The given name of Artaxerxes II was, as rendered inGreek, Arses (Ἄρσης;Babylonian:Aršu), derived from theOld Persian*Ṛšā- ("man", "hero"). He was also widely known by the hypocorismAršak, which is attested in several Greek forms includingArsikas (Plutarch),Arsakas andArsaces (Persica). FromArsaces also derives the name of theArsacid dynasty, which ruled theParthian Empire and claimed descent from Artaxerxes II himself.[2][3][4]
Artaxerxēs (Αρταξέρξης) is theGreek rendition of the Old PersianArtaxšaçā ("whose reign is throughtruth").[5] It is known in other languages as:ElamiteIr-tak-ik-ša-iš-ša,Ir-da-ik-ša-iš-ša;AkkadianAr-ta-ʾ-ḫa-šá-is-su;Middle PersianArdaxšēr andNew PersianArdašīr.[6][7]
Greek authors gave Artaxerxes II the epithet "Mnemon" (Ancient Greek:Μνήμων;Old Persian:abiataka), meaning "remembering" or "having a good memory."[8]
The life and reign of Artaxerxes II is attested mostly in classical Greek sources, which generally focus on the history of the western front. However, due to Artaxerxes II's younger brotherCyrus the Younger's recruiting many Greeks during the latter's rebellion, the reign of Artaxerxes II is well documented until Cyrus' death at theBattle of Cunaxa in 401 BC. Following that date, information on the rest of Artaxerxes II's reign becomes much more sparse.[9]
Plutarch, when writing hisLife of Artaxerxes II, used Ctesias, Dinon, Xenophon, and a few others as references. Plutarch's is the only ancient biography of an Achaemenid king.[9] According to the modern historian Carsten Binder, Plutarch's work is an "eloquent but hardly reliable source of information" and it "should be treated with the greatest caution."[10]
Arsaces was the eldest son ofDarius II, who ruled the PersianAchaemenid Empire from 424 to 405/4 BC. His mother wasParysatis, a half-sister of Darius II.[11] His age at death is variously given as 86 (Lucian) and 94 (Dinon) years, which would place his birth around 453 or 445 BC.[12] Briant simply notes that Arses was born before his father's accession in 424,[13] while another author states that he was "at least in his late seventies in the early 360s".[14] Darius II and Parysatis had thirteen children, most of whom died prematurely. Thus the only known full siblings of Arsaces were his younger brothers Cyrus,Ostanes, Oxathres, and an older sister, Amestris.[13]
With the exception of Arsaces and Cyrus, not much is known about the children of Darius II and Parysatis. Cyrus was most likely born in 424/423 BC, just after the accession of Darius II.[15] In 408 BC, at the age of 15 or 16, Cyrus was appointed the satrap ofLydia,Greater Phrygia, andCappadocia. He also succeededTissaphernes as the commander-in-chief of the Persian force stationed atCastolus, east of the city ofSardis.[16] Cyrus was given the title ofkaranos (Old Iranian:*Karana), which greatly expanded his authority both politically and militarily, and allowed him to become largely autonomous.[15]
Before his accession, Arsaces marriedStateira, the daughter of the Persian noblemanHydarnes, who was descended fromHydarnes, one of the seven Persian conspirators who overthrew thePseudo-Smerdis.[17] The marriage was part of a political alliance that Darius had sought during his early reign, due to facing opposition against his rule. Amestris was also married to Hydarnes' sonTerituchmes, while Hydarnes was appointed the satrap ofHyrcania.[18][19]
When Darius II was on his deathbed, Arsaces was by his side. According to Xenophon, Darius II summoned Cyrus, who arrived with Tissaphernes and 300 Greekhoplites.[13][20] Plutarch, however, reports that it was Parysatis who summoned Cyrus, as she favoured him over Arsaces. He further adds that she attempted to convince Darius II to choose Cyrus as his heir, as the position was still vacant.[13] Modern historians question Plutarch's account, and state that Arsaces must have already been chosen as heir previously, probably several years earlier.[13][21]
During the coronation of Arsaces at the southern capital ofPasargadae, Cyrus allegedly attempted to have his brother assassinated. The plan was exposed by Tissaphernes, but Cyrus was spared following the intervention of Parysatis and sent back to Asia Minor. The authenticity of this event is deemed uncertain by modern historians.[22][10][21] According to Binder, the transition of power between Darius II and Arsaces was seemingly peaceful.[10] Upon hisinvestiture, Arsaces adopted the throne name of Artaxerxes.[23]
Tissaphernes noted that Cyrus the Younger's claims to be on a military expedition to attack thePisidians had many flaws that led him to believe that Cyrus was planning to revolt. These claims became realized when Cyrus began to seek political support for his campaign. Cyrus found support fromSparta, who sent soldiers to aid the campaign against Artaxerxes II. Notably, Cyrus found support from a Persian kingdom ofCilicia, who contributed to the effort through funds. During this time, due to Tissaphernes' reports, Artaxerxes II began to build up a force to contend with his younger brother's revolt.[24]
By the time of Darius II's death, Cyrus had already been successful in defeating the Syrians and Cilicians and was commanding a large army made up of his initial supporters plus those who had joined him in Phrygia and beyond. Upon hearing of his father's death, Cyrus the Younger declared his claim to the throne, based on the argument that he was born to Darius and Parysatis after Darius had ascended to the throne, while Artaxerxes was born prior to Darius II's gaining the throne.
