Was Darius III Codomannus named Artašsata?

[thom]

I note that Jona Lenderling claims Codomannus' name was Artašsata during his term as Satrap of Armenia (http://www.livius.org/arl-arz/armenia/armenia.html). I can find no citation to that effect in the Alexander canon (and, in 10.3 of his Epitome, the notoriously-unreliable Justin is the only citation for his service as Armenian Satrap).Unfortunately Lenderling has not responded to my email on the subject, so I'm wondering if anyone here can cite an authority for this alternate name for Codomannus?

[amyntoros]

Heckel in his book Alexander the Great, Historical Sources in Translation, appends a note to the excerpt from Justin that you mentioned and says "The origin and meaning of Codomannus are unknown. His real name was Artashata." Unfortunately, he doesn't give his source for this.Best regards,Linda Ann

[nickw]

I have to quote my own website, gaugamela.com, for this:"Great King Darius III Codomannus ascended to the 'peacock' throne of the epic Persian empire in the summer of the year 336 BC. Codomannus is apparently the Greek variant of his original Persian name. He adopted the ceremonial alias of Darius III on his accession. Babylonian sources knew his real name as Artashata. His royal alias Darius means as much as 'holding the good'."Jona Lendering (not Lenderling) is a Dutch expert on Babylonian cuneiform tablets. You can trust his observations. The only restriction that we could make is that *Babylonian sources* knew him as Artassata or Artashata. This means there is still no 100% waterproof evidence that the Persians themselves also knew him by that name.Regards ---Nick

[thom]

nickw quote begins here:I have to quote my own website, gaugamela.com, for this:"Great King Darius III Codomannus ascended to the 'peacock' throne of the epic Persian empire in the summer of the year 336 BC. Codomannus is apparently the Greek variant of his original Persian name. He adopted the ceremonial alias of Darius III on his accession. Babylonian sources knew his real name as Artashata. His royal alias Darius means as much as 'holding the good'."Jona Lendering (not Lenderling) is a Dutch expert on Babylonian cuneiform tablets. You can trust his observations. The only restriction that we could make is that *Babylonian sources* knew him as Artassata or Artashata. This means there is still no 100% waterproof evidence that the Persians themselves also knew him by that name.nickw quote ends here.First of all, my thanks to you and to Linda "Amyntoros" DeSantis for your responses.Unfortunately, for my purposes (I'm writing an essay called "On the Fortune or the Virtue of Codomannus: the Courage and Generalship of Darius III" for my book-in-progress), assertion of a fact, even by such experts as Waldemar Heckel and Jona Lendering (btw - my thanks for pointing out that I misspelled his name..I hate when that happens), is not very useful, unless it's backed by at least one specific citation from the sources.If I knew which Babylonian tablet Lendering used as his own reference (I assume it's the same source you on which you rely), I could cite that and be happy, but, as it is, I'm as uncomfortable simply saying, "Some historians assert that Darius was known to the Babylonians as Artashata," as I would be to say, "Jona Lendering and Waldemar Heckel both assert that Darius was known as Artashata, but they do not cite specific sources for their assertions."I'm sure you appreciate the problem I face. I want the facts buttressed as solidly as possible, in part because, in my essay, I plan to assert that Darius has been unfairly characterized as a coward and a poor general. I think I can make the case that he was a better general than he's given credit for based on the - admittedly confused - accounts of the three major battles between the Persian forces and those of the League of Corinth. But my defense of his personal courage, while it will be bedded on Diodorus' and Justin's account of his battle against the Cadusian champion, will be based, in the cases of Issus and Gaugamela, mostly on the argument that, as the Great King of a

[amyntoros]

Thom:I was intrigued enough to check out a few other books. Bosworth also asserts on page 34 of Conquest and Empire that "This man, who is termed Artasata in the Babylonian documents, assumed the regnal name of his great-grandfather and began his rule as Darius III in the summer of 336."Bosworth does give a reference - Sachs, 1977, 143. According to the bibliography, this would be Archaemenid Royal Names in Babylonian Astronomical Texts by A. Sachs, (1977) AJAH 2: 129-47.Jona *would* be the most likely person to confirm this, if you can't get access to the above text, but perhaps he is travelling?Best regards,Linda Ann

