Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550-330 BCE

by Matt Waters

  Darius and Parysatis, as children of secondary wives or concubines of Artaxerxes I, could both claim Achaemenid descent. So could others, such as Arsites and Pissouthnes (see p. 172). Once Darius II was secure on the throne, there was less hesitation – and perhaps more incentive – to reinforce the dynastic principle. The poisoning of Stateira represented also the complete annihilation of that rival branch to the royal line. Regardless of circumstances or pretext, that reinforced Achaemenid primacy. It is possible in such a context to view Parysatis’ fierce actions, mainly on behalf of her husband or children, as a dynastic virtue motivated by her desire to preserve her own line, the Achaemenid line, unchallenged. It is easy to apply a moralizing perspective to horrific acts, but a superficial reading of these accounts misses many key matters of power – the accumulation or maintenance thereof – and prestige. The stakes were high: the control of a world empire.

  Royal Inscriptions of Artaxerxes II

  The extant royal inscriptions from Artaxerxes II’s reign are associated mainly with finds from Ecbatana and from his construction works at Susa. One inscription was found in four copies on the bases of columns (A2Sa), in which Artaxerxes provided the standard titles and lineage traced, father to son, back to Darius I and, interestingly, one more generation to Darius I’s father Hystaspes. Hystaspes’ inclusion is a curiosity, over a century after his death, because he did not rule as king – at least, not as the Achaemenid king of kings.

  In light of Cyrus’ rebellion the chance for Artaxerxes II to broadcast his lineage, and thus his legitimacy, was no doubt a welcome one. He further reinforced the link by direct reference to his restoration of an apadana built by Darius I, one that had been destroyed by a fire during Artaxerxes I’s reign. Persian kings were expected to undertake such restoration work, just as their Assyrian, Babylonian, and Elamite predecessors emphasized similar projects in their royal inscriptions. That this work involved building on, literally and figuratively, one of Artaxerxes II’s most illustrious predecessors’ works was no doubt also intentional. Another trilingual building inscription records a similar restoration project at Ecbatana, modern Hamadan (A2Ha). In addition, Artaxerxes built at Susa a large, new palace (roughly 10 acres, A2Sd) set among lavish gardens, a paradigmatic example of an Old Persian paradayadam. That Old Persian word is understood as the origin of Greek paradeisos, thus “paradise,” but that translation and meaning are disputed. Beyond philological arguments, the garden setting makes one confident that the beauty and tranquility of the place, a “pleasant retreat” as some modern scholars translate paradayadam, was meant to be emphasized.

  What is most striking in Artaxerxes II’s building inscriptions is the mention of the gods Anahita and Mithra alongside Ahuramazda in the invocation formula, for example in A2Sd §2: “May Ahuramazda, Anahita, and Mithra protect me and what I have built from all evil.” The inclusion of Anahita and Mithra is new, but the reasons for their inclusion are unclear. Explanations abound in modern scholarship, and there is little agreement. Both Mithra and Anahita are Iranian deities, and Mithra is prominent in the Vedic tradition as well: a warrior god and associated with the sun. Specific mentions of sacrificing to Mithra in an Achaemenid context occur in a much later source, Athenaeus (10.434e), in which Mithra’s worship is associated with drinking and dancing. According to this later tradition, the festival of Mithra was the only time that the King got drunk.2 He also performed a specific dance, unhelpfully labeled the persica (“Persian things”), though what sort of dance that was is unexplained.

  Anahita was a fertility goddess, associated with water and the heavens. She was identified with a number of other deities: Greek Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, and Babylonian Ishtar, a goddess of sexual love (fertility) and war. Syncretism between various traditions was commonplace in antiquity. In the Persepolis Fortification Tablets, numerous gods received sacrifice in the wider area of Persepolis itself, a phenomenon that may be assumed to apply throughout the Empire. Plutarch (Art.27.3) implies that there was a shrine to Anahita in Ecbatana. One of the most famous representations of Anahita appears on a cylinder seal scene dated to the fourth century. The goddess is standing on a lion, symbolism closely related to that of Ishtar, and the king (wearing a distinctive crown) approaches her with hands outstretched in worship. Aelian (On the Nature of Animals 12.23, perhaps taken from Ctesias) describes a shrine of Anahita, whom he calls Anaitis, in Elam that housed tame lions, animals that again emphasize the Ishtar connection.

