Greece -- History -- To 146 B.C.; History, Ancient
61. Now those who served were as follows:--The Persians with this
equipment:--about their heads they had soft 55 felt caps called tiaras,
and about their body tunics of various colours with sleeves, presenting
the appearance of iron scales like those of a fish, 56 and about the
legs trousers; and instead of the ordinary shields they had shields of
wicker-work, 57 under which hung quivers; and they had short spears and
large bows and arrows of reed, and moreover daggers hanging by the right
thigh from the girdle: and they acknowledged as their commander Otanes
the father of Amestris the wife of Xerxes. Now these were called by the
Hellenes in ancient time Kephenes; by themselves however and by their
neighbours they were called Artaians: but when Perseus, the son of
Danae and Zeus, came to Kepheus the son of Belos 58 and took to wife
his daughter Andromeda, there was born to them a son to whom he gave
the name Perses, and this son he left behind there, for it chanced that
Kepheus had no male offspring: after him therefore this race was named.
62. The Medes served in the expedition equipped in precisely the same
manner; for this equipment is in fact Median and not Persian: and the
Medes acknowledged as their commander Tigranes an Achaimenid. These
in ancient time used to be generally called Arians; but when Medea the
Colchian came from Athens to these Arians, they also changed their name.
Thus the Medes themselves report about themselves. The Kissians served
with equipment in other respects like that of the Persians, but instead
of the felt caps they wore fillets: 59and of the Kissians Anaphes
the son of Otanes was commander. The Hyrcanians were armed like the
Persians, acknowledging as their leader Megapanos, the same who after
these events became governor of Babylon.
63. The Assyrians served with helmets about their heads made of bronze
or plaited in a Barbarian style which it is not easy to describe; and
they had shields and spears, and daggers like the Egyptian knives, 60
and moreover they had wooden clubs with knobs of iron, and corslets of
linen. These are by the Hellenes called Syrians, but by the Barbarians
they have been called always 61 Assyrians: [among these were the
Chaldeans]: 62 and the commander of them was Otaspes the son of
Artachaies.
64. The Bactrians served wearing about their heads nearly the same
covering as the Medes, and having native bows of reed and short spears.
The Scaran Scythians had about their heads caps 63 which were carried
up to a point and set upright and stiff; and they wore trousers, and
carried native bows and daggers, and besides this axes of the kind
called sagaris. These were called Amyrgian Sacans, being in fact
Scythians; for the Persians call all the Scythians Sacans: and of the
Bactrians and Sacans the commander was Hystaspes, the son of Dareios and
of Atossa the daughter of Cyrus.
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