Ancient Persia: Political History

Includes Ancient Media and their Kings; dates indicate reign, not lifespan

700 BCE - 678 BCE - Deioces (All Facts)

• 1st King of Medes

• Elected by the Medians in order to have a leader to fight against the much more mighty Assyrians and in order that they cease fighting amongst themselves

• Established Ecbatana (modern-day Hamadan in Iran) as the capital of the Median Kingdom

• His unification of the Median tribes likely allowed them to survive and expand into new territories, especially further south into the region known up to that point as Elam

669 BCE - 631 BCE - Phraortes (All Facts)

• 2nd King of Medes

• Died in battle against the Assyrians

625 BCE - 585 BCE - Cyaxares (All Facts)

• 3rd King of Medes

• Restored Median power by massacring a group of drunken Scythian chieftains at a banquet

• He and his army

  • Allied with Nabopalossar and the Babylonians

  • Invaded Assyria

  • Captured the cities of Arrapha and Ashur

  • Stormed the Temple of Ashur at Nineveh, where his soldiers smashed the tablet - containing the oath of allegiance which the Medes were forced to make with the Assyrians prior to this invasion - into pieces

  • Eventually defeated all of Assyria and the Assyrians by 612 BCE with the help of Nabopalossar and the Babylonians

  • In the aftermath, he and Nabopalossar split evenly the territories of the Assyrian Empire amongst themselves

• After several failed attempts to defeat King Alyattes and conquer the Kingdom of Lydia and the Lydians, he agreed to fix a frontier with their kingdom, which followed the course of the Halys River in central Anatolia

  • He had done this after taking the territory of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and splitting it with Nabopalossar of Babylon, with his split extending all the way to where the Kingdom of Lydia was situated

  • This agreement was supposedly made on the day that a Solar Eclipse had occurred, May 26th 585 BCE

    • Such a sight was interpreted by both sides as their gods having been displeased with their fighting and thus demanded a ceasefire

• Essentially turned the Median state into an Empire

585 BCE - 550 BCE - Astyages (All Facts)

• 4th and Final King of Medes

• Upon assuming the throne, he had inherited the most powerful empire, the Median Empire, that had existed at that time in that region

• Brought territories under what is now central and eastern Iran under Median control

• Warned that he would be overthrown by his descendants, he married his daughter to an inferior Persian, Cambyses, but his fears were rekindled by a dream in which he saw a vine growing out of his pregnant daughter’s sexual parts that resembled covering all of Asia

  • As a result, he had his newborn grandson exposed in an attempt to eliminate him

  • Abandoned his grandson after he was born in an attempt to do this

• When he had his daughter married to Cambyses, but from there proved that he was unable to control the Median Empire, he was defeated by Cyrus the Great

• King Croesus of Lydia and King Nabonidus of Babylon were related to him via marriage alliances

688 BCE - 675 BCE - Achaemenes (All Facts)

• 1st King and Founder of the Achaemenid Persian Dynasty

• Legendary king and ancestor of all of the kings of Achaemenid Persian Dynasty

• Under his reign, the Persians had finished settling in Anshan

• Father of Teispes

675 BCE - 640 BCE - Teispes (All Facts)

• 1st King of Anshan

600 BCE - 580 BCE - Cyrus (All Facts)

• 2nd King of Anshan

• Father of Cambyses (not the father of Cambyses II, or, Cambyses the Great)

580 BCE - 559 BCE - Cambyses (All Facts)

• 3rd King of Anshan

• Father of Cyrus the Great

• 1st King to rule all the Persian tribes together at once and unified

• Vassal of the Median King Astyages

• Married Astyages’ daughter Mandane

559 BCE - 530 BCE - Achaemenid Empire / Dynasty (All Facts)

• Dynasty characterized by kings who spoke about how they created order and stability through their righteous conduct especially Cyrus the Great on his “Cylinder Seal” and Darius the Great on his “Behistun Inscription”

