Arbinas
{{Short description|Late 5th-century BC Lycian dynast}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix =
|name= Arbinas
| native_name = Erbinas
|image=Arbinas portrait.jpg
|image_size =
|caption= Portrait of Arbinas wearing the satrapal headdress, from his coinage.
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|allegiance= 20px Achaemenid Empire
| branch =
|rank= Satrap
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File:Map of Lycia.jpg/Asia Minor in the Greco-Roman period. The classical regions, including Lycia, and their main settlements]]
File:Arbinas in Achaemenid dress.jpg.]]
Arbinas, also Erbinas, Erbbina, was a Lycian Dynast who ruled circa 430/20-400 BCE. He is most famous for his tomb, the Nereid Monument, now on display in the British Museum.{{cite book |last1=Keen |first1=Antony G. |title=Dynastic Lycia: A Political History of the Lycians and Their Relations with Foreign Powers : C. 545-362 B.C. |date=1998 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9004109560 |page=145 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Ig4KJySudYC&pg=PA145 |language=en}} Coinage seems to indicate that he ruled in the western part of Lycia, around Telmessos, while his tomb was established in Xanthos.{{cite book |last1=Keen |first1=Antony G. |title=Dynastic Lycia: A Political History of the Lycians and Their Relations with Foreign Powers : C. 545-362 B.C. |date=1998 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9004109560 |page=146 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Ig4KJySudYC&pg=PA146 |language=en}} He was a subject of the Achaemenid Empire.
Rule
He was the son of the previous Lycian king Kheriga. On his inscriptions, Erbinas is described as a tyrannos, and "the man who rules over the Lycians".{{cite book |last1=Keen |first1=Antony G. |title=Dynastic Lycia: A Political History of the Lycians and Their Relations with Foreign Powers : C. 545-362 B.C. |date=1998 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9004109560 |page=47 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Ig4KJySudYC&pg=PA47 |language=en}}
It seems the Lycia kingdom started to disintegrate during the rule of Arbinas, as numerous smaller rulers started to mint coinage throughout Lycia during his reign and after.{{cite book |last1=Fried |first1=Lisbeth S. |title=The Priest and the Great King: Temple-palace Relations in the Persian Empire |date=2004 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=9781575060903 |page=150 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fvz9jnaKuPIC&pg=PA150 |language=en}}
Tomb
{{main|Nereid Monument}}
His monumental tomb, the Nereid Monument, now in the British Museum, was the main inspiration for the famous Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.{{cite book |last1=André-Salvini |first1=Béatrice |title=Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia |date=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520247314 |page=46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJnaKu9DdNEC&pg=PA46 |language=en}} Using the design of a Greek Temple for the building of a tomb was unheard of in mainland Greece. According to Melanie Michailidis, though bearing a "Greek appearance", the Nereid Monument, the Harpy Tomb and the Tomb of Payava were built according main Zoroastrian criteria "by being composed of thick stone, raised on plinths off the ground, and having single windowless chambers".{{sfn|Michailidis|2009|page=253}} The Nereid Monument was the main inspiration for the famous Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
File:Reconstruction_Nereid_Monument_BM.jpg|The Nereid Monument is thought to be the tomb of Arbinas. British Museum.
File:Illustrerad Verldshistoria band I Ill 102.jpg|Reconstitution of the original tomb of Erbinas.
File:Arbinas portrait in the Nereid Monument.jpg|Arbinas portrait. Nereid Monument.
File:Official receiving Visitors, Xanthos, Nereid Monument, Frieze II, Block 879.jpg|Arbinas receives emissaries. Nereid Monument.
Coinage
File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Erbbina. Circa 430-20-400 BC.jpg|Coin of King Arbinas, wearing the Phrygian cap on the reverse. Circa 430/20-400 BC
File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Erbbina with Athena and Herakles. Circa 430-20-400 BC.jpg|Coin of King Arbinas. Athena and Herakles on each side. Circa 430/20-400 BC
File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Erbbina. Circa 400-380 BC.jpg|Coin of King Arbinas. Athena and Herakles.
References
{{reflist}}
Sources
- {{cite book |last1=Michailidis |first1=Melanie |editor1-last=Gacek |editor1-first=Tomasz |editor2-last=Pstrusińska |editor2-first=Jadwiga |title=Proceedings of the Ninth Conference of the European Society for Central Asian Studies |chapter=Empty Graves: The Tomb Towers of Northern Iran|date=2009 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1443815024}}
{{Achaemenid rulers}}
Category:4th-century BC Iranian people