Author Archives: nibirudb

Yahdun-Lim of Mari’s Disc Inscription

Unknown web source

(Any writing in Bold Type, in Parenthesis, in Italics, & pictures are added by me, R. Brown, not the author!)

(gods in blue)

Translation:




Yahdun-Lim, son of Yaggid Lim; king of Mari, Tuttul and the country of the Hana-nomads; the powerful king, who controls the “Banks of the Euphrates”:

Dagan (Enki)proclaimed my kingship and, handing me a powerful weapon for destroying kings hostile to me,

I defeated 7 kings Hana-nomad chiefs who successively challenged me, annexing their territory; I removed the invaders from the “Banks of the Euphrates,” giving peace to my land; I opened canals, thus eliminating well-water drawing throughout my land. I built Mari’s ramparts and dug its moat; I built Terqa’s ramparts and dug its moat.
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II:9] And in the burnt field—an arid spot— where not one king since days of yore founded a town, indeed I, having wished it, founded a town, dug its moat and called it “Dur-Yahdullim”; I then opened a canal for it and called it “Išim-Yahdullim.” I, therefore, enlarged my country and strengthened the structure of Mari and of my land, establishing my reputation for eternity.
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III:3] Whoever discards my commemorations, replacing them with his own, such a person, be he king or governor, may Anum (Anu) and Enlil curse him darkly;















may Šamaš (Shamash / Utu) snap his weapons and those of his troops; may Ašnan and Sumuqan starve his land; may hostilities hold (shut) the gate of his country; may combat persist in his country; may trouble hound his kingship, daily, throughout his life; may Anum and Enlil be evil counsel to him, for evermore.

Comments:

“Banks of the Euphrates” may be the name of the Mari kingdom.

Persepolis Palace of Artaxerxes by Wikipedia

Persepolis: Artaxerxes Palace Hall of 100 Columns

According to the inscription known as A1Pb, construction of the Hall of Hundred Columns at Persepolis was started by the Achaemenid king Xerxes; the building was finished by his son and successor Artaxerxes I Makrocheir (465-424). This throne hall was Persepolis’ second largest building, measuring 70 x 70 meters.

At an unknown moment, its function was changed and it became a store room, probably because the Treasuryhad become too small to contain all treasures that were hoarded in Persepolis. A new function may have been envisioned, however, because Artaxerxes III Ochus was building a new road and a new gate to the palace, suggesting that the Hall of Hundred Columns might have been used for audience.

The entrance was to the north, where a portico was decorated by two large bulls. The entrances themselves – two on each of the four sides of the square building – were decorated with the usual motifs:. audience scenes, throne scenes, and “royal warriors” fighting against wild animals.

Xerxes Invades Greece

from The Histories

Herodotus

http://www.livius.org/aa-ac/achaemenians/inscriptions.html

In this section, Herodotus relates the invasion of the Greek mainland by the Persian king Xerxes in 480 B.C. According to this account, what are the differences between the Greeks and the Persians?


After Egypt was subdued,

Xerxes, being about to take in hand the expedition against Athens,

called together an assembly of the noblest Persians to learn their opinions,

and to lay before them his own designs.

So, when the men were met, the king spake thus to them:-

“Persians, I shall not be the first to bring in among you a new custom-

I shall but follow one which has come down to us from our forefathers.

Never yet, as our old men assure me, has our race reposed itself,

since the time when Cyrus overcame Astyages,

and so we Persians wrested the scepter from the Medes.

Now in all this God guides us; and we, obeying his guidance, prosper greatly.

What need have I to tell you of the deeds of Cyrus and Cambyses,

and my own father Darius, how many nations they conquered,

and added to our dominions?

Ye know right well what great things they achieved.

But for myself, I will say that, from the day on which I mounted the throne,

I have not ceased to consider by what means

I may rival those who have preceded me in this post of honor,

and increase the power of Persia as much as any of them.

And truly I have pondered upon this,

until at last I have found out a way whereby we may at once win glory,

and likewise get possession of a land which is as large

and as rich as our own nay,

which is even more varied in the fruits it bears-

while at the same time we obtain satisfaction and revenge.

For this cause I have now called you together,

that I may make known to you what I design to do.

My intent is to throw a bridge over the Hellespont

and march an army through Europe against Greece,

that thereby I may obtain vengeance from the Athenians

for the wrongs committed by them against the Persians and against my father.

Your own eyes saw the preparations of Darius against these men;

but death came upon him, and balked his hopes of revenge.

In his behalf, therefore, and in behalf of all the Persians,

I undertake the war, and pledge myself not to rest

till I have taken and burnt Athens, which has dared,

unprovoked, to injure me and my father.

Long since they came to Asia with Aristagoras of Miletus,

who was one of our slaves, and, entering Sardis,

burnt its temples and its sacred groves; again, more lately,

when we made a landing upon their coast under Datis and Artaphernes,

how roughly they handled us ye do not need to be told.

For these reasons, therefore, I am bent upon this war;

and I see likewise therewith united no few advantages.

Once let us subdue this people,

and those neighbors of theirs who hold the land of Pelops the Phrygian,

and we shall extend the Persian territory as far as God’s heaven reaches.

The sun will then shine on no land beyond our borders;

for I will pass through Europe from one end to the other,

and with your aid make of all the lands which it contains one country.

For thus, if what I hear be true, affairs stand:

the nations whereof I have spoken, once swept away,

there is no city, no country left in all the world,

which will venture so much as to withstand us in arms.

By this course then we shall bring all mankind under our yoke,

alike those who are guilty and those who are innocent of doing us wrong.

For yourselves, if you wish to please me, do as follows:

when I announce the time for the army to meet together,

hasten to the muster with a good will, every one of you;

and know that to the man who brings with him the most gallant array

I will give the gifts which our people consider the most honorable.

This then is what ye have to do.

But to show that I am not self-willed in this matter,

I lay the business before you,

and give you full leave to speak your minds upon it openly.”

Xerxes, having so spoken, held his peace.

Whereupon Mardonius took the word, and said:

“Of a truth, my lord, thou dost surpass,

not only all living Persians, but likewise those yet unborn.

Most true and right is each word that thou hast now uttered;

but best of all thy resolve not to let the Ionians who live in Europe-

a worthless crew- mock us any more.

It were indeed a monstrous thing if, after conquering and enslaving the Sacae,

the Indians, the Ethiopians, the Assyrians,

and many other mighty nations, not for any wrong that they had done us,

but only to increase our empire, we should then allow the Greeks,

who have done us such wanton injury, to escape our vengeance.

What is it that we fear in them?- not surely their numbers?-

not the greatness of their wealth?

We know the manner of their battle- we know how weak their power is;

already have we subdued their children who dwell in our country,

the Ionians, Aeolians, and Dorians.

I myself have had experience of these men

when I marched against them by the orders of thy father;

and though I went as far as Macedonia,

and came but a little short of reaching Athens itself,

yet not a soul ventured to come out against me to battle.

And yet, I am told, these very Greeks are wont to wage wars

against one another in the most foolish way,

through sheer perversity and doltishness.

For no sooner is war proclaimed

than they search out the smoothest and fairest plain

that is to be found in all the land, and there they assemble and fight;

whence it comes to pass that even the conquerors depart with great loss:

I say nothing of the conquered, for they are destroyed altogether.

Now surely, as they are all of one speech,

they ought to interchange heralds and messengers,

and make up their differences by any means rather than battle;

or, at the worst, if they must needs fight one against another,

they ought to post themselves as strongly as possible, and so try their quarrels.

But, notwithstanding that they have so foolish a manner of warfare,

yet these Greeks, when I led my army against them

to the very borders of Macedonia, did not so much as think of offering me battle.

Who then will dare, O king! to meet thee in arms,

when thou comest with all Asia’s warriors at thy back, and with all her ships?

For my part I do not believe the Greek people will be so foolhardy.

Grant, however, that I am mistaken herein,

and that they are foolish enough to meet us in open fight;

in that case they will learn

that there are no such soldiers in the whole world as we.

Nevertheless let us spare no pains; for nothing comes without trouble;

but all that men acquire is got by painstaking.”

When Mardonius had in this way softened the harsh speech of Xerxes,

he too held his peace.

The other Persians were silent;

all feared to raise their voice against the plan proposed to them.

But Artabanus, the son of Hystaspes, and uncle of Xerxes,

trusting to his relationship, was bold to speak:-

“O king!” he said, “it is impossible,

if no more than one opinion is uttered, to make choice of the best:

a man is forced then to follow whatever advice may have been given him;

but if opposite speeches are delivered, then choice can be exercised.

In like manner pure gold is not recognized by itself;

but when we test it along with baser ore, we perceive which is the better.

I counseled thy father, Darius, who was my own brother,

not to attack the Scyths, a race of people who had no town in their whole land.

He thought however to subdue those wandering tribes,

and would not listen to me, but marched an army against them,

and ere he returned home lost many of his bravest warriors.

Thou art about, O king! to attack a people far superior to the Scyths,

a people distinguished above others both by land and sea.

‘Tis fit therefore that I should tell thee what danger thou incurrest hereby.

Thou sayest that thou wilt bridge the Hellespont,

and lead thy troops through Europe against Greece.

Now suppose some disaster befall thee by land or sea, or by both.

It may be even so; for the men are reputed valiant.

Indeed one may measure their prowess from what they have already done;

for when Datis and Artaphernes led their huge army against Attica,

the Athenians singly defeated them.

But grant they are not successful on both elements.