• However, they also committed brutal acts against those who opposed them

• Nonetheless, there was a special emphasis on righteous conduct, truth, and justice that even influenced contemporary Greek writers of the dynasty

• Additionally, these kings likely practiced some form of Zoroastrianism

559 BCE - 530 BCE - Cyrus the Great (Military Policies)

• 1st King and Founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire

  • He essentially campaigned from Greece to India, controlling all of that territory

  • He was the master of all Asia from the Hindu Kush to the Mediterranean

• Vanquished his grandfather Astyages at the Battle of Ecbatana in 548 BCE, where he became king of a unified Persian-Median state

  • Upon taking the throne, he led a Persian revolt against the Median Empire, and defeated the Medes and captured their king, Astyages, by 548 BCE

  • He captured Ecbatana, the Median capital

  • Treated the Medes generously, allowing them to keep their government posts (under Persian supervision) and absorbing them into the Persian armed forces

  • He considered the Medes second to the Persians only in imperial status

• Viewed as a usurper by King Nabonidus of Babylon and King Croesus of Lydia, who had established marriage alliances with Astyages of Media, whom he had succeeded without maintaining those marriage alliances

• Nonetheless, he allied himself with Nabonidus and Babylon in 547 BCE, having successfully defended himself and his empire against King Croesus and the kingdom of Lydia

  • Later, at the Battle of Thymbra and Siege of Sardis in 546 BCE, in just 15 days, he captured Sardis and defeated the Lydians, although he spared King Croesus’s life and employed him as an advisor

  • In some accounts, it is said that it was Babylon who had allied with King Croesus and the Lydians instead of the other way around

• Between 545 and 540 BCE, he campaigned against Bactria and Sogdiana in the eastern portions of the growing empire, capturing and controlling them (modern-day ‘Stan countries)

• He invaded, defeated, and captured Babylon and all its cities without bloodshed

  • He later overturned the alliance with Babylon when King Nabonidus assumed the Babylonian throne, dethroning Nabonidus and defeating the Babylonians near the city of Sippar in 539 BCE

    • He abandoned this Babylonian alliance after his power had increased and he had campaigned as far as Northwestern India

    • In some accounts, it is said that he came to defeat Babylon because it had decided to ally itself with King Croesus and the Lydians against the Persians

  • In other accounts, it is said that because of King Nabonidus’ weak leadership and sacrilegious behavior, the Babylonians reached out to him to oust Nabonidus and then promised to assist him if he got rid of Nabonidus for them

    • In response, not only did he promise to respect the gods of Babylon, but his reputation for leniency and clemency he had shown his enemies up to this point helped rally others to his side, such as the Babylonian governor of the province of Gutium, who had defected to the Persians

• The kings of the eastern Mediterranean swore their allegiance to him and his empire after he had defeated the Babylonians

• Was killed fighting Queen Talmeris and the Scythian tribes in the Aral Sea in 530 BCE, who he tried to defend against since they were causing so many problems on his northeastern border

  • In some accounts, it is said that he died peacefully and of old age and was not killed in battle

• Buried in his namesake tomb at Pasargadae, that he himself had designed

• Famous for having fought with his army in the Near East in the winter, a season most other kings and empires in this region throughout history avoided fighting in

  • Famous also for having showed respect to the religious traditions of the peoples he conquered and clemency to the leaders of the peoples he conquered

• Was respected by the Greeks and Romans, despite them having viewed the Persians as their enemies, and he was viewed by them as an ideal ruler

559 BCE - 530 BCE - Cyrus the Great (All Other Policies)

• 1st King and Founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire

• Abandoned by his grandfather Astyages (of Media) on a river, he was later rescued by a herdsman and reunited with his father, who was his predecessor

  • Adopted or not, he was brought up as the son of King Cambyses, his predecessor, and of Mandane, his mother, thus having made him half-Mede and half-Persian

• Established Pasargadae as the capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire around 546 BCE

  • He did this after having defeated Astyages and unifying the Medians and Persians

