Tissaphernes
Encyclopedia
Tissaphernes (d. 395 BC) was a Persian soldier and statesman, grandson of Hydarnes
Hydarnes
Hydarnes was an eminent Persian, the commander of the "Ten Thousand Immortals" during the time of king Xerxes invasion of Greece.Perhaps the most famous episode involving Satrap Hydarnes and his Immortals came at the Thermopylae in 480 BC, when they came into contact with Leonidas of...

.

In 413
413
Year 413 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Herclianus and Lucius...

 BC he was 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....

 of Lydia
Lydia
Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....

 and Caria
Caria
Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...

, and commander in chief of the Persian army in 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...

. When Darius II
Darius II
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...

 ordered the collection of the outstanding tribute of the Greek cities, he entered into an alliance with 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...

 against Athens
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...

, which in 412
412
Year 412 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius...

 BC led to the conquest of the greater part 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...

. But Tissaphernes was unwilling to take action and tried to achieve his aim by astute and often perfidious negotiations; Alcibiades
Alcibiades
Alcibiades, son of Clinias, from the deme of Scambonidae , was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War...

 persuaded him that Persia's best policy was to keep the balance between Athens and Sparta, and rivalry with his neighbour Pharnabazus of Hellespontic Phrygia
Phrygia
In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...

 still further lessened his energy. When, therefore, in 408
408
Year 408 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Bassus and Philippus...

 BC the king decided to support Sparta strenuously, Tissaphernes was removed from the generalship and limited to the satrapy of Caria, whereas Lydia and the conduct of the war were entrusted to Cyrus the Younger
Cyrus 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...

.

On the downfall of Athens, Cyrus and Tissaphernes both claimed jurisdiction over the Ionian cities, most of which acknowledged Cyrus as their ruler; but Tissaphernes took possession of Miletus
Miletus
Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria...

, where he was attacked by Cyrus, who gathered an army under this pretence with the purpose of using it against his brother Artaxerxes II. The king was warned by Tissaphernes, who took part in 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...

, and afterwards tried to destroy the Greek mercenaries of Cyrus
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...

 by treachery.

He was then sent back to 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...

 to his old position as general in chief and satrap of Lydia and Caria. He now attacked the Greek cities, to punish them for their allegiance to Cyrus. This led to the war with Sparta in 399
399
Year 399 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Eutropius and Theodorus...

 BC. Tissaphernes, who once again had recourse to subtle diplomacy, was beaten by 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...

 on the Pactolus
Pactolus
Pactolus is a river near the Aegean coast of Turkey. The river rises from Mount Tmolus, flows through the ruins of the ancient city of Sardis, and empties into the Gediz River, the ancient Hermus. The Pactolus once contained electrum that was the basis of the economy of the ancient state of Lydia...

 near Sardis
Sardis
Sardis or Sardes was an ancient city at the location of modern Sart in Turkey's Manisa Province...

 in 395
395
Year 395 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Olybrius and Probinus...

 BC; and at last the king yielded to the representations of Pharnabazus, strongly supported by the chiliarch (vizier) Tithraustes
Tithraustes
Tithraustes was the Persian satrap of Sardis for several years in the early 4th century BC. Due to scanty historical records, little is known of the man or his activities...

 and by the queen-mother 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...

, who hated Tissaphernes as the principal cause of the death of her favourite son Cyrus. Tithraustes was sent to execute Tissaphernes, who was lured to Ariaeus
Ariaeus
Ariaeus was a Persian general who fought alongside Cyrus the Younger at the Battle of Cunaxa and later was involved in the assassination of Tissaphernes.-Life:...

' residence in Colossae
Colossae
Colossae or Colosse , was an ancient city of Phrygia, on the Lycus, which is a tributary of the Maeander River. It was situated about 12 miles South East of Laodicea, and near the great road from Ephesus to the Euphrates...

 and slain in 395
395
Year 395 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Olybrius and Probinus...

 BC.

Etymology

Chithrafarna (čiθra + farnah) "Shining Fortune": čiθra is from the Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...

 adjective (s)koitrós 'bright'; farnah is equivalent to Avestan xvarənah
Khvarenah
' or ' is an Avestan language word for a Zoroastrian concept literally denoting "glory" or "splendour" but understood as a divine mystical force or power projected upon and aiding the appointed. The neuter noun thus also connotes " royal glory," reflecting the perceived divine empowerment of kings...

'fortune'.

External links

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