  The king in Figure 10.1 is not labeled, but most scholars assume it is Artaxerxes II. Mithra and Anahita are listed, after Ahuramazda, consistently in Artaxerxes II’s extant inscriptions. In other words, they are not anomalous to one inscription, so his devotion to them is clear. The Babylonian Berossus credited Artaxerxes with the introduction of Anahita's cult and the stipulation that she be worshipped by his subjects (Fragments 11–12). If accurate, it is safe to say that such a proclamation did not exclude worship of other deities. For whom was the proclamation meant? Berossus’ listing of specific places matches the main administrative centers of the Empire: Persepolis and Pasargadae, Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana, Bactria, Damascus, and Sardis. (Notably, Memphis in Egypt is not mentioned, a tacit acknowledgement that it was beyond Persian control at the time of this edict.) Based on this, it has been assumed that the Persians in the provinces were the target of this stipulated devotion to Anahita, especially the Persian satraps and their staffs. Why Artaxerxes chose to promulgate worship of Anahita among the Persians abroad is another matter, but one presumes he meant to use it as a binding mechanism, a reminder of royal power under the aegis of the gods. Because Anahita effectively disappears from Artaxerxes III’s inscriptions – meaning that she is not mentioned in them – many questions linger.

  Figure 10.1 King Approaching Anahita on a Lion, from a Fourth Century Cylinder Seal. Courtesy of The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

  Persia Triumphant: The Northwestern Front

  During the 390s BCE, continued squabbling among the Greek cities of the mainland allowed Persia to reassert its territorial claims in Ionia and the Hellespont, and even to influence affairs among the city-states of Greece proper. At least from the diplomatic perspective, Artaxerxes II was able to achieve in Greece what Xerxes had not – Persian domination. Because of the help that the Spartans gave to Cyrus in his revolt in 401, they were considered enemies of the King. The situation that prevailed in Greece for most of the last decade of the fifth century – Persian support of Sparta that enabled the defeat of Athens – was effectively reversed within a decade.

  Artaxerxes awarded to Tissaphernes Cyrus the Younger’s old command in western Anatolia (Diodorus 14.26.4 and Xen., Hell. 3.1.3). Tissaphernes’ job was to reconsolidate Achaemenid holdings in Ionia, not an easy task. Not only did many Ionian cities resist, Greek sources indicate ongoing rivalry between Tissaphernes and his counterpart, Pharnabazus, the satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia. In 396, the Spartan king Agesilaus raided Pharnabazus’ territories in the Hellespont. The following year he advanced as far as Sardis and destroyed Tissaphernes’ paradeisos in the countryside, along with a Persian force contesting him. (Diodorus 14.80.1–5).3 This defeat may have been a significant one, or at least tried Artaxerxes’ patience, because it resulted in Tissaphernes’ removal from command. Artaxerxes dispatched a Persian replacement named Tithraustes, about whom we know little, neither exact title nor family connection. With the aid of the same Ariaeus who had defected from Cyrus (and had obviously returned to Artaxerxes’ good graces), Tithraustes took Tissaphernes prisoner and sent him to Susa. Several sources implicate Parysatis’ implacable anger against Tissaphernes – for his part in Cyrus the Younger’s eventual defeat and death – for the turn in Tissaphernes’ fortunes.

  In the interval, and with the King’s imprimatur, Pharnabazus outfitted a new navy and appointed an Athenian admiral named Conon as the commander. This Persian fleet decisively defeated the Spartan fleet at Cnidus in southwestern Anatolia in 394. The situation i
n Greece itself in the mid-390s had deteriorated, with Sparta’s hegemony there threatened by an alliance of its erstwhile allies and enemies: Athens, Argos, Corinth, and Thebes. Persian money supported this alliance, another instance of a successful policy to keep the Greek city-states unbalanced and diminish their threats to Persian interests. This situation impelled the authorities in Sparta to recall Agesilaus (Xen. Hell. 4.2), so the Spartan king’s grand plans for an “anabasis” against the King were untenable – and probably not very realistic from the start. Artaxerxes and his satraps had the stronger hand.

