Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/604

 576 PERSIA [MEDO-PERSIAN 410-401. the revolt in Caria, and was supported therein by the Athenians, perhaps because they already knew for certain that Tissaphernes was preparing to help the Spartans. 1 Relations When the power of Athens seemed annihilated by the Y ith dreadful catastrophe in Sicily, the Persians expected to Sparta. re g a j n t j ie w } lo i e se a-coast. Tissaphernes, satrap of Sardis, and his rival Pharnabazus, satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, vied with each other in invoking the help of the Spartans. The party hostile to Athens in the cities of the mainland and in the islands displayed great zeal in bringing about the alliance. Moreover, the no less able than infamous Alcibiades strained every nerve to secure so favourable an opportunity of distinguishing himself personally and injuring his native city. Not without reluctance the Spartans resolved on a decisive step. They might have known beforehand that they would only receive real sup port from the Persians on condition of surrendering to them a great portion of the Greek cities which had once been freed by Athens, though now mostly hostile to her. They chose to attach themselves to the more powerful but, as it soon appeared, wholly untrustworthy Tissaphernes rather than to Pharnabazus. Of course the confederates did the Athenians much damage, and wrested from them a great part of their domain. The Lacedaemonians actually served the satrap as catchpolls against Amorges, who resided in lassus near Miletus, and so he could be taken captive and carried alive to the king. But the Athenians still exhibited astonishing endurance and resource. It is true that neither of the confederates meant honestly by the other. Whether from avarice or mere whim, Tissa phernes supplied the Peloponnesians in insufficient measure with money and stores, and Avithout these they were not in a position to wage war in Asia. The intrigues of Alci biades contributed to sow mistrust and confusion. The Spartan leaders repeatedly concluded treaties with the satrap, but they were not ratified. At last it was agreed that the whole mainland of Asia, and therefore all the Greek cities there, should belong to the king, but that in return for this the Persians should give the Spartans effective help. If Tissaphernes had rapidly and energetic ally carried out the terms of this treaty, the war might perhaps have been ended quickly enough. But to keep faith was contrary to the nature of the man. Moreover, he had probably promised more than lie could perform : to bring up the great Phoenician fleet was not quite in his power. The Phoenicians themselves, and perhaps high Persian lords also, had certainly little desire to engage again the Attic galleys which had handled them so roughly at the Eurymedon and at Cyprus. Pharnabazus supported the Spartans much more honourably and effectively. This he showed especially when the Athenians were again mak ing steady progress (410) under the leadership of Alci biades after his return. The Athenians now devastated the king s territory in various places, and Pharnabazus had at length to engage to forward Athenian envoys to the king for the purpose of conducting negotiations for a peace (409) at the court itself. But events now took a decisive turn. Cyrus, the king s son, was made satrap of Lydia, Great Phrygia, and Cappadocia, and commander- in-chief of all the troops in Asia Minor, Tissaphernes re taining only the coast-cities (408). Cyrus possessed burn ing ambition, and longed to avenge the defeats which his house had experienced at the hands of the Athenians. Hence he sought to unite himself closely with the Spartans. Just at this time the command fell to the cunning, ener getic, and unscrupulous Lysander. These two men were the ruin of Athens. Cyrus granted Lysander, who had 1 On the other hand, Andocides (De pace, p. 27), twenty years later, it is true, represents the support given to Amorges rather as the cause of the king s enmity to the Athenians. completely won his affection, all the money he wanted, and when after Lysander s temporary recall the relations with Sparta were disturbed, because the noble Callicratidas did not care to play the courtier to the barbarians, the return of Lysander sufficed to put everything on its former footing. When Cyrus was summoned to the bedside of Darius (either really ill or pretending to be so), he left his Spartan friend the most abundant resources and the fullest authority. With this help Lysander succeeded in at last compelling Athens, now completely isolated, to accept the melancholy peace of March 404. Even after all the mis fortunes of Athens it was only Persian gold which enabled the Spartans to humble her. According to Ctesias, Terituchmes revolted against King Darius, caused his wife Amestris, daughter of the king and Parysatis, to be put to death, but was himself slain by treachery. This event, garnished in the usual manner with a full measure of perfidy and cruelty, is perhaps to be connected with the unsuccessful revolt of the Medes mentioned by Xenophon (Hell., i. 2, 19) under the year 410/409. In the fall of Terituchmes his sister Statira, wife of the king s eldest son Arsicas, 2 was nearly involved ; thenceforward the bitterest hatred subsisted between Pary satis and her daughter-in-law Statira. About the time of the conclusion of peace between Arta- Athens and Sparta Darius II. died. Arsicas ascended xerxe the throne under the name of Artaxerxes (II). 3 The sur name &quot; Mnemon &quot; (the mindful) seems again to have been first mentioned by Dinon. 4 The younger and much abler son Cyrus, preferred by Parysatis, came with 300 Greek Cyrni mercenaries, no doubt to seize the throne, but he was too tlie late. Tissaphernes, professedly the friend of Cyrus, sa warned the king against him, and with good reason. Cyrus was arrested, but at the instance of Parysatis he was released and sent back to his satrapy, a very unwise measure, for his ambition was only inflamed by his im prisonment and by his exasperation against Tissaphernes. Meantime Lysander lorded it over the Greeks, He even possessed sufficient influence to induce Pharnabazus, who in other respects was remarkably respectable 5 for a satrap, to violate the law of hospitality by causing Alci biades to be put to death. But even the patience of Pharnabazus was at last worn out by Lysander ; he urgently demanded the recall of the latter, and the Spartans, who had allowed the atrocities of Lysander towards the Greeks to pass unnoticed, respected the satrap s demand, and re called their admiral (402 or 401). No sooner was Cyrus in his satrapy again than he began to make great encroachments. He gained over the Ionian cities which belonged to the province of Tissaphernes and laid siege to Miletus, which adhered to Tissaphernes. On Orontes, a partisan of the latter, he made open war. Mean time he collected under false pretexts an army of Greek mercenaries, and in 401 set out with the real purpose of seizing the throne. He had with him nearly 13,000 Greek mercenaries commanded by Clearchus, a Spartan exile, and a vast host of Asiatics. But Tissaphernes hastened into the interior before him to carry the tidings. Of this expedition we have the well-known account by Xenophon, who took part in it. 6 The Spartans favoured 2 Arsikas is the form in Ctesias ; Plut., Art., 1. From this Photius has wrongly made Arsakes. Dinon called him Oarses. The initial sound was perhaps w. 3 At the very beginning of the new reign Ctesias has again some dreadful stories of murder and intrigue to tell. As court physician of Parysatis he had seen only too much of such things, which are charac teristic of the Persian court. 4 See Plut., I.e. 5 But the worth of his character has been often over-estimated ; the contrast with the baseness of Tissaphernes is apt to place Pharnabazus in too favourable a light. 6 Good supplementary information is given by Diodorus, who has