See also: Peoples: Achaemenid Empire; Arsacid Parthian Empire; Arsacids; Sasanian Empire
Further Reading
Briant, Pierre. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2002.
Colledge, Malcolm A. R. The Parthians. New York: Praeger, 1967.
Debevoise, Neilson C. A Political History of Parthia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Kent, Roland G. Old Persian. New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1950.
Rawlinson, George. The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy. Tehran: Imperial Organization for Social Services, 1976.
Schippmann, K. “Arsacids.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arsacids-index#pt2.
Shahbazi, A. Sh. “Army I: Pre-Islamic Iran.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/army-i.
Strabo. The Geography of Strabo. Translated by Horace Leonard Jones. London: William Heinemann, 1930.
Xenophon. Oeconomicus. Translated by Sarah Pomeroy. Oxford: Clarendon, 1994.
KINGS AND QUEENS OF THE ACHAEMENID DYNASTY
OVERVIEW ESSAY
The Persian Achaemenid dynasty ruled a vast and powerful empire from 550 to 330 BCE. Originally based in the kingdom of Anshan in the present-day southern Iranian province of Fars, the small Persian state was, according to the Greek historian Herodotus, a tributary of the much larger and far more powerful kingdom of Media. During the reign of Cyrus II, Anshan revolted against the authority of the last Median king, who appears as Astyages in Herodotus’s Histories. Once Cyrus had defeated the Medes, he marched against their capital, Ecbatana (modern-day Hamedan) and seized it, together with its royal treasury. Having unified Media and Persia under his rule, Cyrus began to expand his territory westward, first defeating King Croesus of Sardis in 547 BCE. With the fall of Sardis, the Persians became the masters of Asia Minor. After the conquest of Asia Minor, Cyrus expanded the territory of his fledgling kingdom eastward, seizing the southern regions of Central Asia. Next came the turn of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which was defeated and seized by the armies of Cyrus in 539 BCE. By the time he was killed in a battle against the Scythians of Central Asia, Cyrus had laid the foundation of a powerful empire that would last for two centuries after his passing.
The Persian Empire founded by Cyrus the Great continued to expand territorially during the reign of his son and successor, Cambyses II, who invaded and occupied Egypt in 525 BCE. After the death of Cambyses, the empire fell into chaos when a man claiming to be Bardiya, Cambyses’s younger brother, revolted and assumed the reins of power. However, the pretender was overthrown and killed by seven Persian officers who installed one of their own as the new king. This new monarch was known as Darius I. When Darius ascended the Persian throne, revolts erupted across the empire, forcing the new monarch to send his armies to suppress them. Once he had suppressed these rebellions, Darius continued with the expansionist policies of Cyrus the Great and Cambyses II. In the west, the Persian armies seized Thrace and Macedonia. They also attacked the Scythians north of the Black Sea. In the east the boundaries of the Persian state reached as far as the Indus River Valley. An ambitious builder, Darius built the King’s Road as well as the Suez Canal, linking the four corners of his vast empire. Toward the end of his reign Persian armies became involved in military operations in Greece, where they were defeated.
Darius I died before he could organize a major military campaign against the Greek city-states. His death brought one of his sons, Xerxes, to power. Xerxes’s reign has been identified by some historians as the beginning of a long period of decline in Persian power and dominance. The identification of Xerxes’s reign with the beginning of decline is mostly based on the Greco-centric view that Persian armies suffered defeats on land and sea at the hands of Greek city-states. Upon closer examination, however, this approach seems overly simplistic, because even after military setbacks in Greece, the Persian armies and administration remained intact, and the empire continued to function for another 130 years.
The reigns of Xerxes’s successors, particularly those of Darius II and Artaxerxes II, witnessed the slow decline of Persian authority at least in Egypt and western Asia Minor. During the reign of Artaxerxes III, however, the Persian Empire underwent a period of political and military resurgence. Persian authority was restored in western Asia Minor when the revolt of the Persian satraps (governors) was suppressed. After several initial setbacks, the Persian armies also seized Phoenicia (present-day Lebanon) as the first step toward the invasion of Egypt, which was reincorporated into the Persian state in 343 BCE. Ironically and tragically, at the very moment when the Persian state was experiencing a true comeback, the Achaemenid dynasty received a fatal blow.