• He was known for instituting religious tolerance amongst the conquered peoples of Persia, helping them rebuild their temples and shrines dedicated to their gods

  • He would set a precedent of religious toleration in the empire that most subsequent rulers continued and maintained

  • He did this by respecting the Babylonian gods such as Marduk when he invaded and conquered Babylon

  • He also did this when he ended the Babylonian Exile of the Jews via an edict he issued - that put an end to their captivity there and thus granted them permission to return to their own country in Judaea - in 538 BCE

    • After conquering Babylon in 539 BCE, he repatriated the Jews, as he had done with others formerly held captive

  • It is not known whether this was done purely for practical purposes, considering the empire was quite diverse and non-Median-Persian but ruled by Median-Persians or genuinely

• Had a reputation for mercy and justice

• Was content with conquering lands (but not exploiting their resources)

• Divided the empire intro satrapies for the first time

• He employed teams of Lydian and Greek masons to work on his Palace at Pasargadae

530 BCE - 522 BCE - Cambyses II (All Facts)

• 2nd King of the Achaemenid Persian Empire

• Son of his predecessor, he was made King of Babylon after his predecessor’s conquest of that city, preparing him for his career as king

  • Faced no opposition upon his assumption to the throne

• Invaded and conquered Egypt, thus having been declared King of Egypt

  • He worked with disaffected Egyptians and trained the Persian-Mede forces extra hard

  • Launched a propaganda campaign against Amasis II of Egypt, which helped him gain the support of Egypt’s priests and nobles

  • He defeated Amasis II / Psamtek III of Egypt at the Battle of Pelusium in 525 BCE

  • Showed Amasis II / Psamtek III mercy, allowing him to remain in Egypt

  • Executed Amasis II / Psamtek III after he had found out that Amasis II / Psamtek III was plotting against him

  • Became king of Upper and Lower Egypt ever since his victory at Pelusium

  • Upon assuming the Egyptian throne, however, he stayed there until he had heard about Bardiya’s coup in which he then hurried back to his homeland but never made it, having died on the way

• Was not popular at all in mainland Persia since he stayed in Egypt, and was not popular in Egypt either, especially since his troops plundered villages there

  • Tried to take the oasis of Siwa afterwards, but a sandstorm stopped him and his army

  • Tried to take Carthage, but his navy was mostly Phoenician and they refused since they would have been attacking their own

  • Rumors spread in Egypt that he had killed the divine bull Apis, and was sent mad in divine retribution as a result

  • Some say he went completely insane, acting despicably while in Egypt where he

    • Mocked their ancestors’ religious customs

    • Desecrated their temples

    • Killing their priests

    • Stabbing and killing the divine Apis Bull

    • Killing his pregnant sister

  • Others say he was in fact respectful to the Egyptian gods and goddesses, such as his reverence for the Egyptian patron goddess of Sais, Neith

  • While he was campaigning in the far west, rebellion broke out in the eastern territories, especially by that of Bardiya, so he rushed back home to deal with the rebels

    • On his way home, however, he died

    • Some say it was from a self-inflicted stab wound / suicide attempt

• Received tribute from Libya and possibly from Kush / Nubia

• His reign collapsed and ended in Civil War

522 BCE - Bardiya / Gaumata (All Facts)

• 3rd (False) King of the Achaemenid Persian Empire

• Was the brother of Cambyses II

• He controlled the eastern area of Persia while under his predecessor

• Was an imposter to the throne, having led a coup against Cambyses II and eventually, Darius I, who was in Egypt at the time, and unjustifiably having proclaimed himself king

  • Despite being an imposter, he was very popular because he had his subjects be exempted from taxes and military service

• Was considered to be a religious leader called the second namesake title by Darius, as Cambyses II / Darius claimed that Cambyses II had killed the first namesake title back in 529 BCE because he had feared that, as his younger brother, he would overtake him for the throne

