Artabanos (son of Hystaspes)

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Artabanos ( Greek: Ἀρταπάνης, Elamite: Irdabanuš ), son of Hystaspes , was a member of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty in the 5th century BC. He was a younger brother of the great king Dareios I and thus an uncle of Xerxes I , for whom he was 480 BC. Led the reign over the empire. He is not to be confused with the regicide Artabanos and the Bactrian satrap Artapanos, who lived at the same time .

Advisor to the Kings

In 513 BC Artabanos tried in vain to urge his brother Darius I to refuse the campaign against the Scythians in Europe . According to Plutarch , he is said to have later secured his nephew Xerxes I rule by ruling the dispute for the throne between Xerxes and Ariamenes in favor of the former. In 480 BC He also tried to prevent Xerxes from invading Greece to retaliate for the defeat at Marathon and the pillage of Sardis by predicting another defeat. But the king accused him of cowardice and only the fact that he was his uncle saved him from his anger, because Xerxes was ultimately inclined to the point of view of Mardonios , who had pleaded for an invasion.

According to the story of Herodotus , after he had calmed down, Xerxes weighed the arguments of his uncle again and decided to break off the campaign. But after a dream face had appeared to him on two consecutive nights that prophesied an early death, should he not carry out the campaign, he turned to Artabanos for advice. He was instructed to sleep in the king's robes for one night in the royal chamber and in fact the dream face appeared to him there in his sleep, which now reinforced the threats against Xerxes against Artabanos. Believing to have recognized a divine will in this dream face, Artabanos changed his mind and also voted for a campaign to Greece, which Xerxes wanted to carry out because of this advice.

Artabanos himself did not take part in the campaign, but was appointed regent of the empire for the time of his absence when the army was passed in Abydos by Xerxes. But his son Tritantaichmes was appointed one of the six commanders of one of the three pillars of the army. After the capture of Athens , which the great king reported to Artabanos in Susa with joy , the year ended in the defeat of Salamis , after which Xerxes fled back to Asia. In the following year Mardonios was defeated and died in the battle of Plataiai . After that, nothing more is reported about Artabanos.

In addition to Tritantaichmes, Artabanos perhaps had two other sons, provided that the fathers of the same name were Bassakes and Artyphios, who lived in 480 BC. The leaders of the Asian Thracians or the Gandarians and Dadiks were identical to him.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b Herodotus : Historíai. 4, 83.
  2. ^ Plutarch, De fraterno amore 18 and Themistocles 14.
  3. ↑ Herodotus: Historíai. 7, 10.
  4. ↑ Herodotus: Historíai. 7, 11.
  5. ↑ Herodotus: Historíai. 7, 12-18.
  6. ↑ Herodotus: Historíai. 7, 46-52.
  7. ↑ Herodotus: Historíai. 7, 82.
  8. ↑ Herodotus: Historíai. 8, 54.
  9. ↑ Herodotus: Historíai. 7, 66 and 75.
personal data
SURNAME Artabanos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Irdabanuš
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Brother of Dareios I, regent of the Achaemenid Empire
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 5th century BC Chr.