Otanes

Who is Otanes?

Otanes is a Persian nobleman mentioned in the Histories of Herodotus as a defender of the idea of democracy and architect of a successful conspiracy to remove a kingly usurper.

In Book III of the Histories, Herodotus relates that a magus had secretly assassinated the Persian king Smerdis and taken his place on the throne. Otanes, in this account, is both the uncle and the father-in-law of Smerdis; from his daughter Phaedymia, he obtains evidence that the man on the throne is not the real Smerdis. The real Smerdis had his ears intact, while the ears of the impostor 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 then hold a contest whereby whichever of them got his horse to neigh first after sunrise shall become king. Otanes withdraws from this contest, asking only that he and his descendants be given their independence from royal rule. Darius cheats and ascends 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.

As an early defender of democracy in Greek literature, Otanes has been used as a point of reference in a number of subsequent political discussions. Jean-Jacques Rosseau refers to Otanes in his notes to Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. Otanes is also mentioned in Isaiah 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.