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61Now those who served were as follows:—The Persians with this equipment:—about their heads they had soft[55] felt caps called tiaras, and about their body tunics of various colours with sleeves, presenting the appearance of iron scales like those of a fish,[56] and about the legs trousers; and instead of the ordinary shields they had shields of wicker-work,[57] under which hung quivers; and they had short spears and large bows and arrows of reed, and moreover daggers hanging by the right thigh from the girdle: and they acknowledged as their commander Otanes the father of Amestris the wife of Xerxes. Now these were called by the Hellenes in ancient time Kephenes; by themselves however and by their neighbours they were called Artaians: but when Perseus, the son of Danae and Zeus, came to Kepheus the son of Belos[58] and took to wife his daughter Andromeda, there was born to them a son to whom he gave the name Perses, and this son he left behind there, for it chanced that Kepheus had no male offspring: after him therefore this race was named.
62The Medes served in the expedition equipped in precisely the same manner; for this equipment is in fact Median and not Persian: and the Medes acknowledged as their commander Tigranes an Achaimenid. These in ancient time used to be generally called Arians; but when Medea the Colchian came from Athens to these Arians, they also changed their name. Thus the Medes themselves report about themselves. The Kissians served with equipment in other respects like that of the Persians, but instead of the felt caps they wore fillets:[59]and of the Kissians Anaphes the son of Otanes was commander. The Hyrcanians were armed like the Persians, acknowledging as their leader Megapanos, the same who after these events became governor of Babylon.
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Notes
[55] {apageas}, i.e. not stiffly standing up; the opposite to {pepeguias} (ch. 64).
[56] {lepidos siderees opsin ikhthueideos}: many Editors suppose that some words have dropped out. The {kithon} spoken of may have been a coat of armour, but elsewhere the body armour {thorex} is clearly distinguished from the {kithon}, see ix. 22.
[57] {gerra}: cp. ix. 61 and 102.
[58] Cp. i. 7.
[59] {mitrephoroi esan}: the {mitre} was perhaps a kind of turban.