Abstract
Herodotus, the famous Greek historian, tells a story according to which after Geomat called himself Berdia son of Cyrus, Darius and his allies rose up and killed Geomat and his companions. After the murder of Guomat, they decided to ride around the city on a horse and whoever’s horse drew a Shihe first would reach the kingdom. According to Herodotus, Darius’s horse, with the help of Oibar’s trick, Darius’s horse drew a Shihe earlier than the others and Darius reached the throne. The research method in this research is descriptive and analytical using reliable historical sources. The findings of the research show that the story of Herodotus is legendary and the mention of extraordinary and supernatural content makes it invalid. According to Michel Foucault’s cultural theory, the culture of societies is not static, but is always changing, so we must first examine the Achaemenid culture. After analyzing the culture of the Achaemenid period, we realize that the story of Herodotus is a fabrication and other factors, including belonging to the ruling or Achaemenid family, were involved in the accession of Darius to the throne, which Herodotus intentionally or unintentionally did not mention.
Keywords: Darius, Herodotus, Shihe Esb, Achaemenid, Kingdom.
Introduction
The concept of culture, together with the concept of society, is one of the concepts that is used a lot in sociology and history. Culture is the values that members of a certain group have, the norms they follow and the material goods they produce (Giddens, 2008: 36). Culture has a history, and deep understanding and solving cultural issues requires adopting an approach that can take into account the history of culture. Generally, people think that culture is a natural and definite category that has always been and is in the same way, while culture is diverse, fluid and historical. (Kechoyan and Zaeri, 2008, 7). According to French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault, our views on social coordinates (such as madness, gender, etc.) are not the only acceptable views. From his point of view, such coordinates are cultural structures that change throughout time and space (Hughes, 1386: 154). According to Foucault, culture is not a fixed issue that is like a uniform and unchanged chain from the past to the present, but culture is also like other components related to humans have undergone changes and transformations in the course of history, and sometimes they have completely changed. For example, according to the recommendations of Zoroastrianism and their subsistence economy, which depended on livestock and herding, in the ancient Iranian thought, a dog was considered a sacred animal, and if someone injured even a stray dog, they would whip him (Vandidad, 1385, Fargard 13th: 741, 742), while nowadays, due to the cultural changes created in Iranian society, a dog is considered an impure animal and they believe that its presence in the house causes good and blessings to come out. Therefore, when we want to talk about a historical event to do research, we have to put ourselves in that period and get to know the culture of that time and then comment on it.
Research Methodology: The purpose of the research is to investigate and analyze the story of Herodotus about Darius the Great’s accession to the throne based on the horse figure.
Discussion
Various reasons are mentioned regarding the fabrication and unreality of Herodotus’ story about the rise of Darius to power by Shihe Esb: Being legendary and having unreal things in the story
When we read the story presented by Herodotus, we come across legendary narratives that are part of Herodotus’ folk narratives, whose purpose is to entertain the audience (Calligan, 1384: 55). The first thought that comes to mind regarding the validity of this famous story is that it is not at all possible that those wise men who were involved in such a serious crisis and exposed themselves to such a vast extent of danger, resorted to such a childish and laughable plan. Or Cobb Abbott, though he finally accepts this story, believes that such a method of appointing a leader, if it is accepted separately, is invalid even for the soldier boys who provide the holiday arrangements, in However, here, the issue of the empire is raised, which extends thousands of miles in the heart of the vast continent and probably accommodates 50 nationalities and millions of people and has the devices of a vast government. Making an inscription in honor of Oibar Herodotus, after mentioning the story of Darius’s rise to the kingship with trickery, tells us that Darius ordered an inscribed stone to be carved and to honor his great-grandfather Oibar!“After reaching the kingdom, Darius first ordered to carve and erect a stone inscription on which the image of a horse rider was engraved with the following inscription: Darius, the son of Hystaspes, owes the kingdom of Persia to the merit of his horse - here the name of the animal is mentioned It has been done, and cleverness is more important than itself” (Herodotus, 1384, Vol. 3: 185). When we examine the Iranian society of the Achaemenid period, we realize that Darius, assuming that he secretly ascended the throne with the help of Mehtar himself, will never make this issue public and obvious. In the Iranian society of that time, truth and honesty were one value, and lies were the same. Trickery was considered one of the major sins. Revolt of the land of Persia after the arrival of Darius the king
As mentioned before, Herodotus described Darius’ horse as a kind of divine tidings and his acceptance from heaven. If this article was true, there would be no reason for the tribes under Darius to rebel, especially the Persians, who were Darius’ own people (Omsted, 1958:15) after Darius became king. Absence of a history of reaching the kingdom based on horse shihe the story told by Herodotus is unprecedented in the history of the world. It means that before Darius the Great, no king was elected in this way. Roman Girshman and Abdul Hossein Zarinkoob believe that the way of reaching the kingdom of the chiefs, the king of Urartu was in the same way and later the Iranians adopted this method from him because of the neighborhood (Zarinkoob, 1381: 143 and Girshman, 1389: 182). There is no mention of lottery in the inscription of the first chiefs. In the inscription, it says that the chiefs won the kingdom (Urartu) with the help of their horses and chariots. One of Urartu’s works of art made of bronze shows the first chiefs on a chariot with war chariots, and apparently it is mentioned that the chiefs became king as a result of their bravery, bravery and merit (Tolman, 1907: pxxv).
Conclusion
Herodotus, while mentioning the events of the Cambogia period, says that Darius, together with six Persian leaders, managed to defeat Goumat the Magh and his allies, and after killing Goumat, they became passionate about the Achaemenid government. After the end of the negotiation, it is decided that the royal government will continue. Finally, they decide that the leaders of the uprising will go to the desert on horseback, and whichever horse squeals first will reach the throne. Dariush, with the help of his nobleman, Oibar, played a trick and his horse died earlier than the others’ horses, and thus he reached the kingdom. Today, most researchers accept this story of Herodotus and consider it a divine sign about the kingdom of Darius. When we evaluate the story of Herodotus, we realize that it is a legendary story and contains a lot of unreal content, especially since Herodotus says that after Darius became king, he ordered an inscription to be made in honor of Oibar. to be Dariush, who tried a lot to legitimize himself in various ways, such as marrying the daughters of Cyrus the Great, mentioning that his ancestors were emperors, etc., it is impossible to introduce himself and his kingdom as indebted to Mehtaresh Oibar. According to Michel Foucault’s cultural theory, the culture of every society is always changing. Therefore, when we want to comment on the historical event, we must examine the culture of that time. According to the beliefs of the Achaemenid period and the entire ancient era, the monarchy was always given to people from the ruling family, and if no one of the main princes survived, the monarchy was given to secondary princes (relatives and second degree). Due to the fact that Dariush belonged to the Achaemenid dynasty and had also participated in the uprising against Goumat Mugh, he was chosen by the nobles of Pars as the successor of Kamboja.