Arsames King of Persia [60667]

  General Notes:

http://www.rpi.edu/~holmes/Hobbies/Genealogy/ps22/ps22_447.htm

Arsames (Old Persian: Ar?âma): grandfather of the Persian king Darius the Great. He must have ruled in the second quarter of the sixth century BCE.

A short inscription by Arsames, known as AsH , was found on a golden tablet in Hamadan (ancient Ecbatana ) and runs like this:
Arsames, the great king, king of kings, king in Persia, son of king Ariaramnes , an Achaemenian . King Arsames says: the great god Ahuramazda , greatest of gods, made me king. He bestowed on me the land Persia, with good people, with good horses. By the favor of Ahuramazda I hold this land. May Ahuramazda protect me, and my royal house, and may he protect this land which I hold.
It is unclear when this text was made. It can be a fraud (modern or ancient), but it may be an original document.

Arsames was still alive in 520 BCE, because his grandson Darius (ruled 522-486) mentions him in the inscription from the royal palace at Susa known as DSf . (The construction of this palace cannot have started before 520.)
King Darius says: Ahuramazda, the greatest of the gods created me, made me king, bestowed upon me this kingdom, great, possessed of good horses, possessed of good men. By the favor of Ahuramazda my father Hystaspes and Arsames my grandfather were both living when Ahuramazda made me king in this earth.
Arsames had at least three sons, but we know only two names: Hystaspes , the father of king Darius the Great, and Pharnaces , who served as Darius' treasurer.

Arsames married.