Ctesias (/ˈtiːʒəs/TEE-zhəs;Ancient Greek:Κτησίᾱς,romanized: Ktēsíās;fl. 5th century BC), also known asCtesias of Cnidus, was aGreekphysician andhistorian from the town ofCnidus inCaria, then part of theAchaemenid Empire.
Ctesias, who lived in thefifth century BC, was physician to the Achaemenid king,Artaxerxes II, whom he accompanied in 401 BC on his expedition against his brotherCyrus the Younger.[1] Ctesias was part of the entourage of King Artaxerxes at theBattle of Cunaxa (401 BC) against Cyrus the Younger and his Greek mercenaries called theTen Thousand, when Ctesias provided medical assistance to the king by treating his flesh wound.[2] He reportedly was involved in negotiations with the Greeks after the battle, and also helped their Spartan generalClearchus before his execution at the royal court at Babylon.[3]
Ctesias was the author of treatises on rivers and on the Persian revenues, as well as an account of India,Indica (Ἰνδικά), and of a history ofAssyria andPersia in 23 books,Persica (Περσικά), drawn from documents in the Persian Royal Archives, written in opposition toHerodotus, in theIonic dialect.[1]
The first six books ofPersica cover the history of Assyria andBabylon to the foundation of the Persian empire in 550 BC by Cyrus the Great; the remaining 17 books cover the years to 398 BC. Of the two histories, abridgments byPhotius and fragments are preserved byAthenaeus,Plutarch,Nicolaus of Damascus, and especiallyDiodorus Siculus, whose second book is derived mainly from Ctesias. As to the worth ofPersica, much controversy occurred, both in ancient and modern times.[1] Although many ancient authorities valued the work highly and used it to discreditHerodotus, a modern author writes, "(Ctesias's) unreliability makes Herodotus seem a model of accuracy."[4] Reportedly, Ctesias's account of the Assyrian kings does not reconcile with thecuneiform evidence.[citation needed] The satiristLucian thought so little of the historical reliability of Ctesias that in his satiricalTrue Story he places Ctesias on an 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."[5]
According to theEncyclopædia Britannica, Ctesias mentioned that the grave ofDarius I atPersepolis was in a cliff face that could be reached with an apparatus of ropes.[6]
.jpg)
A record of the view that the Persians held of India was written by Ctesias under the titleIndica. It includes descriptions of artisans, philosophers, and people having the qualities of deities, as well as accounts of unquantifiable gold, among other riches and wonders.[7] The work is based on testimonials from the travellers to Persia rather than on personal observation. The work is marginally geographical, and focuses more on wonders, climate, flora, customs, diet etc. Modern view situates it between fact and fiction. Among the topographical observations found in the work are facts that theIndus River varies between 40 and 200 stades (5–25 miles), that the population of "India" (mostly northwest Indian subcontinent) almost exceeds the rest of the inhabited world, and that territorially "India" makes up half of Asia.[8]
The book only remains in fragments and in reports made about the book by later authors.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ctesias".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 594.