Bagoas, a commander and confidant of Artaxerxes III, staged a palace coup against his royal master, killing the Persian monarch and all his sons except Arses, who was kept alive so he could play the role of the puppet king. While Arses ascended the throne, Bagoas acted as the power behind it. Arses soon discovered the truth about Bagoas’s role in murdering his father and brothers. Before Arses could remove him, however, Bagoas killed the young Persian king and his son. With these killings, the Achaemenid dynasty came to an abrupt end in 336 BCE, a scant two years before the invasion of Asia Minor by Alexander of Macedon. The last prince to enjoy a distant link with the Achaemenid royal line was Ochus, who was installed on the throne as Darius III. The new king managed to remove the usurper Bagoas from power but failed to prepare the empire he had inherited for a war against the Macedonian invaders. After suffering two humiliating defeats at the hands of Alexander, the ill-fated Darius III was murdered by his own generals in 330 BCE.
Achaemenes
According to the inscription of the Persian monarch Darius I (r. 522–486 BCE) at Bisotun in western Iran, Achaemenes (Old Persian: Hakhamanish) was the founder of the Persian Achaemenid royal house. The Bisotun inscription identifies Achaemenes as the father of Teispes (Old Persian: Chispish), Teispes as the father of Ariaramnes (Old Persian: Ariyaramna), Ariyaramnes as the father of Arsames (Old Persian: Arshama), and Arsames as the father of Hystaspes (Old Persian: Vishtaspa), who was the father of Darius I. Three other inscriptions in Morghab in the southern Iranian province of Fars proclaim Cyrus II the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire, as an Achaemenian or a direct descendant of Achaemenes. In his cylinder unearthed in Babylon, however, Cyrus the Great did not mention Achaemenes as his ancestor. He stated that his father was Cambyses (Kambujiya), his grandfather was Cyrus (Kurush), and his great-grandfather was Teispes (Chishpish). Some scholars have therefore maintained that the inscriptions at Morghab were incised during the reign of Darius I, who was trying to legitimize his seizure of power through a military coup by creating a common ancestry and lineage for his family and that of Cyrus the Great, thus attempting to make himself a close relative of Cyrus.
See also: K&Q, Achaemenid: Cyrus II the Great; Darius I; Teispes
Further Reading
Briant, Pierre. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2002.
Cook, J. M. The Persian Empire. New York: Schocken, 1983.
Kent, Roland G. Old Persian. New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1950.
Arsames
Arsames (Old Persian: Arshama) was the name of several important members of the Achaemenid royal house, the most important being the grandfather of Darius I (r. 522–486 BCE). In his inscription at Bisotun in western Iran, Darius I identified Hystaspes (Old Persian: Vishtaspa) as his father, Arsames (Old Persian: Arshama) as his grandfather, Ariaramnes (Old Persian: Ariyaramna) as his great-grandfather, Teispes (Old Persian: Chishpish) as his great-great-grandfather, and Achaemenes (Old Persian: Hakhamanish) as the founder of the royal house (Kent: 116, 119). Darius also claimed that there were eight kings in his family line before he ascended the throne, which suggests that Arshama may have been a local king or at least a governor, most probably somewhere in the province of
Parsa (Persis) in present-day southern Iran. This possibility cannot, however, be validated by existing available sources. When Darius I seized the throne in 522 BCE, both his father, Vishtaspa, and his grandfather, Arshama, were alive.
See also: K&Q, Achaemenid: Darius I; Peoples: Achaemenid Empire
Further Reading
Briant, Pierre. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Translated by P. T. Daniels. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2002.
Cook, J. M. The Persian Empire. New York: Schocken Books, 1983.
Kent, Roland G. Old Persian. New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1950.
