Astral Codex Ten

Persians

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Persians

Article

Persians is a recurring place in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 2 times across 2 issues between May 24, 2021 and September 19, 2023. The archive places it in contexts such as “Including Greeks, Arabs, Persians, Indians, Moroccans”; “a version written by Persians where Alexander is the son of a Persian Shah”. It most often appears alongside Persia, 15th century Sicilian manuscript, Abbasid Caliphate.

Metadata

  • Category: Places
  • Mention count: 2
  • Issue count: 2
  • First seen: May 24, 2021
  • Last seen: September 19, 2023

Appears In

Source Context

Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.

Book Review: Arabian Nights
May 24, 2021 · Original source
Diversity: Including Greeks, Arabs, Persians, Indians, Moroccans (always sorcerers), suspiciously Arabic-seeming Chinese, and blacks. This last group is mostly found as slaves, which felt anachronistic until I looked it up and learned more about the massive slave trade between East Africa and the medieval Middle East. In one story, when a prince is declaring his love to a princess, he says "I am your slave, your black slave", as a hyperbolic declaration of servitude. Of course, the author is very concerned about the excessive masculinity of black slaves, especially the fact that your wife is probably cheating on you with one. When one adulterer is late to a meeting with her slave beau, he swears "an oath by the valor and honor of blackamoor men (and don't think that our manliness is like the poor manliness of white men)" to ignore her from then on unless she is more timely. I have no idea how much of this is filtered through the layers of translators, or what he meant by "white men" in that sentence. Elsewhere in diversity: Jews are usually doctors or merchants, but everyone's a merchant so this isn't so remarkable. The one time a Christian appears in the stories I read, he's a drunkard - which wasn't the stereotype I was expecting, but which I guess makes sense under the circumstances.
Book Review: The Alexander Romance
September 19, 2023 · Original source
When Alexander was camped outside the Persian capital, he (at the instigation of the god Ammon, or maybe Hermes) tried a crazy gambit: he pretended to be “Alexander’s messenger to Darius”, and went into the Persian capital to deliver a generic message. Darius invited him to stay for dinner, and all the Persians were awed by the godlike appearance of this “messenger” (also, the text offhandedly mentions, then never brings up again, that Alexander was only four feet tall, and everyone was surprised by this).
During the dinner, Alexander kept pocketing the gold and silver dishes in his cloak. Someone complained, and Alexander made a big show about how when King Alexander gave banquets in Macedonia, he always let guests take the dishes home as souvenirs, and he assumed the custom in Persia would be the same, but if they’re so stingy that they won’t even let him take a few dozen solid gold plates, then fine, he’ll just have to report that back to the Macedonian people. At this point the Persians started to feel like he was putting them on, one former ambassador recognized Alexander and sounded the alarm, and he had to get out of there quick. Luckily, Alexander outran everyone in Persepolis, slipped through the gates, and made it back to his own camp. Also, his camp was across a river that froze and melted in an alternating cycle once every few days, and he ran across it just at the moment it melted, so the Persians were stuck on the other side and couldn’t pursue him.
The next day, Alexander ordered battle against the Persians. The Macedonians were outnumbered but won easily; King Darius fled back to his city, plotting to raise another army and get revenge. However, two Persian traitors, hoping to be rewarded by Alexander, murdered Darius, then ran off. Alexander reached the city just as Darius was dying. With his last few breaths, Darius admitted Alexander had always been the better man, and that he was deeply happy Alexander would rule Persia from then on, and how he voluntarily relinquished the kingship to him, and how Alexander must marry his daughter. Alexander wept bitterly over Darius’ death, and vowed to rule Persia wisely and marry Darius’ daughter.