Alexander Histories and Iranian Reflections, page 3
part #1 of Alexander Histories and Iranian Reflections Series
and proudest of the persian possessions by virtues of fortune’s generos-
ity to them.”27 in the same account we are told that “they who previously
from daintiness only with reluctance had been conveyed in luxurious car-
riages and had exposed no part of their bodies unveiled”28 are subjected
to this tragic outcome. again we have contradictions in the same source.
if these women are supposed to accompany their men to battle, then why
are they so pampered and protected? it is interesting to see that accord-
ing to certain other sources it is only darius and no other previous king
who takes his harem to war.29 this account is based on the authority of
dicaearchus of messene, a writer in the fourth and third centuries BC.30
philip of macedon did not, to be sure, take women along with him on his
campaigns as did darius, the one who was deposed by alexander; for darius,
although engaged in a war in which his entire empire was at stake, took
round with him three-hundred-sixty concubines, according to the account
given by dicaearchus in the third book of his History of Greece. yet philip
always married a new wife with each new war he undertook.31
it is beyond the scope of the present work to determine if it is possible to
see the solution to the problem in this very passage and understand that
dicaearchus’ account forms the basis of what in the alexander histories
has the qualifying phrase of “according to ancestral custom of the persians”
also attached to it. it is probable that dicaearchus—a contemporary of
alexander—had participated in the development of his propaganda. it is
noteworthy that this report is careful in distinguishing which darius and
therefore not implicating any other former ruler. it clearly aims at that
darius who countered alexander.
at the same time it is interesting to note that the surviving histories
prior to the alexander histories do not reveal the knowledge of any
such custom. While in fact through other Classical sources we learn that
27 diodorus XVii. 35. 5 f.
28 diodorus XVii. 35. 5.
29 athenaeus Xiii. 557 b; livy iX. 17. 16.
30 m. hadas, A History of Greek Literature, new york, 1950, 158; a. lesky, A History of
Greek Literature, new york, 1966, 578.
31 athenaeus Xiii. 557 b.
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chapter one
customarily the royal women were most jealously protected and guarded
and it was a crime punishable by death for any man to dare touch them.32
With such strict traditions and laws in place it is very difficult to see an
achaemenid king taking his women folk to combat and not only endan-
gering their lives and honour but also subjecting his own men to the addi-
tional risk of inadvertently crossing the line and insulting the king.
furthermore, if one goes through the former accounts of persian armies,
no such information regarding the presence of the royal women is seen.
the other famous army of the persians, also of interest to the greek histo-
rians, was that of Xerxes on his march against greece. the full description
of that army according to herodotus, is given in his histories.33 this army
is so massive that a tale is recorded about it, according to which a man
cries out to Zeus for having the whole world march against them.34 yet no
similar information to that seen in alexander histories, as to the presence
of royal women, is encountered. in fact what one learns is that the persians
did not think a woman belonged at battlefield. even artabanus, the king’s
uncle who doubts the merits of Xerxes’ campaign against greece, is com-
pared to a woman and told by the king to stay behind: “i lay upon you
this disgrace, that you shall not go with me and my army against hellas,
but abide here with the women.”35 in another instance an old man who
has his five sons taken to war asks the king for the favour of having one of
his sons released so to stay behind and be of help to his old father.36 as a
mark of degradation and dishonor, the king tells him that he should even
take his wife to combat:
villain you see me myself marching against hellas, and taking with me my
sons and brothers and kinsfolk and friends; and do you, my slave—who
should have followed me with all your household and your very wife—
speak to me of your son?37
in Xerxes’ army there is only one woman naval commander, the highly
unusual case of artemisia who replaces her dead husband and causes
herodotus to state: “moves me to marvel greatly that a woman should
have gone with the armament against hellas.”38
32 plutarch, Artaxerxes 27. 1; Id., Themistocles 26. 5.
33 herodotus Vii. 55–100.
34 herodotus Vii. 56.
35 Id. , Vii. 11.
36 Id. , Vii. 38.
37 Id. , Vii. 39.
38 Id. , Vii. 99.
the plight of the achaemenid royal women
13
however, a certain category of women did follow the persian army of
Xerxes: the common concubines who were placed alongside the cooks and
servants.39 herodotus imparts this information in passing, while stressing
the persian army’s cumbersome size.40
the information on darius should also be seen in the same light. But
what specifically had been catered to the attention of the iranian audi-
ence in the alexander histories was the inclusion of darius’ mother, his
wife and daughters. he is to be portrayed as so inept and dishonourable
as to even take his most honoured female folks to combat, like some lowly
concubine. this understanding would be similar to the retributions of the
old man by Xerxes who was told that as a dishonourable man he should
even bring his wife to combat.41 By this insulting comparison of the old
man’s wife to a concubine, the king is shaming him as a punishment.
