Citation with stable link: Philip A. Harland, 'Persians and peoples in their territory: Strabo on their customs and on bandit peoples (early first century CE),' Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World, last modified August 31, 2024, https://philipharland.com/Blog/?p=21273.
Ancient author: Unstated authors including Herodotos (late fifth century BCE), Histories 1.131-132; and, stated authors Nearchos (late fourth century BCE), FGrHist 133 F26; Polykleitos of Larisa (late fourth century BCE), FGrHist 128 F3a; and, Eratosthenes (third century BCE), FGrHist 241 F86 (link to FGrHist), as discussed by Strabo, Geography 15.3.1, 4, 11-24 (link).
Comments: Largely drawing on unstated authors (one of which seems to be Herodotos) and on Polykleitos, Strabo gives his overview of Persian territory and climate, “bandit” peoples in their territory, and a variety of Persian customs, especially those of the elites. Rituals associated with the Magians are also mentioned. While Strabo generally refrains from harsh critique here, his mention of the cliche about supposed incest suggests uncivilized elements in the Persian lifestyle and he suggests that there was a general decline into luxury over time.
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[For Strabo’s preceding discussion of Arianians, Gedrosians, and Karmanians, go to this link].
[Persian country]
(15.3.1) After Karmania one comes to Persis. A large portion of this country lies on the coast of the gulf which is named after it [our Persian Gulf plus Gulf of Oman], but a much larger portion of it lies in the interior, particularly in the direction of its length, that is, from the south and Karmania towards the north and the peoples (ethnē) of Media.
[Climate of Persia]
Persis has a threefold character, both in its nature and in the temperature of its air. For, in the first place, its coast is burning hot, sandy, and lacking in fruits except dates. (Its length is reckoned at about forty-four, or forty-three, hundred stadium-lengths, and it terminates at the largest of the rivers in that part of the world, the Oroatis, as it is called). Secondly, the portion above the coast produces everything, is level, and is excellent for the rearing of cattle, and also abounds with rivers and lakes. The third portion, that on the north, is wintry and mountainous. It is on the borders of this portion that the camel-breeders live.
[Size of Persia]
Now, according to Eratosthenes, the length of the country towards the north and the Caspian Gates is about eight thousand stadium-lengths, if reckoned from certain promontories, and the remainder to the Caspian Gates is not more than two thousand stadium-lengths. The width, in the interior, from Sousa to Persepolis, is four thousand two hundred stadium-lengths, and from there to the borders of Karmania sixteen hundred more.
[Persian tribes and bandit-peoples]
The tribes (phylai) which inhabit the country are the Pateischorians, as they are called, the Achaimenids, and the Magians. Now the Magians follow with zeal a kind of holy life, whereas the Kyrtians and the Mardians are bandits (lēstrikoi), and others are farmers. . . [omitted lengthy discussion of Sousa, the new Elamite / Persian capital].
[“Bandits” in mountainous territory]
(15.3.4) Now Sousa [Shush, Iran] is situated in the interior on the Choaspes [Karkheh] river at the far end of the bridge, but its territory extends down to the sea. Its coast is about three thousand stadium-lengths in length, extending from boundaries of the Persian coast approximately to the outlets of the Tigris. The Choaspes River flows through Susis, terminating at the same coast, and has its sources in the territory of the Ouxians (or: Uxians). For a kind of mountainous country intrudes between the Sousians and Persis. This country is rugged and sheer, and has narrow gaps that are hard to pass, and was inhabited by bandits (lēstai), who would exact payments even from the kings themselves when they passed from Susis into Persis. . . [omitted lengthy descriptions of rivers and other geographical features, as well as Alexander’s itinerary, drawing on Polykleitos, Nearchos, and Aristoboulos].
[Elymaians, Paraitakenians, and Ouxians as war-like bandit peoples needing Parthian imperial control]
(15.3.11-12) . . . Such, then, is the interior. But the coast is full of shallows and without harbours. On this account, at any rate, Nearchos goes on to say that he met with no native guides when he was sailing along the coast with his fleet from India to Babylonia; that the coast had no mooring-places; and, that he was also unable to find any experienced people to guide him.
Neighbouring Susis is the part of Babylonia which was formerly called Sitakene, but is now called Apolloniatis. Above both, on the north and towards the east, lie the countries of the Elymaians and the Paraitakenians, who are bandit peoples (lēstrikoi andres) and rely on the ruggedness of their mountains. But the Paraitakenians are situated closer to the Apolloniatians, and therefore treat them worse. The Elymaians carry on war against both that people and the Sousians, whereas the Ouxians (or: Uxians) too carry on war against the Elymaians, but less so at the present time. This is probabily because of the might of the Parthians, to whom all the peoples in that part of the world are now subject. Now when the Parthians do well, all their subjects do well too. However, when there is an insurrection, as is often the case, even in our own times in fact, the results are different at different times and not the same for all. For some have benefited by disturbances, whereas others have been disappointed in their expectations. Such, then, are the countries of Persis and Susis.
