Nabarzanes

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bagoas asks Alexander for mercy for Nabarzanes. Medieval depiction between 1468 and 1475.

Nabarzanes († after 330 BC) was in the 4th century BC. A court minister of the great king Dareios III. Kodomannus , who was the last Achaemenid to rule the Persian Empire.

Life

As Chiliarch (court marshal), Nabarzanes held the highest court office in the service of Darius III, possibly as successor to the eunuch Bagoas . After Alexander the Great had started his campaign in Asia, Dareios III. in winter 334/333 BC Have commissioned a (unsuccessful) assassination attempt against the conqueror. According to the Alexander historian Curtius Rufus , a Persian confidante of Alexander by the name of Sisines was asked by Nabarzanes to kill the Macedonian king. Arrian, however, reports nothing of Nabarzanes' participation in the murder plot, but claims that Darius III. the Sisines - who appears here as a confidante of the Persian king - sent to Alexander the Lynkest , in order to persuade the latter to remove his royal namesake.

In the Battle of Issus (November 333 BC) Nabarzanes commanded the strong cavalry and 20,000 slingers and archers on the right wing of the Persians. Its position was on a flat spot near the coast, very suitable for equestrian combat, where the small river Pinaros emptied. In the course of the battle he crossed the river with the contingents under him and fought very successfully against the Macedonians militarily, but then had to retreat because of Darius' flight.

The Battle of Gaugamela (October 1, 331 BC), which again ended with a Persian defeat, is likely to have Nabarzanes participated in a leading position despite his not being mentioned in the sources. He was one of the high-ranking Persians, who with Darius III. fled after the lost battle. When Alexander advanced very quickly against Ekbatana , there were differences of opinion among the followers of the great king about how to proceed. Some thought that the Macedonian king should be confronted with a fight, while Nabarzanes and the Bactrian satrap Bessos in particular pleaded for a withdrawal to the east. Nabarzanes even asked the great king to retreat to the most distant provinces of his empire and to leave the government to Bessos for a certain time. Because of this bold suggestion, Darius III. but very angry, whereupon Nabarzanes and Bessus parted from the king.

After the withdrawal from Ekbatana, the persecution by Alexander apparently led to intensified disputes in the wake of the Persian king. The Greek mercenary leader Patron was looking for Darius III. to protect against the danger of being captured by Nabarzanes and Bessos by suggesting that his mercenaries guard him. But the great king refused this protective measure. Soon the two high Persian dignitaries made Dareios III. actually to their prisoner and carried him away on a cart. When Alexander had come very close, the conspirators let the Achaemenid king in July 330 BC. Kill Chr.

Waldemar Heckel considers a Barzanes mentioned by Arrian to be identical to the Nabarzanes dealt with here and concludes from this that Bessos, who now declared himself the Great King, intended to appoint Nabarzanes as governor ( satrap ) of Hyrcania and Parthia . In any case, it is certain that after Darius' assassination Bessus avoided the advancing Alexander east to Bactria , whereas Nabarzanes withdrew to the north to Hyrcania, where he was the one who was still defeated by Dareios III. The appointed satrap replaced Phrataphernes and took possession of the capital Zadrakarta.

In return for an assurance of impunity, Nabarzanes surrendered to the Macedonian king, who was marching against Hyrcania, and brought him many presents. In his entourage was also the beautiful favorite Bagoas , whose seductive charms and pleas, according to Curtius Rufus, should have mainly moved Alexander to actually pardon Nabarzanes. It seems more likely, however, that Alexander wanted to take high-ranking Persian nobles into his service, so that they would help him in the government of the vast empire.

Early 328 BC Phrataphernes and Stasanor brought the Macedonian king two captured renegade satraps, Arsakes or Arsames of Areia and Barzanes of Parthia. As mentioned, Waldemar Heckel considers the latter to be identical to Nabarzanes. In any case, the two governors captured were probably executed on Alexander's orders.

Nabarzanes, whose picture is drawn quite positively by Curtius Rufus, was the last Chiliarch of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. However, this office was later (324 BC) reintroduced to his court by Alexander, who regarded himself as the successor to the Achaemenids, and was occupied by his friend Hephaestion .

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Arrian , Anabasis 3, 21, 1 and 3, 23, 4.
  2. ^ Curtius Rufus 3, 7, 11ff.
  3. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 1, 25, 3f.
  4. ^ Curtius Rufus 3, 9, 1.
  5. ^ Arrian, Anabasis 2, 11, 2f.
  6. ↑ Helmut Berve : Nabarzanes. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XVI, 2, Stuttgart 1935, Col. 1452.
  7. ^ Curtius Rufus 5, 9, 3ff.
  8. ^ Curtius Rufus 5, 9, 11.
  9. ^ Curtius Rufus 5, 9, 15 and 5, 11, 1-12.
  10. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 3, 21, 1; Curtius Rufus 5, 12, 14ff.
  11. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 4, 7, 1.
  12. ↑ a b Waldemar Heckel: Who's who in the age of Alexander the Great. Prosopography of Alexander's empire . Blackwell, Oxford 2006, ISBN 978-1-4051-1210-9
  13. ^ Curtius Rufus 5, 13, 18; 6, 3, 9.
  14. ↑ Curtius Rufus 6, 4, 12-14 and 6, 5, 22f .; short Arrian, Anabasis 3, 23, 4; Robin Lane Fox: Alexander the Great . 3rd edition, German Stuttgart 2005, p. 356.
  15. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 4, 7, 1; see. 4, 18, 1.
  16. ↑ See above all Curtius Rufus 5, 9-10.
personal data
SURNAME Nabarzanes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Court Marshal of Darius III.
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 330 BC Chr.