Histories

When Perseus son of Danae and Zeus had come to Cepheus son of Belus and married his daughter Andromeda, a son was born to him whom he called Perses, and he left him there; for Cepheus had no male offspring; it was from this Perses that the Persians took their name.[*](Herodotus is always prone to base ethnological conclusions on Greek legends and the similarity of names; so in the next chapter Medea supplies the name of the Medes. But it is strange that Perseus, being commonly held great-grandfather of Heracles, is here made to marry the granddaughter of Belus, who in Hdt. 1.7, is Heracles' grandson.)

The Medes in the army were equipped like the Persians; indeed, that fashion of armor is Median, not Persian. Their commander was Tigranes, an Achaemenid. The Medes were formerly called by everyone Arians,[*](Modern philology gives the name “Aryan” of course a very much wider extension; which indeed was beginning even in the time of Strabo.) but when the Colchian woman Medea came from Athens [23.733,38] (inhabited place), Perifereia Protevousis, Greece, EuropeAthens to the Arians they changed their name, like the Persians. This is the Medes' own account of themselves.

The Cissians in the army were equipped like the Persians, but they wore turbans instead of caps. Their commander was Anaphes son of Otanes. The Hyrcanians [*](Not mentioned in the list of Darius subjects in Hdt. 3; they lived on the S.E. coast of the Caspian.) were armed like the Persians; their leader was Megapanus, who was afterwards the governor of Babylon [44.4,32.55] (deserted settlement), Babil, Iraq, AsiaBabylon.