Artabanos (son of Artasyras)

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Artabanos (alternatively written Artapanos ; † 464 BC ), son of Artasyras, was a regicide from Hyrcania in the Achaemenid Empire in the 5th century BC. He is not to be confused with the ruler Artabanos , who lived at the same time, and the Bactrian satrap Artapanos .

Artabanos had already held a high position at the court of Darius I and was his most influential advisor after Xerxes I ascended the throne . Whether he was identical with that Artapanos, who 480 BC Chr. 10,000 warriors in the battle of Thermopylae is unlikely. From Xerxes I he was appointed commander ( hazarapatiš ) of the " apple bearer guard " and thus in fact a royal vizier. 465 BC BC he organized a conspiracy against the king, whom he murdered in his sleep. That same night he accused the heir to the throne Darius of the act, who was immediately killed by Artaxerxes I , who was thus able to ascend the throne. Aristotle reported, however, that Artabanos first killed Darius and only then Xerxes, as he feared that Xerxes would punish him for the death of his son.

The of Athens fled Themistocles granted Artabanos reception at the Persian court. In fact, Artabanos himself had striven for the throne and was now trying to win the powerful noble Megabyzos as an accomplice for an uprising against Artaxerxes I. But Megabyzos betrayed him to the king, by whom he was killed with the sword himself in the attempted assassination.

This episode, enriched with the usual love intrigues, served Metastasio as the basis for his opera libretto Artaserse , which was performed for the first time in 1730 with the music of Leonardo Vinci . With more than 40 settings, it was one of the most famous and successful librettos in opera history up to the beginning of the 19th century and made the machinations of Artabanos common property of all educated classes.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Ktesias had used the spelling Artapanos , while Diodor , Plutarch and Justin spelled it Artabanos .
  2. ↑ a b Diodor 11, 69, 1.
  3. ↑ Ktesias of Knidos, Persika . in: The Fragments of the Greek Historians . No. 688, question. 13, 24 [based on the edition by Dominique Lenfant ].
  4. ↑ Ktesias of Knidos, Persika. in: The Fragments of the Greek Historians. No. 688, question. 13, 27. See Bigwood, pp. 27-28. Those 10,000 warriors cannot mean the " immortals ", since they were commanded by Hydarnes .
  5. ↑ Ktesias of Knidos, Persika. in: The Fragments of the Greek Historians. No. 688, question. 13, 33. Diodorus 11, 69, 2-4.
  6. ^ Aristotle, Politics 5, 1311 b 38.
  7. ^ Plutarch, Themistocles. 27.
  8. ↑ Ktesias of Knidos, Persika. in: The Fragments of the Greek Historians. No. 688, question. 14, 34. Diodorus 11, 69, 5-6. Justin 3, 1.
personal data
SURNAME Artabanos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Artapanos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Persian regicide
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century BC BC or 5th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 464 BC Chr.