Still, if they man their ships, and, defeating us by sea,

sail to the Hellespont, and there destroy our bridge-

that, sire, were a fearful hazard.

And here ’tis not by my own mother wit alone that I conjecture what will happen;

but I remember how narrowly we escaped disaster once,

when thy father, after throwing bridges over the Thracian Bosphorus

and the Ister, marched against the Scythians,

and they tried every sort of prayer to induce the Ionians,

who had charge of the bridge over the Ister, to break the passage.

On that day, if Histiaeus, the king of Miletus, had sided with the other princes,

and not set himself to oppose their views,

the empire of the Persians would have come to nought.

Surely a dreadful thing is this even to hear said,

that the king’s fortunes depended wholly on one man.

“Think then no more of incurring so great a danger when no need presses,

but follow the advice I tender.

Break up this meeting, and when thou hast well considered the matter with thyself,

and settled what thou wilt do, declare to us thy resolve.

I know not of aught in the world that so profits a man

as taking good counsel with himself;

for even if things fall out against one’s hopes, still one has counseled well,

though fortune has made the counsel of none effect:

whereas if a man counsels ill and luck follows,

he has gotten a windfall, but his counsel is none the less silly.

Seest thou how God with his lightning smites always the bigger animals,

and will not suffer them to wax insolent,

while those of a lesser bulk chafe him not?

How likewise his bolts fall ever on the highest houses and the tallest trees?

So plainly does He love to bring down everything that exalts itself.

Thus ofttimes a mighty host is discomfited by a few men,

when God in his jealousy sends fear or storm from heaven,

and they perish in a way unworthy of them.

For God allows no one to have high thoughts but Himself.

Again, hurry always brings about disasters,

from which huge sufferings are wont to arise;

but in delay lie many advantages, not apparent (it may be) at first sight,

but such as in course of time are seen of all.

Such then is my counsel to thee, O king!

Artabanus loses the argument, and Xerxes prepares to invade Greece.

Here his first care was to send off heralds into Greece,

who were to prefer a demand for earth and water,

and to require that preparations should be made everywhere to feast the king.

To Athens indeed and to Sparta he sent no such demand;

but these cities excepted, his messengers went everywhere.

Now the reason why he sent for earth and water

to states which had already refused was this:

he thought that although they had refused when Darius made the demand,

they would now be too frightened to venture to say him nay.

So he sent his heralds, wishing to know for certain how it would be.

Xerxes, after this, made preparations to advance to Abydos,

where the bridge across the Hellespont from Asia to Europe was lately finished.

Midway between Sestos and Madytus in the Hellespontine Chersonese,

and right over against Abydos,

there is a rocky tongue of land which runs out for some distance into the sea.

This is the place where no long time afterwards the Greeks under Xanthippus,

the son of Ariphron, took Artayctes the Persian,

who was at that time governor of Sestos, and nailed him living to a plank.

He was the Artayctes who brought women into the temple

of Protesilaus at Elaeus, and there was guilty of most unholy deeds.

Towards this tongue of land then,

the men to whom the business was assigned

carried out a double bridge from Abydos;

and while the Phoenicians constructed one line with cables of white flax,

the Egyptians in the other used ropes made of papyrus.

Now it is seven furlongs across from Abydos to the opposite coast.

When, therefore, the channel had been bridged successfully,

it happened that a great storm arising broke the whole work to pieces,

and destroyed all that had been done.

So when Xerxes heard of it he was full of wrath,

and straightway gave orders that the Hellespont

should receive three hundred lashes,

and that a pair of fetters should be cast into it.

Nay, I have even heard it said that he bade the branders

take their irons and therewith brand the Hellespont.

It is certain that he commanded those who scourged the waters to utter,

as they lashed them, these barbarian and wicked words:

“Thou bitter water, thy lord lays on thee this punishment

because thou hast wronged him without a cause,

having suffered no evil at his hands.

Verily King Xerxes will cross thee, whether thou wilt or no.

Well dost thou deserve that no man should honor thee with sacrifice;

for thou art of a truth a treacherous and unsavory river.”

While the sea was thus punished by his orders,

he likewise commanded that the overseers of the work should lose their heads.

Then they, whose business it was, executed the unpleasing task laid upon them;

and other master-builders were set over the work. . .

And now when all was prepared- the bridges, and the works at Athos,

the breakwaters about the mouths of the cutting,

which were made to hinder the surf from blocking up the entrances,

and the cutting itself; and when the news came to Xerxes

that this last was completely finished- then at length the host,

having first wintered at Sardis, began its march towards Abydos,

fully equipped, on the first approach of spring.

At the moment of departure, the sun suddenly quitted his seat in the heavens,

and disappeared, though there were no clouds in sight,

but the sky was clear and serene.

Day was thus turned into night;

whereupon Xerxes, who saw and remarked the prodigy,

was seized with alarm, and sending at once for the Magians,

inquired of them the meaning of the portent.

They replied- “God is foreshowing to the Greeks the destruction of their cities;

for the sun foretells for them, and the moon for us.”

So Xerxes, thus instructed, proceeded on his way with great gladness of heart.

The army had begun its march, when Pythius the Lydian,

affrighted at the heavenly portent, and emboldened by his gifts,

came to Xerxes and said- “Grant me, O my lord! a favor

which is to thee a light matter, but to me of vast account.”

Then Xerxes’ who looked for nothing less than such a prayer

as Pythius in fact preferred, engaged to grant him whatever he wished,

and commanded him to tell his wish freely.

So Pythius, full of boldness, went on to say:-

“O my lord! thy servant has five sons;

and it chances that all are called upon to join thee in this march against Greece.

I beseech thee, have compassion upon my years;

and let one of my sons, the eldest, remain behind,

to be my prop and stay, and the guardian of my wealth.

Take with thee the other four;

and when thou hast done all that is in thy heart,

mayest thou come back in safety.”

But Xerxes was greatly angered, and replied to him:

“Thou wretch! darest thou speak to me of thy son,

when I am myself on the march against Greece, with sons,

and brothers, and kinsfolk, and friends?

Thou, who art my bond-slave,

and art in duty bound to follow me with all thy household, not excepting thy wife!

Know that man’s spirit dwelleth in his ears, and when it hears good things,

straightway it fills all his body with delight;

but no sooner does it hear the contrary than it heaves and swells with passion.

As when thou didst good deeds and madest good offers to me,

thou wert not able to boast of having outdone the king in bountifulness,

so now when thou art changed and grown impudent,

thou shalt not receive all thy deserts, but less.

For thyself and four of thy five sons,

the entertainment which I had of thee shall gain protection;

but as for him to whom thou clingest above the rest,

the forfeit of his life shall be thy punishment.”

Having thus spoken, forthwith he commanded those to whom such tasks

were assigned to seek out the eldest of the sons of Pythius,

and having cut his body asunder, to place the two halves.

one on the right, the other on the left, of the great road,

so that the army might march out between them.

Then the king’s orders were obeyed;

and the army marched out between the two halves of the carcase.

As Xerxes leads his troops in Greece,

he asks a native Greek if the Greeks will put up a fight.

Now after Xerxes had sailed down the whole line and was gone ashore,

he sent for Demaratus the son of Ariston,

who had accompanied him in his march upon Greece, and bespake him thus:-

“Demaratus, it is my pleasure at this time

to ask thee certain things which I wish to know.

Thou art a Greek, and, as I hear from the other Greeks with whom I converse,

no less than from thine own lips,

thou art a native of a city which is not the meanest or the weakest in their land.

Tell me, therefore, what thinkest thou?

Will the Greeks lift a hand against us?

Mine own judgment is, that even if all the Greeks

and all the barbarians of the West were gathered together in one place,

they would not be able to abide my onset, not being really of one mind.

But I would fain know what thou thinkest hereon.”

Thus Xerxes questioned; and the other replied in his turn,-

“O king! is it thy will that I give thee a true answer,

or dost thou wish for a pleasant one?”

Then the king bade him speak the plain truth,

and promised that he would not on that account

hold him in less favor than heretofore.

So Demaratus, when he heard the promise, spake as follows:-

“O king! since thou biddest me at all risks speak the truth,

and not say what will one day prove me to have lied to thee, thus I answer.

Want has at all times been a fellow-dweller with us in our land,

while Valour is an ally whom we have gained by dint of wisdom and strict laws.

Her aid enables us to drive out want and escape thraldom.

Brave are all the Greeks who dwell in any Dorian land;

but what I am about to say does not concern all, but only the Lacedaemonians.

First then, come what may, they will never accept thy terms,

which would reduce Greece to slavery; and further,

they are sure to join battle with thee,

though all the rest of the Greeks should submit to thy will.

As for their numbers, do not ask how many they are,

that their resistance should be a possible thing;

for if a thousand of them should take the field,

they will meet thee in battle, and so will any number,

be it less than this, or be it more.”

When Xerxes heard this answer of Demaratus, he laughed and answered:-

“What wild words, Demaratus!

A thousand men join battle with such an army as this!

Come then, wilt thou- who wert once, as thou sayest, their king-

engage to fight this very day with ten men? I trow not.

And yet, if all thy fellow-citizens be indeed such as thou sayest they are,

thou oughtest, as their king, by thine own country’s usages,

to be ready to fight with twice the number.

If then each one of them be a match for ten of my soldiers,

I may well call upon thee to be a match for twenty.

So wouldest thou assure the truth of what thou hast now said.