  • Thus, he claimed the first name, but according to the Persians who ruled who were not considered imposters, they claimed he took the second name

• Along with six other nobles, Darius stabbed him to death because he was an illegitimate king and legitimized his killing of him by invoking the name of their god Ahura-Mazda

  • However, Darius I’s argument for his own legitimacy is flawed because Cambyses II had no heir and, unlike the namesake ruler, he was not a son of Cyrus the Great

  • For Darius I, however, he argued that he was descended from Teispes, who was Cyrus the Great’s great grandfather

522 BCE - 486 BCE - Darius the Great (Military Policies)

• 4th King of the Achaemenid Persian Empire

  • Architect of the modern Persian empire

  • Ruled the empire at its peak of having the most territory and the most resources

  • Extended the empire’s borders and network of tributaries including into Europe, Northern Africa, Central Asia, and the rich gold-producing areas of the Indus Valley region

  • By his death, he left an empire whose limits extended beyond even those created by his predecessors

• Led a coup against Bardiya, whom he claimed was an imposter really named Gaumata since he had killed Bardiya back in 529 BCE, after Bardiya / Gaumata had led their own coup against Cambyses II, and thus stabbed Bardiya / Gaumata six / seven times in the second coup in just three months

  • He had Bardiya killed because he claimed he was an illegitimate king

  • However, his argument for his own legitimacy is flawed because Cambyses II had no heir and, unlike Bardiya, he was not a son of Cyrus the Great

  • However, he argued that he was descended from Teispes, who was Cyrus the Great’s great grandfather

• Upon assuming the throne, after having killed Bardiya in 522 BCE, he fought against the remainder of Bardiya’s / Gaumata’s supporters as well as 9 other rebel kings, culminating in his suppressing a Babylonian revolt in 522 BCE and this series of campaigns ending in 521 BCE

• Took Samos, the land bastion of Hellenistic independence, from Greece, dividing all of Ionia intro satrapies and heavily taxing them in order to fill the royal coffers at Susa, in 516 BCE

  • After failing to initially subdue Miletus, he and his army came back and razed it to the ground, since it was the center of the Ionian Revolts

• He and his army crossed the Bosporus Strait and headed for the Danube River, having waged war on the Scythians (who inhabited Central Asia and Europe at the time)

  • However, the Scythians managed to get the better of him and the Persians in 513 BCE

  • He and his army are saved only by a disaster organized by the treacherous Greek tyrants of Ionia, ruling in the interest of the Persians

  • In this way, they were able to control both the Scythians and the Thracians

• Annexed the Indus River Valley, thus conquering and controlling all the lands from the Indus River Valley in India to the Thrace in Europe and the Egypt and Libyan coasts in Africa by 510 BCE

• Under his reign

  • The Persians dispatched forces into Greece by island hopping through the Aegean Sea

  • The Greco-Persian Wars take place, starting around 500 BCE, in which he and his army invade Greece to try to conquer its territory

    • Expanded into Greece, installing pliant local tyrants there to do his bidding

      • Took the tyrant of Miletus, Histiaeus, hostage, in Susa

    • The Greeks rebelled by attacking Sardis in Lydia and rebelling on the Bosporus and Hellespont as well as in Caria and on the island of Cyprus, thus threatening Persian trading routes; by 498 BCE

    • His general, Mardonius, travelled west with a fleet and large army to subdue Thrace and Macedonia in the aftermath of the Ionian Revolt

      • He achieved this but retreated after the Persian fleet was dashed to pieces on the rocky promontory of Mount Athos in a storm

    • Took Naxos, Karystos, and Eretria; both of which were treated harshly and/or razed to the ground

    • He and his army lost to Miltiades and the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, after which they sailed back to Ionia

    • Punish the allies of the Ionian Revolt, which, aside from Athens, they had largely done by the end of their involvement in the Greco-Persian wars

      • He merely wanted to punish the allies of the Ionian Revolt and create a security buffer for the Achaemenid Persian Empire’s most western possessions