in this connection it is interesting to note that, according to the
Classical sources, persian men had different categories of wives, noble
highly placed ones and concubines.42 the former category was so pro-
tected that even their husbands’ drinking parties was not considered a
suitable place for them, having to leave after dinner so to be replaced by
the concubines.43 however, all the women were strictly guarded against
strangers and no man was to see them or touch them on journeys or
elsewhere.44 furthermore, although at the time of darius the luxuries
of the achaemenid court, after nearly three centuries of rule, seems to
have reached a staggering point, described by greek writers in superlative
terms, such as the king’s 360 wives who sleep during the day in order to
entertain him at night,45 yet it is difficult to see them confusing the cir-
cumstances of warfare with the controlled environments of a royal hunt,
for instance.46 Were they taking the entire court out on an excursion with
the army in order to witness the humiliation of the upstart macedonian?
But the way in which the same sources narrate the story that sense is
not imparted. on the one hand, darius is summoning his military might
39 Id. , Vii. 83, 187.
40 Id. , Vii. 186.
41 Id. , Vii. 39.
42 plutarch, Moralia 140 B, 613 a.
43 Id. , 140 b.
44 plutarch, Artaxerxes 27; themistocles 26. 5.
45 athenaeus Xii. 514 on the authority of heracleides of Cumae in his Persian History;
cf. Briant 2002, 299.
46 Briant 2002, 297 f.; cf. Curtius Viii. iX. 28 for the description of the indian king’s
custom to take his concubines to hunt so to pray and sing for his success.
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chapter one
to meet the challenge, while, on the other hand, he is handicapped by
the cumbersome baggage that has to be there according to custom. Still
halfway through he decides to lighten his load and send them to safety. it
just does not figure out.
however, this build up of misplaced information resembles another
literary effort also created to stress the persians’ degeneracy and love of
luxury. Chapter 8 of Book 8 of Xenophon’s Cyropaedia is believed to be a
later addition to the original text and aims to discredit the persians and
hence the medic influence in athens.47 in the alexander histories we also
seem to be encountering a similar type of effort with the purpose of influ-
encing loyalties.
if, however, darius had been raised as a cloistered pampered prince,
addicted to the various luxuries of the court, and contrary to the persian
tradition with its emphasis on the harsh military training from an early
age until old age,48 one could have given some credibility to the reports
on his excesses, cowardice and degeneracy. But the fact is that the same
alexander histories inform us of darius’ outstanding courage while serv-
ing in the army of artaxerxes iii.49 it is precisely because of this notewor-
thy record that he succeeds to kingship. according to diodorus: “darius’
selection for the throne was based on his known bravery, in which quality
he far surpassed the other persians.”50 he proceeds to give the story of his
hand to hand combat with a Cadusian fighter who had challenged a vol-
unteer among the persians. Where no one else dared, darius had stepped
in and slew the man, gaining first place in prowess among persians and
considered worthy of kingship.51 Justin also relates the story of the com-
bat with the Cadusian fighter and concludes: “on the death of ochus,
47 Xenophon, Cyropaedia, trans. W. miller, london, 1914, Vol. 2, 438 f.; While in previous
chapters of the same book Xenophon informs of Cyrus the younger’s regimented army in
ii. iV. 2f.; V. iii. 34–45 where a general ‘baggage and camp followers’ is mentioned; Vi. ii.
25–41; Vi. iii. 30; Vii. i. 22, a general ‘women’s carriages’ mentioned; Cf. Xenophon, Anabsis i.
Viii. 8-12 on artaxerxes’ army with no mention of women; Cf. John W.i. lee, A Greek Army
on the March, Cambridge, 2007, pp. 271–275; Cf. Strabo 15. 1. 55–56 on the indian king’s
Bacchic hunt in which he is accompanied by armed women, who on the one hand also go
on military expeditions with the men, while on the other hand they are separated from the
men and any man who passes their fenced off area faces the death penalty. he adds a note
of skepticism characterizing the customs as ‘novel’; cf. aeschylus, the persians 55, 130–135
for specific mention of women staying at home while the men are at war.
48 dnb. 8 in r.g. Kent, Old Persian, Grammar, Texts, Lexicon, new york, 1953, 140; hero-
dotus i. 136; Strabo XV. 3. 18–19; plutarch, Artaxerxes 24. 6; Briant 2002, 210 f.
49 diodorus XVii. 6. 1 f. Justin X. 3. 4; Briant 2002, 771.
50 diodorus XVii. 6. 1.