[Persian and Median customs]
(15.3.13) Now the Persian customs are the same as those of these peoples [likely Sousians are in mind] and the Medes [see also Strabo’s earlier discussion of Medes at 11.13 – link] and several other peoples. While several authors [evidently including Herodotos, Histories 1.131-132] have made statements about all these peoples, I too must tell what is suitable to my purpose.
[Customs related to gods, including the role of Magians]
Now the Persians do not erect statues or altars, but offer sacrifice on a high place, regarding the heavens as Zeus [i.e. Ahura Mazda]. They also worship the sun (Helios), whom they call Mithras; the moon (Selene) and Aphrodite; and, fire, earth, winds, and water. With earnest prayer they offer sacrifice in a purified place, presenting the victim crowned. When the Magian (magos), who directs the sacrifice, has divided the meat, the people go away with their shares without setting apart a portion for the gods. For they say that the god requires only the soul of the victim and nothing else. Nonetheless, according to some authors, they place a small part of the intestine of the sacrificed animal (omentum) upon the fire.
(15.3.14) But it is especially to fire and water that they offer sacrifice. To fire they offer sacrifice by adding dry wood without the bark and by placing fat on top of it. Then they pour oil over it and light it below, not blowing with their breath, but fanning it. Those who blow the fire with their breath or put anything dead or filthy upon it are put to death. They offer sacrifice to water by going to a lake, river or spring, where, having dug a trench leading to it, they slaughter a victim. They are on their guard in case any of the water nearby is made bloody, believing that the blood would pollute the water. Then, placing pieces of meat on myrtle or laurel branches, the Magians touch them with slender wands and sing chants, pouring oil mixed with both milk and honey. They do not put this into fire or water, but on the ground. They carry on their chants (apōdai) for a long time, holding in their hands a bundle of slender myrtle wands.
[Magians in Kappadokia]
(15.3.15) In Kappadokia (or: Cappadocia) there is a tribe (phylē) of the Magians who are also called Pyraithians (“fire-kindlers”). [For Strabo’s account on Cappadocians go to this link]. That tribe is large, and there are also many temples of the Persian gods in Kappadokia. In Kappadokia, the people do not sacrifice victims with a sword either, but with a kind of tree-trunk, beating them to death as with a cudgel. They also have Pyraitheia, noteworthy sacred enclosures. In the midst of these sacred enclosures, there is an altar on which there is a large quantity of ashes and where the Magians keep the fire constantly burning. Entering daily, they sing chants there for about an hour, holding before the fire their bundles of rods and wearing around their heads high turbans of felt, which reach down over their cheeks far enough to cover their lips. The same customs are observed in the temples of Anaitis [Anahita] and Omanos, and these temples also have sacred enclosures, and the people carry in procession a wooden statue of Omanos. Now I have seen this myself. However, those other things, as also what follows, are recorded in the histories.
(15.3.16) The Persians neither urinate nor wash themselves in a river. Nor do they bathe in the river, nor cast anything dead or any other thing that is considered unclean into the river. And to whatever god they offer sacrifice, to him they first offer prayer with fire.
[Elite customs]
(15.3.17) They are governed by hereditary kings. Anyone who is disobedient has his head and arms cut off and his body thrown out. The men marry many wives, and at the same time maintain several concubines, for the sake of having many children. The kings set forth prizes annually for those who have the most children, but the children are not brought into the presence of their parents until they are four years old. Marriages are consummated at the beginning of the vernal equinox. The bridegroom passes to the bridal chamber, having first eaten an apple or a camel’s marrow, but nothing else during that day.
(15.3.18) From five years of age to twenty-four they are trained to use the bow, to throw the javelin, to ride horseback, and to speak the truth. Their wisest men are teach the traditions, interweaving their teachings with the mythical element, thus reducing that element to a useful purpose. They rehearse both with song and without song the achievements both of the gods and of the noblest men.
And these teachers wake the boys up before dawn by the sound of brazen instruments, and assemble them in one place, as though for arming themselves or for a hunt. Then they divide the boys into companies of fifty, appoint one of the sons of the king or of a satrap as leader of each company, and order them to follow their leader in a race, having marked off a distance of thirty or forty stadium-lengths. They require them also to give an account of each lesson, at the same time training them in loud speaking and in breathing, and in the use of their lungs. They also train them to endure heat, cold and rains and to cross torrential streams in such a way as to keep both armour and clothing dry. They teach them to tend flocks and live outdoors all night and eat wild fruits, such as pistachio nuts, acorns, and wild pears. . . [omitted likely scribal marginal interpolation]. Their daily food after their gymnastic exercises consists of bread, barley cake, cardamom, grains of salt, and roasted or boiled meat. But their drink is water. They hunt by throwing spears from horseback, and with bows and slings. Late in the afternoon they are trained in the planting of trees; in the cutting and gathering of roots; in making weapons; and, in the skill of making linen cloths and hunters’ nets.
The boys do not touch the meat of wild animals, though it is the custom to bring them home. Prizes are offered by the king for victory in running and in the four other contests of the pentathlon (pentathla). The boys are adorned with gold, since the people hold in honour the fiery appearance of that metal. For this reason, in honour of its fiery appearance, they do not apply gold, just as they do not apply fire, to a dead body.
