Amanishakete (Kentake of Meroe, reigned c. 10–1 BC contemporary with Augustus) 62
Amanitare (Kentake of Meroe, reigned until 41 AD contemporary with Tiberius and Caligula)
Amanitarakide (Kentake of Meroe, reigned 40–50 AD contemporary with Claudius) 62
Amastris <1> (name of several Persian queens and princesses, e.g. a daughter of Darius II married to the Achaemenid prince Hydarnes: the grand-parents of Sisygambis. The Old Persian name *Amâstri-, containing *ama-“strength, strong” and *stri- “woman”, means “Woman of strength”
Amastris <2> (345–284 BC; Oxyatres’ daughter; Sisygambis’ granddaughter, first given in titular marriage to Artaxerxes III Ochus, and later really married –in Susa, 324 BC– to Krateros who, after Alexander’s death also took a daughter of Antipater for wife, whereat Amastris refused to play the role of a secondary concubine. She then (c. 322 BC) became the wife and queen of Dionysios of Herakleia. With him she had three children: Klearchos, Oxathres and Amastris. When Dionysios died in 306 BC, Amastris became widow Queen. Coins have been excavated with her portrait and the inscription “Amastrios Basilissès”, Amastris queen. Strabo says the city of Amastris on the coast of Paflagonia was founded by her. She married Lysimachos in 302, and bore him -though aged about 40, which was considered very old- a son, who was called Alexander for evident propaganda reasons; his birth signalled the intention of his parents to reinstate Alexander’s empire. In 301 BC Lysimachos, driven by political need, married Ptolemy’s daughter Arsinoe. Amastris again refused to become secondary wife, and returned alone to her likenamed city, where in the end she was murdered c. 284 by her sons. In return, they were executed by Lysimachos) 2, 27, 47, 48, 49, 93, 103–108, 159
Amazons (legendary warrior women; Alexander was very interested in them. Their origin is possibly related to armed women guards at Great Goddess sites. Classical authors cite 82 Amazon queens or warriors by name, 37 of them in the Herakles-legend. Others fought in the ‘Attic War’ against Theseus, where 24 of them are named; and 14 Amazons are said to have taken part in the Trojan War, like Penthesileia. The ‘Vulgata’ literary tradition on Alexander has him making love variously to the Amazon queen Thalestris; to the Nubian warrior queen Candace; to the ‘Auspicious Amazon’ in the Sikandar-Nama; and to a warrior princess in the Darab Nama, who is a stand-in for the goddess Anahita. Near Ekbatana in 324 BC, satrap Atropates of Media offers Alexander, as a gift, a troop of 100 so-called ‘Amazons’; that is, women on horseback and equipped to look like Amazons) 2, 10–13, 46, 79, 141, 142, 143, 159, 160
Ammon (Egyptian god equivalent of Zeus, with a famous oracle at Síwah where Alexander is officially proclaimed son of the god. Therefore his coins depict him wearing the distinctive horns that denote Ammon. The Ammon Temple at Luxor, rebuilt by Ramses II and remodelled under Alexander, is the only place where Alexander’s name can still be seen written in hieroglypics and enclosed in the pharaoh cartouche, on the interior sanctuary walls that depict him as fulfilling an Egyptian religious rite) 14, 151
Amu Darya (river that runs to the Aral Sea, in ancient times called Oxus and considered the northern boundary of the Achaemenid empire) 54
Amyntas III (king of Makedon 393–370 BC, polygamous monarch whose last wife is ‘Eurydike, daughter of Sirras’, mother of the future kings Alexander II, Perdikkas III and Philip II
Amyntas (son of Perdikkas III, nephew and ‘substitute heir’ to Philip II; married to Cynnane; killed 336 BC on Alexander’s orders
Amytis <1> (c. 560 BC, a daughter of king Astyages of Media, widowed and then married by Cyrus the Great who first had called her “mother”, sic Ktesias FGrH 688 f9; Xenofon in his Cyropaedia says shé crowned him. It was a political, titular marriage. In reality, the effective wife and queen of Cyrus was Kassandane) 1, 44–45, 65
Amytis <2> (A daughter of queen Amastris and Xerxes, given in marriage to Megabyzos; their other daughter was called Rodogune)
