Aeschylus, Persians (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.), line 1 (search)
ful store of gold,we whom Xerxes, our King, Darius' royal son, himself selected, by virtue of our rank and years, to be the guardians of his realm.
Yet as regards the return of our King and of his host, so richly decked out in gold,the soul within my breast is distressed and presages disaster. For the whole populace of the Asian nation has come and murmurs against its youthful King, nor does any courier or horsemanarrive at the city of the Persians, who left behind them the walled defence of Susa and Agbatana and Cissa's ancient ramparts, and went forth, some on horseback, some in galleys, others on footpresenting a dense array of war.
Such are Amistres and Artaphrenes and Megabates and Astaspes, marshals of the Persians; kings themselves, yet vassals of the Great King,they press on, commanders of an enormous host, skilled in archery and horsemanship, formidable to look upon and fearful in battle through the valiant resolve of their souls. Artembares, too, who fights from his chario
Aeschylus, Persians (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.), line 115 (search)
Chorus
Therefore my heart is wrapped in gloom and is racked with fear for the Persian army lest the state learn that the mighty capital of Susa is empty of men.
Aeschylus, Persians (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.), line 532 (search)
Chorus
O sovereign Zeus, by destroying the army of the haughty and multitudinous Persians,you have shrouded in the gloom of grief the city of Susa and of Agbatana! Many a woman, who has a share in this sorrow, tears her veil with tender handsand moistens with drenching tears the robe covering her bosom. And the Persian wives, indulging in soft wailing through longing to behold their lords and abandoning the daintily wrought coverlets of their couches, the delight of their youth,mourn with complainings that know no end. So I too sustain the truly woeful fate of those who are gone.
Aeschylus, Persians (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.), line 548 (search)
Chorus
For now in truth the whole land of Asia, decimated, moans:Xerxes led forth （woe!）, Xerxes laid low （woe!）, Xerxes disposed all things imprudently with his sea-going vessels. Why then was Dariusin his time so unscathed by disaster, he who was ruler of archers, to the men of Susa a beloved
Aeschylus, Persians (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.), line 640 (search)
Chorus
O Earth, and you other rulers of those who dwell in the nether world, ensure, I implore, that the glorious spirit, the god of the Persians, whom Susa bore, may quit his abode.Send to the upper world him the likes of whom the Persian earth has never entombed.
Aeschylus, Persians (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.), line 715 (search)
rus?
Atossa
Yes indeed. One of the divine powers must have assisted him in his purpose.
Darius
Alas! Some mighty power came upon him so that he was not able to think clearly.
Atossa
Yes, since we can see the outcome, what ruin he wrought.
Darius
And how then did they fare that you now lament them?
Atossa
Disaster to the naval force brought ruin to the force on land.
Darius
And did the whole army utterly perish by the spear?
Atossa
Yes, and it is for this reason that the whole city of Susa groans at its desolation.
Darius
Alas for the loss of our warriors' valiant force and defence!
Atossa
And the host of the Bactrians is lost, wholly destroyed: not even an old man is left.
Darius
Unhappy man, since he has brought to ruin the youth of our allies.
Atossa
But Xerxes, alone and forlorn, with scanty train, they say—
Darius
Met his end, how, tell me, and where? Of his safety is there any hope?
Atossa
To his joy he reached the bridge yoking the two continents.
Darius
And reac
Aeschylus, Persians (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.), line 759 (search)
Darius
Therefore a calamitydreadful and unforgettable has been caused by him, a desolating calamity such as never before befell this city of Susa since our Lord Zeus first ordained that one ruler should bear sway over all Asia with its flocks and wield the sceptre of its government.For Medus was first to be the leader of its host; and another, his son, completed his work since wisdom ruled his spirit. Third, after him, Cyrus, blessed in good fortune, came to the throne and established peace for all his people.The Lydians and Phrygians he won to his rule, and the whole of Ionia he subdued by force; for he won the favor of the gods through his right-mindedness. Fourth in succession, the son of Cyrus ruled the host. Fifth in the list, Mardus came to power, a disgrace to his native landand to the ancient throne; but he was slain in his palace by the guile of noble Artaphrenes, with the help of friends whose duty this was. [Sixth came Maraphis, and seventh Artaphrenes.This interpolate
Apollodorus, Epitome (ed. Sir James George Frazer), book E (search)
onian Artemis （Eur. IT 1446-1467）. An old wooden image of Artemis,
which purported to be the one brought from the land of the Taurians, was shown at
Brauron in Attica as late as the second century of our era; Iphigenia is said to
have landed with the image at Brauron and
left it there, while she herself went on by land to Athens and afterwards to Argos. See Paus. 1.23.7, Paus. 1.33.1. But according to some the original image was
carried off by Xerxes to Susa, and was
afterwards presented by Seleucus to Laodicea in
Syria, where it was said to remain down to
the time of Pausanias in the second century of our era （Paus. 3.16.8; Paus. 8.46.3）. Euripides
has recorded, in the form of prophecy, two interesting features in the ritual of Artemis
at Halae or Brauron. In sacrificing to the goddess the priest drew blood with a sword
from the throat of a man, and this was regarded as a substitute for the sacrif
For my part, whenever I see a man afraid of one who dwells at
Susa and Ecbatana and insisting that he is ill-disposed
to Athens, though he helped to
restore our fortunes in the past and was even now making overtures to usThe Persians helped Conon, when he defeated the
Lacedaemonians off Cnidus in 394.
In 345 Artaxerxes appealed to the leading Greek states for help in putting
down the revolt of Egypt.
Thebes and Argos sent auxiliaries, but Athens and Sparta refused.（and if
you did not accept them but voted their rejection, the fault is not
his）; and when I find the same man using very different language about
this plunderer of the Greeks, who is extending his power, as you see, at our
very doors and in the heart of Greece,
I am
Diodorus Siculus, Library, Book XI, Chapter 2 (search)
via the Northern Aegean. against the
Greeks, was stopped in his plans by death, whereupon Xerxes, induced both by the design of his
father and by the counsel of Mardonius, as we have stated, made up his mind to wage war upon
the Greeks. Now when all
preparations for the campaign had been completed, Xerxes commanded his admirals to assemble the
ships at Cyme and Phocaea, and he himself collected
the foot and cavalry forces from all the satrapies and advanced from Susa. And when he had arrived at Sardis, he dispatched heralds to Greece,
commanding them to go to all the states and to demand of the Greeks water and earth.The submission of water and earth was a token of fealty or
non-resistance.
Then, dividing his army, he sent in advance a sufficient
number of men both to bridge the Hellespont and to dig
a canal through AthosA Persian fleet had been wrecked off the promontory of Mt. Athos in 492 B.C. at the neck of the Cherronesus, i
