SOURCE STUDY REMARKS ON ONE CTESIAS OF CNIDUS’ MESSAGE
The article is devoted to the analysis of one known fragment of Ctesias of Cnidus, Greek author of the second half of the 5th - the beginnings of the 4th century BC. In his work “Persica”, he talks about a sea raid of the satrap of Cappadocia Ariaramnes to the lands of European Scythia, during which a number of captives including the brother of the Scythian king Marsaget was taken. According to Ctesias, the Ariaramnes’ action preceded a campaign of Darius I against the Scythians in 512 BC. Ctesias’ information about Ariaramnes’ expedition is unique; any other ancient author does not mention this event. Herodotus who describes in detail the attempt of the Persians to conquer Scythia also says nothing about the Ariaramnes’ action. At the same time, the considered passage of Ctesias has a number of parallels with the content of line 20-30 of column V of the Behistun inscription, where it is spoken about Darius’ conquest of the Central Asian Saka-Massagetae. Scientists have already noted this fact, and it has been suggested that in both cases this is about the same event. However, there are not only similarities but also differences in the text of Ctesias and the Behistun inscription. This fact, as well as the general reputation of Ctesias as an unreliable author, constantly attempting to “correct” Herodotus, to add to his story unknown to the Greeks events, allows us to assume that his report about the campaign of Ariaramnes is rather a distorted transmission of the text of the Behistun inscription, which he put in a different historical context, having changed at the same time some details.