What is "zopyrus"

Zopyrus (; ) (ca. 500 BC) was a Persian nobleman mentioned in Herodotus' Histories.

He was son of Megabyzus, who helped Darius I in his ascension. According to Herodotus: When Babylon revolted against the rule of Darius I, Zopyrus devised a plan to regain control of the vital city. By cutting off his own nose and ears, and then having himself whipped, he arrived at the court of Darius. Upon presenting himself to Darius; the king stood up from his throne, shocked at the state of Zopyrus asked who had done this to him. Zopyrus then said that he had mutilated himself. Darius asked "Are you fool enough to think that the mutilation of your body can hasten our victory? When you did that to yourself you must have taken leave of your senses." At this Zopyrus explained his plan, he would go before the people of Babylon and proclaim himself an exile and deserter of the Persian army punished by Darius himself. Seeing that the mutilation had already been done, Darius agreed and so Zopyrus put his plan into action. The Babylonian soldiers allowed him passage into the city and brought him before the chief princes of Babylon. The Babylonians, seeing a man of his high rank mutilated took his contrived story as absolute fact. Gaining the Babylonians' trust, Zopyrus soon became commander-in-chief of their army, allowing him to weaken the city's defenses. He then led soldiers under his charge into an ambush where Darius slaughtered them. The gates undefended; Darius' armies victoriously reconquered the city. Zopyrus was made satrap and Darius "rewarded him with the highest honours, giving him every year the sort of gifts which are most prized amongst the Persians."

The veracity of the account is debatable. First, the story resembles Homer's description of Odysseus, who spied on Troy after mutilating himself. Second, no cuneiform sources mention Zopyrus as satrap of Babylon.

According to Herodotus: Zopyrus had a son named Megabyzus who "deserted from the Persian army and came to Athens"

Zopyrus (; , Zōpyros) may refer to:

• Zopyrus (6th century BC), a Persian satrap of Babylon mentioned in Herodotus' Histories

• , grandson of the satrap and son of Megabyzus and Amytis

• Zopyrus of Tarentum, an engineer and Pythagorean (5th century BC) credited with the invention of two advanced forms of the gastraphetes and the protagonist of the novel The Arrows of Hercules (1965)

• , author of three Orphic poems whose authorship is also ascribed to Brontinus, The Net, The Robe and The Krater (possibly the same as Zopyrus of Tarentum, or possibly as early as the 6th century BC)

• Zopyrus (physiognomist) (5th century BC), a physiognomist (possibly the same as the Thracian tutor of Alcibiades mentioned in the Platonic First Alcibiades, 122b)(see also, Cicero's De Fato V)
• Zopyrus (dialogue), a dialogue by Phaedo of Elis, in which Zopyrus the physiognomist practices his art on Socrates
• Zopyros perikaiomenos (Zopyrus on Fire), a comedy by Strattis
• Zopyrus of Clazomenae (early 3rd century BC), credited with introducing the rhetorical concept of stasis

• (ca. 300 BC?), proponent of singing Homeric poetry in the Aeolic dialect and probable author of a history (FGrHist 494), The Foundation of Miletus, cited in the scholium to Iliad 10.274

• Zopyrus, a soldier of Antigonus II Gonatas (3rd century BC) said to have killed Pyrrhus of Epirus

• (1st century BC)

• Zopyrus (physician) (1st century BC), teacher of Apollonius of Citium at Alexandria

• (1st century AD), a physician and acquaintance of Scribonius Largus, from Gordium (or perhaps Gortyn), possibly to be identified with the Epicurean speaker in Plutarch's Symposiaca

• Zopyrus (Bishop of Barca), present at the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325: see Cyrenaica and Barca
• Aurelios Zopyros (4th century AD), the last reported athlete at the Ancient Olympic Games

Zopyrus (; 1st-century BCE) was a surgeon at Alexandria, and the tutor of Apollonius of Citium and Posidonius. He invented an antidote, which he recommended to Mithridates VI of Pontus, and wrote a letter to that king, begging to be allowed to test its efficacy on a criminal. Another somewhat similar composition he prepared for one of the Ptolemies. Some of his medical formulae are quoted and mentioned by various ancient authors, viz. Caelius Aurelianus, Oribasius, Aetius, Paul of Aegina, Marcellus Empiricus, and Nicolaus Myrepsus. Pliny and Dioscorides mention that a certain plant was called zopyron, perhaps after his name. Nicarchus satirizes a physician named Zopyrus in one of his epigrams.