51 Id. , XVii. 6. 1.
the plight of the achaemenid royal women
15
he was chosen king by the people from regard to his former merits, and,
that nothing might be wanting to his royal dignity, honoured with the
name of darius.”52 Briant rightly identifies this story as emanating from
darius’ camp in response to the alexander propaganda that had aimed
at questioning darius’ legitimacy.53 in fact, this would seem to provide a
response to the type of stories recorded by dicaearchus that even during
the war with alexander when his entire empire was at stake he could not
do without the pleasures of the harem and took his entire 360 concubines
around with him.54
With regard to the question of the presence of the royal women in
combat, one may note that some alexander histories inform us of the
prudence of certain of darius’ subjects to send their women and children
away from the scene of imminent combat,55 while still others prefer to
commit mass suicide rather than suffer the shame of having their women
dishonoured by the victors.56 yet the persians have to take their entire
belongings and women folk to combat and like idiots wait for the enemy
to come and take all. in fact, livy relates the exact same understanding:
he ( i.e. alexander) would have said it was no darius with whom he had to
deal, trailing women and eunuchs after him, and weighed down with the
gold and purple trappings of his station. him he found a booty rather than
an enemy, and conquered without bloodshed, merely by daring to despise
vain shows.57
this line of argument would have us believe that persians with their king
at the time had no sense of warfare or any experience of the battlefield.
in following Curtius’ account, as a matter of fact, it becomes clear that
it is primarily a question of the comparison of the armies in the first place
and then the personal merits, or lack thereof, of the two leaders. What he
strives to show is the strategic make up of the two opposing camps. Where
one is restricted with tradition and bogged down by its heavy size, the
other is effective, efficient and blessed with the genius of its leader.
after giving a detailed account of the persian king’s army, heavily
underlining its luxury, the presence of the king’s mother, wife, daughters,
52 Justin X. 3. 4.
53 Briant, 2002, 770 f.
54 athenaeus Xiii. 557.
55 arrian i. 2, 2–3, 4; diodorus XVii. 41. 1; Curtius iV. 3. 20; Justin Xi. X. 14; cf. Xenophon,
Cyropaedia iii. i. 2 f. & below.
56 Curtius iX. iV. 6.
57 livy iX. XVii. 16.
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chapter one
household staff, children and their governors, eunuchs, 365 concubines,
all regally dressed and adorned, king’s money on 600 mules and 300
camels, wives of his relatives and friends, as well as his fighting men: the
10,000 and the 15,000 all adorned with barbaric wealth, still other fighters
of the same quality,58 he shifts his attention to the macedonian army and
states:
[i]f on the other hand anyone should look upon the macedonian army,
its appearance was different; men and horses gleaming, not with gold
and particoloured garments, but with steel and bronze. an army pre-
pared to stand or to follow, not over weighted with excessive numbers or
with baggage, watchful, not only for the signal, but even for the nod of its
leader.59
next that we hear of the women in Curtius’ account is when we learn that
the king sends his money and his most valuable possessions to damascus
in Syria. his wife and mother, however, still follow the army according to
the custom of his nation, as well as his unmarried daughters and his little
son who accompany their father.60 during actual combat the women are
placed in the center.61
With their defeat and flight of the fighting men, the king’s camp is cap-
tured, with huge amounts of gold and silver, the equipment not of war but
of luxury, as well as the women who are then abused by the captors.62
With regard to the flight of the persians, it is interesting that Curtius
even informs us of the direction of their escape: “the barbarians had fled
in widely differing directions: some where the direct road led to persia,
others made, by round about ways, for the rocks and hidden defiles of
the mountains, a few for the camp of darius”,63 as if implying darius’ ear-
lier loss of location and direction? not knowing his whereabouts in his
own kingdom? and the road to the safety of persia, along which to send
the women and the treasures, although his close female relatives are still
in his camp and have been captured. later, after they are transferred to
alexander’s camp and now treated with utmost respect and dignity, darius
requests their release through envoys and letters. it is interesting to see
that, according to Curtius,64 parmenion, alexander’s general, advices him
58 Curtius iii. 3. 8–25.
59 Curtius iii. 3. 26–27.
60 Id. , iii. 8. 12.
61 Curtius iii. iX. 5.
62 Curtius 3. 11. 19–22.
63 Curtius 3. 11. 19.
64 Curtius 4. 11. 12.
the plight of the achaemenid royal women
17
to exchange one old woman and two girls, a hindrance to their journeys
and their marches, for 30,000 talents of gold offered by darius.
in the meantime, darius’ wife has died of travel fatigue,65 the accounts
of which will follow later.
in another section, darius, in a speech to his army before the battle of
arbela, concedes to the mistake of taking women and children to war.66
even further on, after the defeat of arbela, in yet another speech he sees
alexander’s destruction to be eminent, for darius himself had learned from
experience that costly equipment and concubines and trains of eunuchs
were only burdens and hindrances. alexander, dragging these same clogs
