Apame (concubine)

Apame was first mentioned in 1 Esdras 4:29

Yet I have seen him with Apame, the king's concubine, the daughter of the illustrious Bartacus; she would sit at the king's right hand{{cite web|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV1&byte=3584099|title=Bible, Revised Standard Version|website=quod.lib.umich.edu}}

The preceding quotation is part of the Darius Contest interpolation.{{ cite book

| title=Ezra Studies | author=Charles C.Torrey | year=1910

| url=https://archive.org/details/ezrastudies00torruoft

}}{{rp|20}} Versions of the story, which include Apame are found in Josephus{{ cite book

| title=Antiquities of the Jews | author=Josephus | chapter=3.5

| url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-11.html

}} and John Gower's Confessio Amantis.{{ cite book

| title=Confessio Amantis | author=John Gower | chapter=VII.1884-1899

| url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/266/266-h/266-h.htm

}}translation is at {{ cite web

| title=John Gower's Confessio Amantis Modern English version

| author1=Richard Brodie | author2=Ellin Anderson

| year=2009 | url=http://www.richardbrodie.com/Book7.html#Darius}}

Alcuin Blamire describes the "Darius Contest" as important in "the discourse of anti-misogyny."{{cite book

| title=The Case for Women in Medieval Culture

| chapter=2 The Formal Case: Origins, Procedures | page=60

| author=Alcuin Blamire | publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 | isbn=978-0-19-818630-4

| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a1LiAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Darius+contest%22&pg=PA60

}} The ""Darius contest" includes three versions which omit Apame.

Scholars differ as to the identity of the king mentioned in 1 Esdras 3.4 and other sources. Josephus 3.1 says the king is the son (Darius I) of Hystaspes. Vanderkam{{ cite book

| title=An Introduction to Early Judaism | author=James C. Vanderkam |year=2001

| isbn=978-0802846419 | page=60

}} also favours Darius I. Gower (vii.1889) changes the king’s name to Cirus (Cyrus the Great). Cook suggests the names may not refer to historical characters.{{ cite book

| title=THE APOCRYPHA AND PSEUDEPIGRAPHA OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN ENGLISH

| chapter=1 Esdras INTRODUCTION | year=1913

| author=S. A. Cook | editor=R. H. Charles

| url=https://archive.org/details/apocryphapseudep01charuoft

}}{{rp|5}} If real characters are the source, the candidates are Darius I or Darius III{{rp|31}}not examined: {{ cite book

| title=Das dritte Buch Esdras und sein Verhältnis Zu Den Büchern Esra-Nehemia

| author=Edmund Bayer | year=1911 | isbn=5874774432 | page=116

| edition=German }} or Darius III.{{rp|41}} There are two theories as to the source for Apame. Coggins and Knibb{{ cite book

| title=The First and Second Books of Esdras

| author1=Richard J. Coggins | author2=M. A. Knibb | date=21 June 1979 | page=30

| publisher=CUP Archive | isbn=9780521097574 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kRA8AAAAIAAJ&q=apame&pg=PR11

}} suggest a Persian name such as Apama or Apama II. Torrey suggests "we must look either to Egypt or Antioch."{{rp|41}}

File:ApameUsurpstheKing'sCrownHendrickGoltzius.jpg’s painting Apame usurps the king’s crown.

{{cite journal

| title=Who Is the Strongest? The Riddle of Esdras in Netherlandish Art

| author=Ilja M. Veldman | year=1987 | issue=4 |pages=223–239

| journal=Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art

| volume=17 | doi=10.2307/3780619 | jstor=3780619

}}{{cite web

|title=Apame usurps the king's crown | author=Hendrick Goltzius

| url=http://www.akg-images.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&IID=2UMDHUHVAQIG&LANGSWI=1&LANG=English

}}]]