8.9.

10 Bigwood, Joan, ‘Ctesias of Cnidus’, Ph.D. Thesis (Harvard, 1964), 170 notes that one of Ctesias' characteristics is the care he takes in describing the precise location of wounds.Google Scholar

11 LSJ9 pp. 1874–5. There are over twenty-five examples of ύπó with the accusative of place in Xenophon, e.g. An. 1.10.14; Hell. 6.2.31; Cyr. 1.5.3; Ages. 1.23; Oec. 18.5.

12 Africa, T. W., ‘The one-eyed man against Rome: an exercise in euhemerism’, Historia 19 (1970), 528–38, at 528–9.Google Scholar

13 Cf. the Scholia to Xen. An. 1.8.6 directing attention to Hdt. 3.12, which indicates that the Persians traditionally wore tiaras, and 7.61, where Herodotus describes Persian armour as including the tiara.

14 Plutarch epitomizes Ctesias' comment (FGrH 688 F 20 = Plu. Art. 11) that it was dark and Cyrus' enemies did not recognize him and his friends could not find him; Xen. An. 2.5.23 τ⋯ν μέν γàρ єπί τῇ κεΦαλῇ τιáραν βασιλεî μóνῳ ἔξεστιν òρθὴν ἔχειν …; Plu. Them. 29.7–8.

15 See too the description of the death of Masistius in Hdt. 9.22. The Greeks were unable to kill the Persian cavalry commander because of his thorax of golden scales. When someone noticed what they were doing, he struck Masistius in the eye (παίει μιν ἐṣ τò ὀΦθαλμόν). Masistius was presumably wearing a helmet as well as his golden thorax.

16 A variant reading of Plu. Art. 11, Plutarch's epitome of Ctesias, has Cyrus μεστòς ὢν όρμῆς καὶ θρáσονς ‘full of impetuosity and confidence’. Whichever reading is chosen, Ctesias' comment is that Cyrus behaved recklessly.

17 Xenophon often uses the middle form of ἳημι with a meaning of ‘to attack’ or ‘to rush upon’, e.g. An. 1.5.8, 3.4.41, 4.2.7, etc.

18 Xenophon places Ariaeus on Cyrus' left wing and not in the centre with Cyrus at all (An. 1.8.5); cf. Diodorus Siculus' contracted version at 14.23.5. There, both men charged at each other, ὤρμησαν ἐπ’ ὰλλ⋯λους. This seems to have been (ultimately) derived from Ctesias, whether it was transmitted by way of the Oxyrhynchus Historian as well as Ephorus, or Ephorus alone. On this point see Westlake, H. D., ‘Diodorus and the expedition of Cyrus’, Phoenix 41 (1987), 241–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar = Studies in Thucydides and Greek History (Bristol, 1989), 260–73.

19 In fact Ctesias' version, in which following the wounding of Artaxerxes most of his followers fled, supports this idea.

20 For ὰνϰωέ with the negative in Xenophon see An. 5.6.34, 7.7.47; Hell. 4.8.4, 6.5.28, 6.5.49; and Cyr. 8.4.16. Hdt., e.g. 1.80, 1.207, 1.169, 3.127, and 5.89. Thucydides has one occurrence of ὰνϰωέ with the negative (3.28.2), and it too has a meaning of mental endurance.

21 Jacoby (n. 1), 2067.

22 Xenophon mentions Artapates in only one other episode (1.6.11). There he is also characterized as ‘the most trustworthy of Cyrus' sceptre-bearers’. Gray, V. J., The Character of Xenophon's Hellenica (London, 1989),Google Scholar 22 discusses this ‘punchline’ effect. For Xenophon's use of repetition for emphasis see ibid., 89; The idea that Cyrus' judgement was accurate is carried over into the encomium which follows immediately (An. 1. 9.1–31).

23 Mather, M. W. and Hewitt, J. W. (edd.), Xenophon Anabasis Books I-IV (Oklahoma, 1962), 291;Google Scholar LSJ9 p. 663.

