by
Damien F. Mackey
“Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service … Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning,
well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace”.
Daniel 1:3-4
Alan Millard has written about this intriguing “Ashpenaz” of Daniel 1 in his article:
An Iranian in the Court of King Nebuchadnezzar
(2) An Iranian in the Court of King Nebuchadnezzar | Alan Millard - Academia.edu
In his essay, 'Achaemenid History and the Book Of Daniel … Terence commented on the man to whom Nebuchadnezzar entrusted Daniel and his friends after they were deported from Jerusalem. This man bore the title rab särisim, traditionally rendered 'chief eunuch', by most English translations, but now to be understood as 'chief of court officials' (rab 'a ré'i) from the evidence of extensive Babylonian sources. …. In the 'ration lists' from Nebuchadnezzar's palace (see below) a 'a ré'i is responsible for issues to foreigners, while among the recipients are foreign 'a ré'is. The highest officer was given the responsibility for the selected Hebrew youths.
Daniel 1B gives the officer's name as Ashpenaz. That, Terence wrote, 'seems to be an Iranian name, which would be unusual in the sixth century BC'. He proceeded to offer an interpretation of the name as a compound of the Median form of the word for 'horse', aspa-, appearing as asa in Old Persian, although the name is 'unknown in any ancient source', and the second element has not yet been explained.
Earlier commentators had suggested the Old Persian form and some pointed to an 'spnz occurring in an Aramaic magic bowl of much later date, the sixth century AD. …. Noting 'many references to Media in the Assyrian inscriptions,' Terence continued, 'a Median at the court Of Nebuchadnezzar would not be improbable.' His position can be strengthened by observing people with Iranian names present in documents of daily life in eighth and seventh-century Assyria. Among them are: Abi-shtamba (an official Of Sargon), Agnu-parna (a royal agent in Babylonia), Amakani (a Mede), Batänu (a cook at Kalhu), Paranshaka (a witness at Ashur), Partäma (a man at Nineveh).'
If there were Iranians among the inhabitants Of Assyria, then it is likely there were also some in Babylonia.
The Babylonian Chronicle reports Nebuchadnezzar had undertaken a campaign in Elam in his ninth year (596-595 BC) … and the ration lists from his palace record issues of oil to servants and house builders from Elam, to 800 Elamite guards for the governor's residence, to two messengers from Parsu and to one Mede. …. Nebuchadnezzar's father, Nabopolassar, was allied with the Median ruler Cyaxares in his campaigns against the Assyrians, so he could well have taken a Mede to serve in the palace in Babylon who continued there early in Nebuchadnezzar's reign. ….
[End of quote]
This is helpful.
But, for two reasons, I would reject the use of the modern term, ‘Iranian’.
One is the geographical revolution that we find in Royce (Richard) Erickson’s article, that has so stunningly re-located the ancient land of Elam (Elymaïs):
A PROBLEM IN CHALDAEAN AND ELAMITE GEOGRAPHY
(2) A PROBLEM IN CHALDAEAN AND ELAMITE GEOGRAPHY | Royce Erickson - Academia.edu
that, Two, might pitch the geography in favour of Ashpenaz as being a Mede: (Terence) 'a Median at the court Of Nebuchadnezzar would not be improbable.'
Now a Median high official in the court of King Nebuchednezzar ‘the Great’, early in that king’s reign, would fit perfectly for Darius the Mede, who, at the end of the Chaldean era - some four decades later - could well have been the 62-year old, Median by birth, Darius (cf. Daniel 5:31).
His favourability towards the elderly Daniel (6:3) would then be merely a continuation of the favour that Darius, as Ashpenaz, had shown towards a young Daniel (Daniel 1:9): “Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel …”.
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