Persica (/pεrsɪkɑː/; Ancient Greek: Περσικά, Persiká) is a lost Ancient Greek text, divided in 23 books, on Assyrian, Median and Persian history written by Ctesias of Cnidus, a physician at the court of the Persian king Artaxerxes II (404–358 BC).
The books described Cyrus' rise from humble origins, his conquest of the Median empire and his reign down to his death.
Books 19–23: The reign of Artaxerxes II down to 398 BC, including the revolt of Cyrus the Younger and his death at the battle of Cunaxa (401 BC), the machinations of the Queen Mother Parysatis (who had the murderers of Cyrus the Younger tortured and executed and who poisoned the King's favourite wife Stateira), and Ctesias' role as negotiator (with Conon of Athens).
The knowledge of it is derived through a single papyrus fragment containing 29 lines of text (POxy 2330) and references in later ancient authors, most importantly Diodorus Siculus, Nicolaus of Damascus, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Plutarch, Claudius Aelianus, Athenaeus and the Byzantine bishop Photius.
Some of these authors, like Dionysius, had a narrow focus on the Greco-Persian wars of the early 5th century BC, while others, such as Hellanicus, adopted a broader approach similar to Ctesias' and dealt with the whole history of the Assyrian, Median and Persian empires.
[1] Photius, who was still able to read Ctesias' Persica, wrote: [he] gives an account of Cyrus, Cambyses, the Magian, Darius, and Xerxes, in which he differs almost entirely from Herodotus, whom he accuses of falsehood in many passages and calls an inventor of fables (trans.
[9] Interestingly, it has been argued that the most important source for Ctesias' work might have been the oral narratives (epics, romances and historical accounts), which were typical of the ancient Near Eastern societies.
W. Rhys Roberts)Dionysius goes on to cite the way in which Ctesias' styled a pathetic dialogue between the Queen Mother Parysatis and a messenger informing her of the death of her son Cyrus the Younger.
[13] It had certainly influenced two later authors of Persica, who wrote in the last decade of the Achemenid rule in Persia: Dinon of Colophon and Heracleides of Cumae.