Otanes

Otanes is a Persian noble mentioned in the Histories of Herodotus.

A magus secretly assassinates Smerdis and take his place on the throne. Otanes is a Persian noble who obtains evidence that the man on the throne is not the real Smerdis. The real Smerdis had his ears intact, while the ears of this "Smerdis" are missing - indicating that he had committed a crime against the king. Otanes gathers six noble Persians and plots to get rid of the false Smerdis. They hold a contest whereby whoever gets his horse to neigh first after sunrise shall be king. Otanes withdraws from this contest, asking only that he and his descendants be given their independence from rule. Darius cheats and he is chosen for the throne.

There follows a discussion between Darius, Otanes and Megabyzus on the relative merits of monarchy, oligarchy and democracy as forms of government. Otanes speaks up for democracy.

Otanes is mentioned in Isiah Berlin's seminal lecture Two Concepts of Liberty: "As for Otanes, he wished neither to rule nor to be ruled — the exact opposite of Aristotle's notion of true civic liberty". Otanes has his own conception of freedom.

Jean-Jacques Rosseau refers to Otanes in his notes to Discourse on the Origin of Inequality

James Baldwin (1841-1925) fictionalizes the childhood of Otanes in his short story, "The Boy and The Robbers" from his book, "Fifty Famous People - A book of short stories"

The Dutch TV movie, "Volk en vaderliefde" (1976) is about Otanes and the coup.

Sources

• Herodotus. History of Herodotus, Volume 2. pp. 384-396. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9jgTAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA384&lpg=PA384&dq=Otanes+pseudo-Smerdis&source=bl&ots=obFinnE_v3&sig=gekXF9oBS3oFsUgQKf25jBsvOnk&hl=en. 

External links

• The Boy and The Robber. James Baldwin's short story
• Volk en vaderliefde (TV 1976) at the Internet Movie Database