Anahita (originally the Sogdian/Bactrian Goddess of Waters; successor deity to the Great Goddess, protectress of the throne, given official prominence in the Persian empire by Artaxerxes II –his A2Sa and A2Ha inscriptions mark the first time she is mentioned on equal footing with Ahura Mazda and Mithra by a High King– but ‘suppressed’ by Artaxerxes III. In reality her cult lived on, as Strabo XV.3.13 states: “The Persians worship Afrodite and Water…” in other words, Anahita. On Anahita’s history: see Chapter 2. A descandant of Anahita priests at her main temple in Istakhr, near Pasargadai/Persepolis, became the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, Ardasher, who reinstated Anahita as the patroness of royalty) 37, 46, 49, 54–59, 78, 83, 142, 163
Anaitis (Babylonian goddess, assimilated to Anahita) 55
Antigenes <1> (of Pallene; Greek author, cited by Plutarch) 141
Antigenes <2> (Makedonian soldier twice cited by Plutarch as the man who asks for false invalidity leave in order to accompany the hetaira Telesippa; but in a third instance, Plutarch cites Eurylochos of Aigai as Telesippa’s lover – Heckel considers this to be the correct identity) 161
Antigonos One-Eye (382–301 BC; Alexander’s general; then king in Asia Minor and parts of Mesopotamia, won and lost during the Successor Wars; in the end, Antigonos is routed and killed at the battle of Ipsos by Lysimachos, Seleukos and Ptolemy) 83, 94, 95, 96, 106, 107, 108, 119, 120, 124, 125, 127– 128, 130, 139, 140, 155
Antigonos Gonatas (320–239 BC, a grandson of One-Eye; king of Makedon in 276–239 BC) 127
Antiklides (c. 250 BC; Greek author cited by Plutarch) 141
Antioch (city on the Orontes river, c. 300 BC refounded by Seleukos as his capital city; today: Antakya in Turkey near the border with Syria) 128
Antipater (397–319 BC, Makedonian general and politician, friend of king Philip and of the philosopher Aristoteles. Governor/Regent of Makedon for both Philip and Alexander, in spite of the open hostility that his mother Olympias always displayed towards Antipater. In 324, Alexander sent Krateros with orders to take over all power from Antipater; but after the king’s premature death in 323, Krateros decided to sustain the Regent. Though Antipater refrained from appointing his own son Kassander as his successor –instead, he named Polyperchon as Regent–, Kassander by the force of arms took the power, and finally the throne, in Makedon) 11, 16, 17, 28, 29, 30, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 98, 104, 105, 119, 120, 121, 123, 124, 139, 154
Antipatrides (old friend on the campaign trail who c. 344 tries to have his sexy harper seduce Alexander) 2, 7, 160
Anthylla (village of shoemakers in Egypt) 68
Apame <1> (a traditional name in the Persian royal house, probably related to the Avestan apama: “the latest” hence “the youngest [child]”. Darius the Great had married a daughter of Gobrias called Apame before he came to the throne; however, their first-born son did not succeed him, see Ariamenes/Artobazanes)
Apame <2> (415–380 BC Achaemenid princess, sister of Sisygambis; married to Farnabazos, satrap of Hellepontine Frygia. Their son is prince Artabazos, so this Apame is the grandmother of Barsine the concubine
Apame <3> (a.k.a. Artakama, c. 350–320 BC; a sister of Barsine, married to Ptolemy in Susa, but divorced by him in Egypt so as to marry Antipater’s daughter Bereneike) 161
Apame <4> (345–280 BC, daughter of the Sogdian leader Spitamenes. After
his death by treason, Apame was taken under Alexander’s personal protection; in all probability he sent her to Susa to be brought up by Sisygambis. At the Susa Weddings, he married her to Seleukos; the Seleukid dynasty descends from her. She is called ‘Basilissa’, queen, in an inscription at Didyma dated 299/8 BC. Seleukos named several cities after her. Their son Antiochus succeeded his father in 281 BC) 2, 27, 47, 48, 103, 107, 159, 161
Apelles (famous Ionian painter, aprox. 360–300 BC, who worked for Philip, Alexander and Ptolemy. Alexander held him in the highest esteem and sent the hetaira Kampaspe, who had been his own concubine, to the house of Apelles. His paintings are no longer extant, but literary descriptions of them survive; see under Pliny) 2, 7
