Читать книгу The Herodotus Encyclopedia - Группа авторов - Страница 306

WILLIAM BUBELIS

Washington University in St. Louis

On CYPRUS’ southern coast (BA 72 C3), Amathus had long been a major settlement by Herodotus’ time. But its history remains obscure, and it does not appear among ten Cypriot kingdoms that acknowledged the authority of the neo‐Assyrian king Esarhaddon in a cuneiform prism of 673/2 BCE. Amathus was the only Cypriot kingdom to have remained loyal to the ACHAEMENIDS during the IONIAN REVOLT, and it successfully resisted the siege of ONESILUS of Salamis, the revolt’s Cypriot instigator (5.104–8, 114). Although extensive damage to both APHRODITE’s shrine and the royal palace visible in the material record is roughly contemporary with Onesilus’ SIEGE, this might have resulted from some other event unknown to us (pace Petit 2004).

Whereas Herodotos typically names the rulers of Cypriot CITIES involved in the Ionian Revolt, he cites the Amathusians collectively for their stance yet omits their ethnic affiliation (cf. 7.90), despite the city’s well‐known claim to AUTOCHTHONY and the (still undeciphered) Eteocypriot language that long persisted there. Further difficulty surrounds Herodotus’ tale (5.114–15) of the bees that built a hive in Onesilus’ decapitated head, which the Amathusians hung upon their gates prior to burying it and worshipping Onesilus as a protective hero, in accordance with an ORACLE. The tale reflects Greek religious practice but also betokens Near Eastern cultural motifs (e.g., Judges 14:8–20).

SEE ALSO: Ethnicity; Heroes and Hero Cult; Near Eastern History; Religion, Greek; Salamis (Cyprus)