Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/390

Rh 372 ART AX IAS. shores of the Caspian sea ; and after his numerous army was with great difficulty saved from total destruction, he concluded a peace without gain- ing any advantages. (Diod. xv. 9, 10; Plut. Artax. 24.) His attempts to recover Egj^pt were unsuccessful, and the general insurrection of his subjects in Asia Minor failed only through treacliery among the insurgents themselves. (Diod. XV. 90, &c.) When Artaxerxes felt that the end of his life was approaching, he endeavoured to prevent all quarrels respecting the succession by fixing upon Dareius, the eldest of his three legitimate sons (by his concubines he had no less than 115 sons, Justin, x. 1), as his successor, and granted to him all the outward distinctions of royalty. But Dareius soon after fell out with his father about Aspasia, and formed a plot to assassi- nate him. But the plot was betrayed, and Dareius Avas put to death with many of his accomplices. (Plut. Artan. 26, &c. ; Justin. /. c.) Of the two remaining legitimate sons, Ochus and Ariaspes, the former now hoped to succeed his father ; but as Ariaspes was beloved by the Persians on account of his gentle and amiable character, and as the aged Artaxerxes appeared to prefer Arsames, the son of one of his concubines, Ochus contrived by intrigues to drive Ariaspes to despair and suicide, and had Arsames assassinated. Artaxerxes died of grief at these horrors in B. c. 362, and was suc- ceeded by Ochus, who ascended the throne under the name of Artaxerxes III. (Plut. Life of Arta- xerxes ; Diod. XV. 93 ; Phot. BihL pp. 42 — 44, ed. Bekker; Clinton, Fiu<t. Hellen. ii. p. 381, &c.) Artaxerxes III., also called Ochtis, succeeded his father as king of Persia in B. c. 362, and reigned till B. c. 339. In order to secure the throne which he had gjiined by treason and mur- der, he began his reign with a merciless extirpation of the members of his family. He himself was a cowardly and reckless despot ; and the great ad- Aantages which the Persian arms gained during his reign, were owing only to his Greek generals and mercenaries, and to traitors, or want of skill on the part of his enemies. These advantages con- sisted in the conquest of the revolted satrap Arta- "bazns [Artabazus, No. 4], and in the reduction of Phoenicia, of several revolted towns in Cyprus, and of Egypt, b. c. 350. (Diod. xvi. 40—52.) From this time Artaxerxes withdrew to his seraglio, where he passed his days in sensual pleasures. The reins of the government were entirely in the hands of the eunuch Bagoas, and of Mentor, the Rhodian, and the existence of the king himself was felt by his subjects only in the bloody com- mands which he issued. At last he was killed by poison by Bagoas, and was succeeded by his voimgest son. Arses. (Diod. xvii. 5 ; Plut, De Is. et Os. 11 ; Aelian, V. H. iv. 8, vi. 8, H.A. x. 28; Justin, X. 3 ; comp. Clinton, Fast. Hellen. ii. p. 382, &c.) Respecting Artaxerxes, the founder of the dynasty of the Sassanidae, see Sassanidae. [L.S.] ARTA'XIAS i^ApTalias) or ARTAXES ('A^ To^Tjs), the name of three kings of Armenia. I. The founder of the Armenian kingdom, was one of the generals of Antiochus the Great, but revoitcd from him soon after his peace with the Romans in B.C. 188, and became an independent sovereign. (Strab. xi. pp. 528, 531, 532.) Hannibal took refuge at the court of Artaxias, when Antio- chus was no longer able to protect him, and he superintended the building of Artaxata, the capital ARTAYCTES. of Armenia, which was so called in honour of Ar- taxias. (Strab. xi. p. 528 ; Plut. Lwull. 31.) Ar- taxias was included in the peace made between Eumenes and Phamaces in b. c. 179 (Polyb. xxvi. 6), but was conquered and taken prisoner by An- tiochus IV. Epiphanes towards the end of his reign, about b. c. 1 65. (Appian, Syr. 45, 66.) II. The son of Artavasdes I., was made king by the Armenians when his father was taken pri- soner by Antony in b. c. 34. He risked a battle against the Romans, but was defeated and obliged to fly into Parthia. But with the help of the Parthians he regained his kingdom soon afterwards, and defeated and took prisoner Artavasdes, king of Media, who had opposed him. [Artavasdes.] On his return to Armenia, he put to death all the Romans who had remained behind in the country; and in consequence of that, Augustus refused to restore him his relatives, when he sent an embassy to Rome to demand them. When the Armenians in B. c. 20 complained to Augustus about Artaxias, and requested as king his broiher Tigranes, who was then at Rome, Augustus sent Tiberius with a large army into Armenia, in order to depose Ar- taxias and place Tigranes upon the throne ; but Artaxias was put to death by his relatives before Tiberius reached the country. Tigranes was now proclaimed king without any opposition ; but Tiberius took the credit to himself of a successful expedition : whence Horace {Epist. i. 12. 25) says, "Claudi virtute Neronis Armenius cecidit." (Dion Cass. xlix. 39, 40, 44, Ii. 16, liv. 9; Tac. Ann. ii. 3; Veil. Pat. ii. 94 ; Joseph. Ant. xv. 4. § 3 ; Suet. Tilx'T. 9.) Velleius Paterculus (l. c.) calls this king Artavasdes, and Dion Cassius in one passage (liv. 9) names him Artabazes, but in all the others Artaxes. III. The son of Polemon, king of Pontus, was proclaimed king of Armenia by Germanicus in A. D. 18, at the wish of the Armenians, whose favour he had gained by adopting their habits and mode of life. His original name was Zenon, but the Armenians called him Artaxias on his acces- sion. Upon the death of Artaxias, about a. d. 35, Arsaces, the son of the Parthian king, Artabanus, was placed upon the Armenian throne by his fa- ther. (Tac. Ann. ii. b^, vi. 31.) ARTAYCTES {' ApraiiKT-ns), a Persian, the son of Cherasmis, commanded the Macrones and Mosynoeci in the expedition of Xerxes into Greece. He was at the time governor of the town of Sestus and its territory on the Hellespont, where he ruled as an arbitrary and reckless tyrant. When Xerxes passed through Sestus, Artayctes induced the king by fraud to give him the tomb and sacred land of the hero Protesilaus, which existed at Elaeus near Sestus ; he then pillaged the tomb, and made pro- fane use of the sacred land. This sacrilegious act was not forgiven him by the Greeks. He did not expect to see an enemy at such a distance from Athens ; when, therefore, in B. c. 479, Xanthippus appeared in the Hellespont with a fleet, Artayctes was not prepared for a siege. However the town was strongly fortified and able to resist a besieging army. Xanthippus continued his siege during the whole winter, but on the approach of spring the famine in the town became insupportable ; and Artayctes and Oeobazus, a Persian of high rank, succeeded in making their escape through the lines of the besiegers. As soon as the Greek inhabit- ants of Sestus heard of the flight of their gover-