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Fravartish

Median rebel who claimed the throne of Media against Darius, 522-521 BCE

In the game: Level 3: The Lie

Fravartish (Greek Phraortes) was a Mede who rose against Darius in late 522, claiming to be Khshathrita, a descendant of the old Median king Cyaxares. His revolt was one of the most dangerous of the risings that followed Darius's seizure of the throne, drawing support as far as Parthia and Hyrcania. Darius defeated him at Kunduru in 521 and had him executed at Ecbatana.

In the game: The game's chronicle note presents Fravartish as a Median rebel of 522-521, beaten at Kunduru and put to death at Ecbatana. It follows Behistun but shortens it, leaving out his flight to Raga and his mutilation.

A claim to the Median throne

In the record

The Behistun inscription says that while Darius was in Babylon, a Mede named Fravartish rose in Media. He told the people he was Khshathrita, of the family of Uvakhshtra (Cyaxares). The Median army at the palace went over to him, and he became king in Media. Darius lists Media among the lands that rebelled while he was in Babylon.

DB §21, §24

War in Media and beyond

In the record

Darius first sent a Persian, Vidarna (Greek Hydarnes), against the Median army. Vidarna fought the rebels at Marush in Media, then waited in the district of Kampanda until the King arrived. Parthia and Hyrcania declared for Fravartish, and Darius's father Vishtaspa had to fight the rebels there. In spring 521 Darius marched from Babylon and defeated Fravartish at Kunduru in Media.

DB §25, §31, §35

Capture and punishment

In the record

Fravartish fled with a few horsemen to Raga, where Darius's troops caught him and brought him back. Darius says he cut off his nose, ears and tongue, put out one eye and kept him bound at the palace gate for all the people to see. He then impaled him at Ecbatana and executed his leading followers in the fortress there. On the Behistun relief, Fravartish stands among the bound rebel kings with a label naming him.

DB §32; DBe

What Herodotus remembered

Ancient account

Herodotus does not name this rebel. He says only that the Medes, who had submitted to Cyrus, later regretted it and revolted against Darius, but were beaten in battle and subdued again. His Phraortes is a different man, a Median king of an earlier century whom he makes the father of Cyaxares.

Herodotus 1.130; Herodotus 1.102-103

How real was the claim

Disputed

Historians debate what Fravartish's claim meant. The name Khshathrita resembles Kashtaritu, a city lord who led a coalition including Medes in Assyrian texts of the 670s, and some think Herodotus's early Phraortes blurs memories of such men. Scholars also argue over how far a unified Median kingdom existed before Cyrus. Behistun is Darius's own case against his rivals and calls each of them a liar, so Fravartish's descent cannot be checked.

P. Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander, 2002; A. Kuhrt, The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources, 2007