[thom]

Begin Linda "Amyntoros" DeSantis quote:I was intrigued enough to check out a few other books. Bosworth also asserts on page 34 of Conquest and Empire that "This man, who is termed Artasata in the Babylonian documents, assumed the regnal name of his great-grandfather and began his rule as Darius III in the summer of 336."Bosworth does give a reference - Sachs, 1977, 143. According to the bibliography, this would be Archaemenid Royal Names in Babylonian Astronomical Texts by A. Sachs, (1977) AJAH 2: 129-47.Jona *would* be the most likely person to confirm this, if you can't get access to the above text, but perhaps he is travelling?End Linda "Amyntoros" DeSantis quote.Thank you!As it turns out, I don't have access to that text (I'm in Las Vegas, and neither the local public library system nor the UNLV library - which are the only alternatives - has the Sachs book). And, although I've read and reviewed Bosworth's book, I don't have my own copy.I figured that Jona might be traveling. His contact page warns that he's often not able to respond immediately and I can tell from the large number of location photos he's posted that he does a lot of traveling to Classical sites.I now owe you a favor - and a mention in the Acknowledgments section of my book.Thanks again!Regards,Thom Stark

[agesilaos]

http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/a ... r_t40.html will take you to a document relating to his fifth year

[thom]

Karl "Agesilaus" Soundy noted:"http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/a ... r_t40.html will take you to a document relating to his fifth year"Thanks. I've read that page before, but I misplaced my own bookmark.This and the reference that Linda Ann so kindly supplied are probably enough - although it'd be best if I could somehow find the catalogue number of the tablet itself.Regards,Thom Stark

[jona]

I'm sorry for my late reply, but I was on a holiday. Palermo, I can recommend it.The name Arta+íata is mentioned several times in the Astronomical Diaries. For example, the tablet of 333 BCE starts with: "Year three of Arta+íata who is called king Darius".Nick correctly observes that this is a Babylonian rendering of a Persian name, but /arta/ is correct Persian ("order"; "justice"). The element /+íata/ may or may not be the Babylonian rendering of "+íiy+óta", "happy". Perhaps Arta+íata means something like "happy to establish justice", or "justice means happiness".Jona

[thom]

Begin Jona Lendering quote:I'm sorry for my late reply, but I was on a holiday. Palermo, I can recommend it.The name Arta+»-+-+ata is mentioned several times in the Astronomical Diaries. For example, the tablet of 333 BCE starts with: "Year three of Arta+»-+-+ata who is called king Darius".Nick correctly observes that this is a Babylonian rendering of a Persian name, but /arta/ is correct Persian ("order"; "justice"). The element /+»-+-+ata/ may or may not be the Babylonian rendering of "+»-+-+iy+»-+-+ta", "happy". Perhaps Arta+»-+-+ata means something like "happy to establish justice", or "justice means happiness".End Jona Lendering quote:Thanks very much for responding.In the meantime - and very much by chance - I ran across a citation by Guiseppe Del Monte of R. Schmitt's article, Achaemenid Throne-Names, in Istituto Orientale di Napoli, Annali, 42 (1982), pp. 83-95 on the ANE list archives (http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/ANE/ANE-DIGES ... v1999.n049), which apparently contends (I haven't read the article itself, just the summary on the ANE archive) that Codommanus is a Hellenized version of Katu-manah, which is either Old Iranian or Old Persian meaning something like "of warlike mind", and that it was very likely a surname awarded to Arta+»-+-+ata for valor in battle - conceivably for the incident described in Justin 10.3.2-3 and Diodorus 17.6.1-2.Oh, and the Babylonian records are referenced in Del Monte's summary, as well.I understand Palermo is beautiful.