If, however, you Greeks, who vaunt yourselves so much,

are of a truth men like those whom I have seen about my court, as thyself,

Demaratus, and the others with whom I am wont to converse-

if, I say, you are really men of this sort and size,

how is the speech that thou hast uttered more than a mere empty boast?

For, to go to the very verge of likelihood-

how could a thousand men, or ten thousand, or even fifty thousand,

particularly if they were all alike free, and not under one lord-

how could such a force, I say, stand against an army like mine?

Let them be five thousand, and we shall have more

than a thousand men to each one of theirs.

If, indeed, like our troops, they had a single master,

their fear of him might make them courageous beyond their natural bent;

or they might be urged by lashes against an enemy which far outnumbered them.

But left to their own free choice, assuredly they will act differently.

For mine own part, I believe, that if the Greeks

had to contend with the Persians only, and the numbers were equal on both sides,

the Greeks would find it hard to stand their ground.

We too have among us such men as those of whom thou spakest-

not many indeed, but still we possess a few.

For instance, some of my bodyguard would be willing

to engage singly with three Greeks.

But this thou didst not know; and therefore it was thou talkedst so foolishly.”

Demaratus answered him- “I knew, O king! at the outset,

that if I told thee the truth, my speech would displease thine ears.

But as thou didst require me to answer thee with all possible truthfulness,

I informed thee what the Spartans will do.

And in this I spake not from any love that I bear them-

for none knows better than thou what my love towards them

is likely to be at the present time, when they have robbed me of my rank

and my ancestral honors, and made me a homeless exile,

whom thy father did receive, bestowing on me both shelter and sustenance.

What likelihood is there that a man of understanding

should be unthankful for kindness shown him, and not cherish it in his heart?

For mine own self, I pretend not to cope with ten men, nor with two- nay,

had I the choice, I would rather not fight even with one.

But, if need appeared, or if there were any great cause urging me on,

I would contend with right good will against one of those persons

who boast themselves a match for any three Greeks.

So likewise the Lacedaemonians, when they fight singly,

are as good men as any in the world,

and when they fight in a body, are the bravest of all.

For though they be free-men, they are not in all respects free;

Law is the master whom they own;

and this master they fear more than thy subjects fear thee.

Whatever he commands they do; and his commandment is always the same:

it forbids them to flee in battle, whatever the number of their foes,

and requires them to stand firm, and either to conquer or die.

If in these words, O king! I seem to thee to speak foolishly,

I am content from this time forward evermore to hold my peace.

I had not now spoken unless compelled by thee.

Certes, I pray that all may turn out according to thy wishes.”

Such was the answer of Demaratus; and Xerxes was not angry with him at all,

but only laughed, and sent him away with words of kindness.

Of course, Demaratus was correct, and the Greeks did put up a fight.

In one of the famous battles of ancient history,

the Persian force met a much smaller Greek army

at a narrow mountain pass called Thermopylae.

King Xerxes pitched his camp in the region of Malis called Trachinia,

while on their side the Greeks occupied the straits.

These straits the Greeks in general call Thermopylae (the Hot Gates);

but the natives, and those who dwell in the neighborhood,

call them Pylae (the Gates).

Here then the two armies took their stand;

the one master of all the region lying north of Trachis,

the other of the country extending southward of that place

to the verge of the continent.

The Greeks who at this spot awaited the coming of Xerxes were the following:-

From Sparta, three hundred men-at-arms;

from Arcadia, a thousand Tegeans and Mantineans, five hundred of each people;

a hundred and twenty Orchomenians, from the Arcadian Orchomenus;

and a thousand from other cities: from Corinth, four hundred men;

from Phlius, two hundred; and from Mycenae eighty.

Such was the number from the Peloponnese.

There were also present, from Boeotia,

seven hundred Thespians and four hundred Thebans.

Besides these troops, the Locrians of Opus and the Phocians

had obeyed the call of their countrymen, and sent,

the former all the force they had, the latter a thousand men.

For envoys had gone from the Greeks at Thermopylae

among the Locrians and Phocians, to call on them for assistance, and to say-

“They were themselves but the vanguard of the host,

sent to precede the main body, which might every day be expected to follow them.

The sea was in good keeping, watched by the Athenians,

the Eginetans, and the rest of the fleet.

There was no cause why they should fear;

for after all the invader was not a god but a man;

and there never had been, and never would be,

a man who was not liable to misfortunes from the very day of his birth,

and those misfortunes greater in proportion to his own greatness.

The assailant therefore, being only a mortal, must needs fall from his glory.”

Thus urged, the Locrians and the Phocians had come with their troops to Trachis.

The various nations had each captains of their own under whom they served;

but the one to whom all especially looked up,

and who had the command of the entire force, was the Lacedaemonian, Leonidas.

Now Leonidas was the son of Anaxandridas, who was the son of Leo,

who was the son of Eurycratidas, who was the son of Anaxander,

who was the son of Eurycrates, who was the son of Polydorus,

who was the son of Alcamenes, who was the son of Telecles,

who was the son of Archelaus, who was the son of Agesilaus,

who was the son of Doryssus, who was the son of Labotas,

who was the son of Echestratus, who was the son of Agis,

who was the son of Eurysthenes, who was the son of Aristodemus,

who was the son of Aristomachus, who was the son of Cleodaeus,

who was the son of Hyllus, who was the son of Hercules.

Leonidas had come to be king of Sparta quite unexpectedly.

Having two elder brothers, Cleomenes and Dorieus,

he had no thought of ever mounting the throne.

However, when Cleomenes died without male offspring,

as Dorieus was likewise deceased, having perished in Sicily,

the crown fell to Leonidas, who was older than Cleombrotus,

the youngest of the sons of Anaxandridas, and, moreover,

was married to the daughter of Cleomenes.

He had now come to Thermopylae, accompanied by the three hundred men

which the law assigned him,

whom he had himself chosen from among the citizens,

and who were all of them fathers with sons living.

On his way he had taken the troops from Thebes,

whose number I have already mentioned,

and who were under the command of Leontiades the son of Eurymachus.

The reason why he made a point of taking troops from Thebes, and Thebes only,

was that the Thebans were strongly suspected of being well inclined to the Medes.

Leonidas therefore called on them to come with him to the war,

wishing to see whether they would comply with his demand, or openly refuse,

and disclaim the Greek alliance.

They, however, though their wishes leant the other way, nevertheless sent the men.

The force with Leonidas was sent forward

by the Spartans in advance of their main body,

that the sight of them might encourage the allies to fight,

and hinder them from going over to the Medes,

as it was likely they might have done had they seen that Sparta was backward.

They intended presently, when they had celebrated the Carneian festival,

which was what now kept them at home, to leave a garrison in Sparta,

and hasten in full force to join the army.

The rest of the allies also intended to act similarly;

for it happened that the Olympic festival fell exactly at this same period.

None of them looked to see the contest at Thermopylae decided so speedily;

wherefore they were content to send forward a mere advanced guard.

Such accordingly were the intentions of the allies.

The Greek forces at Thermopylae,

when the Persian army drew near to the entrance of the pass,

were seized with fear; and a council was held to consider about a retreat.

It was the wish of the Peloponnesians generally that the army

should fall back upon the Peloponnese, and there guard the Isthmus.

But Leonidas, who saw with what indignation

the Phocians and Locrians heard of this plan,

gave his voice for remaining where they were,

while they sent envoys to the several cities to ask for help,

since they were too few to make a stand against an army like that of the Medes.

While this debate was going on,

Xerxes sent a mounted spy to observe the Greeks,

and note how many they were, and see what they were doing.

He had heard, before he came out of Thessaly,

that a few men were assembled at this place,

and that at their head were certain Lacedaemonians,

under Leonidas, a descendant of Hercules.

The horseman rode up to the camp, and looked about him,

but did not see the whole army;

for such as were on the further side of the wall

(which had been rebuilt and was now carefully guarded)

it was not possible for him to behold; but he observed those on the outside,

who were encamped in front of the rampart.

It chanced that at this time the Lacedaemonians held the outer guard,

and were seen by the spy,

some of them engaged in gymnastic exercises, others combing their long hair.

At this the spy greatly marveled, but he counted their number,

and when he had taken accurate note of everything, he rode back quietly;

for no one pursued after him, nor paid any heed to his visit.

So he returned, and told Xerxes all that he had seen.

Upon this, Xerxes, who had no means of surmising the truth- namely,

that the Spartans were preparing to do or die manfully-

but thought it laughable that they should be engaged in such employments,

sent and called to his presence Demaratus the son of Ariston,

who still remained with the army.

When he appeared, Xerxes told him all that he had heard,

and questioned him concerning the news,

since he was anxious to understand the meaning

of such behavior on the part of the Spartans. Then Demaratus said-

“I spake to thee, O king! concerning these men long since,

when we had but just begun our march upon Greece;

thou, however, didst only laugh at my words, when I told thee of all this,

which I saw would come to pass.

Earnestly do I struggle at all times to speak truth to thee, sire;

and now listen to it once more.

These men have come to dispute the pass with us;

and it is for this that they are now making ready.

‘Tis their custom, when they are about to hazard their lives,

to adorn their heads with care.

Be assured, however, that if thou canst subdue the men who are here

and the Lacedaemonians who remain in Sparta,

there is no other nation in all the world which will venture

to lift a hand in their defense.

Thou hast now to deal with the first kingdom and town in Greece,

and with the bravest men.”

Then Xerxes, to whom what Demaratus said seemed altogether to surpass belief,

asked further “how it was possible for so small an army to contend with his?”

“O king!” Demaratus answered, “let me be treated as a liar,

if matters fall not out as I say.”

