Ariaeus
Encyclopedia
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
.
.
At the Battle of Cunaxa
he was Cyrus' second in command and commanded the left. According to Ctesias, he was alongside Cyrus, when Cyrus succeeded in wounding Artaxerxes
, but this is unlikely. This would put him on the right alongside Cyrus, and Xenophon and Diodorus both agree he was on the left, which would have been some distance away.
As soon as Ariaeus discovered that Cyrus was slain in battle, he retreated with the surviving Persian troops. After the battle he offered to wait and return with the surviving Greek soldiers. Clearchus
, speaking on behalf of the Greek soldiers, who considered themselves the victors in the battle, sent him a message to offer him the throne of Persia, but he declined. The Greeks then met up with Ariaeus and his Persian troops and they both agreed not to betray each other, and Ariaeus promised to lead them safely out of Persia.
Subsequently, Tissaphernes
, promising Artaxerxes he would destroy the Greek troops entirely, persuaded the king to come to terms with Ariaeus, if Ariaeus would help betray the Greeks. Tissaphernes met with Ariaeus and persuaded him to join him, and Tissaphernes and Ariaeus led the Greeks to believe that they and Artaxerxes were willing to make peace with them and lead them to safety. Clearchus, Menon and three other generals (Agis of Arcadia, Socrates of Achaea
and Proxenus of Boetia) along with 20 officers and some 200 troops later met with Tissaphernes on apparently cordial terms.
At a given signal, the officers and as many of the troops as could be caught were killed and all the generals were captured. They were then taken to Artaxerxes and killed. Some of the surviving soldiers found their way to the Greek encampment and, in response to their news, the remaining Greeks started preparing to attack the Persians. Ariaeus was immediately sent to assuage the Greeks. Ariaeus told the Greeks that only Clearchus has been killed, for reason of treachery, and tried to persuade them to lay down their arms, which the Greeks were reluctant to do. The surviving Greeks eventually decided to leave the camp and find their way out of Persia and return to Greece. Ariaeus joined Tissaphernes in an unsuccessful pursuit of the Greeks.
Ariaeus is next recorded in 395 BC when he was involved in the assassination of Tissaphernes. Diodours refers to him as a satrap
, which is probably a mistake, since he appeared to be reporting to Tissaphernes, who was the satrap of Sardis
at that time. Artaxerxes grew angry with Tissaphernes' incompetence in his battles with the Greeks, perhaps even suspecting him of betrayal, and ordered his vizier Tithraustes
to kill him. Ariaeus was ordered to assist. So Ariaeus invited Tissaphernes to visit him at his residence in Colossae
in Phrygia
to discuss important business. Tissaphernes was unsuspicious, leaving behind his bodyguard. When he arrived he set aside his sword and went into a bath. Ariaeus' men seized him there and sent him to Tithraustes by covered carriage, where he was soon after beheaded.
Tithraustes was given Tissaphernes' former satrapy of Sardis and when Tithraustes' left to visit Artaxerxes in the late summer of 395 BC, he left Ariaeus and Passiphernes as generals in charge of Sardis. In the winter of 395-394 BC Ariaeus was visited there by Spithridates
, who may have been trying to interest him in joining in rebellion against the king. Xenophon says that Spithridates put his trust in Ariaeus because he had already revolted against the king, which could have been a reference to Ariaeus' involvement in Cyrus the Younger's rebellion against Artaxerxes in 401 BC or perhaps may have suggested that Ariaeus was again in open rebellion.
, Bibliotheca historica
XIV.26.1-5 & XIV.80.6-8
Hellenica Oxyrhynchia
19(22).3
Plutarch
Life of Artaxerxes
Polyaenus
, Stratagems of War VIII, 16
Xenophon
, Anabasis
I.8-II.6 & III.5; Hellenica IV.1.27
Bigwood, J. M. "The Ancient Accounts of the Battle of Cunaxa," The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 104, No. 4 (Winter, 1983), pp. 340–357
Brown, Truesdell S. "Menon of Thessaly" Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, 35:4 (1986) pp 387–404
Bruce, I. A. F. An Historical Commentary on the "Hellenica Oxyrhynchia," Cambridge UP, 1967, p 92
Cambridge Ancient History, Vol 6: The Fourth Century BC, Cambridge UP, 1994, pp 71 & 78-79
Dandamaev, M.A. A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire, Trans. W.J. Vogelsang, Brill, 1989
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Ed. William Smith.
