Title: Ctesias in the Achaemenid Persia?
Source document: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2021, vol. 26, iss. 2, pp. 211-224
Extent
211-224
-
ISSN1803-7402 (print)2336-4424 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2021-2-13
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/144595
Type: Article
Language
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 International
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
This paper focuses on the life and works of Ctesias of Cnidus, a Greek physician living at the Achaemenid court during the reign of Artaxerxes II. Ctesias was the author of the important work on Persian history, customs, and court life called Persica. He spent many years in the Achaemenid Empire and summarized his experience and studies in his seminal work. Persica was a very influential discourse on Persia in antiquity even though Ctesias had a notoriously poor reputation. The core of the problem is the veracity of Ctesias' account, his claims of the usage of Persian sources, and his life in the Achaemenid Empire in general. Our main goal is to find possible answers to the stories circulating about his life in the Achaemenid Empire. Later authors criticized Ctesias for telling lies and promoting himself in the books. We will discuss how legitimate their approach is and whether the reputation of Ctesias is deserved. The problem will be studied in three chapters. In the first part of the article, we will take a closer look at the life of Ctesias. We will study the possible reasons for his departure to Persia, how he later managed to work for the King, what occupation and position he held at the court, which places in the Achaemenid Empire he visited and why he left the court. In the second part, we will focus on the sources of his works. Their nature and content varied greatly and influenced his writings differently. In the last part, we will focus on Ctesias' possible knowledge of one or more of the languages spoken at the court. Foreign words also appear in his works and the list of them will be a part of the article.
References
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[21] Lenfant, D. (2004). Ctésias de Cnide. La Perse, L'Inde, Autre Fragments. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
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[23] Lewis, D. M. (1977). Sparta and Persia lectures delivered at the University of Cincinnati, Autumn 1976, in memory of Donald W. Bradeen [by] David M. Lewis. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
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[25] Llewellyn-Jones, L., & Robson, J. (2010). Ctesias' History of Persia: Tales of the Orient. London – New York: Routledge.
[26] Marincola, J. (1997). Authority and Tradition in Ancient Historiography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[27] Miller, M. (1997). Athens and Persia in the Fifth Century BC: A Study in Cultural Receptivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[28] Nichols, A. (2011). Ctesias. On India, and Fragments of His Minor Works. London: Bristol Classical.
[29] Pedersén, O. (1998). Archives and Libraries in the Ancient Near East 1500–300 B.C. Bethesda: CDL Press.
[30] Sancisi-Weerdenburg, H. (1987). Decadence in the Empire of Decadence in the Sources? From Source to Synthesis: Ctesias. In H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg (Ed.), Achaemenid History, I: Sources, Structures and Synthesis (pp. 33–45). Leiden: Brill.
[31] Schmitt, R. (2011). Ktesias' Namen stecken voller Geheimnisse. Die Persika als Quelle der altiranischen Anthroponomastik. In J. Wiesenhöfer, R. Rollinger, & G. B. Lanfranchi (Eds.), Ktesias' Welt (pp. 367–384). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
[32] Stevenson, R. B. (1997). Persica. Greek Writing about Persia in the Fourth Century BC. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.
[33] Stronk, J. (2004–2005). Ctesias of Cnidus: From Physician to Author. Talanta, 36–37, 101–122.
[34] Stronk, J. (2007). Ctesias of Cnidus, a Reappraisal. Mnemosyne, 60, 25–58. | DOI 10.1163/156852507X165838
[35] Stronk, J. (2010). Ctesias' Persian History, I: Introduction, Text, and Translation. Düsseldorf: Wellem Verlag.
[36] Waters, M. (2017). Ctesias' Persica and its Near Eastern Context. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
[2] Bae, Ch. (2004). Aramaic as a Lingua Franca During the Persian Empire (538–333 B.C.E.). Journal of Universal Language, 5, 1–20. | DOI 10.22425/jul.2004.5.1.1
[3] Berndt, S. (2020). The Upright Tiara of Persian Kings. In A. P. Dahlén (Ed.), Achaemenid Anatolia: Persian presence and impact in the Western Satrapies 546–330 BC (pp. 65–79). Uppsala: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University.
[4] Bigwood, J. M. (1978). Ctesias as Historian of the Persian Wars. Phoenix, 32, 19–41. | DOI 10.2307/1087946
[5] Bigwood, J. M. (1986). POxy 2330 and Ctesias. Phoenix, 40, 393–406. | DOI 10.2307/1088169
[6] Bigwood, J. M. (1989). Ctesias' Indica and Photius. Phoenix, 43, 302–316. | DOI 10.2307/1088298
[7] Briant, P. (2002). From Cyrus to Alexander. A History of the Persian Empire (transl. P. T. Daniels). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
[8] Brosius, M. (2011). Greeks at the Persian court. In J. Wiesenhöfer, R. Rollinger, & G. B. Lanfranchi (Eds.), Ktesias' Welt (pp. 69–80). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
[9] Brown, T. S. (1978). Suggestions for a Vita of Ctesias of Cnidus. Historia, 27, 1–19.
