Nabarsines
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Nabarsines
I had read before that Nabarsines was a cavalry commander involved in Darius' death, and that he brought a string of horses and a eunuch called Bagoas to Alexander as gifts when he surrendered. I have recently read that the man who brought these things to Alexander was the former vizier. Can anyone tell me what are the facts about this?I also read that on his way to Babylon at Kirkuk they found an opening in the ground from which fire streamed and there was a lake of naphtha. "At court, there was a boy 'absurdly plain to look at but with a pleasant singing voice'; in order to find out whether naphtha would burn as well as blaze, he volunteered to be soaked in the liquid and set alight. The flames, however, burnt him severely" I can't imagine anyone asking to be set on fire. Did they force him to do it. Why? Because of the way he looked? I find this very upsetting and cruel.
Re: Nabarsines
Nabarzanes was chiliarch. The problem is that the functions of the chiliarch are disputed. According to the traditional view the chiliarch was some kind of vizier. This view, however, is not really based on much evidence and has been convincingly refuted by Briant in his article in H. SCANCISI-WEERDENBURG e.a. (edd.), Continuity and Change. Proceedings of the Last Achaemenid History Workshop, April 6-8, 1990 GÇô Ann Arbor, Michigan (Achaemenid History 
, Leiden, pp. 283-310. (See also Briant's book 'From Cyrus to Alexander' and A.W. COLLINS, GÇÿThe Office of Chiliarch under Alexander and the SuccessorsGÇÖ, Phoenix 55, pp. 259-283.)
Nabarzanes is mentionned in the sources as commanding the cavalry at certain events. Some think this were ad hoc commands, while C.B. WELLES (ad Diodorus XVII 59.2 in his Loeb edition) and D.M. LEWIS, Sparta and Persia, pp. 17-19, think that the chiliarch actually was the commander of the elite-cavalry, the 1000 so-called 'sungeneis hippeis'.
, Leiden, pp. 283-310. (See also Briant's book 'From Cyrus to Alexander' and A.W. COLLINS, GÇÿThe Office of Chiliarch under Alexander and the SuccessorsGÇÖ, Phoenix 55, pp. 259-283.)Nabarzanes is mentionned in the sources as commanding the cavalry at certain events. Some think this were ad hoc commands, while C.B. WELLES (ad Diodorus XVII 59.2 in his Loeb edition) and D.M. LEWIS, Sparta and Persia, pp. 17-19, think that the chiliarch actually was the commander of the elite-cavalry, the 1000 so-called 'sungeneis hippeis'.
Re: Nabarsines
I read about him in Mary Renault's book... Then he was one of Darius morders. And he gave Bogoas( Who was Alexander's lover later) an horses like a gift for king.