Artaxerxes II initially wanted to resolve the conflict peacefully, but the negotiations fell through.[25] Cyrus also ran into issues with the locals, who were loyal to Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes defended his position against his brother Cyrus the Younger, who with the aid of a large army of Greek mercenaries called the "Ten Thousand", attempted to usurp the throne. Though Cyrus' mixed army fought to a tactical victory at theBattle of Cunaxa in Babylon (401 BC), Cyrus himself was killed in the exchange by Mithridates, rendering his victory irrelevant. The Greek historianXenophon, himself one of the leaders of the Greek troops, would later recount this battle in theAnabasis, focusing on the struggle of the now-stranded Greek mercenaries to return home.
Artaxerxes became involved in a war with Persia's erstwhile allies, the Spartans, during theCorinthian War (395–387 BC). The Spartans under their kingAgesilaus II had started by invading Asia Minor in 396–395 BC. To redirect the Spartans' attention to Greek affairs, Artaxerxes subsidized their enemies through his envoyTimocrates of Rhodes; in particular, theAthenians,Thebans, andCorinthians received massive subsidies. Tens of thousands ofdarics, the main currency inAchaemenid coinage, were used to bribe these Greek states to starta war against Sparta.[26] According toPlutarch, the Spartan kingAgesilaus II said, upon leaving Asia Minor, "I have been driven out by ten thousand Persian archers," alluding to the archer depicted on Persian coins.[27][28]
The Achaemenids, allied with Athens, managed to utterly destroy the Spartan fleet at theBattle of Cnidus (394 BC). After that, the Achaemenid satrap ofHellespontine Phrygia,Pharnabazus II, together with former Athenian admiralConon, raided the coasts ofPeloponnesia, putting increased pressure on the Spartans. This encouraged the resurgence of Athens, which started to bring back under her control the Greek cities of Asia Minor, thus worrying Artaxerxes II that his Athenian allies were becoming too powerful.
TheKing's Peace, promulgated by Artaxerxes II in 387 BC, put an end to theCorinthian War under the guarantee of the Achaemenid Empire.
In 386 BC, Artaxerxes II betrayed his allies and came to an arrangement with Sparta, and in theTreaty of Antalcidas, he forced his erstwhile allies to come to terms. This treaty restored control of the Greek cities ofIonia andAeolis on the Anatolian coast to the Persians, while giving Sparta dominance on the Greek mainland. In 385 BC, Artaxerxescampaigned against the Cadusians.
Although successful against the Greeks, Artaxerxes had more trouble with theEgyptians, who had successfully revolted against him at the beginning of his reign. An attempt to reconquer Egypt in 373 BC under the command ofPharnabazus, satrap ofHellespontine Phrygia, was completely unsuccessful, but in his waning years, the Persians did manage to defeat a joint Egyptian–Spartan effort to conquerPhoenicia.