But Xerxes was not persuaded any the more.

Four whole days he suffered to go by, expecting that the Greeks would run away.

When, however, he found on the fifth that they were not gone,

thinking that their firm stand was mere impudence and recklessness,

he grew wroth, and sent against them the Medes and Cissians,

with orders to take them alive and bring them into his presence.

Then the Medes rushed forward and charged the Greeks,

but fell in vast numbers: others however took the places of the slain,

and would not be beaten off, though they suffered terrible losses.

In this way it became clear to all, and especially to the king,

that though he had plenty of combatants, he had but very few warriors.

The struggle, however, continued during the whole day.

Then the Medes, having met so rough a reception, withdrew from the fight;

and their place was taken by the band of Persians under Hydarnes,

whom the king called his “Immortals”:

they, it was thought, would soon finish the business.

But when they joined battle with the Greeks,

’twas with no better success than the Median detachment-

things went much as before-

the two armies fighting in a narrow space,

and the barbarians using shorter spears than the Greeks,

and having no advantage from their numbers.

The Lacedaemonians fought in a way worthy of note,

and showed themselves far more skilful in fight than their adversaries,

often turning their backs, and making as though they were all flying away,

on which the barbarians would rush after them with much noise and shouting,

when the Spartans at their approach would wheel round and face their pursuers,

in this way destroying vast numbers of the enemy.

Some Spartans likewise fell in these encounters, but only a very few.

At last the Persians, finding that all their efforts to gain the pass availed nothing,

and that, whether they attacked by divisions or in any other way,

it was to no purpose, withdrew to their own quarters.

During these assaults, it is said that Xerxes, who was watching the battle,

thrice leaped from the throne on which he sate, in terror for his army.

Next day the combat was renewed,

but with no better success on the part of the barbarians.

The Greeks were so few that the barbarians hoped to find them disabled,

by reason of their wounds, from offering any further resistance;

and so they once more attacked them.

But the Greeks were drawn up in detachments according to their cities,

and bore the brunt of the battle in turns- all except the Phocians,

who had been stationed on the mountain to guard the pathway.

So, when the Persians found no difference between that day and the preceding,

they again retired to their quarters.

Now, as the king was in great strait,

and knew not how he should deal with the emergency,

Ephialtes, the son of Eurydemus, a man of Malis,

came to him and was admitted to a conference.

Stirred by the hope of receiving a rich reward at the king’s hands,

he had come to tell him of the pathway

which led across the mountain to Thermopylae;

by which disclosure he brought destruction on the band of Greeks

who had there withstood the barbarians. . .

The Greeks at Thermopylae received the first warning of the destruction

which the dawn would bring on them from the seer Megistias,

who read their fate in the victims as he was sacrificing.

After this deserters came in,

and brought the news that the Persians were marching round by the hills:

it was still night when these men arrived.

Last of all, the scouts came running down from the heights,

and brought in the same accounts, when the day was just beginning to break.

Then the Greeks held a council to consider what they should do,

and here opinions were divided: some were strong against quitting their post,

while others contended to the contrary.

So when the council had broken up,

part of the troops departed and went their ways homeward to their several states;

part however resolved to remain, and to stand by Leonidas to the last.

It is said that Leonidas himself sent away the troops who departed,

because he tendered their safety,

but thought it unseemly that either he or his Spartans should quit the post

which they had been especially sent to guard.

For my own part, I incline to think that Leonidas gave the order,

because he perceived the allies to be out of heart

and unwilling to encounter the danger to which his own mind was made up.

He therefore commanded them to retreat,

but said that he himself could not draw back with honor;

knowing that, if he stayed, glory awaited him,

and that Sparta in that case would not lose her prosperity.

For when the Spartans, at the very beginning of the war,

sent to consult the oracle concerning it,

the answer which they received from the Pythoness was

“that either Sparta must be overthrown by the barbarians,

or one of her kings must perish.”

The remembrance of this answer, I think,

and the wish to secure the whole glory for the Spartans,

caused Leonidas to send the allies away.

This is more likely than that they quarreled with him,

and took their departure in such unruly fashion.

To me it seems no small argument in favor of this view,

that the seer also who accompanied the army, Megistias,

the Acarnanian- said to have been of the blood of Melampus,

and the same who was led by the appearance of the victims

to warn the Greeks of the danger which threatened them-

received orders to retire (as it is certain he did) from Leonidas,

that he might escape the coming destruction.

Megistias, however, though bidden to depart, refused, and stayed with the army;

but he had an only son present with the expedition, whom he now sent away.

So the allies, when Leonidas ordered them to retire,

obeyed him and forthwith departed.

Only the Thespians and the Thebans remained with the Spartans;

and of these the Thebans were kept back by Leonidas as hostages,

very much against their will.

The Thespians, on the contrary, stayed entirely of their own accord,

refusing to retreat, and declaring that they

would not forsake Leonidas and his followers.

So they abode with the Spartans, and died with them.

Their leader was Demophilus, the son of Diadromes.

At sunrise Xerxes made libations,

after which he waited until the time when the forum is wont to fill,

and then began his advance.

Ephialtes had instructed him thus,

as the descent of the mountain is much quicker,

and the distance much shorter, than the way round the hills, and the ascent.

So the barbarians under Xerxes began to draw nigh;

and the Greeks under Leonidas, as they now went forth determined to die,

advanced much further than on previous days,

until they reached the more open portion of the pass.

Hitherto they had held their station within the wall,

and from this had gone forth to fight

at the point where the pass was the narrowest.

Now they joined battle beyond the defile,

and carried slaughter among the barbarians, who fell in heaps.

Behind them the captains of the squadrons, armed with whips,

urged their men forward with continual blows.

Many were thrust into the sea, and there perished;

a still greater number were trampled to death by their own soldiers;

no one heeded the dying.

For the Greeks, reckless of their own safety and desperate,

since they knew that, as the mountain had been crossed,

their destruction was nigh at hand,

exerted themselves with the most furious valor against the barbarians.

By this time the spears of the greater number were all shivered,

and with their swords they hewed down the ranks of the Persians;

and here, as they strove, Leonidas fell fighting bravely,

together with many other famous Spartans,

whose names I have taken care to learn on account of their great worthiness,

as indeed I have those of all the three hundred.

There fell too at the same time very many famous Persians:

among them, two sons of Darius, Abrocomes and Hyperanthes,

his children by Phratagune, the daughter of Artanes.

Artanes was brother of King Darius,

being a son of Hystaspes, the son of Arsames;

and when he gave his daughter to the king,

he made him heir likewise of all his substance; for she was his only child.

Thus two brothers of Xerxes here fought and fell.

And now there arose a fierce struggle between the Persians

and the Lacedaemonians over the body of Leonidas,

in which the Greeks four times drove back the enemy,

and at last by their great bravery succeeded in bearing off the body.

This combat was scarcely ended when the Persians with Ephialtes approached;

and the Greeks, informed that they drew nigh,

made a change in the manner of their fighting.

Drawing back into the narrowest part of the pass,

and retreating even behind the cross wall,

they posted themselves upon a hillock,

where they stood all drawn up together in one close body, except only the Thebans.

The hillock whereof I speak is at the entrance of the straits,

where the stone lion stands which was set up in honor of Leonidas.

Here they defended themselves to the last,

such as still had swords using them,

and the others resisting with their hands and teeth; till the barbarians,

who in part had pulled down the wall and attacked them in front,

in part had gone round and now encircled them upon every side,

overwhelmed and buried the remnant

which was left beneath showers of missile weapons.

Thus nobly did the whole body of Lacedaemonians and Thespians behave;

but nevertheless one man is said to have distinguished himself above all the rest,

to wit, Dieneces the Spartan.

A speech which he made before the Greeks engaged the Medes,

remains on record. One of the Trachinians told him,

“Such was the number of the barbarians,

that when they shot forth their arrows

the sun would be darkened by their multitude.”

Dieneces, not at all frightened at these words,

but making light of the Median numbers, answered

“Our Trachinian friend brings us excellent tidings.

If the Medes darken the sun, we shall have our fight in the shade.”

Other sayings too of a like nature

are reported to have been left on record by this same person.

Next to him two brothers, Lacedaemonians,

are reputed to have made themselves conspicuous:

they were named Alpheus and Maro, and were the sons of Orsiphantus.

There was also a Thespian who gained greater glory than any of his countrymen:

he was a man called Dithyrambus, the son of Harmatidas.

The slain were buried where they fell;

and in their honor, nor less in honor of those who died

before Leonidas sent the allies away, an inscription was set up, which said:-

Here did four thousand men from Pelops’ land

Against three hundred myriads bravely stand.

This was in honor of all.

Another was for the Spartans alone:-

Go, stranger, and to Lacedaemon tell

That here, obeying her behests, we fell.

Persepolis Palace of Xerxes (Hadis) by Wikipedia

Prepared to be destroyed The palace of Xerxes at Persepolis, called Hadiš in Persian, “dwelling place”, was twice as large as the Palace of Darius. A terrace connected the two royal mansions, which are not very far apart. Yet, compared to the palace of Darius, the house of Xerxes is badly damaged. A likely explanation is that it received a special treatment when the Macedonian king Alexander the Great destroyed Persepolis in 330. His men were especially interested in the palace of the man who had once sacked Athens.

