Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1167

Rh TISSAPHERNES. Ephesian Artemis, a circumstance which Thucy- dides, for some reason unknown to us, has thought it worth while to record, and with which his history abruptly ends. When the satrap arrived at the Hellespont, Alcibiades came with presents to pay his court to him, but Tissaphernes, in the hope of regaining the confidence of his old allies, seized the Athenian and sent him to Sardis, to be there kept in custody. He endeavoured also at the same time to apologise for his breach of promise with respect to the Phoenician ships, by alleging that they were needed to defend the king's do- minions from the Arabians and Egyptians ; for there can be no doubt that the name of Pharna- bazus in Diodorus (xiii. 46) is a blunder of the historian's for Tissaphernes, as it certainly is in other passages of tlie same author, e. g. xiii. 36, 37, 38, xiv. 22. As however the value of the pro- fessions of Tissaphernes was now pretty well known, it is probable that few, if any, believed him ; and Alcibiades, when he escaped from prison, after a month's detention, would be likely enough to gain credit for his assertion, that he had been released by the satrap himself. The latter not- withstanding still carried on his intrigues, through his emissaries at Sparta, to win back the confidence which had been transferred to Pharnabazus ; but his attempts were defeated by Hermocrates, who had repaired thither for the express purpose of setting his character in its true light before the Lacedaemonians, and, a revolution having taken place about the same time at Thasos (b. c. 410), accompanied with the expulsion of Eteonicus, the Spartan harmost, Tissaphernes was suspected of having promoted it. In the following year (b. c. 409), when the Athenians under Thrasyllus had invaded Lydia, and were threatening Ephesus, Tissaphernes sent all round to summon the popula- tion " to the defence of the goddess," and, having thus collected a considerable force, baffled the attempt of the enemy. In B. c. 407 Cyrus the younger was appointed by his father, Dareius, to be viceroy of the whole maritime region of Asia Minor, and, regarding Tissaphernes as his enemy, listened readily to Lysander's complaints against him, aud prepared to supply the Lacedaemonians with cordial and eflfectual assistance ; nor could he be diverted from this course by the representations of Tissaphernes, that the true policy for Persia was the one which he himself had hitherto pursued. The mutual distrust and hostility between the prince and the satrap only increased with time ; and when Cyrus, in B. c. 405, was summoned to court by his father, he took Tissaphernes with him, under pretence of ( doing him honour, but really because he was afraid j to leave him behind. After the death of Dareius, I at the end of the same year, Tissaphernes accused ! Cyrus of a plot against the life of his brother Artaxerxes, the new king, and it was only through the influence of the queen-mother, Parysatis, that the prince was pardoned. On their return to Avestern Asia, Cyrus and Tissaphernes were en- gaged in continual disputes about the cities in the satrapy of the latter, over which Cyrus claimed dominion, and all of which indeed transferred their allegiance to him, with the exception of Miletus, where Tissaphernes quenched an intended revolt in blood. The ambitious views of Cyrus towards the throne at length became manifest to the satrap, who lost no time in repairing to the king with TISSAPHERNES. 1155 information of the danger. At the battle of Cunaxa, in B. c. 401, he was one of the four generals who commanded the army of Artaxerxes, and was stationed with the main body of the cavalry in the left wing, of which his troops were the only portion that was not put to flight by the Greeks. When the 10,000 had begun their re- treat, Tissaphernes sought an interview with them, professed his great anxiety to serve them, as being a neighbour of Greece in his satrapy, and declared that he had been using in their favour his influ- ence with the king, who had promised to consider his request, and had sent him in the meantime to ask the reason of their expedition against him. By his advice they gave to this message a moderate and prudent answer, and within three days* time Tissaphernes returned and informed them that he had with much difficulty prevailed on Artaxerxes to allow him to conduct them home in safety. After a delay of more than twenty days, during which he kept them waiting, the march began. In spite, however, of the solemn treaty between the parties, mutual suspicions continued to prevail, and it was in the hope of removing these that Clearchus sought an explanation with Tissaphernes and consented to the interview, at which he him- self and four of the other generals were arrested by the treacherous satrap. [Clearchus.] Sometime after this, Tissaphernes endeavoured, through his emissary Mithridates, to ascertain the plans of the Greeks, but his attempt was baffled by their reso- lution to hold no further intercourse with him. He then continued to annoy and harass them in their march, without however seriously impeding it, till they reached the Carduchian Mountains, at which point he gave up the pursuit. Not long after, and while the 10,000 were yet on their return home, Tissaphernes, as a reward for his great services, was invested by the king, in addition to his own satrapy, with all the authority which Cyrus had enjoyed in western Asia. On his arrival he claimed dominion over the Ionian cities, which, alarmed for their liberty, and fearing, too, the resentment of the satrap, whose rule they had renounced for that of Cyrus, applied to Sparta for aid. Their request was granted, and an army was sent under Thimbron, in b. c. 400, to support them. In the following year Dercyllidas super- seded Thimbron, and, taking advantage of the jea- lousy between Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes, con- cluded a truce with the latter, who, to save his own territory, unscrupulously abandoned that of his fellow satrap to the invasion of the enemy. In B. c. 397, however, the Lacedaemonian forces threatened Caria, where the property of Tissapher- nes lay. The two satraps now united their forces, but no engagement took place, and the negotiations which ensued ended in a truce, which was to last till the mutual requisitions of the belligerents should be decided on by the Spartan authorities and the Persian king respectively. [Dercyllidas.] In the following year, when Agesilaus invaded Asia with the professed intention of efi*ecting the inde- pendence of the Asiatic Greeks, Tissaphernes pro- posed an armistice, that he might have time to lay the demand of the Lacedaemonians before Arta- xerxes, whose answer he pretended to think would be favourable. The truce was solemnly ratified ; but Tissaphernes, who of course had no intention of keeping it, immediately sent to the king for re- inforcements, and on their arrival arropantly com« 4 K 2