RTAXERXES, throne name of several Persian kings of the Achaemenid dynasty

ARTAXERXES, throne name of several Persian kings of the Achaemenid dynasty. The Old Persian form ArtaxÞaça@ (really R®taxÞaca, for the forms with -a@/-a@m in the nom./acc. sing. are influenced by Xerxes' name, XÞaya@rÞa) means “whose reign is through truth.” The interpretation in Herodotus 6.98.3 as me‚gas are@´ïos “great warrior” is wrong. A misspelling of the Old Pers. form is Ardax±aÞ±a on the vase inscription AVsa (Venice, San Marco). The name is also attested in the following forms: Elamite Ir-tak-(ik-)Þa-aÞ-Þa, Ir-tak-ik-Þa-iÞ-Þa, Ir-da-ik-Þa-iÞ-Þa; Akkadian Ar-ta-÷-ªa-Þa‚-is-su, Ar-ta-ak-Þa‚-as-su, Ar-ta‚k-(Þa-)Þat-su, Ar-ta‚k-Þat-Þu, Ar-taª-Þa/Þa‚-as-su, Ar-ta‚ª-Þa-as(-siÞ, -si-iÞ, -is-su), Ar-ta‚k-Þa-as-su, Al-taàk-Þat-su; Aramaic ÷rtháÞsÞ and, in both the Hebrew and the Aramaic parts of the Bible, ÷rtháÞs‚t÷, ÷rtháÞst÷; Egyptian ÷rtªÞsÞ, ÷rtªÞÞs; Greek Artaxe‚sse@s occurs once on an inscription from Trallis (Caria); the common form Artaxerxes (sometimes Artoxe‚rxe@s) is a transformation of such a form, assimilated to the name Xe‚rxe@s; Latin Artaxerxes; Lydian Artaks‚assa-; not undisputed is the position of Lycian Ertakssiraza- (on the Xanthos stele: b. 59f.). Of the rock-cut tombs at NaqÞ-e Rostam, the second from the left is generally identified as that of Artaxerxes I; the two tombs in the slopes of Ku@h-e Rahámat east of the Persepolis terrace are usually ascribed to Artaxerxes II and III, but there is still doubt about the order. Inscriptions which can be attributed to a specific Artaxerxes are cited in the following articles. Others are: the labels of the throne bearers on the southern tomb (of Artaxerxes II or III?) at Persepolis (Kent, Old Persian, New Haven, 1953, pp. 155f.: A?P); a stone fragment from Babylon (F. H. Weissbach, Die Keilinschriften der Achämeniden, Leipzig, 1911, p. XXVIII; R. Schmitt in Die Sprache 21, 1975, p. 42); various seals and vases (Kent, op. cit., p. 157; Sf, AVsa, SVsb-d [very probably to be assigned to Artaxerxes I]; a seal in Moscow (M. A. Dandamaev, Iran pri pervykh Akhemenidakh, Moscow, 1963, p. 97); and a vase from Orsk in the southern Urals (T. V. Savel'eva and K. F. Smirnov, VDI, 1972/3, pp. 106-23).

Bibliography : W. Judeich, “Artaxerxes,” Pauly-Wissowa, II/1, 1895, cols. 1311-21 (based on the classical sources. Justi, Namenbuch, p. 34. See also the general histories: J. V. PraÞek, Geschichte der Meder und Perser bis zur makedonischen Eroberung I-II, Gotha, 1906-10, repr. Darmstadt, 1968. A. T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire, Chicago, 1948. R. Schmitt, “Artaxerxes, ArdaÞ^r und Verwandte,” Incontri Linguistici, 5, 1979, pp. 61-72. Idem, “Achaemenid Throne-names,” Annali dell'Istituto Orientale di Napoli 42, 1982, pp. 83-95.