Artobazanes

Artobazanes ( medically : Rtabrzana; * before 522 BC; † before 485 BC) was a member of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty in the 5th century BC. He was the first-born son and thus the potential heir to the throne of the Great King Dareios I from his first marriage to a daughter of Gobryas . His full brothers were Ariamenes and Ariabignes .

When Darius I in 486 BC When he had finished his armor for a campaign against Greece, which was supposed to redeem the lost battle at Marathon , a dispute broke out among his sons about the reign of the empire. Artobazanes claimed the reign and with it the succession to the throne for himself, referring to his birthright , which has always been valid under the Persians. His half-brother Xerxes I, however, contradicted this and referred to the fact that he was not only the maternal grandson of Cyrus II , but also the first son of Darius, who after his accession to the throne in 522 BC. Was born in BC. Xerxes had therefore used the principle of the “ purple birth ” to underpin his right of succession.

The former Spartan king Demaratus, who was exiled to the Persian court, also agreed with the viewpoint of Xerxes, pointing out that it was customary in Sparta from time immemorial that the next-born was always given preference over his older brothers in the line of succession, provided that they were before the inauguration of the Father's were born. Darius I ultimately agreed to this advice and appointed Xerxes to be his heir to the throne.

Artobazanes must have died shortly afterwards, as he is no longer mentioned when his father dies the following year. Xerxes I had actually succeeded to the throne, which Ariamenes recognized as the next oldest of the brothers.

Remarks

1. ↑ Herodotus , Historíai 7, 2.
2. ↑ Herodotus, Historíai 7, 3.