[10] Cawkwell, G. (2005). The Greek Wars. The Failure of Persia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[11] Collins, A. (2012). The Royal Costume and Insignia of Alexander the Great. American Journal of Philology, 531, 371–402. | DOI 10.1353/ajp.2012.0024
[12] Cook, J. (1985). The Rise of the Achaemenids and Establishment of their Empire. In I. Gershevitch (Ed.), The Cambridge History of Iran (Vol. 2; pp. 200–291). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | DOI 10.1017/CHOL9780521200912.007
[13] Dorati, M. (2011). Lo storico nel suo testo: Ctesias e la sua ‹biografia›. In J. Wiesenhöfer, R. Rollinger, & G. B. Lanfranchi (Eds.), Ktesias' Welt (pp. 81–110). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
[14] Drews, R. (1973). The Greek Accounts of Eastern History. Cambridge, MA: Center for Hellenic Studies.
[15] Eck, B. (1990). Sur la vie de Ctésias. Revue des Etudes Grecques, 103, 409–434. | DOI 10.3406/reg.1990.2487
[16] Gera, D. L. (1993). Xenophon's Cyropaedia. Style, Genre, and Literary Technique. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
[17] Griffiths, A. (1987). Democedes of Croton. A Greek Doctor at the Court of Darius. In H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, & A. Kuhrt (Eds.), Achaemenid History, II: The Greek Sources (pp. 37–51). Leiden: Brill.
[18] Jacoby, F. (1922). Ktesias. In Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (Vol. XI,2; cols. 2032–2073). Stuttgart: Druckenmüller.
[19] Karttunen, K. (1997). Ctesias in Transmission and Tradition. Topoi, 7(2), 635–646. | DOI 10.3406/topoi.1997.1738
[20] Kuhrt, A. (2007). The Persian Empire. A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period (II Vols). London – New York: Routledge.
[21] Lenfant, D. (2004). Ctésias de Cnide. La Perse, L'Inde, Autre Fragments. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
[22] Lenfant, D. (2007). Greek historians of Persia. In J. Marincola (Ed.), A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography (pp. 200–209). Oxford: Blackwell.
[23] Lewis, D. M. (1977). Sparta and Persia lectures delivered at the University of Cincinnati, Autumn 1976, in memory of Donald W. Bradeen [by] David M. Lewis. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
[24] Llewellyn-Jones, L. (2013). King and Court in Achaemenid Persia 559 to 331 BCE. Debates and documents in ancient history. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
[25] Llewellyn-Jones, L., & Robson, J. (2010). Ctesias' History of Persia: Tales of the Orient. London – New York: Routledge.
[26] Marincola, J. (1997). Authority and Tradition in Ancient Historiography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[27] Miller, M. (1997). Athens and Persia in the Fifth Century BC: A Study in Cultural Receptivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[28] Nichols, A. (2011). Ctesias. On India, and Fragments of His Minor Works. London: Bristol Classical.
[29] Pedersén, O. (1998). Archives and Libraries in the Ancient Near East 1500–300 B.C. Bethesda: CDL Press.
[30] Sancisi-Weerdenburg, H. (1987). Decadence in the Empire of Decadence in the Sources? From Source to Synthesis: Ctesias. In H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg (Ed.), Achaemenid History, I: Sources, Structures and Synthesis (pp. 33–45). Leiden: Brill.
[31] Schmitt, R. (2011). Ktesias' Namen stecken voller Geheimnisse. Die Persika als Quelle der altiranischen Anthroponomastik. In J. Wiesenhöfer, R. Rollinger, & G. B. Lanfranchi (Eds.), Ktesias' Welt (pp. 367–384). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
[32] Stevenson, R. B. (1997). Persica. Greek Writing about Persia in the Fourth Century BC. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.
[33] Stronk, J. (2004–2005). Ctesias of Cnidus: From Physician to Author. Talanta, 36–37, 101–122.
[34] Stronk, J. (2007). Ctesias of Cnidus, a Reappraisal. Mnemosyne, 60, 25–58. | DOI 10.1163/156852507X165838
[35] Stronk, J. (2010). Ctesias' Persian History, I: Introduction, Text, and Translation. Düsseldorf: Wellem Verlag.
[36] Waters, M. (2017). Ctesias' Persica and its Near Eastern Context. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.