Arses
A king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire who ruled from 338 to 336 BCE. Arses was the son of the Persian monarch Artaxerxes III, who ruled from 359 to 338 BCE. Arses came to power after his father, Artaxerxes III, was murdered together with most of his family by Bagoas, a close confidant of the king who had performed ably and skilfully in the Persian reconquest of Egypt. Bagoas was not only an intelligent and capable commander but also a ruthless and ambitious individual who dreamed of ruling the Achaemenid Empire. After killing Artaxerxes III, Bagoas kept Arses alive so that he could use him as a puppet king. Arses, however, discovered the truth about the role of Bagoas in the murder of his father and brothers and tried to remove the ruthless courtier, but Bagoas murdered Arses and his sons as well. Thus, the Achaemenid royal house was destroyed several years before the invasion of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great. In a desperate search for a legitimate heir to the throne who could claim a direct link to the Achaemenid male line, the Persian governor of Armenia, Artashata (Ochos), was chosen as the new king. Artashata ascended the Persian throne as Darius III. When Darius III tried to wrest the reins of power from the ambitious courtier, Bagoas tried to poison the king, but Darius was informed of the plot. The king forced the conspirator to drink the poisoned cup himself and end his own life.
See also: K&Q, Achaemenid: Artaxerxes III; Darius II; Peoples: Alexander of Macedon (the Great)
Further Reading
Briant, Pierre. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Translated by P. T. Daniels. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2002.
Cook, J. M. The Persian Empire. New York: Schocken Books, 1983.
Diodorus Siculus. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. London: William Heinemann, 1933.
Artaxerxes I
The king of the Persian Achaemenid state who ruled from 465 to 424 BCE. Artaxerxes I (Old Persian: Artakhshacha I) was the second son of King Xerxes I and the grandson of Darius I. Artaxerxes’s mother was Amestris, the daughter of the Persian commander Otanes who had supported Darius I when he seized the throne after the death of Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, in 522 BCE. The Greek sources gave Artaxerxes the surname of Macrocheir, while his surname in Latin was Longimanus (Longhand), because his right hand was apparently longer than his left. Classical sources generally described the Persian king as a brave, kind, benevolent, and handsome man.
As the second son of his father, Artaxerxes was not in the main line of succession. The heir apparent was Darius, the oldest son of Xerxes I. Artaxerxes was installed on the Persian throne by Artabanus, the captain of the royal guard who murdered Xerxes, the father of the new monarch. Instead of admitting to his crime, Artabanus accused Darius, the oldest son of Xerxes, of patricide, convincing Artaxerxes to order the execution of his brother. The ultimate objective of Artabanus was to eventually remove Artaxerxes and seize the throne for himself. Before he could carry out his plot, however, Artaxerxes moved against him and killed Artabanus in hand-to-hand combat (Diodorus Siculus: XI.69.6).
Artaxerxes I, the Persian Achaemenid monarch, was praised for his kindness and compassion. He followed the tolerant policies of Cyrus the Great and Darius I, and lent his support to the Jewish leaders who were trying to resettle their community in Palestine. (Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)
The reign of Artaxerxes began with the rebellion of the king’s brother, who served as the governor of Bactria (present-day northern Afghanistan). This rebellion was quickly suppressed. In 460 BCE, a more significant rebellion broke out in Egypt. Inaros, a Libyan who had requested assistance from Athens, led the insurrection. The Athenians agreed to support him and sent 200 ships to Egypt. The confrontation between the rebels, backed by the Athenians, and the Persians, supported by pro-Persian Egyptians, was centered on Memphis, south of modern-day Cairo, the capital of Egypt. During a battle between the rebels and the Persian army at Papremis in the western Nile River delta, Achaemenes, the brother of Artaxerxes I, was killed, but the Athenians failed to capture Memphis. Artaxerxes I dispatched an army under the command of one of his generals, Megabyxos, who served as the governor of Syria. The king’s army relieved Memphis, defeated the rebels and their Greek supporters, and after a blockade of 18 months seized the island of Prosopitis. After the Greek fleet was destroyed, the rebel leader Inaros and 6,000 Greeks surrendered. The Athenians suffered another defeat when 50 of their ships sailed up the Nile and were attacked by the Persians and their Egyptian allies. The intervention in Egypt thus ended in a major disaster for Athens.