    • Necho and the Egyptians rebelled against him and the Persians, which they did so after Persia was weakened after their loss in the Battle of Marathon

• Was not content with just conquering lands, but needed to exploit their resources

522 BCE - 486 BCE - Darius the Great (All Other Policies)

• 4th King of the Achaemenid Persian Empire

• Established Persepolis as the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, laying the foundation stones of gold and silver there by 516 BCE

  • Took the place of King Cyrus the Great’s old capital of Pasargadae

  • The building of the city continued during the reigns of the next three of his successors

  • Did this in order to reflect the greatness of the Achaemenid Persian Empire

• Significantly developed and rebuilt Susa as the administrative capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire

• Reorganized the Achaemenid Persian Empire’s administration and bureaucracy

  • Divided the Empire into 20 (23-25) satrapies (provinces)

    • Because each was different, he assessed them differently and calculated how much in taxes or tribute they needed to pay his empire

• Oversaw the construction of an extensive system of new roads that crossed the empire, thus having established unprecedented standards of communication

  • Greatly improved and expanded the empire’s communication network, including the inter-satrapy highway system (similar to modern day interstate highway systems)

  • The most famous of these constructed highways he oversaw was “The Royal Road”

• Oversaw the construction of a canal between the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea (a forerunner to the modern Suez Canal)

• Oversaw the issuing of a stable coinage that underpinned the flourishing economy at the time

• Continued the Greek tradition of installing great columnar halls being flanked by colonnaded porticos at his palace in Persepolis

522 BCE - 486 BCE - Darius the Great (All Facts)

• 4th King of the Achaemenid Persian Empire

• His father Hystapes (Vestaspa) was satrap (governor) of Bactria during the reign of his predecessor

• Rose to become a high-ranking officer in the Persian army, possibly having been in charge of Cambyses’s personal guard

• Was a former spear bearer to Cambyses II

• His account of the rise to his power is written on the world-famous Behistun Inscription, which some say he wrote himself on the small mountain of Behistun (Kermancha, Iran) which was written in a way in which only the gods could have read it, and was posted as if it were a highway billboard

• Practiced (some form of) Zoroastrianism exclusively

• Died of old age, 4 years after the end of the Battle of Marathon

• Entombed in the side of a cliff at Naqsh-e Rostam, not far from Persepolis

486 BCE - 465 BCE - Xerxes (Military Policies)

• 5th King of the Persian Achaemenid Empire

• Suppressed a revolt in Egypt that had started right before he had assumed the throne, after which he installed his brother Achaemenes as Egypt’s new satrap

  • His brother’s rule there was quite harsh, which would fuel rebellions that became an even larger problem for the Persian kings later on

• Suppressed a revolt in Babylon against the Persian Empire in 484 BCE - 482 BCE

  • Many Babylonian rebels were tortured and slain

  • Babylonian city walls were destroyed

  • Babylonian temples were razed to the ground, including the Temple of Marduk, which was the largest and most prestigious in the world at that time, thus having left it in ruins

  • Carried off the vast gold statue of the god Marduk from the god’s temple

• These revolts may have been tests to see if he would be as tough as his father and predecessor

• Invaded Greece

  • He did this with the intention to conquer it and make it another satrapy, unlike his predecessor who was just trying to punish Greece; he was trying to subdue Greece

  • Ordered for two massive bridges to be built across the Hellespont to allow his men to cross from Asia into Europe; these bridges

    • were engineering marvels that intimidated the Greeks due to their size and sophistication

    • allowed Persian troops to move into Greece more quickly than if they were ferried over via sea transport

    • allowed Persian scouts to be sent in advance in strategic positions to determine the best route into Greece but also what areas would be good to use as bases and as campsites for such a large army

  • His forces

    • Were much larger than that of the Greeks with up to 200K men from Persia, Media, Bactria, Parthia, and Sogdiana

    • Included a group of warriors known as the Immortals, made up of 10K men from Scythia, Babylonia, Kush, Judea, and Lydia