Grote, George. History of Greece, vol 9, 1856
Peter Krentz, Xenophon: Hellenika II.3.11-IV.2.8, Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1995, p 206
Westlake, H. D. "Diodorus and the Expedition of Cyrus," Phoenix, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Autumn, 1987), pp. 241–254
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...
general who fought alongside 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...
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...
and later was involved in the assassination of Tissaphernes
Tissaphernes
Tissaphernes 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...
.
Life
Ariaeus appears in historic records in 401 BC, in Xenophon's description of the events leading up to the Battle of Cunaxa. Xenophon noted that he was a friend of Cyrus and was said to be fond of young boys, which was why he was an intimate of the young Thessalian general MenonMenon III of Pharsalus
Menon , son of Alexidemus, was a Thessalian, probably from Pharsalus and is famous for appearing in Plato's dialogue the Meno and for being among the generals killed by Artaxerxes after the Battle of Cunaxa as detailed in Xenophon's Anabasis.-Biography:Menon is reported, by both Xenophon and...
.
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...
he was Cyrus' second in command and commanded the left. According to Ctesias, he was alongside Cyrus, when Cyrus succeeded in wounding Artaxerxes
Artaxerxes II of Persia
Artaxerxes II Mnemon was king of Persia from 404 BC until his death. He was a son of Darius II of Persia and Parysatis.-Reign:...
, but this is unlikely. This would put him on the right alongside Cyrus, and Xenophon and Diodorus both agree he was on the left, which would have been some distance away.
As soon as Ariaeus discovered that Cyrus was slain in battle, he retreated with the surviving Persian troops. After the battle he offered to wait and return with the surviving Greek soldiers. Clearchus
Clearchus of Sparta
Clearchus or Clearch , the son of Rhamphias, was a Spartan general and mercenary.Born about the middle of the 5th century BC, Clearchus was sent with a fleet to the Hellespont in 411 and became governor of Byzantium, of which town he was proxenus...
, speaking on behalf of the Greek soldiers, who considered themselves the victors in the battle, sent him a message to offer him the throne of Persia, but he declined. The Greeks then met up with Ariaeus and his Persian troops and they both agreed not to betray each other, and Ariaeus promised to lead them safely out of Persia.
Subsequently, Tissaphernes
Tissaphernes
Tissaphernes 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...
, promising Artaxerxes he would destroy the Greek troops entirely, persuaded the king to come to terms with Ariaeus, if Ariaeus would help betray the Greeks. Tissaphernes met with Ariaeus and persuaded him to join him, and Tissaphernes and Ariaeus led the Greeks to believe that they and Artaxerxes were willing to make peace with them and lead them to safety. Clearchus, Menon and three other generals (Agis of Arcadia, Socrates of Achaea
Socrates of Achaea
Socrates was a Greek mercenary general from Achaea who traveled to Persia to fight at the Battle of Cunaxa. Xenophon describes him as brave in war and a reliable friend. Socrates was summoned by Cyrus, with whom he was already connected, to bring as many troops as he could muster under the...
and Proxenus of Boetia) along with 20 officers and some 200 troops later met with Tissaphernes on apparently cordial terms.
At a given signal, the officers and as many of the troops as could be caught were killed and all the generals were captured. They were then taken to Artaxerxes and killed. Some of the surviving soldiers found their way to the Greek encampment and, in response to their news, the remaining Greeks started preparing to attack the Persians. Ariaeus was immediately sent to assuage the Greeks. Ariaeus told the Greeks that only Clearchus has been killed, for reason of treachery, and tried to persuade them to lay down their arms, which the Greeks were reluctant to do. The surviving Greeks eventually decided to leave the camp and find their way out of Persia and return to Greece. Ariaeus joined Tissaphernes in an unsuccessful pursuit of the Greeks.
Ariaeus is next recorded in 395 BC when he was involved in the assassination of Tissaphernes. Diodours refers to him as a 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....
