ARTEMBARĒS, Greek form of an Old Iranian proper name * Ṛtam-para- (Lycian Arttumpara), meaning “who encourages the order.”
1) A noble Mede under Astyages (Herodotus 1.11-11 16).
2) A Persian who advised Cyrus II that the Persians should leave for a better country (Herodotus 9.122).
3) A Persian who perished in the battle of Salamis in 480 B.C. (Aeschylus, Persae 29 and 297).
4) Arttumpara, a Lycian dynast whose name is attested in a few Lycian inscriptions of the fifth to the fourth centuries B.C. In one of these inscriptions (no. 29) he calls himself “the Mede” (medese). His portrait is pictured on some coins where he bears Median beard, tiara, and headdress.
Bibliography:
E. Benveniste, Titres et noms propres en iranien ancien, Paris, 1966, p. 101.
See also J. Friedrich, Kleinasiatische Sprachdenkmäler, Berlin, 1932, nos. 11, 29, 104, and 180.
A. T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire, Chicago, 1948, pp. 405-06.
M. Mayrhofer and R. Schmitt, eds., Iranisches Personennamenbuch V/4, p. 18 no. 4 (where the name is explained as *Ṛtam-bara- “bearinġ/bringing the truth”).
(M. A. Dandamayev)
Originally Published: December 15, 1986
Last Updated: August 15, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. II, Fasc. 6, p. 660