Prokles | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Prokles, from his coinage, circa 400 BC | |
| Native name | Prokles |
| Allegiance | .svg) Achaemenid Empire |
| Rank | Governor |
Prokles (circa 400 BC) was a descendant of the exiled Spartan kingDemaratus, and ruler ofPergamon inAsia Minor under theAchaemenid Empire. He was a brother ofEurysthenes, with whom he was a joint ruler.
After his deposition in 491 BC Demaratus had fled toPersia, where kingDarius I made him ruler of the cities ofPergamon,Teuthrania andHalisarna. About a hundred years later Eurysthenes and his brother Prokles reigned over the same cities; their joint rule is at least attested for the year 399 BC.[1]
Xenophon and theTen Thousand received some support from Prokles in facing Achaemenid troops, at the beginning of their campaign into Asia Minor.[2] According toXenophon (Anabasis, 7.8.8-17), when he arrived inMysia in 399, he met Hellas, the widow ofGongylos and probably daughter ofThemistocles,[3] who was living at Pergamon. His two sons, Gorgion and Gongylos the younger, ruled respectively over the cities ofGambrium,Palaegambrium for Gorgion, andMyrina andGrynium for Gongylos. Xenophon received some support from the descendants of Gongylos for his campaign into Asia Minor, as well as from the descendants ofDemaratos, a Spartan exile who also had become a satrap for the Achaemenids, in the person of his descendant Prokles.[4][5]
The coinage of Prokles displays one of the earliest portraits of a Greek ruler on a coin.[6]
The city of Pergamon was later taken over by the Spartan generalThibron, who was fighting against the Achaemenid Satrap of Lydia and IoniaTissaphernes.[7]
Rulers in theAchaemenid Empire | ||
|---|---|---|
Family tree - Achaemenid Kingdom | ||
| Kings of Kings of theAchaemenid Empire |  | |
| Satraps ofLydia | ||
| Satraps ofHellespontine Phrygia | ||
| Satraps ofCappadocia | ||
| Greek Governors ofAsia Minor cities | ||
| Dynasts ofLycia | ||
| Dynasts ofCaria | ||
| Kings ofMacedonia | ||
| Kings of Tyre | ||
| Kings of Sidon |
| |
| Satraps ofArmenia | ||
| Satraps ofEgypt | ||
| Satraps ofBactria | ||
| Satraps ofMedia | ||
| Satraps ofCilicia | ||
| Other known satraps | ||
In most territories, Achaemenid rulers were succeeded byHellenistic satraps andHellenistic rulers from around 330 BC | ||