, which is probably a mistake, since he appeared to be reporting to Tissaphernes, who was the satrap of Sardis
Sardis
Sardis or Sardes was an ancient city at the location of modern Sart in Turkey's Manisa Province...
at that time. Artaxerxes grew angry with Tissaphernes' incompetence in his battles with the Greeks, perhaps even suspecting him of betrayal, and ordered his 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...
to kill him. Ariaeus was ordered to assist. So Ariaeus invited Tissaphernes to visit him at his 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...
in 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...
to discuss important business. Tissaphernes was unsuspicious, leaving behind his bodyguard. When he arrived he set aside his sword and went into a bath. Ariaeus' men seized him there and sent him to Tithraustes by covered carriage, where he was soon after beheaded.
Tithraustes was given Tissaphernes' former satrapy of Sardis and when Tithraustes' left to visit Artaxerxes in the late summer of 395 BC, he left Ariaeus and Passiphernes as generals in charge of Sardis. In the winter of 395-394 BC Ariaeus was visited there by Spithridates
Spithridates
Spithridates was a satrap of Lydia and Ionia under the high king Darius III Codomannus and was one of the Persian commanders at the Battle of the Granicus, in 334 BC, in which engagement, while he was aiming a blow from behind at Alexander the Great, his arm was cut off by Cleitus, son of Dropides...
, who may have been trying to interest him in joining in rebellion against the king. Xenophon says that Spithridates put his trust in Ariaeus because he had already revolted against the king, which could have been a reference to Ariaeus' involvement in Cyrus the Younger's rebellion against Artaxerxes in 401 BC or perhaps may have suggested that Ariaeus was again in open rebellion.
Primary sources
Diodorus SiculusDiodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian who flourished between 60 and 30 BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily . With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doings beyond what is to be found in his own work, Bibliotheca...
, Bibliotheca historica
Bibliotheca historica
Bibliotheca historica , is a work of universal history by Diodorus Siculus. It consisted of forty books, which were divided into three sections. The first six books are geographical in theme, and describe the history and culture of Egypt , of Mesopotamia, India, Scythia, and Arabia , of North...
XIV.26.1-5 & XIV.80.6-8
Hellenica Oxyrhynchia
Hellenica Oxyrhynchia
Hellenica Oxyrhynchia is the name given to a history of the late 5th and early 4th centuries BC in ancient Greece, of which papyrus fragments were unearthed at Oxyrhynchus, in Egypt. One of the two major fragments, the so-called London papyrus, found in 1906, deals with battles in the late...
19(22).3
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...
Life of Artaxerxes
Polyaenus
Polyaenus
Polyaenus or Polyenus vs. e]]; , "many proverbs") was a 2nd century Macedonian author, known best for his Stratagems in War , which has been preserved. The Suda calls him a rhetorician, and Polyaenus himself writes that he was accustomed to plead causes before the emperor...
, Stratagems of War VIII, 16
Xenophon
Xenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
, Anabasis
Anabasis (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...
I.8-II.6 & III.5; Hellenica IV.1.27
Secondary sources
Bassett, Sherylee R. "Innocent Victims or Perjurers Betrayed? The Arrest of the Generals in Xenophon's 'Anabasis,'" The Classical Quarterly, New Series, 52: 2 (2002) pp 447–461Bigwood, J. M. "The Ancient Accounts of the Battle of Cunaxa," The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 104, No. 4 (Winter, 1983), pp. 340–357
Brown, Truesdell S. "Menon of Thessaly" Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, 35:4 (1986) pp 387–404
Bruce, I. A. F. An Historical Commentary on the "Hellenica Oxyrhynchia," Cambridge UP, 1967, p 92
Cambridge Ancient History, Vol 6: The Fourth Century BC, Cambridge UP, 1994, pp 71 & 78-79
Dandamaev, M.A. A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire, Trans. W.J. Vogelsang, Brill, 1989
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Ed. William Smith.
Grote, George. History of Greece, vol 9, 1856
Peter Krentz, Xenophon: Hellenika II.3.11-IV.2.8, Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1995, p 206
Westlake, H. D. "Diodorus and the Expedition of Cyrus," Phoenix, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Autumn, 1987), pp. 241–254
External links
- Xenophon's Anabasis, H. G. Dakyns' trans
- Xenophon's Hellenica, H. G. Dakyns' trans
- Diodorus Sicilus Book XIV, C. H. Oldfather's trans
- Polyaenus, Stratagems of War, R. Shepherd's trans
- Plutarch's Life of Artaxerxes, John Dryden trans