This relief of the great king leaving the palace, shown on the second photo, is an example of the destruction. The damages from the right are partly due to natural causes, but the face has been destroyed with a hammer, and someone must have made a great effort to create a hole near the king’s ear. It was probably meant for a piece of cork that would have been wetted with vinegar. When heated, the cork would start to dilate and would ultimately blow the stone to pieces – a common practice in ancient stone quarries. For one reason or another, the cork and vinegar were never used.
The main room had 36 columns and was surrounded by six smaller rooms: three to the east, and three to the west. To the north was a portico, facing the Apadana. (Later, king Artaxerxes III Ochus constructed a palace between the two buildings.) The decoration of this portico was more or less identical to the palace of Darius: for example, there are reliefs of the king leaving his mansion, attended by people carrying a parasol and a fan.
An inscription, known as XPe, written in Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian, says: Xerxes, the great king, the king of kings,
the son of king Darius, an Achaemenid.

There are almost similar inscriptions which mention Xerxes’ father Darius (DPb). According to the inscription known as A1Pa, the palace was completed by Artaxerxes I

Makrocheir, the son and successor of Xerxes.

The stairs from the palace of Darius to the interconnecting terrace belong to the best-preserved part of the complex. The central part of these stairs show Ahuramazda (not Faravahar, as is often claimed), flanked by two sphinxes, an inscription and several soldiers, which are sometimes called “apple bearers” or Immortals.

Contracts During the Reign of Darius I

Contract for the Sale of Dates, Thirty-second year of Darius, 490 B.C.

http://www.livius.org/aa-ac/achaemenians/inscriptions.html

Shibtu, the place of this transaction, was a suburb of Babylon. This shows how women, especially of the lower rank, carried on business for themselves. The father of Aqubatum, as his name, Aradya [ “my slave”] shows, had been a slave.

One talent one qa of dates from the woman

Nukaibu daughter of Tabnisha,

and the woman Khamaza, daughter of _______,

to the woman Aqubatum, daughter of Aradya.

In the month Siman they will deliver one talent one qa of dates.

Scribe, Shamash-zir-epish, son of Shamash-malku.

Shibtu, Adar the sixth, thirty-second year of Darius,

King of Babylon and countries…

Contract for the Sale of Wheat, Thirty-fifth year of Darius, 487 B.C.

This tablet is a good illustration of the simple transactions in food-stuffs, of which we have many, and of which one or two additional examples are given below. The farmers usually contracted as in this document the sale of their produce far in advance of the harvest. In this instance the sale was made six months before the grain would be ripe and could be delivered.

Six talents of wheat from Shamash-malku,

son of Nabu-napshat-su-ziz, to Shamash-iddin, son of Rimut.

In the month Siman, wheat, six talents in full,

he will deliver in Shibtu, at the house of Shamash-iddin.

Witnesses: Shamash-iddin, son of Nabu-usur-napishti;

Abu-nu-emuq, son of Sin-akhi-iddin; Sharru-Bel, son of Sin-iddin;

Aban-nimiqu-rukus, son of Malula.

Scribe, Aradya, son of Epish-zir.

Shibtu, eleventh of Kislimu, thirty-fifth year of Darius king of countries.

Contract for Rent & Repair of a House, One Year Term, Thirty-fifth year of Darius, 487 B.C.

This contract is most interesting. Iskhuya, apparently a tenant of Shamash-iddin, undertakes to repair the house in which he is living. In addition to the rent for the year he is to receive fifteen shekels in money, in two payments, at the beginning and the completion of the work. The last payment is to be made on the day of Bel, which seems to be identical with the first of Tebet, a week later than the contract was made. In case the repairs were not then completed, Iskhuya was to forfeit four shekels. Such business methods are not, therefore, altogether modern.

In addition to the rent of the house of Shamash-iddin, son of Rimut, for this year,

fifteen shekels of money in cash (shall go) to Iskhuya,

son of Shaqa-Bel, son of the priest of Agish.

Because of the payment he shall repair the weakness (of the house),

he shall close up the crack of the wall.

He shall pay a part of the money at the beginning,

a part of the money at the completion.

He shall pay it on the day of Bel (Marduk), the day of wailing and weeping,

In case the house is unfinished by Iskhuya after the first day of Tebet,

Shamash-iddin shall receive four shekels of money in cash

into his possession at tne hands of Iskhuya.

(The names of three witnesses and a scribe then follow.)

Dated at Shibtu, the twenty-first of Kislimu, the thirty-fifth year of Darius.

Contract for Production of a Coat of Mail, Thirty-Fourth year of Darius, 488 B.C.

This tablet is dated in the thirty-fourth year Darius I (488 B. C.), and was regarded as an imporant transaction, since it is signed by four witnesses and a scribe.

One coat of mail, insignum of power which will protect,

is to be made by the woman Mupagalgagitum,

daughter of Qarikhiya, for Shamash-iddin, son of Rimut.

She will deliver in the month Shebat one coat of mail,

which is to be made and which will protect.

Arakha (Nebuchadnezzar IV)

http://www.livius.org/da-dd/darius/darius_i_0.html

After the unsuccessful insurrection of Nidintu-Bêl against the new Persian king Darius I the Great (October-December 522 BCE), Arakha claimed to be the son of the last king of independent Babylonia, Nabonidus, and renamed himself Nebuchadnezzar IV. His rebellion, which started on 25 August 521, was suppressed by Darius’ bow carrier Intaphrenes on 27 November. In his Behistun inscription, Darius writes: King Darius says:

“Then did I send an army unto Babylon.

A Persian named Intaphrenes, my servant,

I appointed as their leader, and thus I spoke unto them:

‘Go, smite that Babylonian host which does not acknowledge me.’


Then Intaphrenes marched with the army unto Babylon.

Ahuramazda brought me help;

by the grace of Ahuramazda Intaphrenes overthrew the Babylonians

and brought over the people unto me.

Of the twenty-second day of the month Markâsanaš

they seized that Arakha who called himself Nebuchadnezzar,

and the men who were his chief followers.


Then I made a decree, saying:

‘Let that Arakha and the men who were his chief followers

be crucified in Babylon!’”

Persians Reject Democracy, Darius Becomes King

http://www.livius.org/aa-ac/achaemenians/inscriptions.html

III.80: And now when five days were gone, and the hubbub had settled down,

the conspirators met together to consult about the situation of affairs.

At this meeting speeches were made,

to which many of the Hellenes give no credence, but they were made nevertheless.

Otanes recommended that the management of public affairs

should be entrusted to the whole nation.

“To me,” he said, “it seems advisable,

that we should no longer have a single man to rule over us—

the rule of one is neither good nor pleasant.

You cannot have forgotten

to what lengths Cambyses went in his haughty tyranny,

and the haughtiness of the Magi you have yourselves experienced.

How indeed is it possible that monarchy should be a well-adjusted thing,

when it allows a man to do as he likes without being answerable?

Such license is enough to stir strange and unwonted thoughts

in the heart of the worthiest of men.

Give a person this power, and straightway

his manifold good things puff him up with pride,

while envy is so natural to human kind that it cannot but arise in him.

But pride and envy together include all wickedness—

both of them leading on to deeds of savage violence.

True it is that kings, possessing as they do all that heart can desire,

ought to be void of envy;

but the contrary is seen in their conduct towards the citizens.

They are jealous of the most virtuous among their subjects, and wish their death;

while they take delight in the meanest and basest,

being ever ready to listen to the tales of slanderers.

A king, besides, is beyond all other men inconsistent with himself.

Pay him court in moderation,

and he is angry because you do not show him more profound respect—

show him profound respect, and he is offended again,

because (as he says) you fawn on him.

But the worst of all is, that he sets aside the laws of the land,

puts men to death without trial, and subjects women to violence.

The rule of the many, on the other hand, has, in the first place,

the fairest of names, to wit, isonomy;

and further it is free from all those outrages which a king is wont to commit.

There, places are given by lot, the magistrate is answerable for what he does,

and measures rest with the commonalty.

I vote, therefore, that we do away with monarchy, and raise the people to power.

For the people are all in all.”

III.81: Such were the sentiments of Otanes.

Megabyzus spoke next, and advised the setting up of an oligarchy:

“In all that Otanes has said to persuade you to put down monarchy,” he observed,

“I fully concur; but his recommendation that we should call the people to power

seems to me not the best advice.

For there is nothing so void of understanding,

nothing so full of wantonness, as the unwieldy rabble.

It were folly not to be borne, for men,

while seeking to escape the wantonness of a tyrant,

to give themselves up to the wantonness of a rude unbridled mob.

The tyrant, in all his doings, at least knows what is he about,

but a mob is altogether devoid of knowledge;

for how should there be any knowledge in a rabble, untaught,

and with no natural sense of what is right and fit?

It rushes wildly into state affairs with all the fury

of a stream swollen in the winter, and confuses everything.

Let the enemies of the Persians be ruled by democracies;

but let us choose out from the citizens a certain number of the worthiest,

and put the government into their hands.

For thus both we ourselves shall be among the governors,

and power being entrusted to the best men,

it is likely that the best counsels will prevail in the state.”

III.82: This was the advice which Megabyzus gave,

and after him Darius came forward, and spoke as follows:

“All that Megabyzus said against democracy was well said, I think;

but about oligarchy he did not speak advisedly;

for take these three forms of government—democracy, oligarchy, and monarchy—

and let them each be at their best,

I maintain that monarchy far surpasses the other two.

What government can possibly be better

than that of the very best man in the whole state?

The counsels of such a man are like himself,

and so he governs the mass of the people to their heart’s content;

while at the same time his measures against evil-doers

are kept more secret than in other states.