In 377 BC, Pharnabazus was reassigned by Artaxerxes II to help command a military expedition into rebellious Egypt, having proven his ability against the Spartans.[29]
Achaemenid campaign of Pharnabazus II against Egypt in 373 BC
After four years of preparations in the Levant, Pharnabazus gathered an expeditionary force of 200,000 Persian troops, 300 triremes, 200 galleys, and 12,000 Greeks underIphicrates.[30] The Achaemenid Empire had also been applying pressure on Athens to recall the Greek generalChabrias, who was in the service of the Egyptians, but in vain.[31] The Egyptian rulerNectanebo I was thus supported by Athenian General Chabrias and his mercenaries.[32]
The Achaemenid force landed in Egypt with the Athenian general Iphicrates nearMendes in 373 BC.[33] The expedition force was too slow, giving time to the Egyptians to strengthen defenses. Pharnabazus and Iphicrates appeared beforePelusium, but retired without attacking it,Nectanebo I, king of Egypt, having added to its former defences by laying the neighboring lands under water, and blocking up the navigable channels of the Nile by embankments. (Diodorus Siculus xv. 42;Cornelius Nepos,Iphicrates c. 5.) Fortifications on thePelusiac branch of the Nile ordered by Nectanebo forced the enemy fleet to seek another way to sail up theNile. Eventually the fleet managed to find its way up the less-defended Mendesian branch.[31] At this point, the mutual distrust that had arisen between Iphicrates and Pharnabazus prevented the enemy from reachingMemphis. Then, the annualNile flood and the Egyptian defenders' resolve to defend their territory turned what had initially appeared as certain defeat for Nectanebo I and his troops into a complete victory.[34]
After several weeks, the Persians and their Greek mercenaries under Iphicrates had to re-embark. The expedition against Egypt had failed.[33] It was the end of the career of Pharnabazus, who was now over 70 years old.[35] Pharnabazus was replaced byDatames to lead a second expedition to Egypt, but he failed and then started the "Satraps' Revolt" against the Great King.[35]
The Achaemenid defeat in Egypt led to unrest among the Achaemenid nobility. From 372 BC, many western satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire started to rebel against Artaxerxes II, in theGreat Satraps' Revolt, starting with the powerful satrapDatames. Following the failure ofPharnabazus II in Egypt, Datames had been entrusted by the Persian king with the chief command of a force designed for the recovery ofEgypt, but the machinations of his enemies at the Persian court, and the risks to which he was in consequence exposed, induced him to change his plan, and throw off his allegiance to the king. He withdrew with the troops under his command intoCappadocia, and made common cause with the other satraps who were revolting from Persia.
The Pharaoh Nectanebo provided financial support to the rebelling satraps and re-established ties with both Sparta and Athens.[36] Artaxerxes II finally quashed the revolt of the satraps by 362 BC.
Peace mediation in the Theban–Spartan War (368–366 BC)
Artaxerxes again attempted to mediate in conflicts between the Greek city-states at the time of theTheban hegemony, especially theTheban–Spartan War. He sentPhiliscus of Abydos, ahyparch (vice-regent) and military commander of the Achaemenid satrapAriobarzanes, to Delphi in order to help the Greek negotiate peace.[37][38][39] The objective of Philicus of Abydos was such to help broker a Common Peace between the Greek belligerents reunited atDelphi.[39] The negotiation collapsed when Thebes refused to returnMessenia to the Spartans.[39]
Before returning to Abydos, Philicus used Achaemenid funds to finance an army for the Spartans, suggesting that he was acting in support of the Spartans from the beginning.[39] With the Achaemenid financing of a new army, Sparta was able to continue the war.[40] Among the mercenaries whom he had recruited, Philiscus gave 2,000 to the Spartans.[37] He also probably provided funds to the Athenians and promised them, on behalf of the King, to help them recover theChersonese militarily.[37] Both Philiscus and Ariobarzanes were made citizens of Athens, a remarkable honor suggesting important services rendered to the city-state.[37]
During autumn of 367 BCE, first the Spartans, soon followed by the Athenians, the Arcadians, the Argives, the Eleans, the Thebans, and other Greek city-states, sent envoys to Susa in attempts to obtain the support of Achaemenid king Artaxerxes II in the Greek conflict.[39] The Achaemenid king proposed a new peace treaty, this time highly tilted in favour of Thebes, which required Messenia to remain independent and that the Athenian fleet to be dismantled. This Peace proposal was rejected by most Greek parties except Thebes.[41][40]
Sparta and Athens, dissatisfied with the Persian king's support ofThebes, decided to provide careful military support to the opponents of the Achaemenid king. Athens and Sparta provided support for the revolted satraps, in particularAriobarzanes. Sparta sent a force to Ariobarzanes under an agingAgesilaus II, while Athens sent a force underTimotheus, which was however diverted when it became obvious that Ariobarzanes had entered frontal conflict with the Achaemenid king.[40][38] An Athenian mercenary force underChabrias was also sent to the Egyptian PharaohTachos, who was also fighting against the Achaemenid king.[40]
Ethnicities of the soldiers of the Empire, on the tomb of Artaxerxes II. On the lintel over each figure appears a trilingual inscription describing each ethnicity.[42] These are known collectively as"Inscription A2Pa".
Much of Artaxerxes's wealth was spent on building projects. He restored thePalace of Darius I at Susa,[43] and also the fortifications; including a strong redoubt at the south-east corner of the enclosure and gaveEcbatana a newapadana and sculptures.
