Spargapeithes (Agathyrsian king)

Spargapeithes (Scythian: [Spargapaiϑah] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 10) (help);^[1]^[2]^[3] Ancient Greek: Σπαργαπειθης, romanized: Spargapeíthēs; Latin: Spargapeithes) was the name of a king of the Scythic tribe of the Agathyrsoi.

Name

Spargapeithes's name originates from the Scythian name [*Spargapaiϑah] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 11) (help), and is composed of the terms *sparga-, meaning “scion” and “descendant,” and [*paiϑah-] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 5) (help), meaning “decoration” and “adornment.”^[4]^[5]^[2]^[6]

The name of Spargapeithes and that of the Massagetaean prince Spargapises (Scythian: *Spargapis) are variants of the same name,^[1]^[4]^[5] and both forms, Spargapis and [Spargapaiϑah] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 10) (help), are cognates of the Avestan name [Sparəγa-paēsa] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 6) (help) (𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬖𐬀⸱𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬯𐬀).^[1]^[4]^[6]

Reign

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Spargapeithes treacherously killed the Scythian king Ariapeithes.^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Hinz 1975, p. 226.
^ ^a ^b Schmitt, Rüdiger (2018). "SCYTHIAN LANGUAGE". Encyclopædia Iranica.
^ Kullanda 2014, p. 81.
^ ^a ^b ^c Schmitt 2003.
^ ^a ^b Schmitt, Rüdiger (2018). "MASSAGETAE". Encyclopædia Iranica.
^ ^a ^b Schmitt 2011.
^ Sherwin-White & Kuhrt 1993, p. 145.

Sources

Hinz, Walther [in German] (1975). Altiranisches Sprachgut der Nebenüberleiferung [Old Iranian Language from Collateral Sources] (in German). Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-01703-1.
Kullanda, Sergei [in Russian] (2014). "External relations of Scythian". Journal of Language Relationship. 11 (1). Piscataway, United States: Gorgias Press: 81–90. doi:10.31826/jlr-2014-110110. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
Schmitt, Rüdiger (2003). "Die skythischen Personennamen bei Herodot" [Scythian Personal Names in Herodotus] (PDF). Annali dell'Università degli Studi di Napoli l'Orientale (in German). 63: 1–31. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
Schmitt, Rüdiger (2011). Iranisches Personennamenbuch [Book of Iranian Personal Names] (in German). Vol. 5.5a. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 341–342. ISBN 978-3-700-17142-3.
Sherwin-White, Susan M.; Kuhrt, Amélie (1993). From Samarkhand to Sardis: A New Approach to the Seleucid Empire. Berkeley, United States: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-08183-3.