The Herodotus Encyclopedia. Группа авторов
Phleiasian HOPLITES (9.69.2). Asopodorus’ son (named Herodotus) is the honorand of PINDAR’s Isthmian 1 for a victory in the chariot race. The references to Asopodorus’ fate in the poem (ll. 32–40) seem to indicate a post‐war EXILE at ORCHOMENUS. If so, he, unlike other Theban leaders, escaped execution at the hands of PAUSANIAS (Hdt. 9.88).
SEE ALSO: Attaginus; Horses; Medize; Thebes (Boeotian)
FURTHER READING
1 Instone, Stephen, ed. 1996. Pindar, Selected Odes: Olympian One, Pythian Nine, Nemeans Two and Three, Isthmian One, 80–87, 170–88. Warminster: Aris & Phillips.
2 Woodbury, Leonard. 1981. “The Victor’s Virtues: Pindar, Isth. 1.32 ff.” TAPA 111: 237–56.
ASOPUS RIVER (ὁ Ἀσωπὸς ποταμός), Boeotia
CAMERON G. PEARSON
University of Warsaw
The major river in southern Boeotia that flows from below Mt. CITHAERON eastward into the southern Euboean Gulf (Müller I, 455–56; RIVERS of the same name are found in TRACHIS, THESSALY, the PELOPONNESE, and PHRYGIA). In Greek mythology, Asopus had many daughters (Bowra 1938), including AEGINA and THEBE, who are the answer to a typically enigmatic oracle which tells the Thebans to ask “their nearest” for aid (5.80). Because the nymphs connect their eponymous CITIES genealogically, THEBES asks AEGINA for support in fighting ATHENS. There are many varying traditions (e.g., Hom. Od. 11.260–65), and the Peloponnesian Asopus and Boeotian Asopus vie for the same offspring (Bacchyl. 9.39–56; Paus. 2.5.2). Herodotus generally seems to agree with PINDAR that by ZEUS, Aegina bore AEACUS, who begets PELEUS and TELAMON, the respective fathers of Achilles and AJAX (Pind. Pyth. 8.98–100, Isthm. 8.16–20; Hdt. 6.35.1). At 9.51.2 OËROË, a tributary of Asopus, is also his daughter (as in Paus. 9.4.4). Herodotus tells us that the Asopus is the border between Plataean and Hysiaean territory and that of Thebes (6.108). It is also frequently mentioned in the topography of the Battle of PLATAEA in Book 9. (For the river in inscriptions see CEG 114 = SEG 41‐53 and Matthaiou 2014, 218.)
SEE ALSO: Boeotians; Myth; Oracles
REFERENCES
1 Bowra, C. M. 1938. “The Daughters of Asopus.” Hermes 73.2: 213–21.
2 Matthaiou, A. P. 2014. “Four Inscribed Bronze Tablets From Thebes: Preliminary Notes.” In The Epigraphy and History of Boeotia: New Finds, New Prospects, edited by Nikolaos Papazarkadas, 211–22. Leiden: Brill.
FURTHER READING
1 Cahn, Herbert A. 1984. “Asopos I and II.” In LIMC II.1, 901.
2 Nagy, Gregory. 2011. “Asopos and His Multiple Daughters: Traces of Preclassical Epic in the Aeginetan Odes of Pindar.” In Aegina: Contexts for Choral Lyric Poetry. Myth, History, and Identity in the Fifth Century BC, edited by David Fearn, 41–78. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ASOPUS RIVER (ὁ Ἀσωπὸς ποταμός), Trachis
MELODY WAUKE
University of Notre Dame
A small river in TRACHIS, today once again called Asopos (formerly known as the Karvounaria; Müller I, 315–17). According to Herodotus, the ANOPAEA path above THERMOPYLAE began where the Asopus River flows through a gorge. In 480 BCE the Persians crossed over the Asopus in order to travel along this path (7.216–217.1). In Herodotus’ time it emptied directly into the MALIAN GULF (7.200.1), whereas today it empties into the SPERCHEIUS RIVER.
SEE ALSO: Aegina, daughter of Asopus; Asopus River (Boeotia); Rivers
ASPATHINES (Ἀσπαθίνης, ὁ; OP Aspačanā)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
According to Herodotus’ account, Aspathines was one of the seven Persian co‐conspirators who brought to an end the rule of the MAGI—the “false” SMERDIS and his brother PATIZEITHES—in 522 BCE. Aspathines was invited to join the conspiracy by OTANES (1) (3.70) and wounded by one of the Magi during the struggle in the palace at SUSA (3.78.2). His son Prexaspes served as one of the four admirals of the Persian fleet under XERXES in 480 (7.97).
Aspathines’ name is the only one of the seven in Herodotus which does not correspond to those on the BISITUN inscription (DB §68), where “Ardumaniš” is restored based on the Babylonian text. However, in the reliefs on the tomb of DARIUS I at Naqsh‐i Rustam, an Aspačanā (Elam. Ašbazana) appears as a high‐ranking officer whose title (vaçabara‐) means “garment‐bearer” (DNd 1; see Kuhrt 2007, 500–1 fig. 11.14). Most scholars identify this figure with Aspathines. His presence in Herodotus’ narrative of the end of the rule of the Magi would then result from the prominence he gained during Darius’ reign. His name also appears on tablets and seals from PERSEPOLIS (Garrison 1998).
SEE ALSO: Persia; Prexaspes son of Aspathines; Sources for Herodotus
REFERENCES
1 Garrison, Mark B. 1998. “The Seals of Ašbazana (Aspathines).” In Studies in Persian History: Essays in Memory of David M. Lewis, edited by Maria Brosius and Amélie Kuhrt, 115–31. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten.
2 Kuhrt, Amélie. 2007. The Persian Empire. A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period. London and New York: Routledge.
FURTHER READING
1 Briant, Pierre. 2002. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire, translated by Peter T. Daniels, 107–38. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
2 Schmitt, IPGL, 135–36 (no. 97).
ASSA ( Ἄσσα)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
City on the north coast of the Gulf of SINGUS (Chalcidice), between the ATHOS and SITHONIA peninsulas, in northern Greece (BA 51 B4; Müller I, 150–51). XERXES’ fleet picked up troops from Assa and other CITIES in the region after it passed through the Athos CANAL in 480 BCE (7.122). This is probably the same city which appears as “Assera” in the Athenian Tribute Lists (e.g., IG I3 266.II.26) and the historian THEOPOMPUS (BNJ 115 F147).
SEE ALSO: Chalcidians in Thrace; Pilorus
FURTHER READING
1 IACP no. 564 (826).
2 Zahrnt, Michael. 1971. Olynth und die Chalkidier: Untersuchungen zur Staatenbildung auf der Chalkidischen Halbinsel im 5. und 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr., 162–66. Munich: C. H. Beck.
ASSEMBLY
DAVID YATES
Millsaps College
Neither Herodotus nor the Greeks generally had a single fixed term for a political assembly. Herodotus uses ekklēsiē, haliē, agorē, and dēmos along with the names of the groups assembled. Assemblies appear as DECISION‐MAKING bodies across the Greek world: ATHENS (below), SAMOS (below), CYRENE (4.161), THEBES (5.79–80), and SPARTA (7.134.2). They are also present in the Near Eastern societies of Media (below) and PERSIA (1.125.2).
Herodotus presents a complex picture of assemblies (see, for example, Fornara