Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-n8gtw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-08T01:27:22.941Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

TWO NOTES ON DARIUS III

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

Michael Charles
Michael Charles*
Affiliation:
Southern Cross University, Australia
*
*E-mail: michael.charles@scu.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article presents new insights into two aspects of the life of Darius III. In the first section, Darius’ presentation as a ‘slave’ in one source tradition is argued to be a delegitimising trope aimed at presenting him as an unworthy king, even though all Persians could be regarded as slaves of the monarch. In the second, Justin's use of cognati to describe those who betrayed Darius is interpreted, in the light of other accounts of Gaugamela's aftermath, as possibly being an allusion not just to blood-relatives but also to the cavalry guard, known as the ‘Kinsmen’ (συγγενεῖς = cognati).

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
The Cambridge Classical Journal , Volume 62 , December 2016 , pp. 52 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Works cited

Adler, A. (1971) Suidae lexicon. Volume I, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Ambaglio, D. (2005) Review of Pierre Briant, Darius dans l'ombre d'Alexandre, Athenaeum 92, 707–9.Google Scholar
Atkinson, J. E. (1980) A commentary on Q. Curtius Rufus’ Historiae Alexandri Magni Books 3 and 4, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Babbit, F. C. (tr.) (1946) Plutarch: Moralia. Volume IV, Loeb Classical Library 305, Cambridge, MA and London.Google Scholar
Badian, E. (2000) ‘Darius III’, HSCP 100, 241–67.Google Scholar
Baynham, E. (1998) Alexander the Great: the unique history of Quintus Curtius, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Bosworth, A. B. (1980) A historical commentary on Arrian's History of Alexander. Volume I, Oxford.Google Scholar
Bradford Welles, C. (tr.) (1963) Diodorus Siculus: Library of History. Volume VIII, Loeb Classical Library 422, Cambridge, MA and London.Google Scholar
Briant, P. (1996) Histoire de l'Empire Perse: de Cyrus à Alexandre, Paris.Google Scholar
Briant, P. (2003) Darius dans l'ombre de Alexandre, Paris.Google Scholar
Briant, P. (2015) Darius in the shadow of Alexander, tr. Todd, J. M., Cambridge, MA. Google Scholar
Brosius, M. (2003) ‘Alexander and the Persians’, in Roisman, J. (ed.), Brill's companion to Alexander the Great, Leiden, 169–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brosius, M. (2006) Review of Pierre Briant, Darius dans l'ombre d'Alexandre, Gnomon 78, 426–30.Google Scholar
Brosius, M. (2007) ‘Appendix I. The inscription of Darius at Bisitun. The inscription translated by Maria Brosius’, in Asheri, D., Loyd, A. and Corcella, A., A Commentary on Herodotus Books i–iv , ed. Murray, O. and Moreno, A., with a contribution by Brosius, M., tr. Graziosi, B., Rossetti, M., Dus, C. and Cazzato, V., Oxford, 529–39.Google Scholar
Chambrey, E. and Thély-Chambry, L. (eds. and trs.) (1936) Justin: abrégé des Histoires Philippiques de Trogue Pompée et Prologues de Trogue Pompée. Volume I, Paris.Google Scholar
Charles, M. B. (2011) ‘Immortals and Apple Bearers: towards a better understanding of Achaemenid infantry units’, CQ 61, 114–33.Google Scholar
Charles, M. B. (2015) ‘Achaemenid elite cavalry: from Xerxes to Darius III’, CQ 65, 14–35.Google Scholar
Charles, M. B. (2016) ‘The Chiliarchs of Achaemenid Persia: towards a revised understanding of the office’, Phoenix 62, 279–303.Google Scholar
Charles, M. B. (forthcoming) ‘The Achaemenid Chiliarch par excellence: commander of guard infantry, cavalry, or both?’, Historia.Google Scholar
Collins, A. W. (2012) ‘Alexander and the Persian court chiliarchy’, Historia 61, 159–67.Google Scholar
De Sélincourt, A. (tr.) (1971) Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander, rev. edn, London.Google Scholar
Dittenberger, W. (1915) Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum. Volume I, 3rd edn, Leipzig.Google Scholar
Goukowsky, P. (tr.) (1976) Diodore de Sicile: Bibliothèque historique. Book 17, Collection des Universités de France, Paris.Google Scholar
Hamilton, J. R. (1961) ‘Cleitarchus and Aristobulus’, Historia 10, 448–58.Google Scholar
Hammond, N. G. L. (1993) Sources for Alexander the Great, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Keaveney, A. (2003) The life and journey of Athenian statesman Themistocles (524–460 BC?) as a refugee in Persia, Lewiston, NY.Google Scholar
Kuhrt, A. (1987) ‘Survey of written sources available for the history of Babylonia under the later Achaemenids’, in Sancisi-Weerdenburg, H. (ed.), Achaememid history 1: sources, structures and synthesis. Volume I, Leiden, 147–57.Google Scholar
Latte, K. (ed.) (1953) Hesychii Alexandrini lexicon. Volume I, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. M. (1977) Sparta and Persia, Leiden.Google Scholar
Meeus, A. (2009) ‘Some institutional problems concerning the succession to Alexander the Great: prostasia and chiliarchy’, Historia 58, 287–310.Google Scholar
Nylander, C. (1993) ‘Darius III – the coward king. Points and counterpoints’, in Carlsen, J., Due, B., Due, O. S. and Steen, O. (eds.), Alexander the Great: reality and myth, Analecta Romana Instituti Danici Supplementum 20, Rome, 145–59.Google Scholar
Payen, P. (2004) ‘L’“ombre” des grecs’, RPh 78, 141–54.Google Scholar
Rolfe, J. C. (tr.) (1946) Quintus Curtius: History of Alexander. Volume I, Loeb Classical Library 368, Cambridge, MA and London.Google Scholar
Sachs, A. (1977) ‘Achaemenid royal names in Babylonian astronomical texts’, AJAH 2, 129–47.Google Scholar
Schachermeyr, F. (1972) Alexander der Grosse: das Problem seiner Persönlichkeit und seines Wirkens, Vienna.Google Scholar
Stoneman, R. (2006) Review of Pierre Briant, Darius dans l'ombre d'Alexandre, CR 56, 415–17.Google Scholar
Tarn, W. W. (1948) Alexander the Great. Volume I, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Yardley, J. C. (tr.) (1984) Quintus Curtius Rufus: The History of Alexander, Harmondsworth.Google Scholar
Yardley, J. C. (tr.) and Heckel, W. (comm.) (1997) Justin. Epitome of the Phillipic History of Pompeius Trogus books 11–12: Alexander the Great, Oxford.Google Scholar