    • Comprised a fleet of up to 600 ships manned by Phoenician sailors and Greek mercenaries

  • Received the support of King Alexander I of Macedon (not to be confused with ATG) which he conquered and moved onward from there into Thessaly and from there many other Greek city-states submitted to him

    • Thus, he extended his authority throughout half of Greece without fighting a single battle

    • It is almost as if the eastern Greek city-states welcomed the Persians

  • Fought against the Greek and Spartan forces at the Battle of Thermopylae, which he won

  • When he reached Athens, he found the city nearly deserted, and set it on fire

  • Instead of continuing to move further south into the Peloponnese, he sent his navy against the Greek fleet, which would prove to be a costly mistake that would ultimately lead to his losing the Greco-Persian War

  • Fought against the mostly-Athenian Greek ships in the sea at the Battle of Salamis, which he lost

  • From there, he returned back to Sardis while he left his general Mardonius in charge of his forces

  • Whatever land in Europe he had received up to this point had been lost to the pursuing Athenian-Spartan alliance across the Greek mainland

  • Under his reign, the Persians lost their territory in Ionia, specifically at the Battle of Mycale, which was lost to the Greeks

• Never fully recovered his power after the Greeks defeated the Persians in the Greco-Persian Wars from 500 BCE - 449 BCE while under his rule

  • There were many palace intrigues and revolts during his reign as a result of his inability to maintain power in Persia during these wars

486 BCE - 465 BCE - Xerxes (All Other Policies)

• 5th King of the Persian Achaemenid Empire

• Continued the policies of his predecessor

  • Maintained and expanded the empire’s infrastructure network

  • Claimed to be doing Ahura-Mazda’s work on earth

• Assassinated and succeeded by one of his sons or one of his advisors

• Buried at Naqsh-e Rostam along with his predecessor

465 BCE - 424 BCE - Artaxerxes (All Facts)

• 6th King of the Persian Achaemenid Empire

• Reorganized the government, putting men loyal to him in positions of power

• Suppressed a revolt in Bactria that had started right after he had assumed the throne

• Suppressed a revolt in Egypt led by Inaros who killed the Persian satrap there but was underresourced to maintain his revolt and was still defeated despite by receiving help from the Athenians

  • He had executed or had imprisoned most of the Egyptian and Athenian rebels and confiscated their ships and eventually his men had captured and executed Inaros

• Signed the Peace of Callias in 449 BCE with the Greeks, ending the Greco-Persian Wars

  • Under his reign, the Greeks harassed the Persians on Cyprus during the tail end of the Greco-Persian Wars

  • Via the treaty, he eventually put a stop to this

  • However, proxy battles were still fought after the passing of the treaty

• Realized it would be easier to control Greece via diplomacy and gold rather than outright warfare

  • This helped pit Greek city-states against one another in ways in which they could not unite together militaristically as they had done during the Greco-Persian Wars

• Continued the building projects of his predecessors, especially at Persepolis

• His reign was quite stable and peaceful

• Considered by many to be a wise and tolerant ruler

• Died peacefully in his sleep

424 BCE - Xerxes II (All Facts)

• 7th King of the Persian Achaemenid Empire

• Son of Artaxerxes

• Assassinated after 45 days by his half-brother Sogdianus

424 BCE - 423 BCE - Sogdianus (All Facts)

• 8th King of the Persian Achaemenid Empire

• Antagonized members of the royal court and important army officers out of paranoia

• Had the commander of the elite palace guards murdered

423 BCE - 404 BCE - Darius II (All Facts)

• 9th King of the Persian Achaemenid Empire

• Originally named Ochus, he was the satrap of Hyrkania and a son of Artaxerxes

• However, he marched onto Persepolis with an army and defeated his predecessor

• He secured the support of Persian nobles and officials and from there assumed the throne

• Under his reign, certain satraps flirted with the idea of independence from the crown

