Artaxerxes II of Persia
Encyclopedia
Artaxerxes II Mnemon was king of Persia
from 404 BC until his death. He was a son of Darius II of Persia
and Parysatis
.
, who was defeated and killed by Mithridates
at the Battle of Cunaxa
in 401 BC. Artaxerxes tried to claim the glory of having killed his brother himself, but when Mithridates boasted of killing Cyrus at court while flushed with wine
, Artaxerxes had him executed
for making him out to be a liar
.
He also quashed a revolt of the provincial governors, the satrap
s (366 – 358 BC). He also became involved in a war with Persia's erstwhile allies, the Sparta
ns, who, under Agesilaus II
, invaded Asia Minor
. In order to redirect the Sparta
ns attention to Greek affairs, Artaxerxes subsidized their enemies: in particular the Athenians
, Thebans
and Corinth
ians. These subsidies helped to engage the Sparta
ns in what would become known as the Corinthian War
. In 386 BC, Artaxerxes II betrayed his allies and came to an arrangement with Sparta, and in the Treaty of Antalcidas he forced his erstwhile allies to come to terms. This treaty restored control of the Greek cities of Ionia
and Aeolis
on the Anatolian coast to the Persians, while giving Sparta dominance on the Greek mainland.
Although successful against the Greeks, Artaxerxes had more trouble with the Egypt
ians, who had successfully revolted against him at the beginning of his reign. An attempt to reconquer Egypt in 373 BC was completely unsuccessful, but in his waning years the Persians did manage to defeat a joint Egyptian–Spartan effort to conquer Phoenicia
.
He is reported to have had a number of wives. His main wife was Stateira
, until she was poisoned by Artaxerxes' mother Parysatis in about 400 BC. He also married several of his own daughters
. Another chief wife was a Greek woman of Phocaea
named Aspasia (not the same as the concubine of Pericles
). Artaxerxes II is said to have more than 115 sons from 350 wives.
By other wives
. Plutarch
in his Lives (75 CE) records alternative names Oarses and Arsicas for Artaxerxes II Mnemon given by Deinon (c.360-340 BCE) and Ctesias
(Artexerxes II's physician) respectively. These derive from the Persian name Khshayarsha as do "Ahasuerus" ("Xerxes") and the hypocoristicon "Arshu" for Artaxerxes II found on a contemporary inscription (LBAT 162). These sources thus arguably identify Ahasuerus as Artaxerxes II in light of the names used in the Hebrew and Greek sources and accords with the contextual information from Pseudo-Hecataeus and Berossus
as well as agreeing with Al-Tabari and Masudi's placement of events. The 13th century Syriac historian Bar-Hebraeus
in his Chronography, also identifies Ahasuerus as Artaxerxes II citing the sixth century CE historian John of Ephesus
.
Zakarid-Mkhargrzeli, a noble family prominent in medieval Armenia
and Georgia
,claimed to be descended from Artaxerxes II - on the basis of his being nicknamed the "Longarmed", which was also the meaning of their own name. While authenticity of this pedigree is doubtful, it testifies to this king's long renown.
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
from 404 BC until his death. He was a son of Darius II of Persia
Darius II of Persia
Darius II , was king of the Persian Empire from 423 BC to 405 BC.Artaxerxes I, who died on December 25, 424 BC, was followed by his son Xerxes II. After a month and a half Xerxes II was murdered by his brother Secydianus or Sogdianus...
and Parysatis
Parysatis
Parysatis was the 5th-century BCE illegitimate daughter of Artaxerxes I, Emperor of Persia and Andia of Babylon.She was the half-sister of Xerxes II, Sogdianus and Darius II...
.
Reign
He defended his position against his brother Cyrus the YoungerCyrus the Younger
Cyrus the Younger, son of Darius II of Persia and Parysatis, was a Persian prince and general. The time of his birth is unknown, but he died in 401 B.C. The history of Cyrus and of the retreat of the Greeks is told by Xenophon in his Anabasis. Another account, probably from Sophaenetus of...