  Pharnabazus then took the offensive and removed Spartan governors throughout western Asia Minor. Pharnabazus apparently used a lighter touch this time, freeing Ionia with Conon, a Greek face, at the head of his navy and trumpeting the Ionians’ own (internal) autonomy. In 393 Pharnabazus then carried the war much closer to Sparta itself. He reasserted Persian command of the sea in the Aegean, even up to the islands off the southern coast of the Peloponnesus itself. A garrison was left in Cythera, an island just off the coast. These were major Persian accomplishments: a reversal of Spartan hegemony in the Aegean.

  A flurry of diplomatic activity followed. Spartan representatives led by Antalcidas – who became Sparta’s main ambassador to Persia – negotiated with a certain Tiribazus (Xen. Hell. 4.8.12–17), who is described as the King’s general in Anatolia. Antalcidas expressed willingness to cede formally all of Asia Minor to the King, with the Aegean Islands left autonomous. Other Greek city-states objected, as they had territories and interests in these regions. Tiribazus, for reasons not revealed, decided to support the Spartans secretly: he gave money to Antalcidas to support a fleet against the resurgent Athenians, who were still acting as Pharnabazus’ agents. The situation – as Xenophon depicts it, at least – became suddenly complex. Despite Tiribazus’ authority in Asia Minor, he could not make a peace treaty on his own, so he himself traveled (or was summoned) to the King. The King’s response was telling.

  Artaxerxes replaced Tiribazus with a certain Struthas who was “to manage affairs on the coast” (Xen. Hell. 4.8.17). What does this mean? As many interpret it, the imprecise phrasing indicates only that Struthas replaced Tiribazus as satrap of Lydia. Alternatively, this wording implies that Struthas was given a special appointment, one whose command approximated that of Cyrus the Younger’s. The imprecise phrasing may imply authority on par with, if not greater than, that of the regional satraps, but it remains an open question. A Greek inscription usually dated 392/391 BCE records a certain Strouses’ arbitration, on the King’s authority, of a border dispute between Miletus and Myous, cities in southwestern Anatolia.4 This Strouses is understood to be the Struthas of Xenophon’s account. Here is as good example as any of the actual application of Persian authority in this region of the Empire. Notably, the quarreling parties did not seek Athenian or Spartan adjudication of the matter.

  Struthas was not dispatched to continue Tiribazus’ policy. On the contrary, he pursued a strongly pro-Athenian policy, on par with what Pharnabazus had been advocating (and applying) for most of the previous decade. This impelled the Spartans to dispatch forces into Asia Minor, and the fighting – mostly skirmishing at this stage – was renewed. An anecdote related by Xenophon (Hell. 4.8.24) reveals the chaos in Ionia. The Athenians, just then supported by the King, had sent a flotilla of aid to the rebellious king of Cyprus, Evagoras; the Spartans, who were at odds with the King, captured and destroyed that Athenian fleet.

  Diplomacy continued, and the Spartan ambassador Antalcidas carried the day with the King. By 387/386, the year of the so-called King’s Peace – also sometimes called the Peace of Antalcidas – the situation had come to a head. Antalcidas was accompanied homeward by Tiribazus, who resumed his position in Lydia and whose return marked another change in policy: a return to the pro-Spartan stance the Persians had championed at the end of the fifth century. The King was prepared to ally himself with Sparta and go to war if his peace terms were rejected. And there was additional incentive: Antalcidas commanded an overwhelming naval force, supplemented by Persian support, with which he was able to seize control of the shipping routes through the Hellespont. Control of that sea lane threatened Athens’ grain supply; it was the same tactic that helped Sparta emerge victorious during the Peloponnesian War. Ships and funding from the satraps of Lydia, Tiribazus, and of Hellespontine Phrygia, Ariobarzanes, augmented Antalcidas’ force. The previous satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, Pharnabazus, had been called to the interior so as to marry the King’s daughter Apame (Plut. Art. 27.4). Some scholars identify Ariobarzanes as Pharnabazus’ son, but his filiation is not given in Xenophon.

  Athens was cowed, wary of the sudden change in Persian support that swung naval dominance to Sparta. All the Greek cities, Sparta included, were weary of the back-and-forth that characterized the so-called Corinthian War of the 390s in Greece. Persia’s direct involvement on Sparta’s behalf, even the threat thereof, once again changed the calculus. Memories of the last decade of the Peloponnesian War would still have been fresh in the minds of many. The change in Persian policy was a major boon, if not outright coup, for the Spartans. Spartan willingness to abandon claims to the King’s Ionian territories was a compelling point in their favor.