Aphrodisias (Great Goddess shrine on the Morsynes river, the oldest recorded human settlement in Karia; in times of the Roman empire, Aphrodisias became a famous production center of Afrodite/Venus statues) 77
Appianus of Alexandria (95–165 AD; Greco-Roman author of The Mithridatic Wars) 157
Arabia (strategic objective of a Fleet campaign Alexander prepared for 323 BC) VIII
Arachosia (land south of Hindu Kush in today’s Afghanistan; conquered by Alexander) 152
Aramaic (alphabet & archives in this language, a diplomatic “lingua franca” in Mesopotamia) 66, 112, 131
Arashara (professional title of feminine Persian managers. The Arasharas supervised groups of -mostly female- personnel employed by the imperial family. On tablet PF 1720, the treasurer of Darius I in Persepolis registers meat rations for four Arasharas whom he cites by name, which confirms their high rank: Dakma, Harbakka, Matmabba and Sadukka. They have a high salary level: tablet, PF 1666, records the issuing of 750 quarts of wine, divided among 65 workers. Three Arasharas receive the highest amount: 30 quarts each, while one male scribe gets 20 quarts. In exceptional occasions, a woman executive can even be seen to receive 50 quarts. Numerous Arasharas are found to be working on the estates of Darius’ queen-mother Irdabama who has many worker units, ranging from groups of three to several hundred people, stationed in various locations) 1, 3, 73–74
Arbela (principal city near the Gaugamela battlefield, so some sources call the decisive showdown between Alexander and Darius III on October 1st 331 BC, the ‘battle of Arbela’. Today the town is known as Irbil, in Kurdistan, and since over 5.000 years maintains a millenarian fortification in its city centre) VII
Ardasher I (born around 180 AD, a descendant of Anahita priests in her temple at Istakhr near Persepolis. By 210 AD, Ardasher controlled the whole region of Persis, where he routed the king of the Parthians and so became the founder of the ‘Sassanid’ empire which he headed in 226–240 AD. He left behind a ‘governance manual’ known as the Testament of Ardasher, that also explains the use of spies. Ardasher wanted to be seen as the direct heir to the Achaemenid dynasty, as his own ‘king name’ was meant to underline: “Ardasher” is the form in which the ancient name Artaxerxes was pronounced in his days. See also: Zoroaster) 114
Ardvi Sura Anahita (= goddess Anahita, see Chapter 2) 54–58
Argeads (Royal House of Makedon, descended from 7th century BC king Argaios
Ariamenes (sic Plutarch; Herodotos calls him Artobazanes. First son of Darius the Great, born c. 530 from Apame; but it was Xerxes, the first-born of Darius and Atossa, who succeeded him on the throne. This elder brother, Ariamenes/Artobazanes, did not reclaim the crown, and was highly valued by Xerxes, who appointed him supreme commander of Persia’s naval forces at the battle of Salamis in 480 BC. There, Ariamenes died in action. Queen Artemisia of Karia recovered his corpse from the sea, so permitting Xerxes to give his oldest brother a worthy burial) 79–80
Aristoboulos of Kassandreia (c. 390– 300 BC; Alexander’s engineer, and biographer c. 306 BC) 13, 21, 34, 141, 154, 156, 159, 161
Aristofanes (450–385 BC Greek classic playwright of comedies) 112
Aristoteles (384–322 BC famous biologist and philosopher; born in Stagira, Makedon, son of Philips’ physician; student under Plato in Athens; 343– 340 BC teacher of Alexander and his friends at a school in Mieza established by Philip for his son, though Aristoteles in theory propounded a public education system, as he wrote in his Politica, 1337a21: “Since the whole polis has one end, it is manifest that the same education should be necessarily for all; and that it should be public, not private as it is now. The training in matters common to all, should be common.”) 6, 139, 154
Armenia (satrapy of Artashata, the future Darius III; birthplace of Sisygambis’ mother Stateira, the wife of Artaxerxes II. In present-day Armenia, a Christian nation, the central bank of the nation has issued a gold coin in homage to the ancient goddess Anahita) 38, 42, 54, 55, 107, 109
