General Notes

BIOGRAPHY:   Otanes (Old Persian Ut√¢na): Persian nobleman, one of the seven conspirators who killed the Ma gian usurper Gaum√¢ta and helped Darius become king (September 29, 522 BCE). Several years lat er, he added the Greek island Samos to the Persian empire.   In March 522, a Magian named Gaum√¢ta seized power in the Persian empire, claiming to be the b rother of the legitimate king Cambyses, Smerdis. Gaum√¢ta could do this, because Smerdis had b een killed secretly. Immediately, Cambyses advanced to the usurper, but he died before he rea ched Persia; the false Smerdis was able to rule for several months.   According to the Greek researcher Herodotus, Otanes, the brother of the mother of Cambyses an d the real Smerdis, was the first to become suspicious of the false Smerdis. From his daughte r Phaidymia, who was married to the king, he learned that Smerdis was in reality a Magian. O n hearing this news, Otanes invited Aspathines and Gobryas to discuss the usurpation. Togethe r, they decided to invite three other conspirators: Hydarnes, Intaphrenes and Megabyzus. The y were still making plans, when Darius arrived and sided with them. He convinced the seven t o strike immediately and not to wait, as Otanes had proposed. On September 29, 522 BCE, the s even killed the false Smerdis.   That Otanes was involved in the killing of Gaum√¢ta is confirmed by another source, the Behist un inscription. This inscription also tells us the name of Otanes' father, which was Thukhra . Herodotus is mistaken when he calls him Pharnaspes, but is is possible to rescue him by acc epting the hypothesis that Thukra was a nickname ('redhead').   Herodotus tells us that after the murder, the seven men discussed the future constitution o f Persia. Otanes said that Persia ought to be a democracy; Megabyzus argued for an oligarch y and Darius said that monarchy was the best kind of rule. The other four noblemen sided wit h him, and Darius became king. Herodotus stresses that this discussion really took place. Pro bably, he has misunderstood a debate about the future of Persia: was it to be a centralized m onarchy (which it became) or was it to be a loosely organized federation (as it had been)?   When it was decided that Persia was to be a monarchy and Darius was to be its king, Otanes ch oose to stay aloof of it and receive special rights;   To this day, the family of Otanes continues to be the only free family in Persia, and submit s to the king only so far as the members of it may choose. They are bound, however, to observ e the law like anyone else. (Herodotus, Histories 3.83)  That is, at least, Herodotus' story. But there may be more than meets the eye: perhaps Otane s was a rival candidate to the Persian throne. There are many elements in Herodotus' story th at point into this direction. In the first place, we see that Otanes started the conspiracy a nd that Darius sided with them later. In the second place, Otanes and Darius argued for oppos ite ideas on two occasions: should the seven wait or strike immediately and should Persia b e a democracy or a monarchy? In the third place, Otanes had a powerful claim to the throne be cause he was the brother of Cassandane, the queen of king Cyrus the Great, and the father o f Phaidymia, the queen of Cambyses and the false Smerdis. (Darius' claim to the throne was ba sed on the fact that he belonged to a younger branch of the family of Cyrus and Cambyses, th e Achaemenians.)  It is likely that Otanes, who, according to Herodotus, decided to stay aloof from Persian pol itics, prepared the road for Darius to become king. Darius honored Otanes by marrying his dau ghter Phaidymia, who had already been married to Cambyses and the false Smerdis; when Dariu s married her, his rule became more legitimate. At the same time, Otanes married a sister o f Darius. They probably were the parents of Amestris, who was to marry king Xerxes.   That the king trusted Otanes, is also suggested by the fact that he ordered his father-in-law , who was probably serving as satrap of Lydia, to conquer the Greek island Samos (c.517 BCE) . This island had been without strong leader since an earlier Lydian satrap, Oroetus, had exe cuted Polycrates. Its new, pro-Persian ruler, was to be a man named Syloson. Herodotus tell s us:   As for Samos, the Persians took the entire population like fish in a drag-net, and presente d Syloson with an empty island. Some years later, however, Otanes contracted some sort of dis ease of the genital organs and that, in conjunction with a dream he had, induced him to repop ulate the place (Histories 3.149).  [translated by Aubrey de Selincourt]  This is the last piece of information about Otanes. In 513 BCE, a new satrap was appointed i n Lydia, Artaphernes. Probably, Otanes had died.   Otanes had a son Patiramphes, who served as the driver of the chariot of king Xerxes during h is campaign to Greece. As we have already seen above, Otanes was probably also the father o f Xerxes' first wife, queen Amestris.  <http://www.livius.org/on-oz/otanes/otanes.html>