, who was defeated and killed by Mithridates
Mithridates (soldier)
Mithridates was a young Persian soldier in the army of king Artaxerxes II who according to a version in Plutarch's Life of Artaxerxes II, accidentally killed the rebel claimant to the throne Cyrus the Younger in the Battle of Cunaxa .-Account of events:Shortly after, Cyrus's death was reported to...
at the Battle of Cunaxa
Battle of Cunaxa
The Battle of Cunaxa was fought in 401 BC between Cyrus the Younger and his elder brother Arsaces, who had inherited the Persian throne as Artaxerxes II in 404 BC. The great battle of the revolt of Cyrus took place 70 km north of Babylon, at Cunaxa , on the left bank of the Euphrates River...
in 401 BC. Artaxerxes tried to claim the glory of having killed his brother himself, but when Mithridates boasted of killing Cyrus at court while flushed with wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
, Artaxerxes had him executed
Scaphism
Scaphism, also known as the boats, was an ancient Persian method of execution designed to inflict torturous death. The name comes from the Greek word skaphe, meaning "scooped out"....
for making him out to be a liar
Liar
Liar or The Liar may refer to:* A person who tells a lie- Film and television :* Liar , UK name for the 1997 film Deceiver, starring Chris Penn, Tim Roth, Ellen Burstyn, and Renée Zellweger...
.
He also quashed a revolt of the provincial governors, the satrap
Satrap
Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....
s (366 – 358 BC). He also became involved in a war with Persia's erstwhile allies, the Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
ns, who, under Agesilaus II
Agesilaus II
Agesilaus II, or Agesilaos II was a king of Sparta, of the Eurypontid dynasty, ruling from approximately 400 BC to 360 BC, during most of which time he was, in Plutarch's words, "as good as thought commander and king of all Greece," and was for the whole of it greatly identified with his...
, invaded Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
. In order to redirect the Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
ns attention to Greek affairs, Artaxerxes subsidized their enemies: in particular the Athenians
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Thebans
Thebes, Greece
Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. It played an important role in Greek myth, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and others...
and Corinth
Corinth
Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...
ians. These subsidies helped to engage the Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
ns in what would become known as the Corinthian War
Corinthian War
The Corinthian War was an ancient Greek conflict lasting from 395 BC until 387 BC, pitting Sparta against a coalition of four allied states; Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos; which were initially backed by Persia. The immediate cause of the war was a local conflict in northwest Greece in which...
. In 386 BC, Artaxerxes II betrayed his allies and came to an arrangement with Sparta, and in the Treaty of Antalcidas he forced his erstwhile allies to come to terms. This treaty restored control of the Greek cities of Ionia
Ionia
Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements...
and Aeolis
Aeolis
Aeolis or Aeolia was an area that comprised the west and northwestern region of Asia Minor, mostly along the coast, and also several offshore islands , where the Aeolian Greek city-states were located...
on the Anatolian coast to the Persians, while giving Sparta dominance on the Greek mainland.
Although successful against the Greeks, Artaxerxes had more trouble with the Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ians, who had successfully revolted against him at the beginning of his reign. An attempt to reconquer Egypt in 373 BC was completely unsuccessful, but in his waning years the Persians did manage to defeat a joint Egyptian–Spartan effort to conquer Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
.
He is reported to have had a number of wives. His main wife was Stateira
Stateira (wife of Artaxerxes II)
Stateira was the wife of king Artaxerxes II of Persia.Asteroid 831 Stateira is named in her honour.- Biography :Stateira was the daughter of the Persian nobleman Hydarnes. She married Artaxerxes II, the oldest son of Darius II of Persia and his wife Parysatis...
, until she was poisoned by Artaxerxes' mother Parysatis in about 400 BC. He also married several of his own daughters
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
. Another chief wife was a Greek woman of Phocaea
Phocaea
Phocaea, or Phokaia, was an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. Greek colonists from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia in 600 BC, Emporion in 575 BC and Elea in 540 BC.-Geography:Phocaea was the northernmost...
named Aspasia (not the same as the concubine of Pericles
Pericles
Pericles was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age—specifically, the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars...
). Artaxerxes II is said to have more than 115 sons from 350 wives.
Building projects
Much of Artaxerxes's wealth was spent on building projects. He restored the palace of Darius I at Susa, and also the fortifications; including a strong redoubt at the southeast corner of the enclosure and gave Ecbatana a new apadana and sculptures. He seems not to have built much at Persepolis.Offspring
By StateiraStateira (wife of Artaxerxes II)
Stateira was the wife of king Artaxerxes II of Persia.Asteroid 831 Stateira is named in her honour.- Biography :Stateira was the daughter of the Persian nobleman Hydarnes. She married Artaxerxes II, the oldest son of Darius II of Persia and his wife Parysatis...
