Hydarnes (Old Persian : 𐎻𐎡𐎭𐎼𐎴, romanized: Vidṛna), also known as Hydarnes the Elder, was a Persian nobleman, who was one of the seven conspirators who overthrew the Pseudo-Smerdis. [1] His name is the Greek transliteration of the Old Persian name Vidṛna, which may have meant "he who knows the guilt/wrong". [1]
He was seemingly good friends with Aspathines, who invited him to join the conspiracy, [1] which included the noblemen Intaphernes, Otanes, Gobryas, Megabyzus, and the Achaemenid prince Darius, who was its leader. [2] For his services, Hydarnes was seemingly given the Achaemenid satrapy of Armenia as a semi-hereditary fief, since his descendants governed it until the Hellenistic period. [1] Orontes I (died 344 BC), the ancestor of the Orontid dynasty, was descended from Hydarnes. [3] According to some Persepolis tablets, Hydarnes served as the satrap of Media under Darius. [4]
Hydarnes was survived by two sons, Hydarnes the Younger and Sisamnes, who both served as commanders under Darius' son and successor, Xerxes I (r. 486–465 BC). [1]
Zarathushtra Spitama, more commonly known as Zoroaster or Zarathustra, was an Iranian religious reformer who challenged the tenets of the contemporary Ancient Iranian religion, becoming the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism. Variously described as a sage or a wonderworker; in the oldest Zoroastrian scriptures, the Gathas, which he is believed to have authored, he is described as a preacher and a poet-prophet. He also had an impact on Heraclitus, Plato, Pythagoras, and the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Xerxes I, commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 486 BC until his assassination in 465 BC. He was the son of Darius the Great and Atossa, a daughter of Cyrus the Great. In Western history, Xerxes is best known for his invasion of Greece in 480 BC, which ended in Persian defeat. Xerxes was designated successor by Darius over his elder brother Artobazan and inherited a large, multi-ethnic empire upon his father's death. He consolidated his power by crushing revolts in Egypt and Babylon, and renewed his father's campaign to subjugate Greece and punish Athens and its allies for their interference in the Ionian Revolt. In 480 BC, Xerxes personally led a large army and crossed the Hellespont into Europe. He achieved victories at Thermopylae and Artemisium before capturing and razing Athens. His forces gained control of mainland Greece north of the Isthmus of Corinth until their defeat at the Battle of Salamis. Fearing that the Greeks might trap him in Europe, Xerxes retreated with the greater part of his army back to Asia, leaving behind Mardonius to continue his campaign. Mardonius was defeated at Plataea the following year, effectively ending the Persian invasion.
Darius I, commonly known as Darius the Great, was the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of Western Asia, parts of the Balkans and the Caucasus, most of the Black Sea's coastal regions, Central Asia, the Indus Valley in the far east, and portions of North Africa and Northeast Africa including Egypt (Mudrâya), eastern Libya, and coastal Sudan.
Darius III was the last Achaemenid King of Kings of Persia, reigning from 336 BC to his death in 330 BC.
Arses, known by his regnal name Artaxerxes II, was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 405/4 BC to 358 BC. He was the son and successor of Darius II and his mother was Parysatis.
Bessus or Bessos, also known by his throne name Artaxerxes V, was a Persian satrap of the eastern Achaemenid satrapy of Bactria, as well as the self-proclaimed King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 330 to 329 BC.
Ardashir II, was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 379 to 383. He was the brother of his predecessor, Shapur II, under whom he had served as vassal king of Adiabene, where he fought alongside his brother against the Romans. Ardashir II was appointed as his brother's successor to rule interimly till the latter's son Shapur III reached adulthood. Ardashir II's short reign was largely uneventful, with the Sasanians unsuccessfully trying to maintain rule over Armenia.
Hyrcania is a historical region composed of the land south-east of the Caspian Sea in modern-day Iran and Turkmenistan, bound in the south by the Alborz mountain range and the Kopet Dag in the east.
Atropatene, also known as Media Atropatene, was an ancient Iranian kingdom established in c. 323 BC by the Persian satrap Atropates. The kingdom, centered in present-day northern Iran, was ruled by Atropates' descendants until the early 1st-century AD, when the Parthian Arsacid dynasty supplanted them. It was conquered by the Sasanians in 226, and turned into a province governed by a marzban ("margrave"). Atropatene was the only Iranian region to remain under Zoroastrian authority from the Achaemenids to the Arab conquest without interruption, aside from being briefly ruled by the Macedonian king Alexander the Great.
