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Lot Essay
This fragmentary piece of royal tableweare, or perhaps a votive offering, is inscribed around the edges with, "Artaxerxes, king," written first in Achaemenid Persian cuneiform, then in Neo-Elamite cuneiform, and finally in Late Babylonian (although only the first two signs of the Babylonian text remain). Surviving alabaster jars both for Artaxerxes and also for his father, Xerxes, have been found inscribed in four languages: Achaemenid Persian, Neo-Elamite, Late Babylonian and Egyptian hieroglyphs. It can therefore be suggested that this present example would have continued in this sequence and culminated with the name of the king written in Egyptian hieroglyphs. See accession no. 132114 at the British Museum, for an alabastron for Xerxes rendered in four languages.
Grandson of Darius I, Artaxerxes was the sixth king of the Achaemenid Empire and Pharaoh of Egypt. He had several wives and 13 children, including the future king Xerxes II. His reign was relatively calm - in 460-454 B.C. a revolt in Egypt was subdued and in 449 B.C. a peace treaty agreed with Greece. In return for his services, he offered asylum to the ostrasized Greek general and politician Themistocles. According to Plutarch, Artaxerxes was elated that such a dangerous and illustrious foe had come to serve him "...in converse with his friends it is said that he congratulated himself over what he called the greatest good fortune, and prayed Arimanius ever to give his enemies such minds as to drive their best men away from them; and then sacrificed to the gods, and straightway betook himself to his cups; and in the night, in the midst of his slumbers, for very joy called out thrice: "I have Themistocles the Athenian." (Plutarch, Themistocles, 28).
Grandson of Darius I, Artaxerxes was the sixth king of the Achaemenid Empire and Pharaoh of Egypt. He had several wives and 13 children, including the future king Xerxes II. His reign was relatively calm - in 460-454 B.C. a revolt in Egypt was subdued and in 449 B.C. a peace treaty agreed with Greece. In return for his services, he offered asylum to the ostrasized Greek general and politician Themistocles. According to Plutarch, Artaxerxes was elated that such a dangerous and illustrious foe had come to serve him "...in converse with his friends it is said that he congratulated himself over what he called the greatest good fortune, and prayed Arimanius ever to give his enemies such minds as to drive their best men away from them; and then sacrificed to the gods, and straightway betook himself to his cups; and in the night, in the midst of his slumbers, for very joy called out thrice: "I have Themistocles the Athenian." (Plutarch, Themistocles, 28).