The Spelling and Meaning of the Name Megabyxos

Abstract

This appendix section of the book titled Greek Religion and Culture, the Bible and the Ancient Near East presents the spelling and meaning of the name Megabyxos. Megabyxos is the name of a friend of Cyrus the Great and of one of Darius' fellow conspirators against the false Smerdis. The evidence for this Megabyxos starts to flow from the latter half of the fifth century onwards. The first, reference to the Ephesian Megabyxos is found in Xenophon. Megabyxos is a normal Persian name, but how should we write it? In the section a brief enumeration have consequently called these Persians Megabyxos instead of Megabyzos, which is an often-accepted spelling. Megabyxos is the correct Greek rendering is demonstrated by the spelling of the conspirator's name in the Old Persian Elamite and Babylonian versions of Darius' famous inscription on the rock of Bisitun Bagabuxsa.Keywords: Greek culture; Greek religion; Megabyxos; Persian name