[546] Herod. 1, 207; 3, 75; 7, 11.
[547] Cicero, "de Divin." 1, 23.
[548] St. Martin on Lebeau, "Bas Empire," 2, 221.
[549] "Cyri instit." 7, 3, 24.
[550] Above, p. 299 ff.
[551] Above, p. 34, 35, 36, 256.
[552] Above, p. 110. Cf. Windischmann, "Zoroastrische Studien," s. 277.
[553] Nöldeke, "Tabari," p. 12; Karnamak, s. 68.
[554] "Politic." 5, 10, 24.
[555] If Astyages was married to the daughter of Alyattes in the year 610 B.C. he must have been 18 or 20 years old at that time; between 610 and 558 the year of his fall there are 52 years. Moreover, according to Ctesias, Astyages outlived his fall at least ten years ("Fragm. Pers." 5). If this were the case, and Astyages did not die till 548, he cannot well have been born before 630 B.C. In Herodotus and Pompeius Trogus it is expressly said that Astyages had no son, and this is the motive which induces Harpagus not to put Cyrus to death, as he would in that case expose himself to the vengeance of the mother, the heiress to the throne. In Nicolaus also the daughter comes distinctly forward, and in Ctesias she is also the heiress (e. g. "Pers." 2); in the history of the overthrow and the death of Astyages, we hear of her constantly. At the death of Cyrus, her sons by the first marriage receive satrapies. In Ctesias, it is true, a brother of Amytis is incidentally mentioned, on the occasion of a later war of Cyrus ("Pers." 3). But as Ctesias is here following a Median version, and after the death of Astyages the husband of Amytis and not her supposed brother is removed out of the way, no importance can be attached to this.