Ctesias - Wikipedia Ctesias From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search For the beetle genus, see Ctesias (beetle). Ctesias (/ˈtiːʒəs/; Ancient Greek: Κτησίας, Ktēsíās, 5th century BC), also known as Ctesias the Cnidian or Ctesias of Cnidus, was a Greek physician and historian from the town of Cnidus in Caria, when Caria was part of the Achaemenid Empire. Contents 1 Historical events 2 Persica 3 Indica 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links Historical events[edit] Ctesias was on the Achaemenid side, attending to Artaxerxes II, at the Battle of Cunaxa (401 BC), Jean Adrien Guignet Ctesias, who lived in the fifth century BC, was physician to the Achaemenid king Artaxerxes II, whom he accompanied in 401 BC on his expedition against his brother Cyrus the Younger. Ctesias was part of the entourage of King Artaxerxes at the Battle of Cunaxa (401 BC) against Cyrus the Younger and his Greek mercenaries called the Ten Thousand, and brought medical assistance to the king by treating his flesh wound.[1] He reportedly was involved in negotiations with the Greeks after the battle, and also helped their Spartan general Clearchus before his execution at the royal court at Babylon.[2] Ctesias was the author of treatises on rivers, and on the Persian revenues, of an account of India entitled Indica (Ἰνδικά), and of a history of Assyria and Persia in 23 books, called Persica (Περσικά), written in opposition to Herodotus in the Ionic dialect, and professedly founded on the Persian Royal Archives. Persica[edit] The first six books covered the history of Assyria and Babylon to the foundation of the Persian empire; the remaining 17 went down to 398 BC. Of the two histories, abridgments by Photius and fragments are preserved in Athenaeus, Plutarch, Nicolaus of Damascus, and especially Diodorus Siculus, whose second book is mainly from Ctesias. As to the worth of the Persica, much controversy occurred, both in ancient and modern times. Although many ancient authorities valued it highly, and used it to discredit Herodotus, a modern author writes, "(Ctesias's) unreliability makes Herodotus seem a model of accuracy."[3] Ctesias's account of the Assyrian kings does not reconcile with the cuneiform evidence.[citation needed] The satirist Lucian thought so little of Ctesias' historical reliability that in his satirical True Story he places Ctesias on the island where the evil were punished. Lucian wrote, "The people who suffered the greatest torment were those who had told lies when they were alive and written mendacious histories; among them were Ctesias of Cnidus, Herodotus, and many others."[4] According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, Ctesias mentioned that Darius I's grave at Persepolis was in a cliff face that could be reached with an apparatus of ropes.[5] Indica[edit] Main article: Indica (Ctesias) Some absurd claims form part of Indica, such as the stories of a race of people with only one leg, or with feet so big they could be used as an umbrella A record of the view that the Persians held of India, under the title Indica, it includes descriptions of god-like people, philosophers, artisans, and unquantifiable gold, among other riches and wonders.[6] It is of value as it records the beliefs of the Persians about India. The book only remains in fragments and in reports made about the book by later authors. References[edit] ^ "The first certain event related to Ctesias is his medical assistance to the king during the battle of Cunaxa and his treatment of his flesh wound (Plut. Art. 11.3) in 401 BCE" in Dąbrowa, Edward (2014). The Greek World in the 4th and 3rd Centuries BC: Electrum vol. 19. Wydawnictwo UJ. p. 13. ISBN 9788323388197. ^ Dąbrowa, Edward (2014). The Greek World in the 4th and 3rd Centuries BC: Electrum vol. 19. Wydawnictwo UJ. pp. 13–14. ISBN 9788323388197. ^ Burn A.R. Persia and the Greeks. Duckworth. London. 1984. As quoted by Peter Frederick Barker, FROM THE SCAMANDER TO SYRACUSE. STUDIES IN ANCIENT LOGISTICS, page 9, chapter 1. http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/1740/00dissertation.pdf?sequence=2 ^ Lucian, A True Story, 2.31 ^ "Persepolis". Encyclopedia Britannica. ^ Lavers, Chris (2009). The Natural History of Unicorns. New York, NY: Morrow. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-06-087414-8.  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ctesias". Encyclopædia Britannica. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 594. Further reading[edit] Ed., trad. et commentaire par Dominique Lenfant, Ctésias de Cnide. La Perse. L'Inde. Autres fragments, Collection Budé, Belles Lettres, Paris, 2004 ( ISBN 2251005188). Schmitt, Rüdiger (1993). "CTESIAS". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. VI, Fasc. 4. pp. 441–446. Jan P. Stronk: Ctesias' Persian History. Part I: Introduction, Text, and Translation, Wellem Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2010 ( ISBN 9783941820012). Andrew G. Nichols, Ctesias: On India. Translation and Commentary, Duckworth, 2011, ISBN 1-85399-742-0 Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones and James Robson, Ctesias' History of Persia: Tales of the Orient, Oxford, 2010 ( ISBN 9780415364119). External links[edit] Ctesias of Cnidus Overview of all fragments of the Persica and Indica by Jona Lendering Photius' Excerpt of Ctesias' Persica translated by J. H. Freese (1920) Photius' Excerpt of Ctesias' Indica translated by J.H. Freese (1920) Greek text (Müller 1858) Texts of Ctesias Authority control BIBSYS: 90586294 BNE: XX4771244 BNF: cb120075297 (data) CiNii: DA06806924 GND: 119379295 ISNI: 0000 0001 2144 2009 LCCN: n82006134 LNB: 000049100 NDL: 001317697 NKC: ola2005262658 NTA: 069899657 PLWABN: 9810552555905606 SELIBR: 182574 SUDOC: 028189876 VcBA: 495/40558 VIAF: 192092583 WorldCat Identities: lccn-n82006134 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ctesias&oldid=999484090" Categories: Classical-era Greek historians 4th-century BC historians Ancient Greek physicians Ancient Cnidians Ancient Greeks from the Achaemenid Empire 5th-century BC births 4th-century BC deaths Historians from ancient Anatolia Physicians of the Achaemenid Empire Historians of Iran Greek Indologists Historians of the Achaemenid Empire Hidden categories: Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from August 2017 Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNE identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with CINII identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with LNB identifiers Wikipedia articles with NDL identifiers Wikipedia articles with NKC identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with VcBA identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikisource Languages العربية Беларуская Български Català Čeština Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Esperanto فارسی Français Galego 한국어 Հայերեն Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Latina Lietuvių മലയാളം Nederlands 日本語 Norsk bokmål Oʻzbekcha/ўзбекча Polski Português Română Русский Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 10 January 2021, at 12:07 (UTC). 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