Contrariwise, in oligarchies,

where men vie with each other in the service of the commonwealth,

fierce enmities are apt to arise between man and man,

each wishing to be leader, and to carry his own measures;

whence violent quarrels come, which lead to open strife, often ending in bloodshed.

Then monarchy is sure to follow;

and this too shows how far that rule surpasses all others.

Again, in a democracy, it is impossible but that there will be malpractices:

these malpractices, however, do not lead to enmities,

but to close friendships, which are formed among those engaged in them,

who must hold well together to carry on their villainies.

And so things go on until a man stands forth as champion of the commonalty,

and puts down the evil-doers.

Straightway the author of so great a service is admired by all,

and from being admired soon comes to be appointed king;

so that here too it is plain that monarchy is the best government.

Lastly, to sum up all in a word, whence,

I ask, was it that we got the freedom which we enjoy?

Did democracy give it us, or oligarchy, or a monarch?

As a single man recovered our freedom for us,

my sentence is that we keep to the rule of one.

Even apart from this, we ought not to change the laws of our forefathers

when they work fairly; for to do so is not well.”

III.83: Such were the three opinions brought forward at this meeting;

the four other Persians voted in favor of the last.

Otanes, who wished to give his countrymen a democracy,

when he found the decision against him,

arose a second time, and spoke thus before the assembly:

“Brother conspirators, it is plain that the king

who is to be chosen will be one of ourselves,

whether we make the choice by casting lots for the prize,

or by letting the people decide which of us

they will have to rule over them, in or any other way.

Now, as I have neither a mind to rule nor to be ruled,

I shall not enter the lists with you in this matter.

I withdraw, however, on one condition—

none of you shall claim to exercise rule over me or my seed for ever.”

The six agreed to these terms, and Otanes withdraw and stood aloof from the contest.

And still to this day the family of Otanes

continues to be the only free family in Persia;

those who belong to it submit to the rule of the king

only so far as they themselves choose; they are bound, however,

to observe the laws of the land like the other Persians.

III.84: After this the six took counsel together,

as to the fairest way of setting up a king:

and first, with respect to Otanes, they resolved,

that if any of their own number got the kingdom,

Otanes and his seed after him should receive year by year,

as a mark of special honor, a Median robe,

and all such other gifts as are accounted the most honorable in Persia.

And these they resolved to give him,

because he was the man who first planned the outbreak,

and who brought the seven together.

These privileges, therefore, were assigned specially to Otanes.

The following were made common to them all:

It was to be free to each, whenever he pleased, to enter the palace unannounced,

unless the king were in the company of one of his wives;

and the king was to be bound to marry into no family

excepting those of the conspirators.

Concerning the appointment of a king,

the resolve to which they came was the following:

They would ride out together next morning into the skirts of the city,

and he whose steed first neighed after the sun was up should have the kingdom.

III.85: Now Darius had a groom, a sharp-witted knave, called Oibares.

After the meeting had broken up, Darius sent for him, and said,

“Oibares, this is the way in which the king is to be chosen—

we are to mount our horses,

and the man whose horse first neighs after the sun is up is to have the kingdom.

If then you have any cleverness,

contrive a plan whereby the prize may fall to us, and not go to another.”

“Truly, master,” Oibares answered,

“if it depends on this whether you shall be king or no,

set your heart at ease, and fear nothing:

I have a charm which is sure not to fail.”

“If you have really anything of the kind,” said Darius, “hasten to get it ready.

The matter does not brook delay, for the trial is to be tomorrow.”

So Oibares when he heard that, did as follows:

When night came, he took one of the mares,

the chief favorite of the horse which Darius rode,

and tethering it in the suburb, brought his master’s horse to the place;

then, after leading him round and round the mare several times,

nearer and nearer at each circuit, he ended by letting them come together.

III.86: And now, when the morning broke,

the six Persians, according to agreement,

met together on horseback, and rode out to the suburb.

As they went along they neared the spot

where the mare was tethered the night before,

whereupon the horse of Darius sprang forward and neighed.

just at the same time, though the sky was clear and bright,

there was a flash of lightning, followed by a thunderclap.

It seemed as if the heavens conspired with Darius,

and hereby inaugurated him king:

so the five other nobles leaped with one accord from their steeds,

and bowed down before him and owned him for their king.

III.87: This is the account which some of the Persians

gave of the contrivance of Oibares;

but there are others who relate the matter differently.

They say that in the morning he stroked the mare with his hand,

which he then hid in his trousers until the sun

rose and the horses were about to start,

when he suddenly drew his hand forth

and put it to the nostrils of his master’s horse,

which immediately snorted and neighed.

III.88: Thus was Darius, son of Hystaspes, appointed king;

and, except the Arabians, all they of Asia were subject to him;

for Cyrus, and after him Cambyses, had brought them all under.

The Arabians were never subject as slaves to the Persians,

but had a league of friendship with them from the time

when they brought Cambyses on his way as he went into Egypt;

for had they been unfriendly the Persians could never have made their invasion.

And now Darius contracted marriages of the first rank,

according to the notions of the Persians:

to wit, with two daughters of Cyrus, Atossa and Artystone;

of whom, Atossa had been twice married before,

once to Cambyses, her brother, and once to the Magus,

while the other, Artystone, was a virgin.

He married also Parmys, daughter of Smerdis, son of Cyrus;

and he likewise took to wife the daughter of Otanes,

who had made the discovery about the Magus.

And now when his power was established firmly throughout all the kingdoms,

the first thing that he did was to set up a carving in stone,

which showed a man mounted upon a horse,

with an inscription in these words following:

“Darius, son of Hystaspes, by aid of his good horse”

(here followed the horse’s name), “and of his good groom Oibares,

got himself the kingdom of the Persians.”

III.89: This he set up in Persia;

and afterwards he proceeded to establish twenty governments

of the kind which the Persians call satrapies, assigning to each its governor,

and fixing the tribute which was to be paid him by the several nations.

And generally he joined together in one satrapy the nations that were neighbors,

but sometimes he passed over the nearer tribes,

and put in their stead those which were more remote.

The following is an account of these governments,

and of the yearly tribute which they paid to the king:

Such as brought their tribute in silver

were ordered to pay according to the Babylonian talent;

while the Euboic was the standard measure for such as brought gold.

Now the Babylonian talent contains seventy Euboic minae.

During all the reign of Cyrus, and afterwards when Cambyses ruled,

there were no fixed tributes, but the nations severally brought gifts to the king.

On account of this and other like doings,

the Persians say that Darius was a huckster,

Cambyses a master, and Cyrus a father;

for Darius looked to making a gain in everything;

Cambyses was harsh and reckless;

while Cyrus was gentle, and procured them all manner of goods.

III.90: The Ionians, the Magnesians of Asia, the Aeolians,

the Carians, the Lycians, the Milyans, and the Pamphylians,

paid their tribute in a single sum,

which was fixed at four hundred talents of silver.

These formed together the first satrapy.

The Mysians, Lydians, Lasonians, Cabalians, and Hygennians

paid the sum of five hundred talents. This was the second satrapy.

The Hellespontians, of the right coast as one enters the straits,

the Phrygians, the Asiatic Thracians, the Paphlagonians,

the Mariandynians’ and the Syrians paid a tribute of

three hundred and sixty talents. This was the third satrapy.

The Cilicians gave three hundred and sixty white horses,

one for each day in the year, and five hundred talents of silver.

Of this sum one hundred and forty talents went to pay the cavalry

which guarded the country, while the remaining three hundred and sixty

were received by Darius. This was the fourth satrapy.

III.91: The country reaching from the city of Posideium

(built by Amphilochus, son of Amphiaraus, on the confines of Syria and Cilicia)

to the borders of Egypt, excluding therefrom a district

which belonged to Arabia and was free from tax,

paid a tribute of three hundred and fifty talents.

All Phoenicia, Palestine Syria, and Cyprus, were herein contained.

This was the fifth satrapy.

From Egypt, and the neighbouring parts of Libya,

together with the towns of Cyrene and Barca,

which belonged to the Egyptian satrapy,

the tribute which came in was seven hundred talents.

These seven hundred talents did not include the profits

of the fisheries of Lake Moeris, nor the corn furnished to the troops at Memphis.

Corn was supplied to 120,000 Persians,

who dwelt at Memphis in the quarter called the White Castle,

and to a number of auxiliaries. This was the sixth satrapy.

The Sattagydians, the Gandarians, the Dadicae, and the Aparytae,

who were all reckoned together,

paid a tribute of a hundred and seventy talents.

This was the seventh satrapy.

Susa, and the other parts of Cissia, paid three hundred talents.

This was the eighth satrapy.

III.92: From Babylonia, and the rest of Assyria,

were drawn a yousand talents of silver, and five hundred boy-eunuchs.

This was the ninth satrapy.

Agbatana, and the other parts of Media,

together with the Paricanians and Orthocorybantes,

paid in all four hundred and fifty talents.

This was the tenth satrapy.

The Caspians, Pausicae, Pantimathi, and Daritae,

were joined in one government, and paid the sum of two hundred talents.

This was the eleventh satrapy.

From the Bactrian tribes as far as the Aegli

the tribute received was three hundred and sixty talents.

This was the twelfth satrapy.

III.93: From Pactyica, Armenia,

and the countries reaching thence to the Euxine,

the sum drawn was four hundred talents.

This was the thirteenth satrapy.

The Sagartians, Sarangians, Thamanaeans, Utians, and Mycians,

together with the inhabitants of the islands in the Erythraean sea,

where the king sends those whom he banishes,

furnished altogether a tribute of six hundred talents.

