The Herodotus Encyclopedia. Группа авторов
War around 550 (1.67).
Ariston is best known for his role in a succession crisis engineered by CLEOMENES with the aim of removing Ariston’s son Demaratus from the throne; ultimately, this event led to Demaratus’ desertion to the Persian side during the PERSIAN WARS. Ariston had been childless by his first two wives, and, desperate for an heir, settled on the wife of a friend of his, reputedly the most beautiful woman in Sparta, as his third wife. After tricking his friend (AGETUS) into swearing an OATH to give up whatever possession of his Ariston desired, Ariston married her. Their son Demaratus was born less than nine months later, leading Ariston to say in public that the child was not his (6.61–63). It was this statement that Cleomenes later seized on to remove Demaratus from the throne. Cleomenes’ motive was to install a more pliant Eurypontid, LEOTYCHIDES II, as his colleague. After Demaratus was exiled, he joined the Persian court (6.64–70).
Demaratus’ mother claimed that Ariston was in fact infertile, and that the shade of the hero ASTRABACUS was his actual father. She also told her son that Ariston had repented disowning his son and accepted him as his own (6.69).
SEE ALSO: Deception; Women in the Histories
FURTHER READING
1 Pomeroy, Sarah B. 2002. Spartan Women, 73–93. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2 Poralla, Paul. 1985. A Prosopography of Lacedaemonians from the Earliest Times to the Death of Alexander the Great (X–323 B.C.). 2nd edition, edited by Alfred S. Bradford, p. 29. Chicago: Ares.
3 Scott, Lionel. 2005. Historical Commentary on Herodotus Book 6, 252–77. Leiden: Brill.
ARISTON (Ἀρίστων, ὁ) of Byzantium
CARLO SCARDINO
Heinrich‐Heine‐Universität Düsseldorf
Tyrant of the city of BYZANTIUM during the campaign of DARIUS I against the SCYTHIANS (c. 513 BCE). According to Herodotus, Ariston took part in the council of the Greeks allied to Darius which debated whether to break up the BRIDGE of boats over the ISTER (Danube) River after the designated sixty‐day window had passed, although the Persians had not yet returned (4.138.1). Along with most of the Greek TYRANTS, he sided with HISTIAEUS of MILETUS, against the proposal of MILTIADES THE YOUNGER and the request of the Scythians to destroy the entire bridge. Thus he helped save the army of the Persian expedition. Nothing is known of his later fate.
FURTHER READING
1 Libero, Loretana de. 1996. Die archaische Tyrannis, 414–17. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.
2 Waters, Kenneth H. 1971. Herodotos on Tyrants and Despots: A Study in Objectivity. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner.
ARISTONICE (Ἀριστονίκη, ἡ)
ESTHER EIDINOW
University of Bristol
Herodotus very occasionally provides us with the NAMES of women serving as PYTHIA at the oracular sanctuary of APOLLO at DELPHI (see also PERIALLUS). Aristonice (“Noble Victory”) is given as the name of the woman serving when the Athenians consult the ORACLE on the eve of XERXES’ invasion of Greece in 480 BCE (7.140). The Athenian consultation is distinctive because when the ambassadors find the first oracle too hopeless to take back to their fellow citizens, they request a second.
SEE ALSO: Athens; Priests and Priestesses; Women in the Histories
ARISTONYMUS (Ἀριστώνυμος, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Patronymic, father of Cleisthenes, tyrant of SICYON. Herodotus mentions Aristonymus (6.126.1) as part of his “pedigree” for Cleisthenes, at the beginning of his story regarding the suitors of Cleisthenes’ daughter AGARISTE (I). Despite being the father and, perhaps, the son of TYRANTS (Cleisthenes and MYRON, respectively), no ancient sources attribute that position to Aristonymus himself.
SEE ALSO: Andreas; Cleisthenes of Sicyon
FURTHER READING
1 Scott, Lionel. 2005. Historical Commentary on Herodotus Book 6, 417–18. Leiden: Brill.
ARISTOPHANES (Ἀριστοϕάνης, ὁ)
IAN OLIVER
University of Colorado Boulder
Aristophanes was an Athenian comic playwright of the late‐fifth and early‐fourth century BCE. Eleven of his plays survive, of which Acharnians (425 BCE), Knights (424), Clouds (423, revised 418–416), Wasps (422), Birds (414), Lysistrata (411), and Thesmophoriazusae (411) all appear to allude to Herodotus’ Histories in some way. These allusions have often been taken to provide a terminus ante quem for the “publication” of the Histories. The evidence, however, remains circumstantial and inconclusive: without an explicit mention of Herodotus, Aristophanic resemblances may simply reflect common sources, common subjects, or a common historical context between the two authors.
Acharnians. Like Herodotus’ “learned Persians” for the PERSIAN WARS (1.1–5), the protagonist of Aristophanes’ Acharnians (Dikaiopolis) blames the PELOPONNESIAN WAR on a reciprocal series of abductions of women (523–28). Fornara (1971) argues that this passage contains no substantial allusion to Herodotus but merely a circumstantial resemblance. Cobet (1977) and Sansone (1985) reassert the case for an allusion: Cobet argues that Aristophanes’ tauta men dē smikra… (Ach. 523–24) mimics Herodotus’ tauta men dē isa… (1.2.1); Sansone believes that the presence of the characteristically historiographical men dē alone constitutes a secure reference. For more possible references, see Wells (1923, 169–82).
Other plays from the mid‐420s. Knights [1] echoes the DREAM of AGARISTE (II) wherein the unborn PERICLES is likened to a LION (Hdt. 6.131.2) at line 1037, [2] recalls the phrase “wooden wall” (teichos xulinon, 7.141.3) at 1040, and [3] refers to ECBATANA as a seat of power (1.98) at 1089. Clouds evokes Herodotus’ description of the NILE (2.25) at 272, and the chorus’ appeal to ATHENS (576–94) resembles that of PAN at 6.105.2. Finally, Wasps (1084) vaguely recalls the Spartan DIENECES’ witticism (7.226.1). No single element convinces by itself, but their combined weight is remarkable. (For thematic resemblances, see Davie 1979 and von Möllendorff 2003.)
Plays from the 410s. Fornara (1971) rejected all early references in favor of a later terminus ante quem, pointing to a second concentration of Herodotean references in the 410s, especially in the Birds. For Fornara, the critical passage is Birds 1124–38, which resembles Herodotus’ description of the Wall of BABYLON (1.179.1) and of the PYRAMIDS (2.127.1). Birds also refers to the Wall of Babylon (552) and to oracles of Bacis (961–62, cf. Hdt. 8.77). Finally, two of Aristophanes’ plays performed in 411 BCE refer to the Halicarnassian queen, ARTEMISIA (cf. Hdt. 8.87–88): Lysistrata (675) and Thesmophoriazusae (1200).
SEE ALSO: Athens and Herodotus; Date of Composition; Rape; Reception of Herodotus, Ancient Greece and Rome
REFERENCES
1 Cobet, Justus. 1977. “Wann wurde Herodots Darstellung der Perserkriege publiziert?” Hermes 105: 2–27.
2 Davie, John N. 1979. “Herodotus and Aristophanes on Monarchy.” G&R 26.2: 160–68.
3 Fornara, Charles W. 1971. “Evidence for the Date of Herodotus’ Publication.” JHS 91: 25–34.
4 Sansone,