- Artaxerxes III
- Darius
- Ariaspes or Ariarathes
- Atossa, wife of Artaxerxes II & then Artaxerxes III
By other wives
- Arsames
- Mithridates
- Phriapatius(?), probable ancestor of Arsacids
- Amestris, wife of Artaxerxes II
- Rhodogune, wife of satrap Orontes IOrontes IOrontes I Armenian King of Orontid Dynasty reigning in the period between 401 BC – 344 BC. The Persian version of the name is Auruand which meant "Great Warrior" in the Avestan language....
- ApamaApama (disambiguation)-Nature:* Apama, a synonym of the flowering plant genus Thottea* Sepia apama, a species of the Australian Giant Cuttlefish* For the tree in South America, see Tabebuia rosea* The Food plant Apama tomentosa, see Atrophaneura coon-People:...
, wife of Pharnabazus - Ocha, mother of an unnamed wife of Artaxerxes III
- The unnamed wife of TissaphernesTissaphernesTissaphernes was a Persian soldier and statesman, grandson of Hydarnes.In 413 BC he was satrap of Lydia and Caria, and commander in chief of the Persian army in Asia Minor...
- 112 other unnamed sons
Identification
It has been suggested that this man was the Ahasuerus mentioned in the Book of EstherBook of Esther
The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...
. Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
in his Lives (75 CE) records alternative names Oarses and Arsicas for Artaxerxes II Mnemon given by Deinon (c.360-340 BCE) and Ctesias
Ctesias
Ctesias of Cnidus was a Greek physician and historian from Cnidus in Caria. Ctesias, who lived in the 5th century BC, was physician to Artaxerxes Mnemon, whom he accompanied in 401 BC on his expedition against his brother Cyrus the Younger....
(Artexerxes II's physician) respectively. These derive from the Persian name Khshayarsha as do "Ahasuerus" ("Xerxes") and the hypocoristicon "Arshu" for Artaxerxes II found on a contemporary inscription (LBAT 162). These sources thus arguably identify Ahasuerus as Artaxerxes II in light of the names used in the Hebrew and Greek sources and accords with the contextual information from Pseudo-Hecataeus and Berossus
Berossus
Berossus was a Hellenistic-era Babylonian writer, a priest of Bel Marduk and astronomer writing in Greek, who was active at the beginning of the 3rd century BC...
as well as agreeing with Al-Tabari and Masudi's placement of events. The 13th century Syriac historian Bar-Hebraeus
Bar-Hebraeus
Gregory Bar Hebraeus was a catholicos of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the 13th century...
in his Chronography, also identifies Ahasuerus as Artaxerxes II citing the sixth century CE historian John of Ephesus
John of Ephesus
John of Ephesus was a leader of the non-Chalcedonian Syriac-speaking Church in the sixth century, and one of the earliest and most important of historians who wrote in Syriac.-Life:...
.
Zakarid-Mkhargrzeli, a noble family prominent in medieval Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
and Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
,claimed to be descended from Artaxerxes II - on the basis of his being nicknamed the "Longarmed", which was also the meaning of their own name. While authenticity of this pedigree is doubtful, it testifies to this king's long renown.
See also
- Artaxerxes IArtaxerxes I of PersiaArtaxerxes I was the sixth king of kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 465 BCE to 424 BCE. He was the son of Xerxes I of Persia and Amestris, daughter of Otanes.*Artaxerxes I was the sixth king of kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 465 BCE to 424 BCE. He was the son of Xerxes I of Persia and...
- History of Persia
- The AnabasisAnabasis (Xenophon)Anabasis is the most famous work, in seven books, of the Greek professional soldier and writer Xenophon. The journey it narrates is his best known accomplishment and "one of the great adventures in human history," as Will Durant expressed the common assessment.- The account :Xenophon accompanied...
- Ten Thousand (Greek)Ten Thousand (Greek)The Ten Thousand were a group of mercenary units, mainly Greek, drawn up by Cyrus the Younger to attempt to wrest the throne of the Persian Empire from his brother, Artaxerxes II...
External links
- Artaxerxes by Plutarch
- H. Hunger & R.J. van der Spek, "An astronomical diary concerning Artaxerxes II (year 42 = 363-2 BC). Military operations in Babylonia" in: Arta 2006.002
- Inscriptions of Artaxerxes II in transcribed Persian and in English translation. http://www.avesta.org/op/op.htm#a2sa