David BRANSCOME What
Persians Wear: Herodotus 5.49.3 and Aristophanes,
Birds 486-87
Greeks were fascinated by what Persians
wore, particularly those articles of clothing most exotic
from a Greek point of view, such as trousers and the
tiara, a
type of cap alternately called kid(t)aris or kurbasia by
sources. In this paper, I argue that the kurbasia
was actually a distinct headdress worn by the Sacas, an
eastern Scythian people. Both the ancient and modern
identification of the kurbasia with the tiara is ultimately based on a misunderstanding of two passages,
Herodotus 5.49.3 and Aristophanes, Birds
486-87. Scholars have not appreciated that the derisive
tone with which both Herodotus and Aristophanes use the
word kurbasia in these passages significantly affects the
word's interpretation.
It is true that ancient lexicographers and
scholiasts who mention the kurbasia
often equate it explicitly with the tiara.
But a careful reading reveals that their most influential
sources for this identification are Herodotus and
Aristophanes. Modern scholars usually follow much the
same procedure, citing first Herodotus and Aristophanes;
then the ancient commentators.
For Herodotus, however, kurbasia does not appear to be a mere synonym for
tiara. While discussing Xerxes' army, he says
that the Persians wore "unstiffened felt caps called
tiarai" (7.61.1), whereas the Sacas wore
"kurbasiai, fixed erect [and] brought to a
point" (7.64.2). The term kurbasia
appears once more, when the Milesian Aristagoras appeals
to the Spartan king Cleomenes for aid during the Ionian
Revolt. He assures Cleomenes that the "barbarians" will
be easily overcome since they "go into battle wearing
trousers and, on their heads, kurbasiai," while they carry bows and short spears
(5.49.3). Aristagoras demeans the barbarians as warriors:
trousers (often ridiculed in literature),
bows (the weapon of cowards), and
short spears. His choice of
kurbasia may have been determined by this same
rhetorical strategy. Perhaps the kurbasia
was more laughable to Greeks than even the tiara.
The evidence from Aristophanes suggests that
this was the case. In Birds,
Peisetaerus claims that the cock once ruled the Persians
(481-85). Euelpides observes, "So because of that even
now he walks about like the Great King, alone of birds,
with the kurbasia
erect on his head" (486-87). Aristophanes modifies the
detail that only the Persian King could wear his
tiara (or
kid(t)aris) "erect" by the substitution of
kurbasia. The other two terms do not appear in his
writings, but kurbasia
occurs again in Fragment 559 K.-A.: Alcibiades' leather
cap is likened to a kurbasia. Aristophanes preferred kurbasia presumably because it was the funniest word
available for barbarian headgear.
Much as he does with kurbasia, Aristophanes associates camels with
Persians. In Birds, when Tereus points to a bird called a
medos, Euelpides exclaims, "A Mede! … How
then did he fly here without a camel?" (278). The
historian Herodotus, by contrast, although noting that
camels were in the Persian army's baggage train and were
the mounts for Arabians, refrains from saying that
Persians or Medes ever rode camels. Similarly, the
Herodotean Aristagoras never mentions Persians or Medes,
but simply says "barbarians" wore kurbasiai. The comic poet, however, feels as free to put Persians on
camels, outlandish eastern animals, as to put
kurbasiai, outlandish eastern hats, on Persians'
heads.
Greek and Persian art, moreover, support the
contention that the Sacas had headdresses different from
the Persians. Whether on ordinary Persians or "erect" on
the King, Persian caps are not represented as ascending
to a point. The Sacas, however, wear pointed caps that
greatly resemble those described by Herodotus in 7.64.2.
It seems, then, that the Greek name for such a Sacan cap
was kurbasia.
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