[Military customs]
(15.3.19) They serve in the army and hold commands from twenty to fifty years of age, both as foot-soldiers and as horsemen. Those who serve in the army do not approach a market-place, for they neither sell nor buy. They arm themselves with a rhomboidal wicker-shield. Besides quivers they have swords and knives. On their heads they wear a tower-like hat. Their breastplates are made of scales of iron. The garb of the commanders consists of three-ply pants, and of a double tunic, with sleeves, that reaches to the knees. The under garment is white and the upper garment is brightly coloured. In summer they wear a purple or brightly coloured cloak, in winter a brightly coloured one only. Their turbans are similar to those of the Magi; and they wear a deep double shoe. Most of them wear a double tunic that reaches to the middle of the shin, and a piece of linen cloth around the head. Each man has a bow and sling.
[Other customs]
Persians dine in an extravagant manner, serving whole animals in great numbers and of various kinds. Their couches, as also their drinking-cups and everything else, are so brilliantly ornamented that they gleam with gold and silver.
(15.3.20) They carry on their most important deliberations when drinking wine, and they consider their decisions as more lasting than those made when they are sober. When they meet people on the streets, they approach and kiss those with whom they are acquainted and who are of equal rank, and to those of lower rank they offer the cheek and in that way receive the kiss. However, those of still lower rank merely make obeisance. They smear the bodies of the dead with wax before they bury them, though they do not bury the Magians but leave their bodies to be eaten by birds. Following ancestral customs, these Magians even have sex with their mothers. Such are the customs of the Persians.
[Other possible customs, according to Polykleitos]
(15.3.21) Perhaps also the following, mentioned by Polykleitos is one of their customs. He says that in Sousa each one of the kings built for himself on the acropolis a separate palace, treasure-houses, and storage places for what tributes they each exacted, as memorials of his administration. He says that they exacted silver from the people on the coast, and from the people in the interior whatever each country produced, so that they also received dyes, medical materials, hair, or wool, or things like that, and likewise cattle. He says that the king who arranged the separate tributes was Darius. . . [omitted likely interpolation] and that most of the gold and silver is used in articles of equipment, but not much in money They consider those metals as better adapted for presents and for depositing in storehouses. Just as much coined money that meets needs is enough for them. They coin only what money is commensurate with their expenses.
[Persian kings’ decline into luxury]
(15.3.22) For their customs are in general moderate (sōphronika). However, because of their wealth the kings fell into such luxury that they sent for wheat from Assos in Aiolis, for Chalymonian wine from Syria, and for water from the Euphrates, which is so far the lightest of all waters that an Attic liquid measure (kotylē) of it weighs a drachma less than other waters.
[Persian imperial control and relation to Greeks]
(15.3.23) The Persians, of all the barbarians, became the most famous among the Greeks, because none of the other barbarians who ruled Asia ruled Greeks. Neither were these people acquainted with the Greeks nor yet the Greeks with the barbarians, except for a short time by distant hearsay. Anyways, Homer does not know about either the empire of the Syrians [i.e. Assyrians] nor that of the Medes. Since he names Egyptian Thebes and mentions the wealth there and the wealth in Phoenicia, he would not have passed over in silence the wealth of Babylon, Ninos, and Ekbatana.
The Persians were the first to rule over Greeks. The Lydians had indeed ruled over Greeks, but not simultaneously over all of Asia [i.e. Greek cities of Asia Minor]. They only ruled over a small portion of it, namely the part inside the Halys river and even that they ruled for only a short time, in the time of Croesus and Alyattes. But the Lydians were mastered by the Persians and deprived by them of whatever glory they had. The Persians, as soon as they broke up the power of the Medes, immediately mastered the Lydians and also got as their subjects the Greeks in Asia [i.e. western Asia Minor / Turkey]. Later they even crossed over into Greece. Although often defeated in many battles, still they continued to hold Asia as far as the places on the sea until they were subdued by the Macedonians.
(15.3.24) Now the man who established the Persians in their hegemony was Cyrus. Cyrus was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who was deposed by the Magians. The Magians were killed by the seven Persians, who then gave over the empire to Darius, the son of Hystaspes. And then the successors of Darius came to an end with Arses. Arses was slain by Bagoos the eunuch, who set up as king another Darius, who was not of the royal family. Alexander deposed that second Darius and reigned himself for ten or eleven years. Then the hegemony of Asia was divided among his several successors and their descendants and then dissolved. The hegemony of the Persians over Asia lasted about two hundred and fifty years. But now, though again organised into a kingdom of their own, the Persians have kings that are subject to other kings, formerly to the kings of Macedonia, but now to those of the Parthians.
[For Strabo’s subsequent discussion of Assyrians, Babylonians and surrounding peoples, go to this link].
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Source of translation: H.L. Jones, Strabo, 8 volumes, LCL (Cambridge, MA: HUP, 1917-28), public domain (passed away in 1932), adapted by Justin Nadeau and Harland.