The tomb of Artaxerxes II is located atPersepolis, and was built on the model of his predecessors atNaqsh-e Rustam. On the upper register of the tomb appear reliefs of the Emperor, supported by the soldiers of all ethnicities of the Empire. On the lintel over each figure appears a trilingual inscription describing each ethnicity.[42] These are known collectively as"Inscription A2Pa".
Since the reign ofDarius the Great (r. 522–486 BC), Achaemenid inscriptions make mention of unnamed gods alongsideAhura Mazda,[44] who was considered the supreme god of theZoroastrian pantheon by the royal family.[45] It was first under Artaxerxes II that the identities of these gods were uncovered. In a trilingual inscription atSusa, he invokes the deitiesAnahita andMithra alongside Ahura Mazda.[44][8]
Artaxerxes II was thus the first known Achaemenid king to recognize Anahita, who was the divinity of "the Waters" and hence associated with fertility, healing and wisdom.[46] He promoted the worship of Anahita, erecting temples and statues of the goddess across the empire.[47] This included the cities ofEcbatana, Susa, andBabylon.[44]
Thetemple of Anahita inIstakhr was also most likely founded by Artaxerxes II. At the start of the 3rd century AD, the temple was repaired and adorned by the PersianSasanian family, who acted as the hereditary caretakers of the temple.[46]
The Persian Empire under Artaxerxes II was viewed[by whom?] as a political power that had many unfortunate complications, such as the many wars with Greece. One aspect of his legacy which would have great influence upon his successors was his conflict with Cyrus the Younger. This conflict was remembered due to the power vacuum that followed, allowing theSatrap Revolt and therebellion of Egypt. Artaxerxes II was also remembered for his works to restore monuments of his predecessors. His largest restoration was that of thePalace of Darius in Susa. He would also be remembered for his tomb in Persepolis.
The image of Artaxerxes from contemporary foreign sources depicts him in a similar light to his image among those in the Achaemenid Empire. The Greek portrayal highlights his long rule with many conflicts and shortcomings of Artaxerxes II in his ability to control his empire. Greek sources also focus on his problems in his court with his harem andeunuchs, as inClaudius Aelianus's accounts ofAspasia of Phocaea andTiridates. Greek sources portray Artaxerxes II as sad in his reign.[48]
Amongst others, it has been suggested that Artaxerxes II was theAhasuerus mentioned in theBook of Esther.Plutarch in hisLives (AD 75) records alternative namesOarses andArsicas for Artaxerxes II Mnemon given byDeinon (c. 360–340 BC[51]) andCtesias (Artexerxes II's physician[52]) respectively.[53] These derive from the Persian nameKhshayarsha as do "Ahasuerus" ("(Arta)Xerxes") and thehypocoristicon "Arshu" for Artaxerxes II found on a contemporary inscription (LBAT 162[54]). 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 andBerossus[55] as well as agreeing with Al-Tabari and Masudi's placement of events. The 13th century Syriac historianBar-Hebraeus in hisChronography, also identifies Ahasuerus as Artaxerxes II citing the sixth century AD historianJohn of Ephesus.[56][57]
Artaxerxes II is reported to have had a number of wives. His main wife wasStateira, until she was poisoned by Artaxerxes's motherParysatis in about 400 BC.[58] Artaxerxes II is said to have more than 115 sons from 350 wives.[59][58]
^Llewellyn-Jones 2013, p. 13: "At the royal investiture, the new Persian king adopted an official throne name and stopped using the familial name by which he had previously been known (before his accession, for example,Darius II was called Ochus, and Artaxerxes II had been called Arses or Arsaces;Ctesias F15 §47, 55)."
^Ruzicka, Stephen (2012).Trouble in the West: Egypt and the Persian Empire, 525–332 BC. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 55–62.ISBN978-0-19-976662-8.
^Pritchard, James B. ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, Princeton University Press, third edition with supplement 1969,ISBN978-0-691-03503-1, p. 492
^Bezalel Porten (Author), J. J. Farber (Author), C. J. F. Martin (Author), G. Vittmann (Author), The Elephantine Papyri in English (Documenta Et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui, book 22), Koninklijke Brill NV, The Netherlands, 1996,ISBN978-1-58983-628-0, p 125-153.
^Felix, Wolfgang (November 28, 2011) [1995]. "Dinon". InYarshater, Ehsan (ed.).Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. VII/4: Deylam, John of–Divorce IV. In modern Persia (Online ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation. pp. 419–420.
^Jona Lendering,Ctesias of Cnidus, Livius, Articles on Ancient History, 1996–2008
^John Dryden, Arthur Hugh Clough,Plutarch's Lives, Little, Brown and Company, 1885
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