Amytis of Media
{{Short description|Nebuchadnezzar II's wife}}
{{other uses|Amytis (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Amytis
| native_lang2_name1 =
| image = René-Antoine Houasse - Nabuchodonosor et Semiramis fait élever les jardins de Babylone (Versailles).jpg
| caption = Nebuchadnezzar and his wife watching the construction of the hanging gardens
| consort =
| spouse = Nebuchadnezzar II (?)
| issue = Kaššaya (?)
Amel-Marduk (?)
Nitocris (?)
| house = Median
| father = Cyaxares
| mother =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Ecbatana
| death_date = {{c.|565 BCE}}
| death_place = Babylon
| religion =
| native_lang1 = Median
| native_lang1_name1 = {{Transliteration|xme|*ᴴumati}}
| native_lang2 = Akkadian
}}
Amytis of Media (c. 630-565 BCE; Median: {{Transliteration|xme|*ᴴumati}}; Ancient Greek: {{langx|grc|Αμυτις|Amutis}}; {{langx|la|Amytis}}){{sfn|Schmitt|1989}}{{cite book |last=Schmitt |first=Rüdiger |author-link=Rüdiger Schmitt |date=2011 |title=Iranisches Personennamenbuch |trans-title=Book of Iranian Personal Names |language=de |volume=5.5a |url= |location= |publisher=Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften |pages=73–74 |isbn=978-3-700-17142-3 }} was a queen of Babylon, wife of Nebuchadnezzar II and daughter of the Median king Cyaxares.
Name
The female name {{Transliteration|la|Amytis}} is the Latinised form of the Greek name {{Transliteration|grc|Amutis}} ({{lang|grc|Αμυτις}}), which perhaps may reflect (with vowel metathesis) an original Median name {{Transliteration|xme|*ᴴumati}}, meaning "having good thought," and which is an equivalent of the Avestan term {{Transliteration|ae|humaⁱti}} ({{lang|ae|{{script|Avst|𐬵𐬎𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌}}}}) or humata ({{script|Avst|𐬵𐬎𐬨𐬀𐬙𐬀}}).{{sfn|Schmitt|1989}}
Life
Amytis was the daughter of Cyaxares, and the sister of Astyages.{{Cite web|title = Cyaxares|url = https://www.livius.org/person/cyaxares/|website = Livius|accessdate = 2015-06-15}} Amytis had a niece, also named Amytis, from her brother Astyages.{{sfn|Schmitt|1989}}
Amytis married Nebuchadnezzar to formalize the alliance between the Babylonian and Median dynasties.
Tradition relates that Amytis' yearning for the forested mountains of Media led to the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, as Nebuchadnezzar attempted to please her by planting the trees and plants of her homeland.{{cite conference|first=Karen Polinger |last=Foster |title=Gardens of Eden: Flora and Fauna in the Ancient Near East |book-title=Transformations of Middle Eastern Natural Environments: Legacies and Lessons |pages=320–329 |year=1998 |publisher=Yale University |location=New Haven |url=http://environment.yale.edu/documents/downloads/0-9/103foster.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060828150307/http://environment.yale.edu/documents/downloads/0-9/103foster.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2006-08-28 |accessdate=2007-08-11 }} Historical evidence, however, does not lend support to this tradition.
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite web |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/amytis-median-and-persian-female-name |title=AMYTIS |last=Schmitt |first=R. |author-link=Rüdiger Schmitt |date=1989 |website=Encyclopædia Iranica |publisher= |access-date=2022-07-08 |quote=}}
{{refend}}
{{Median topics}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amytis Of Babylon}}
Category:Neo-Babylonian Empire
Category:Ancient queens consort
Category:Ancient Mesopotamian women
Category:7th-century BC Iranian people
Category:6th-century BC Iranian people