Explore Iranica

HERMITAGE MUSEUM: PERSIAN ART COLLECTIONS. The State Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg, Russia, possesses some of the richest collections of Persian art. With a collection of over 3 million art works, put together throughout two centuries and a half, the Museum presents the development of world culture and art from…

HERMITAGE MUSEUM i. COLLECTION OF THE PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD Among the most ancient objects of Iranian art in the Hermitage collection are 55 Elamite painted vessels of the late 4th-3rd millennium B.C.E. donated by the French Archaeological Mission in Persia at the beginning of the 20th century. Antiquities from Luristan (13th-8th…

HERMITAGE MUSEUM ii. COLLECTION OF THE ISLAMIC PERIOD Persian art from the advent of Islam until the beginning of the 20th century is well represented in the State Hermitage Museum. The total number of artifacts is not known precisely, because the collection has never been fully documented; only two specialized…

HERODIAN (fl. shortly before 250 C.E.), historian, probably a native of Syria (perhaps from Antiochia), who wrote a Greek history of the Roman emperors in eight volumes, from the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 C.E. to the accession of Gordian III in 238. Not much is known about Herodian’s…

HERODOTUS (Gk.Hēródotos), author of theHistories, the first monumental Greek work in prose which is still extant (5th cent. B.C.E.). Information on his life is very late, primarily derived from two articles in the Suda, a Byzantine lexicon. According to this source Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus and emigrated in 444…

HERODOTUS i. INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORIES Philologists of Hellenistic times divided Herodotus’s opus magnum into nine books and subdivided these into chapters. The Histories cannot be characterized perfectly according to modern principles of literary genre, because such genera did not yet exist in Herodotus’s time. From a modern point of view…

HERODOTUS ii. THE HISTORIES AS A SOURCE FOR PERSIA AND PERSIANS An evaluation of Herodotus’s treatment of Persia and the Persians is a difficult task. The subject is not limited to a specific logos but is ubiquitous in the Histories. One may define the passage 1.131-40 as a kind of…

HERODOTUS iii. DEFINING THE PERSIANS E´thnos “people.” In the Histories the Persians are sometimes not exactly distinguishable from other peoples of their empire, especially when the Greeks’ opponents are simply qualified as “Persians.” The Persians generally are run together with the Medes, as can be recognized by Herodotus’s use of…

HERODOTUS iv. CYRUS ACCORDING TO HERODOTUS Time before kingship. The historical past takes on clearer outline beginning with the figure of Cyrus the Great. With him the Persians too are introduced into world history. Like the Mede Deioces, Cyrus appears as the founding king, “with whom their history really commences”…

HERODOTUS v. CAMBYSES ACCORDING TO HERODOTUS Genealogy. Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, is first described by Herodotus at a time when his father’s reign was already about to end. (For Herodotus’s portayal of this king, cf. Hofmann and Vorbichler, 1980; Brown, 1982; Lloyd, 1988; Obsomer, 1998; Cruz-Uribe, 2003.) While he…

HERODOTUS vi. DARIUS ACCORDING TO HERODOTUS The false Smerdis. Herodotus connects the beginning of Darius’s reign with a deep break in the history of Persian royalty. He describes the rule of the Magus and palace administrator Patizeithes, as well as that of his brother, the false Smerdis, as an attempt…

HERODOTUS vii. XERXES ACCORDING TO HERODOTUS Bad advisors. The young king inherited a solid empire, which was greater than any before in history. Subsequent events come under the curse of the great war of the years 480 and 479, which Herodotus describes as an immense struggle and to which he…

HERODOTUS viii. MARDONIUS ACCORDING TO HERODOTUS Second offensive and retreat. After Xerxes’ retreat, Mardonius prepared his offensive on land. He also wanted the higher powers to be on his side and asked his close friend, Mys of Europus, to consult the local oracles of Boeotia (8.133-35). At the same time,…

HERODOTUS ix. TIGRANES AND THE BATTLE OF MYCALE The fleets after Salamis. After Salamis, the escaped Persian fleet for a while ceased playing any further part. During the winter it was anchored in part at Cyme, and in part before Samos. The crew now appeared to consist mainly of Persians…

HERODOTUS x. ARTAYCTES AND THE FINALE Sestus. After the battle of Mycale, the Greeks advanced as far as the Hellespont, where they found that Xerxes’ bridge was already destroyed (9.114.1). While Leutychides and the Peloponnesians now ended the fight and sailed home, the Athenians did not stop the offensive they…