• Suppressed a revolt led by Pissouthnes, satrap of Sardis

  • He sent his most talented commander, Tissaphernes, to suppress the revolt, which he did, and made him satrap of Sardis in Pissouthnes’ place

  • Pissouthnes’ son Amorges rekindled the revolt two years later with help from the Athenians

    • However, he was able to defeat him and his Athenian allies

• Suppressed a revolt led by Arsetes, another brother of his and son of Artaxerxes

• Supported Sparta and its allies in the Peloponnesian War

  • He did this after citing Athenian support of Amorges as a breach of the Peace of Callias

  • Helped Sparta defeat Athens and become the new dominant power in Greece

• He had his general Tissaphernes use the Spartan victory to his advantage, by retaking the Ionian city-states of Greece that they had previously lost due to the Peace of Callias, which they violated because the Athenians had just breached it by sending reinforcements to Amorges

  • He had his general Tissaphernes make a deal with Sparta that the Persians would ally with them so long as the Persians could keep the Ionian cities

• Sent his son Cyrus the Younger to relieve Tissaphernes and replace him to command his troops

Cyrus the Younger (All Facts)

• Son of Darius II, some considered him to be instrumental in ending the Peloponnesian War

• Some said he had personally reached out to many Greeks, such as Lysander

• He had replaced Tissaphernes and presided over his troops

• Led a coup against Artaxerxes II, in which he raised a force of Asiatic and Greek mercenaries and won at the Battle of Cunaxa, only to be killed in the same battle thus preventing his assumption to the throne

  • The most famous of the Greek mercenaries he hired were the “Ten Thousand” recorded in Xenophon’s “Anabasis” of which he was a part

404 BCE - 358 BCE - Artaxerxes II (All Facts)

• 10th King of the Persian Achaemenid Empire

• Initially, he disputed the Achaemenid inheritance with his brother Cyrus the Younger

  • Cyrus the Younger planned a coup, in which he raised a force of Asiatic and Greek mercenaries and won at the Battle of Cunaxa, only to be killed in the same battle thus preventing his assumption to the throne

• He defeated Cyrus the Younger and his rebels which he captured and executed; however, most of the Greek mercenaries of the “Ten Thousand” managed to return to Greece

• Upon his taking the throne, Egypt revolts and successfully secedes from the Persian Achaemenid Empire

• Reversed the pro-Sparta policy of his predecessor and courted the Athenians in their place

• Fought against the Spartans in the Battle of Cnidus, which he won

• Forced concessions from Athens and Sparta via a peace treaty

• Supplied Thebes with weapons and monetary support, which they used to achieve military victories over both Athens and Sparta

• Ariobarzanes, satrap of Phrygia and Datames, satrap of Cappadocia revolt against him

  • His son-in-law Orontes, satrap of Armenia; organized for Datames’ assassination and Ariobarzanes’ arrest and shipment as prisoner to the king; which he had carried both out successfully

• By 370 BCE, however, other satraps of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, including Syria, Phoenicia, Anatolia, Cilicia, and satraps within Persia itself revolt against him and try out their new standing armies which they were building up during his reign

• When Takose came to seek refuge under him, he kicked him out and sent him back to Egypt who was then being ruled by Nectanebo II

• Renovated several buildings in Persepolis, Susa, and Babylon

358 BCE - 338 BCE - Artaxerxes III (All Facts)

• 11th King of the Persian Achaemenid Empire

• Suppressed the satraps’ revolts which in the decade prior to his rule had poisoned the life of the empire

• When consolidating his power, having feared possible rivals, he had his whole family massacred

• Rebuilt much of the empire, which had disintegrated significantly upon his assumption to the throne

  • Took back Egypt on his second attempt

  • He killed Tennes of Sidon, an ally of Egypt

  • Put down an Athenian-backed revolt in Cyprus

• Poisoned to death by his favorite eunuch

336 BCE - 330 BCE - Darius III (All Facts)

• 13th and Final King of the Persian Achaemenid Empire