  The terms of the King’s Peace of 387/386 read more like an edict than a treaty. Representatives of the Greek cities were summoned before Tiribazus, presumably in Sardis, where he showed them the letter with the King’s seal and read out the terms:

  King Artaxerxes holds it just that the cities in Asia be his along with Clazomenae and Cyprus of the islands. And the other Greek cities, both large and small, should be left autonomous, except for Lemnos, Imbros, and Skyros. These, just as in the past, should belong to Athens. And if either of the two parties does not accept this peace, I will make war upon them, along with those willing to abide by these terms, both by land and by sea, both with ships and with money.

  (Xen. Hell. 5.1.31)

  The few specific places named reflect some of the underlying negotiations. Clazomenae in western Anatolia had previously been controlled by Athens, but Artaxerxes specifically included it in his domain. The Aegean Islands left to Athens were closer to the Greek mainland than to Ionia and were thus, apparently, not of sufficient concern to the King. Cyprus was probably only mentioned to encourage the Greeks to cease their meddling there while the Persians brought the Cypriot rebels to heel.

  The application of the King’s Peace, especially the King’s explicit threat to wage war against those who refused to accept it, has been debated ever since. Many scholars reject as unrealistic the likelihood of Persian military action on the Greek mainland. But in 393 Pharnabazus, one of the highest ranking Persians in the west, had recently arrived with his fleet at the Isthmus of Corinth; perhaps the thought of another Persian campaign in Greece was not so far-fetched after all. Despite the Peace, the bitter infighting and squabbling among Greek city-states continued unabated. Later sources indicate that Artaxerxes insisted on reaffirmation of the terms of the Peace in 375 and 371 BCE.

  Cyprus and the Egyptian Problem

  Because of its strategic location off the Phoenician coast, control of Cyprus was the prerequisite for control of the eastern Mediterranean seaboard. This in turn was necessary to any successful Persian reconquest of Egypt, especially because the Egyptian rebels were primarily based in the Nile delta region. Like Greece, Cyprus consisted of several independent city-states, the rulers of which were in constant competition. One of these rulers, Evagoras of Salamis, had wider ambitions to control the entire island. His career is mixed and often difficult to track. Some scholars postulate that he aided Cyrus the Younger in his revolt, but there is no evidence to confirm that. In 398, Evagoras did support the Persians’ efforts against the Spartans in Asia Minor. Ctesias’ Persica alludes to friction between Evagoras and Artaxerxes (Fragment 30 §72), but the context is lost. Diodorus relates Evagoras’ defeat at sea in 386 and a Persian siege of Salamis (15.3–4 and 15.8–9). P
ersian authority was restored within a few years. A broken reference in a Babylonian astronomical text dating from 382/381 implies a reconquered Salamis.5 Interestingly, Evagoras was allowed to continue as king in Salamis but was to pay the expected tribute and obey Artaxerxes, the King of kings.

  Egypt in Revolt and the Arshama Archive

  The most significant foreign crisis that we can track during Artaxerxes II’s reign is the revolt of Egypt, a sporadic affair that involved several Egyptian rulers (mostly from the Delta in the north) and that effectively removed Egypt from Persian control for the first half of the fourth century. Egypt was able to resist full reincorporation into the Empire until Artaxerxes III’s reconquest in the late 340s BCE. Many of Egypt’s kings’ reigns in the fourth century were of short duration, a reflection of Egypt’s own internal struggles. The initial stages of this rebellion may be tracked during the transitional period from the reigns of Darius II to Artaxerxes II.

  An important corpus of sources from Egypt partially overlaps this period of unrest: the so-called Arshama archive, named after the Persian satrap of Egypt in the late fifth century. Arshama is Greek Arsames, the name of several prominent Achaemenids, among them Darius I’s grandfather and one of Darius I’s sons by Artystone (daughter of Cyrus), a half brother of Xerxes and the commander of the Arabian and Ethiopian forces during the invasion of Greece (Hdt. 7.69). Any connection to the Persian satrap Arshama is unclear – perhaps he was a grandson of Darius’ son Arsames? This is often assumed, but unproven.