Arsames ( peo, 𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠𐎶 Aršāma, modern Persian:،آرسام، آرشام‎ Arshām, Greek: ) was the son of

Ariaramnes Ariaramnes (Old Persian: 𐎠𐎼𐎡𐎹𐎠𐎼𐎶𐎴 ''Ariyāramna''; "peace of the Arya") was a great-uncle of Cyrus the Great and the great-grandfather of Darius I, and perhaps the king of Parsa, the ancient core kingdom of Persia. __NOTO ...

and the grandfather of

Darius I Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his ...

. He was traditionally claimed to have briefly been

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

during the

Achaemenid dynasty The Achaemenid dynasty ( Old Persian: ; Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) was an ancient Persian royal dynasty that ruled the Achaemenid Empire, an Iranian empire that stretched from Egypt and Southeastern Europe in the west to the In ...

, and to have given up the throne and declared loyalty to his relative

Cyrus II of Persia Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...

before retiring to his family estate in the Persian heartland of Parsa, living there peacefully for the rest of his life, perhaps nominally exercising the duties of a "lesser king" under the authority of the "Great King". However, the claim that he or his son were ever kings is rejected by historians such as Pierre Briant. In an inscription allegedly found in HamadanThe inscription is known among Old Persian scholars by the code AsH. he is called "king of Persia", but the document is widely argued to be a fake, either modern or ancient. Another attestation of his reign is the Behistun Inscription, where his grandson

lists him among his ancestors, although he does not explicitly mention him as being one of the anonymous eight kings whom he claims preceded him. Arsames was the father of

Hystaspes Vishtaspa ( ae, wiktionary:𐬬𐬌𐬱𐬙𐬁𐬯𐬞𐬀, 𐬬𐬌𐬱𐬙𐬁𐬯𐬞𐬀 ; peo, wikt:𐎻𐏁𐎫𐎠𐎿𐎱, 𐎻𐏁𐎫𐎠𐎿𐎱, ), Hellenization, hellenized as Hystáspes (, ), may refer to: * Vishtaspa (floruit, fl. ...

(satrap of

Parthia Parthia ( peo, 𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺 ''Parθava''; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ''Parθaw''; pal, 𐭯𐭫𐭮𐭥𐭡𐭥 ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Med ...

Pharnaces Pharnaces ( el, Φαρνάκης, link=no) may refer to: * Pharnaces ( fl. 550 BCE – 497 BCE), founder of the Pharnacid dynasty of satraps of Hellespontine Phrygia * Pharnaces II of Phrygia (fl. 430 BCE – 413 BCE), satrap of Hellespontine Phryg ...

(satrap of Phrygia) and

Megabates Megabates (Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; dates unknown) was a Persian military leader in the late 6th and early 5th centuries BC. According to Herodotus he was a cousin of Darius the Great and his brother Artaphernes, satrap of Lydia. Based o ...

(a general). Arsames lived to see his grandson, Darius I, become the Great King of the Persian Empire, though he died during his reign. Arsames and his son Hystaspes are noted as being alive in 522 BC, indicating that he had survived well into old age. His name (''Aršāma'') translates to "having a hero's strength". The feminine version of the name is Aršāmā ( modern Persian:ارشاما rshāmā Greek: Arsamē), and was the name of the daughter of

, likely named in reference to him. __NOTOC__

References

Citations

Works cited

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External links

Arsames page at livius.org
Ancient Persian people Kings of the Achaemenid Empire 5th-century BC rulers 6th-century BC Iranian people {{iran-royal-stub