This was the fourteenth satrapy.

The Sacans and Caspians gave two hundred and fifty talents.

This was the fifteenth satrapy.

The Parthians, Chorasmians, Sogdians, and Arians, gave three hundred.

This was the sixteenth satrapy.

III.94: The Paricanians and Ethiopians of Asia

furnished a tribute of four hundred talents.

This was the seventeenth satrapy.

The Matienians, Saspeires, and Alarodians

were rated to pay two hundred talents.

This was the eighteenth satrapy.

The Moschi, Tibareni, Macrones, Mosynoeci, and Mares

had to pay three hundred talents.

This was the nineteenth satrapy.

The Indians, who are more numerous than any other nation

with which we are acquainted,

paid a tribute exceeding that of every other people,

to wit, three hundred and sixty talents of gold-dust.

This was the twentieth satrapy.

III.95: If the Babylonian money here spoken of be reduced to the Euboic scale,

it will make nine thousand five hundred and forty such talents;

and if the gold be reckoned at thirteen times the worth of silver,

the Indian gold-dust will come to four thousand six hundred and eighty talents.

Add these two amounts together and the whole revenue

which came in to Darius year by year will be found to be

in Euboic money fourteen thousand five hundred and sixty talents,

not to mention parts of a talent.

III.96: Such was the revenue which Darius derived from Asia

and a small part of Libya.

Later in his reign the sum was increased by the tribute of the islands,

and of the nations of Europe as far as Thessaly.

The Great King stores away the tribute which he receives after this fashion—

he melts it down, and, while it is in a liquid state, runs it into earthen vessels,

which are afterward removed, leaving the metal in a solid mass.

When money is wanted, he coins as much of this bullion as the occasion requires.

III.97: Such then were the governments,

and such the amounts of tribute at which they were assessed respectively.

Persia alone has not been reckoned among the tributaries—

and for this reason, because the country of the Persians

is altogether exempt from tax.

The following peoples paid no settled tribute, but brought gifts to the king:

first, the Ethiopians bordering upon Egypt,

who were reduced by Cambyses when he made war on the long-lived Ethiopians,

and who dwell about the sacred city of Nysa,

and have festivals in honor of Bacchus.

The grain on which they and their next neighbors feed

is the same as that used by the Calantian Indians.

Their dwelling-houses are under ground.

Every third year these two nations brought—and they still bring to my day—

two choenices of virgin gold, two hundred logs of ebony,

five Ethiopian boys, and twenty elephant tusks.

The Colchians, and the neighboring tribes who dwell between them

and the Caucasus—for so far the Persian rule reaches,

while north of the Caucasus no one fears them any longer—

undertook to furnish a gift, which in my day was still brought every fifth year,

consisting of a hundred boys, and the same number of maidens.

The Arabs brought every year a thousand talents of frankincense.

Such were the gifts which the king received over and above the tribute-money.

Queen Tomyris of the Massagetai and the Defeat of the Persians under Cyrus

http://www.livius.org/aa-ac/achaemenians/inscriptions.html

Herodotus

(Any writing in Bold Type, in Parenthesis, & in Italics is added by me, R. Brown, not the author!)

(gods in blue)


I.201: When Cyrus had achieved the conquest of the Babylonians,

he conceived the desire of bringing the Massagetai under his dominion.

Now the Massagetai are said to be a great and warlike nation,

dwelling eastward, toward the rising of the sun,

beyond the river Araxes, and opposite the Issedonians.

By many they are regarded as a Scythian race.

I.215: In their dress and mode of living the Massagetai resemble the Scythians.

They fight both on horseback and on foot, neither method is strange to them:

they use bows and lances, but their favorite weapon is the battle-ax.

Their arms are all either of gold or brass.

For their spear-points, and arrow-heads, and for their battle-axes,

they make use of brass; for head-gear, belts, and girdles, of gold.

So too with the caparison of their horses, they give them breastplates of brass,

but employ gold about the reins, the bit, and the cheek-plates.

They use neither iron nor silver, having none in their country;

but they have brass and gold in abundance.

I.216: The following are some of their customs:

Each man has but one wife, yet all the wives are held in common;

for this is a custom of the Massagetai and not of the Scythians,

as the Hellenes wrongly say.

Human life does not come to its natural close with this people;

but when a man grows very old,

all his kinsfolk collect together and offer him up in sacrifice;

offering at the same time some cattle also.

After the sacrifice they boil the flesh and feast on it;

and those who thus end their days are reckoned the happiest.

If a man dies of disease they do not eat him, but bury him in the ground,

bewailing his ill-fortune that he did not come to be sacrificed.

They sow no grain, but live on their herds, and on fish,

of which there is great plenty in the Araxes.

Milk is what they chiefly drink.

The only god they worship is the sun, and to him they offer the horse in sacrifice;

under the notion of giving to the swiftest of the gods

the swiftest of all mortal creatures.

I.205: At this time the Massagetai were ruled by a queen,

named Tomyris, who at the death of her husband, the late king,

had mounted the throne.

To her Cyrus sent ambassadors, with instructions to court her on his part,

pretending that he wished to take her to wife.

Tomyris, however, aware that it was her kingdom,

and not herself, that he courted, forbade the men to approach.

Cyrus, therefore, finding that he did not advance his designs by this deceit,

marched towards the Araxes, and openly displaying his hostile intentions;

set to work to construct a bridge on which his army might cross the river,

and began building towers upon the boats which were to be used in the passage.

I.206: While the Persian leader was occupied in these labors,

Tomyris sent a herald to him, who said,

“King of the Medes, cease to press this enterprise,

for you cannot know if what you are doing will be of real advantage to you.

Be content to rule in peace your own kingdom,

and bear to see us reign over the countries that are ours to govern.

As, however, I know you will not choose to hearken to this counsel,

since there is nothing you less desirest than peace and quietness,

come now, if you are so mightily desirous of meeting the Massagetai in arms,

leave your useless toil of bridge-making;

let us retire three days’ march from the river bank,

and do you come across with your soldiers;

or, if you like better to give us battle on your side the stream,

retire yourself an equal distance.”

Cyrus, on this offer, called together the chiefs of the Persians,

and laid the matter before them,

requesting them to advise him what he should do.

All the votes were in favor of his letting Tomyris cross the stream,

and giving battle on Persian ground.

I.207: But Croesus the Lydian,

who was present at the meeting of the chiefs, disapproved of this advice;

he therefore rose, and thus delivered his sentiments in opposition to it:

“Oh! my king! I promised you long since,

that, as Zeus had given me into your hands,

I would, to the best of my power, avert impending danger from your house.

Alas! my own sufferings, by their very bitterness,

have taught me to be keen-sighted of dangers.

If you deem yourself an immortal, and your army an army of immortals,

my counsel will doubtless be thrown away upon you.

But if you feel yourself to be a man, and a ruler of men,

lay this first to heart, that there is a wheel on which the affairs of men revolve,

and that its movement forbids the same man to be always fortunate.

“Now concerning the matter in hand,

my judgment runs counter to the judgment of your other counselors.

For if you agree to give the enemy entrance into your country,

consider what risk is run!

Lose the battle, and therewith your whole kingdom is lost.

For, assuredly, the Massagetai, if they win the fight,

will not return to their homes,

but will push forward against the states of your empire.

Or, if you win the battle, why,

then you win far less than if you were across the stream,

where you might follow up your victory.

For against your loss, if they defeat you on your own ground,

must be set theirs in like case.

Rout their army on the other side of the river,

and you may push at once into the heart of their country.

Moreover, were it not disgrace intolerable for Cyrus the son of Cambyses

to retire before and yield ground to a woman?

“My counsel, therefore, is that we cross the stream,

and pushing forward as far as they shall fall back,

then seek to get the better of them by stratagem.

I am told they are unacquainted with the good things on which the Persians live,

and have never tasted the great delights of life.

Let us then prepare a feast for them in our camp;

let sheep be slaughtered without stint,

and the wine cups be filled full of noble liquor,

and let all manner of dishes be prepared:

then leaving behind us our worst troops, let us fall back towards the river.

Unless I very much mistake, when they see the good fare set out,

they will forget all else and fall to.

Then it will remain for us to do our parts manfully.”

I.208: Cyrus, when the two plans were thus placed in contrast before him,

changed his mind, and preferring the advice which Croesus had given,

returned for answer to Tomyris that she should retire,

and that he would cross the stream.

She therefore retired, as she had engaged;

and Cyrus, giving Croesus into the care of his son Cambyses

(whom he had appointed to succeed him on the throne),

with strict charge to pay him all respect and treat him well,

if the expedition failed of success;

and sending them both back to Persia, crossed the river with his army.

I.209: The first night after the passage,

as he slept in the enemy’s country, a vision appeared to him.

He seemed to see in his sleep the eldest of the sons of Hystaspes,

with wings upon his shoulders,

shadowing with the one wing Asia, and Europe with the other.

Now Hystaspes, the son of Arsames, was of the race of the Achaimenidai,

and his eldest son, Darius, was at that time scarce twenty years old;

wherefore, not being of age to go to the wars,

he had remained behind in Persia.

When Cyrus woke from his sleep, and turned the vision over in his mind,

it seemed to him no light matter.

He therefore sent for Hystaspes, and taking him aside said,

“Hystaspes, your son is discovered to be plotting against me and my crown.

I will tell you how I know it so certainly.

The gods watch over my safety, and warn me beforehand of every danger.

