Tribal Connections of Achaemenid Kings and Consolidation of the Persian Empire: Uxians and Patischorians

The region of southwest Iran where many Persian and non-Persian tribes lived during the Achaemenid period was crucial for the Achaemenid state especially in that almost all roads connecting the two imperial capitals of the empire run through this region. The policy used by the Achaemenid state for controlling this tribal region with its communication roads was to establish tribal confederations headed by a close relative of the king. Madates and Gobryas were among two leaders of these tribal confederations: Uxian and Patischorian (OP: Pātišuvariš). The Great Kings tried to reinforce these state-created tribal confederations by political marriages even until the end of the Persian Empire. Sisygambis the mother of Darius III called by the Greeks authors as a non-Achaemenid king was an Uxian woman married by Arsanes an Achaemenid prince. This is why she negotiated Alexander to free the Uxians under Madates a relative of Darius. Gobryas the head of Patischorian tribe was one of the seven who rebelled against Bardiya/Gaumāta. Based on the Persepolis Fortification texts, the region between modern Bāsht and Ardakān called Fahliyān or Shulestān (Šullaggi) was the territory occupied by this tribe. The Gobryas family and their agents possessed lands and estates in this region. Irdabama the daughter of Gobryas born from his marriage with daughter of a local dynast was married by Darius I in order to controlthisregion.She,like Sisygambisof Uxiana, owned economic interests in the form of estates and storehouses at Šullaggi granted by the king. The seven is derived from tribal structure of Achaemenid state and society.