Arrian, Lucius Flavius (85–162 AD, born in Nikomedia, modern-day Izmit, 75 kms east of Istanbul. Greco-Roman politician, general and historian who studied under Epiktetos together with his friend, the later emperor Hadrian. Author of the most reliable biography on Alexander) 12, 21, 26, 31, 32, 66, 94, 101, 119, 135, 139–141, 150, 155, 156, 158, 159, 160, 161, 163
Arridaios (358–317 BC; Alexander’s retarded half-brother and successor, married in 321 to his niece Adea; both executed on Olympias’ orders)
Arrybas (king of Molossia replaced by Philip in 342 BC with his future son-in-law Alexandros, Olympias’ brother) 87, 88
Arsames/Arshama (name of several Achaemenid princes; it derived from the Old Persian aršan “male, hero” and ama “strength”, thus meaning “having a hero’s strength”; the feminine form Aršâmâ is also attested, in the name of a daughter of Darius the Great. Arshama (c. 400–359 BC), the cousin and husband of Sisygambis, was a son of Artaxerxes II’s brother Otanes. In 359 BC, when Ochus and Bagoas eliminated all possible throne rivals, they also hadArsames murdered. Arsames being son-in-law to Artaxerxes II, it might be possible that he is the one meant by Plutarch when he cites an Arsames in Artaxerxes 30, saying he was the most trusted son of Artaxerxes II and therefore killed by his rival half-brother Ochus: “As for Arsames, it did not escape Ochus that he seemed to be intelligent and was most dear to his father. It was clear that the king trusted him most and spoke freely with him. So Ochus did not delay and had Arsames killed. The king then died of grief and despair.”
Arses/Arsicas/Arshú (birth name of Artaxerxes II, see id.; Old Persian name derived from *R-ša, “the hero”. Babylonian: Ár-šú, sic Tavernier 2007) 69–70
Arsinoe (Ptolemy’s daughter married to king Lysimachos in 300 BC) 106, 108
Artabazos (name derived from Old Persian *Rtavazdah; Rta/Arta being “the right cosmic order” or “truth”. The father of Barsine, prince Artabazos 387–325 BC, was appointed satrap of Hellespontine Frygia in 362 BC, to succeed his father Farnabazos in office. After a failed rebellion against Artaxerxes III, he took refuge 352–344 BC in Makedon with his family, including Barsine; in the end, he was pardoned and returned to Persia. During Alexander’s invasion, Artabazos stayed at the side of his younger cousin Darius III until his murder by Bessos; refused to recognise Bessos as High King, and went over to Alexander who made him satrap of Baktria. His eldest son became one of Alexander’s cavalry commanders; his daughters were held in high esteem, as Barsine was a long-time bedmate of Alexander, and Artakama and Artonis were married to Ptolemy and Eumenes at the Susa Weddings) VI, 17, 18, 19, 89
Artakama (c. 350–320 BC; also called Apame, see ibid.; a sister of Barsine, married to Ptolemy in Susa, but divorced by him in Egypt so as to marry Antipater’s daughter Bereneike) 2, 159
Artashata (birth name of Darius III, see id.; Old Persian name derived from *R-ta-ša¯ti-š, meaning “joy of Arta” sic Tavernier; Dandamayev reconstructs *R-ta-šya¯ta-, “happy through truthfulness”)
Artasyras (c. 450–400/390 BC?; satrap of Hyrcania on the shore of the Caspian Sea. Artasyras also held the office of “King’s Eye”, spy chief, and was rewarded for his services w
ith the marriage of his son Orontes to Rodogune, the eldest daughter of High King Artaxerxes II. The Old Persian name Artasura means: “powerful through truth”. In the empire of the Medes, king Astyages –toppled by Cyrus in 559 BC– had installed a satrap named Artasyras in Hyrcania: the beginning of a high-ranking lineage. His like-named son was mentioned by Ktesias
Artaxata (capital of Armenia, site of an Anahita temple with a famous golden statue of the goddess, looted by the Romans) 55
Artaxerxes (throne name of several Achaemenid kings; the Old Persian form Artaxšaçâ means “whose reign is through truth”. Artaxerxes I reigned 465–424 BC; see: Persia’s King List, p. IX) 58, 68
Artaxerxes II (b. 452 BC, r. 404–358 BC; Sisygambis’ father. His biographer Plutarch renders his Old Persian name Arshú as Arsicas. Married to Stateira, a princess of the Achaemenid lineage born in Armenia; later he also had a titular marriage –for politico-religious reasons?– with his daughters Atossa and Amastris.
All Alexander's Women Page 19
