"Darius' 'Thousand and One Nights': Royal politics as fairytale in Herodotus' third book". International conference: Composing Complexity: The Interconnectivity of Literary, Historical and Cultural Levels in the Histories of Herodotus. Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Nov. 20, 2024. By Ioannis Konstantakos

"Darius' 'Thousand and One Nights': Royal politics as fairytale in Herodotus' third book". International conference: Composing Complexity: The Interconnectivity of Literary, Historical and Cultural Levels in the Histories of Herodotus. Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Nov. 20, 2024. By Ioannis Konstantakos https://www.academia.edu/126238051/_Darius_Thousand_and_One_Nights_Royal_politics_as_fairytale_in_Herodotus_third_book_International_conference_Composing_Complexity_The_Interconnectivity_of_Literary_Historical_and_Cultural_Levels_in_the_Histories_of_Herodotus_Christian_Albrechts_Universit%C3%A4t_Kiel_Nov_20_2024?rhid=40950961386&swp=rr-rw-wc-42060634&nav_from=640f3587-89ed-4e7d-9b36-e2ecea773d9a The official Persian version of Darius’ rise to the throne and his early monarchic career is provided in the Inscription of Behistun, which is anchored in royal propaganda and displays a theological perspective: Darius is the upholder of Truth, the highest metaphysical principle of the Persian religion, and combats the Lie, the root of universal evil, in the person of his opponents. Herodotus uses the same factual canvas but enriches it with plentiful materials of a novelistic, anecdotal, even fabulous character. The conspiracy against Pseudo-Smerdis is fashioned like a court novella of intrigue and suspense, adorned with bedroom secrets and scenes of violent action. The debate on the constitution of the new Persian state, for all its sophistic theory, is based on a tale type of court contest, well diffused in the Near East. Darius’ elevation to kingship is implemented by means of a comic trickster story. His major military expedition to Greece originates with another novella, which revolves around a bedroom scene and echoes narratives of the types of Ahiqar, Esther, and Scheherazade. The suppression of the Babylonian rebellion is set up as another trickster narrative, replenished with motifs paralleled in ancient Egyptian romances and Indian fables. By overloading Darius’ dynastic story with all these fictitious elements, Herodotus ironises and upturns the official Achaemenid ideology and its outlook of religious rulership. The Persian king and his men, instead of being the pillars of Truth, appear at every step as purveyors of false intrigues; even more, they become the protagonists in a long political fairytale, figures manipulated by a storyteller of fiction in a narrative full of lies. ...