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ARTAMANIA (Middle Babylonian ar-ta-ma-an-ià), prince of Zi-ri-ba-ša-ni, who wrote a letter of devotion to the pharaoh of Egypt (El-Amarna 201; see J. A. Knudtzon, ed., Die El-Amarna-Tafeln, Leipzig, 1915 [repr. Aalen, 1964], pp. 733f.). His name is possibly of (Indo-) Aryan origin: *Ṛta-manya- “thinking of Ṛta, remembering Ṛta”; see M….

ARTAPHRENĒS, name given by Herodotus for the son of Hystaspes and brother of Darius I, and of various other Persians in Greek literature. It is most probably an adaptation by popular etymology (cf. Greek phrḗn “spirit, soul”) of Artaphernēs (attested e.g. in Aeschylus and some MSS. of Herodotus), corresponding to…

ARTAŠŠUMARA (ar-ta-aš-šu-ma-ra), a Mitannian king, son of King Šuttarna II, brother of Tušratta; he was murdered after his father’s death and a short reign by UD-ḫi (El-Amarna 17, 11ff.; J. A. Knudtzon, ed., Die El-Amarna-Tafeln, Leipzig, 1915 [repr. Aalen, 1964], p. 133; I. L. Finkel, “Inscriptions from Tell Brak 1984,”…

ARTASYRAS, Greek rendering of an Old Iranian name *Ṛta-sūra “powerful through Arta” (Akkadian Ar-ta-sur-ru, Elamite Ir-da-šu-ra), see M. Mayrhofer, Onomastica Persepolitana, Vienna, 1973, p. 166 no. 8.605). 1 ) Satrap of Hyrcania under Astyages and Cyrus II (Nicolaus of Damascus in: F. Jacoby, Fragmente der griechischen Historiker IIA, Berlin, 1926,…

ARTATĀMA (Ar-ta-ta-a-ma), king of Mitanni; 1. probably the son and successor of King Sauš(sa)tat(t)ar, father of Šuttarna II, and grandfather of Artaššumara and Tušratta. He gave a daughter (whose name is not known to us) in marriage to Pharaoh Thutmose IV of Egypt (ca. 1412-03 B.C.). 2. King of Ḫurri,…

ARTAVARDIYA, Old Persian personal name (Elamite Ir-du-mar-ti-ya, Akkadian Ar-ta-mar-zi-ya, Aramaic ʾrtwrzy), from Old Pers. arta- and *vard -, meaning “doer of Justice.” 1. A Persian general under Darius I who was sent with an army to put down Vahyazdāta’s rebellion, who had declared himself to be Bardiya, son of Cyrus…

ARTAVASDES, Old Iranian male personal name, attested as Greek Artaouásdēs, Artabázēs, Artábazos, Artáozos, Latin Artavasdes, Artavazdes, Artabasdes, Artabazus, Elamite Ir-du-maš-da (cf. Armenian Artavazd), all reflecting an Old Persian *Ṛtavazdah- (nom. *Ṛtavazdā), the equivalent of the attested Avestan form Ašavazdah- “Powerful/persevering through truth (?)” (see recently M. Mayrhofer, Onomastica Persepolitana, Vienna,…

ARTAXATA (Gk. also Artaxiasata, Arm. Artašat), a city of ancient Armenia founded ca. 176 B.C. by King Artaxias I (Arm. Artašēs, 189-ca.161) as his new capital, located on the Xor Virap hills where the river Mecəmawr (Garni) enters the Araxes (Movsēs 2.49). The city was built on a peninsula-shaped spur…

ARTAXERXES, throne name of several Persian kings of the Achaemenid dynasty. The Old Persian form Artaxšaçā (really Ṛtaxšaca, for the forms with -ā/-ām in the nom./acc. sing. are influenced by Xerxes’ name, Xšayārša) means “whose reign is through truth.” The interpretation in Herodotus 6.98.3 as mégas arḗïos “great warrior” is…

ARTAXERXES I, a son of Xerxes I and Amestris, whose name Flavius Josephus (Jewish Antiquities 11.6.1.) gives as Cyrus, Persian king 465-64 to 424-23 B.C. Greek authors (first Plutarch, Artoxerxes 1.1) give him the surname “Longhanded, Long-armed” (Makrocheir, Latin Macrochir, Longimanus, New Persian Ardašīr-e derāzdast). They explain the term symbolically…

ARTAXERXES II, Achaemenid Great King whose personal name is given as Arsaces (Ctesias F 14 apud Photius 469.28 in Jacoby, Fragmente) or Arsicas (Ctesias F 15a, apud Plutarch, Artoxerxes 1.4, etc.) or as Oarsēs (for ho Ársēs?) by Dino (F 14 [Jacoby], apud Plutarch, loc. cit.). He was the oldest…

ARTAXERXES III, throne name of Ochus (Gk. Ôchos, Babylonian Ú-ma-kuš, son of Artaxerxes II and Stateira), Achaemenid king (r. 359-58 to 338-37 B.C.). About 361 he took part in a campaign against Egypt, then in rebellion under her king Tachos, and obtained that king’s surrender (Georgius Syncellus 1.486.20ff. D.). The…

ARTAXIAS I (Arm. Artašēs), reigned 189-160 B.C., founder of the Artaxiad dynasty in Greater Armenia (Mec Haykʿ). At the end of the 3rd century, Armenia was a patchwork of 120 dynastic states called “kingdoms” (regna) by Pliny (Natural history 6.9); these were, presumably, the domains of local dynastic houses (Arm….

ARTAZOSTRE, a daughter of Darius the Great. Herodotus (6.43) relates she had just married Mardonios, son of Gobryas (one of the seven conspirators against Gaumāta), when he took command of the military campaign to recover the Persian province of Thrace and Macedonia (492 B.C.). The name is analyzed by Benveniste…