Patizeithes ( el, Πατιζείθης, translit=Pathizeíthēs) was a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

magus (priest) who flourished in the second half of the 6th century BC. According to

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

, he persuaded his brother

Smerdis Bardiya or Smerdis ( peo, 𐎲𐎼𐎮𐎡𐎹 ; grc, Σμέρδις ; possibly died 522 BC), also named as Tanyoxarces ( grc, Τανυοξάρκης ) by Ctesias, was a son of Cyrus the Great and the younger brother of Cambyses II, both Pe ...

(Gaumata) in 521 BC to rebel against

Cambyses II Cambyses II ( peo, 𐎣𐎲𐎢𐎪𐎡𐎹 ''Kabūjiya'') was the second King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 530 to 522 BC. He was the son and successor of Cyrus the Great () and his mother was Cassandane. Before his accession, Cambyses ...

(530–522 BC), who at the time ruled as

King of Kings King of Kings; grc-gre, Βασιλεὺς Βασιλέων, Basileùs Basiléōn; hy, արքայից արքա, ark'ayits ark'a; sa, महाराजाधिराज, Mahārājadhirāja; ka, მეფეთ მეფე, ''Mepet mepe'' ...

of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Herodotus states that Patizeithes was eventually killed by Cambyses's successor Darius (later "the Great") (522–486 BC). The name "Patizeithes" is the form recorded by Herodotus.

Dionysius of Miletus Dionysius of Miletus ( el, Διονύσιος, translit=Dionýsios) was an ancient Greek ethnographer and historian. He may have lived in the 5th century BC and was a contemporary of Hecataeus of Miletus according to the ''Suda'' (a tenth century By ...

cited his name as Panzouthes, which is identical to Pazates as recorded by Xanthus the Lydian. The later Roman historian Justin recorded his name as Oropastes. According to the modern Iranologist Josef Wiesehöfer, the name "Patizeithes" should be interpreted as a title, "although it is etymologically unclear". Wiesehöfer notes that the name may be connected to the word ''Pitiáchēs'' as recorded in later Greek sources, which is known in

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...

as ''btḥšy'' (

bidaxsh Bidaxsh (''bidakhsh'', also spelled Pitiakhsh; in Roman sources ''Vitaxa'') was a title of Iranian origin attested in various languages from the 1st to the 8th-century. It has no identical word in English, but it is similar to a margrave, toparch an ...

), i.e. "viceroy".

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Patizeithes 6th-century BC deaths Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 6th-century BC Iranian people Zoroastrian priests People from the Achaemenid Empire Magi