The defeat in Egypt and the ongoing conflict and warfare in mainland Greece forced Athens to gradually reconsider its confrontational policy vis-à-vis the Achaemenid Empire, although in 450 BCE, after concluding a five-year peace with Sparta, the Athenian Kimon attacked the island of Cyprus. A year later in 449 BCE, Athens sent a delegation to the Persian capital of Susa to negotiate a peace treaty with Artaxerxes I. The Peace of Callias between the Persian Empire and the Delian League, led by Athens, ended the so-called Persian Wars. The treaty granted autonomy to the Ionian states of Asia Minor. Persian ships were prohibited from sailing in the Aegean. In return, Athens withdrew its forces permanently from Egypt and Cyprus and agreed to not interfere with the Persian Empire’s territorial possessions in Asia Minor, Cyprus, Egypt, and Libya.
War between the Achaemenid Empire and Athens had ended, but the policy of Artaxerxes to fuel conflict among the Greek states would continue with dramatic results during the reigns of his successors. Learning from the military blunders of his father, Xerxes I, in Greece, Artaxerxes adopted the policy of utilizing his empire’s enormous financial resources to encourage conflict and war among the Greek city-states, particularly Sparta and Athens. Instead of organizing large armies and marching long distances, the empire’s new strategy called for forming alliances with Greek city-states that had sought its support against those that had adopted a hostile attitude toward the empire. The Greek author Thucydides informs us that in the midst of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE) between Athenian and Spartan allies, the Athenians arrested a Persian named Artaphernes who was on his way to Sparta. The Athenians took the Persian messenger to Athens and translated the dispatches he was carrying. In these messages, Artaxerxes had written the Spartans that he did not know what they wanted because among “the many ambassadors they had sent him no two ever told the same story; if however they were prepared to speak plainly they might send him some envoys with his Persian” messenger (Thucydides: 4:50). As long as Artaxerxes I was alive, the Persians maintained a posture of neutrality in the Peloponnesian War, but during the reign of his successor, Darius II, Persian diplomacy backed by Persian gold played an important role in ensuring Sparta’s devastating victory over Athens.
In the Jewish tradition, Artaxerxes I is portrayed as a king who continued with the tolerant religious and cultural policies of Cyrus the Great. As with Cyrus, Artaxerxes supported the efforts of the Jewish religious leadership to establish its authority over the Jewish community in Palestine. In 458 BCE, the Jews of Babylon requested from Artaxerxes that he allow the Jewish priest Ezra to visit Palestine, with full authority over the affairs of the Jewish community there, and to enforce the book of the law as the will of the king. Ezra was permitted to return to Jerusalem with 1,500 Jewish families who formerly had lived in exile. However, when disputes erupted among the Jews, Artaxerxes intervened
and dispatched his cupbearer and trusted confidant, Nehemiah, to settle the quarrel. As a result, the temple and walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt in 441 BCE, and the Jewish high priest was proclaimed the ruler of Jerusalem and Judaea.
As had been the case with Cyrus the Great, Darius I, and Xerxes I, Artaxerxes I was an ambitious and accomplished builder. His royal inscription at Persepolis near Shiraz in southern Iran states that Artaxerxes completed the throne hall of his father, Xerxes, thus contributing to the construction of the palace complex, which was originally built by his grandfather, Darius, and then significantly expanded and enlarged by his father, Xerxes. After a long reign of 40 years, Artaxerxes I died in 424 BCE. The tomb of Artaxerxes I is located at Naqsh-e Rostam near Persepolis in the southern Iranian province of Fars.
See also: Ancient Cities: Naqsh-e Rostam; K&Q, Achaemenid: Darius II; Xerxes I
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