24 Xen. Cyr. 7.3.7 (ὲπισϕαγείη) and 7.3.11 (ὲπισϕαγ⋯σεται), cf. 7.1.32.

25 The reading ὲαντòν would seem to be correct. Some have suggested that the intensive pronoun should be read instead (αὐτόν), but the reflexive pronoun with a middle voice verb appears consistent with classical usage and a change is not obviously required. On this point, see Goodall, B., ‘The reflexive pronoun in Xenophon's Anabasis and Hellenica’, California Studies in Classical Antiquity 9 (1977), 41 at 45, n. 17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

26 Hdt. 1.45.4 an d 1.45.18, cf. 1.35. èπικατασΦáζω occurs in Herodotu s only in these two passages, and at Hellanicus FGrH 4 F 155. The verb èπισΦáζω is only used by Xenophon at An. 1.8.28–9 and Cyr. 7.3.7, 11 (see below) and is otherwise rare. For the more general issue, see D. H. Pomp. 4.1, who believed that Xenophon's Cyropaedia, Anabasis, and Hellenica were influenced by Herodotus rather than Thucydides. Similarities between passages in Herodotus and Xenophon's works have been noted by, for example, Gray (n. 29), 6, and Hirsch, S. W., The Friendship of the Barbarians—Xenophon and the Persian Empire (Hanover and London, 1985), 77–8.Google Scholar Gray comments at p. 67 that it is typically Herodotean to give two versions of a story without expressing an opinion as to which version the writer believes to be correct.

27 FGrH 688 F 20 = Plu. Art. 11; Perrin (n. 2), 151 (modified).

28 FGrH 688 F 16.

29 FGrH 688 F 26 = Plu. Art. 14; Perrin (n. 2), 159 (modified).

30 FGrH 688 F 26 = Plu. Art. 15; Perrin (n. 2), 161 (modified).

31 Ibid.

32 LSJ9. At p. 1404 under πίλος a translation of ‘felt cloth’ used for horse-cloths is suggested. The only example listed is Plut. Art. 11. At p. 745, under ὲΦίππιος, where ‘for putting on a horse’ is the suggested translation, Plut. Art. 11 is the only example cited in combination with πίλος; Perrin (n. 2), 151. These words do not occur either individually or combined elsewhere in the Ctesian fragments. See also item no. 2 of R. Kreis-von Schaewen's article on the πίλος, RE XX, 2 (Stuttgart, 1950), 1330–3.

33 LSJ9 p. 745; OLD1 p. 612 ‘ephippium -ii-a cloth on which the rider of a horse sits’.

34 A search of the TLG confirms the range of meanings for πίλος, with by far the most common meaning being ‘cap’ (e.g. Hdt. 3.12, 7.61, 7.92, Theoc. Id. 21.13); Ath. 11.503B = Antiph. Fr. 108 (PCG), 368.

35 Hdt. 3.12 and 7.61; cf. Hecat. FGrH 1 F 284.

36 Goldman, B., ‘The Persian saddle blanket’, Studia Iranica 13 (1984), 7–18,Google Scholar at 9; and see, for instance, J., Boardman (ed.), CAH—Plates to Volume IV, new edn (Cambridge, 1988), pl. 67Google Scholar of a bronze horseman from the fifth to fourth centuries B.C.

37 Xen. Cyr. 8.3.6, cf. 8.3.7 and 8, Eq. 7.5, 12.8, 12.9, Eq. Mag. 8.4; Phot. Bibl. 250, 445b; S. M. Burstein suggests that Agatharchides is referring to Aithiopia when he says οί καϒà τὴν ϰώραν ἐκείνην, but since he has just mentioned that Ptolemy recruited mercenaries in Greece, I think Agatharchides must mean Greece (Agatharchides of Cnidus [London, 1989], 52, n. 3).

38 Romanes, G. J. (reviser), Cunningham's Manual of Practical Anatomy, volume 3: Head and Neck and Brain (London, 1967 13),Google Scholar 63 says of the middle meningeal artery: ‘This is a small but important artery, because its frontal branch is the commonest source of extradural haemorrhage, and it lies adjacent to the motor area of the brain, which may be compressed by such a collection of blood’; Irby, W. B., ‘Concomitant injuries—diagnosis and concepts of treatment’, in id. (ed.), Facial Trauma and Concomitant Problems (Saint Louis, 1974), 72–120Google Scholar at 89; Lewin, W., The Management of Head Injuries (London, 1966), 84.Google Scholar

39 FGrH 688 F 20 = Plu. Art. 11.

40 FGrH 688 F 19 = Plu. Art. 9, cf. n. 34 above.

41 J., Boardman (ed.), CAH—Plates to Volume III, new edn (Cambridge, 1984), pl. 217;Google Scholar Curt. 3.11.15.

42 I am most grateful to Professor Brian Bosworth of the University of Western Australia for his suggestions for improvement of earlier drafts of this paper. The anonymous referee and the editor have made detailed and constructive comments which were extremely helpful, and I thank them for their suggestions.