Now last night, as I lay in my bed,

I saw in a vision the eldest of your sons with wings upon his shoulders,

shadowing with the one wing Asia, and Europe with the other.

From this it is certain, beyond all possible doubt,

that he is engaged in some plot against me.

Return you then at once to Persia, and be sure,

when I come back from conquering the Massagetai,

to have your son ready to produce before me, that I may examine him.”

I.210: Thus Cyrus spoke, in the belief that he was plotted against by Darius;

but he missed the true meaning of the dream,

which was sent by God to forewarn him, that he was to die then and there,

and that his kingdom was to fall at last to Darius.

Hystaspes made answer to Cyrus in these words: “Heaven forbid, sire,

that there should be a Persian living who would plot against you!

If such an one there be, may a speedy death overtake him!

You found the Persians a race of slaves, you have made them free men:

you found them subject to others, you have made them lords of all.

If a vision has announced that my son is practicing against you,

I resign him into your hands to deal with as you will.”

Hystaspes, when he had thus answered,

recrossed the Araxes and hastened back to Persia,

to keep a watch on his son Darius.

I.211: Meanwhile Cyrus, having advanced a day’s march from the river,

did as Croesus had advised him, and,

leaving the worthless portion of his army in the camp,

drew off with his good troops towards the river.

Soon afterwards, a detachment of the Massagetai,

one-third of their entire army, led by Spargapises, son of the queen Tomyris,

coming up, fell upon the body which had been left behind by Cyrus,

and on their resistance put them to the sword.

Then, seeing the banquet prepared, they sat down and began to feast.

When they had eaten and drunk their fill,

and were now sunk in sleep, the Persians under Cyrus arrived,

slaughtered a great multitude, and made even a larger number prisoners.

Among these last was Spargapises himself.

I.212: When Tomyris heard what had befallen her son and her army,

she sent a herald to Cyrus, who thus addressed the conqueror:

“You bloodthirsty Cyrus, pride not yourself on this poor success:

it was the grape-juice—which, when you drink it, makes you so mad,

and as you swallow it down brings up to your lips such bold and wicked words—

it was this poison by which you ensnared my child,

and so overcame him, not in fair open fight.

Now hear what I advise, and be sure I advise you for your good.

Restore my son to me and get you from the land unharmed,

triumphant over a third part of the host of the Massagetai.

Refuse, and I swear by the sun, the sovereign lord of the Massagetai,

bloodthirsty as you are, I will give you your fill of blood.”

I.213: To the words of this message Cyrus paid no manner of regard.

As for Spargapises, the son of the queen, when the wine went off,

and he saw the extent of his calamity,

he made request to Cyrus to release him from his bonds;

then, when his prayer was granted, and the fetters were taken from his limbs,

as soon as his hands were free, he destroyed himself.

I.214: Tomyris, when she found that Cyrus paid no heed to her advice,

collected all the forces of her kingdom, and gave him battle.

Of all the combats in which the barbarians have engaged among themselves,

I reckon this to have been the fiercest.

The following, as I understand, was the manner of it:

First, the two armies stood apart and shot their arrows at each other;

then, when their quivers were empty,

they closed and fought hand-to-hand with lances and daggers;

and thus they continued fighting for a length of time,

neither choosing to give ground.

At length the Massagetai prevailed.

The greater part of the army of the Persians was destroyed

and Cyrus himself fell, after reigning nine and twenty years.

Search was made among the slain by order of the queen for the body of Cyrus,

and when it was found she took a skin, and, filling it full of human blood,

she dipped the head of Cyrus in the gore,

saying, as she thus insulted the corpse,

“I live and have conquered you in fight, and yet by you am I ruined,

for you took my son with guile; but thus I make good my threat,

and give you your fill of blood.”

Of the many different accounts which are given of the death of Cyrus,

this which I have followed appears to me most worthy of credit.

Contracts During Reign of Cyrus The Great

http://www.livius.org/aa-ac/achaemenians/inscriptions.html

A good example of a will has already been given above. It appears there that wills like that of Nadinu would stand in spite of the wishes of some of the heirs. We may here illustrate the division of estates among the heirs. This instrument was executed at Borsippa in the third year of Cyrus.

TABLET concerning the division

into gin of an estate the dowry of Banat-Esaggil, their mother,

which Marduk-iddin-akhi, son of Nabu-bel-shinati, son of Nur-Papsukal,

divided and of which he gave to Tukultum-Marduk,

son of Nabu-bel-shinati, son of Nur-Papsukal, his brother, his portion.

Thirty-three and two-thirds cubits, the upper long side on the north,

twenty cubits bordering on the street of _____,

the side of the house of Ina-qibi-Bel, son of Balatu, son of the Rab-Uru,

and the side of the house of Nabu-uballit, son of Kabtiya, son of Nabu-shimi;

thirty-three cubits and eight hands, the lower long side on the south,

by the side of the house of Marduk-iddin-akhi, son of Nabu-bel-shinati,

son of Nur-Papsukal; thirteen cubits eight-hands, the upper short side on the west,

bordering on the street Katnu-agu, thirteen cubits eight hands,

the lower short side on the east, eight cubits eight hands (being on) an alley

which is eight fingers wide, on the side of the streets;

Katnu-la-acu; the sum is eight and two thirds gin,

the measurement of the estate, the portion of Tukultum-Marduk,

together with two gin, the difference _____ which the chief justice,

the shukkaltum and the judges have written upon the tablet

and have granted to Tukultum-Marduk, son of Nabu-bel-shanati,

son of Nur-Papsukal, from Marduk-iddin-akhi,

son of Nabu-bel-shanati, his brother.

Marduk-iddin-akhi has thus given it to Tukultum-Marduk.

An exit, an inalienable privilege

which belongs to the share of Tukultum-Marduk,

Marduk-iddin-akhi, son of Nabu-bel-shanati, son of Nur-Papsukal,

will not remove from Tukultum-Marduk, his brother.

Their suit with one another concerning their estate is ended.

They will not move against one another on the basis of the suit about the estate.

In order that neither may undertake it they have issued duplicate (tablets).

Contract for the Sale of a Standing Crop, Seventh year of Cyrus, 532 B.C.

This contract belongs to a class intermediate between rental and the sale of land. Instead of either, the standing crop is sold.

From a cultivated field which is situated on the alley of Li’u-Bel,

Itti-Marduk-balatu, the son of Nabu-akhi-iddin, the son of Egibi,

has made a purchase from Tashmitum-damqat, daughter of Shuzubu,

son of Shigua, and Nadin-aplu, the son of Rimut, son of Epish-Ilu.

Itti-Marduk-balatu has counted the money,

the price of the crop of that field for the seventh year of Cyrus, King of Babylon,

king of countries, into the hands of Tashmitum-damqat and Nadin-aplu.

(The names of two witnesess and a scribe then follow)

Babylon, Ululu thirteenth, the seventh year of Cyrus.

Cyrus Decree for the Return of the Jews

Kurash (Cyrus) the Great, The Decree of Return for the Jews

http://www.livius.org/aa-ac/achaemenians/inscriptions.html

539 BC

From The Kurash Prism:

(Any writing in Bold Type, in Parenthesis, in Italics, & pictures are added by me, R. Brown, not the author!)

(gods in bluemixed-breed demigods in teal…)


I am Kurash [ “Cyrus” ], King of the World,

Great King, Legitimate King, King of Babilani (Babylon),

King of Kiengir and Akkade, King of the four rims of the earth,

Son of Kanbujiya, Great King, King of Hakhamanish,

Grandson of Kurash, Great king, King of Hakhamanish,

descendant of Chishpish, Great king, King of Hakhamanish,

of a family which always exercised kingship;

whose rule Bel (Marduk) and Nebo (Nabu) love,

whom they want as king to please their hearts.

When I entered Babilani as a friend

and when I established the seat of the government

in the palace of the ruler under jubilation and rejoicing,

Marduk, the great lord,

induced the magnanimous inhabitants of Babilani to love me,

and I was daily endeavoring to worship him….

As to the region from as far as Assura (Assyria) and Susa,

Akkade, Eshnunna, the towns Zamban, Me-turnu,

Der as well as the region of the Gutians,

I returned to these sacred cities on the other side of the Tigris

the sanctuaries of which have been ruins for a long time,

the images which used to live therein

and established for them permanent sanctuaries.

I also gathered all their former inhabitants

and returned them to their habitations.

Furthermore, I resettled upon the command of Marduk, the great lord,

all the gods of Kiengir and Akkade

whom Nabonidus had brought into Babilani

to the anger of the lord of the gods,

unharmed, in their former temples,

the places which make them happy.”

From The Hebrew Bible, Ezra 1:1-8:

“In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia,

in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah,

the Lord inspired King Cyrus of Persia

to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom,

both by word of mouth and in writing:

“Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: “

All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord,

the God of heaven, has given to me,

and he has also charged me to build him a house

in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people,

let him go up, and may his God be with him!

Let everyone who has survived, in whatever place he may have dwelt,

be assisted by the people of that place with silver, gold, and goods,

together with free will offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem.’

Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin

and the priests and Levites—everyone, that is,

whom God had inspired to do so—

prepared to go up to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.

All their neighbors gave them help in every way,

with silver, gold, goods, and cattle,

and with many precious gifts besides all their free-will offerings.

KingCyrus, too, had the utensils of the house of the Lord brought forth

which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from Jerusalem

and placed in the house of his god.

Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought forth by the treasurer Mithredath,

and counted out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.