The Farāvahār, also called the Foruhār (فروهر) or the Fārre Kiyâni, is one of the most prominent symbols of Zoroastrianism. There is no universal consensus on what it means or stands for, as a variety of interpretations exist. The most common belief is that it depicts the fravaṣ̌i, which is the Zoroastrian concept of one's personal spirit.
Ariaramnes, was the Ariarathid king of Cappadocia from 280 BC to 230 BC. He was the son and successor of Ariarathes II.
Ariarathes II, satrap and king of Cappadocia, son of Holophernes, fled into Armenia after the death of his uncle and adopted father Ariarathes I, ruler of Cappadocia. After the death of Eumenes he recovered Cappadocia with the assistance of Ardoates, the Armenian king, and killed Amyntas, the Macedonian satrap, in 301 BC, but was forced to accept Seleucid suzerainty. He was succeeded by Ariaramnes, the eldest of his three sons.
Ariarathes I was the last Achaemenid Persian governor (satrap) of the province (satrapy) of Northern Cappadocia, serving from the 340s BC to 331 BC. He led defensive efforts against the Macedonian invasion, commanded by Alexander the Great, and later fought at the Battle of Gaugamela under Darius III, the last King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire. After the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, Ariarathes continued his resistance against the Macedonians, ruling concomitantly as an Achaemenid remnant and a precursor to the Kingdom of Cappadocia. He is regarded as the founder of the Iranian Ariarathid dynasty.
Alireza Shapour Shahbazi was a prominent Persian archaeologist, Iranologist and a world expert on Achaemenid archaeology. Shahbazi got a BA degree in and an MA degree in East Asian archaeology from SOAS. Shahbazi had a doctorate degree in Achaemenid archaeology from University of London. Alireza Shapour Shahbazi was a lecturer in Achaemenid archaeology and Iranology at Harvard University. He was also a full professor of archaeology at Shiraz University and founded at Persepolis the Institute of Achaemenid Research in 1974. After the Islamic revolution, he moved to the US, firstly teaching at Columbia University and then later becoming a full professor of history in Eastern Oregon University.
Hydarnes, also known as Idernes, was a Persian nobleman, who was active during the reign of Darius II. He was a descendant of Hydarnes the Younger, who was himself the son of Hydarnes, one of the seven Persian conspirators who overthrew the Pseudo-Smerdis. He was the father of several children through his principal consort. His offspring included Tissaphernes, Terituchmes, Stateira, Rhoxane, and two further daughters.
Orontes I was a military officer of the Achaemenid Empire and satrap of Armenia at the end of the 5th-century BC and first half of the 4th-century BC. He is notable for having led the unsuccessful Great Satraps' Revolt in Asia Minor against the Achaemenids from 362/1 BC to 360/359 BC.
Artasyrus was a Bactrian nobleman in the Achaemenid Empire, who was the father of Orontes I, the satrap of the Armenia and ancestor of the Orontid dynasty. The career of Artasyrus is obscure. According to the Greek historian Plutarch, he held the high-ranking office of the "King's Eye". He has been suggested be the same person as the namesake Iranian noble who participated in the Battle of Cunaxa in 401 BC. He and Orontes I are the only Bactrians who are known to have occupied high offices under the Achaemenid Empire. Bactrians that settled in other parts of the empire either did so by their own will or as garrison-colonists.
Hydarnes II, also known as Hydarnes the Younger was a Persian commander of the Achaemenid Empire in the 5th century BC. He was the son of Hydarnes, satrap of the Persian empire and one of the seven conspirators against Gaumata.
The Cappadocian calendar was a solar calendar that was derived from the Persian Zoroastrian calendar. It is named after the historic region Cappadocia in present-day Turkey, where it was used. The calendar, which had 12 months of 30 days each and five epagomenal days, originated between 550 and 330 BC, when Cappadocia was part of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. The Cappadocian calendar was identical to the Zoroastrian calendar; this can be seen in its structure, in the Avestan names and in the order of the months. The Cappadocian calendar reflects the Iranian cultural influence in the region. Extant evidence of the calendar dates back to Late Antiquity through the accounts of Greek astronomers, by which time it had already been adapted to the Julian calendar.
The Ariarathid dynasty was a hereditary dynasty of Iranian origin.