Satrap revolt
There were more frequent revolts by the satraps against the central power of the Persian king . The great revolt of the 360s BC described by Diodorus BC is seen as the main phase of the uprisings against Artaxerxes II . This uprising is said to have been characterized by the joint action of numerous satraps from Asia Minor. They were allegedly supported by the Egyptian king Tachos and the Spartans . The spread of the unrest to Syria and Phenicia may also have had a supportive effect .
Research disputes the extent and importance of the uprising. Even the question of whether it was actually a single large elevation, as Diodorus claimed 300 years apart, remains unanswered. One can divide, which is in fact unclear whether these were related to each other, in the elevation of him in several individual uprisings Datames centered in Cappadocia , the rebellion of Ariobarzanes in Hellespontine Phrygia , which by Sparta and Athens was supported, Unrest with the participation of Orontes I (train to Syria), Datames (crossing of the Euphrates ) and Tachos (train with the support of Agesilaos II and Chabrias to Phenicia).
Diodorus writes about this uprising that 362/1 BC BC the inhabitants of the coast of Asia Minor began to revolt, and the Persian satraps rose against Artaxerxes. At the same time, the Egyptian king Tachos decided to fight the Persians, and according to Diodorus he was also able to convince the Lacedaemonians to join him. Artaxerxes allegedly prepared himself for a long time for the battle, because he had to join forces with the enemies of the Persian king against the Egyptian king, the Greek cities of Asia Minor, the Lacedaemonians and their allies as well as against the satraps who administered and decided the coastal areas Thing to do, fight. The most outstanding of the satraps were accordingly Ariobarzanes, the satrap of Phrygia, Maussolos of Caria , Orontes of Mysia and Autophradates of Lydia . Those satraps who revolted against Artaxerxes chose Orontes as their general, according to Diodorus. However, this allegedly broke the trust placed in him, because he had hoped that he could become the sole satrap of the entire coastal region if he surrendered the rebels to the Persian king. According to Diodorus, a similar betrayal also occurred in Cappadocia: Artabazos II , the king's general, marched into Cappadocia, and Datames, the satrap of that country, opposed him. Datames' father-in-law, however, turned out to be a traitor. Nevertheless, Datames was able to defeat the enemy army and thereby increased his reputation as a general, according to Diodorus; and Artaxerxes then ordered Diodorus to be murdered. Michael Weiskopf in particular advocated the thesis that Diodor's statements were often wrong or misleading; several of the named satraps, above all Maussolos and Autophradates, had in truth never rebelled against the Persian king, and the idea of a great satrap revolt was all in all a "myth". For other researchers, Weiskopf's criticism goes too far.
In any case, the uprisings ended with Orontes submitting, Datames was murdered and Tachos fled to the Great King pleading for mercy after he was defeated by Crown Prince Ochos and feared a rebellion in Egypt. As the last phase of the satrap revolt, one can see the rising of Artabazos against Artaxerxes III. (from 352) count. The uprisings are to be seen less as a sign of a fundamental weakness of the Persian central power, but more as symptoms of temporary regional instability than unrest and revolts broke out independently of one another and for different reasons over the course of about 10 years, which Diodorus later became one single major uprising. For the failure of the uprisings, rivalries between the satraps and in the Egyptian ruling house were just as responsible as Artaxerxes II's military and diplomatic countermeasures.
literature
- P. Briant: From Cyrus to Alexander. A History of the Persian Empire , New York 2002, esp. 656 ff.
- S. Hornblower: Persia. Political History, 400-336 BC In: CAH 6, 1994, 45-96, esp. 84 ff.
- R. Moysey: Diodoros, the Satraps and the Decline of the Persian Empire , in: AHB 5, 1991, 113-122.
- M. Weiskopf: The So-Called “Great Satraps' Revolt”, 366-360 BC Concerning Local Instability in the Achaemenid Far West , Stuttgart 1989.
- J. Wiesehöfer: Satrapenaufstand , in: Der Neue Pauly 11, 2001, Sp. 110f.