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Artaxerxes II Mnemon was the
King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 404 until his death in 358 . He was
a son of Darius II and Parysatis. Greek authors gave him the epithet
"Mnemon" meaning "remembering"; "having a good
memory." Darius II died in 404, just before the final victory of the
Egyptian general, Amyrtaeus, over the Persians in Egypt. His successor was his
eldest son Arsames, who was crowned as Artaxerxes II in Pasargadae. Before
Artaxerxes II could take the throne, he encountered an issue that would
threaten his legitimacy as ruler of the Achaemenid Empire. Cyrus the Younger,
who at the time was the appointed governor of Asia Minor, had also made claims
to the throne. These claims of dethroning Artaxerxes II came to his attention
from Tissaphernes, who
was a satrap of Caria. Tissapherenes noted that Cyrus the Younger's claims to
be on a military expedition to attack the Pisidians had many flaws that led him
to believe that Cyrus was planning to revolt. These claims became realized when
Cyrus began to seek political support for his campaign. Cyrus found support
with Sparta, who sent soldiers to aid the campaign against Artaxerxes II.
Notably, Cyrus found support with a Persian kingdom of Cilicia, who contributed
to the effort through funds. By the time of Darius II's death, Cyrus had
already been successful in defeating the Syrians and Cilicians and was
commanding a large army made up of his initial supporters plus those who had
joined him in Phrygia and beyond. Upon hearing of his father's death, Cyrus the
Younger declared his claim to the throne, based on the argument that he was
born to Darius and Parysatis after Darius had ascended to the throne, while
Artaxerxes was born prior to Darius II's gaining the throne. Though Cyrus'
mixed army fought to a tactical victory at the Battle of Cunaxa in Babylon ,
Cyrus himself was killed in the exchange by Mithridates, rendering his victory
irrelevant.
Artaxerxes became involved in a war with Persia's erstwhile allies, the
Spartans, during the Corinthian War
(395-387). The Spartans under their king
Agesilaus II had
prerviously been invading Asia Minor in 396-395. To redirect the Spartans'
attention to Greek affairs, Artaxerxes subsidized their enemies through his
envoy Timocrates of Rhodes; in particular, the Athenians, Thebans, and
Corinthians received massive subsidies. These subsidies helped to engage the
Spartans in what would become known as the
Corinthian War. The
Persians allied with Athens, managed to utterly destroy the Spartan fleet at
the Battle of Cnidus
(394). After that, the Persian satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia,
Pharnabazus II,
together with former Athenian admiral
Conon, raided the coasts of
Peloponnesia, putting increased pressure on the Spartans. This encouraged the
resurgence of Athens, which started to bring back under her control the Greek
cities of Asia Minor, thus worrying Artaxerxes II that his Athenian allies were
becoming too powerful. The King's Peace was promulgated by Artaxerxes II in
387, to put an end to the Corinthian War under Persian guarantee. In 386
Artaxerxes II betrayed his allies and came to an arrangement with Sparta, and
in the Treaty of Antalcidas, he forced his erstwhile allies to come to terms.
This treaty restored control of the Greek cities of Ionia and Aeolis on the
Anatolian coast to the Persians, while giving Sparta dominance on the Greek
mainland. In 385, he campaigned against the Cadusians.
Although successful against the Greeks, Artaxerxes had more trouble with the
Egyptians, who had successfully revolted against him at the beginning of his
reign. An attempt to reconquer Egypt in 373 under the command of Pharnabazus,
was completely unsuccessful, but in his waning years, the Persians did manage
to defeat a joint Egyptian–Spartan effort to conquer Phoenicia. In 377,
Pharnabazus was reassigned by Artaxerxes II to help command a military
expedition into rebellious Egypt, having proven his ability against the
Spartans. After four years of preparations in the Levant, Pharnabazus gathered
an expeditionary force of 200,000 Persian troops, 300 triremes, 200 galleys,
and 12,000 Greeks under Iphicrates. The Persians
had also been applying pressure on Athens to recall the Greek general
Chabrias, who was in the
service of the Egyptians, but in vain. The Egyptian ruler
Nectanebo I was thus
supported by Athenian General Chabrias and his mercenaries. The Persian force
landed in Egypt with the Athenian general Iphicrates near Mendes in 373. The
expedition force was too slow, giving time to the Egyptians to strengthen
defenses. Pharnabazus and Iphicrates appeared before Pelusium, but retired
without attacking it, Nectanebo I, king of Egypt, having added to its former
defences by laying the neighboring lands under water, and blocking up the
navigable channels of the Nile by embankments. Fortifications on the Pelusiac
branch of the Nile ordered by Nectanebo forced the enemy fleet to seek another
way to sail up the Nile. Eventually the fleet managed to find its way up the
less-defended Mendesian branch. At this point, the mutual distrust that had
arisen between Iphicrates and Pharnabazus prevented the enemy from reaching
Memphis. Then, the annual Nile flood and the Egyptian defenders' resolve to
defend their territory turned what had initially appeared as certain defeat for
Nectanebo I and his troops into a complete victory. After several weeks, the
Persians and their Greek mercenaries under Iphicrates had to re-embark. It was
the end of the career of Pharnabazus, who was now over 70 years old.
Pharnabazes was replaced by Datames to lead a second
expedition to Egypt, but he failed and then started the "Satraps' Revolt"
372-362 Artaxerxes II finally quashed the revolt of the satraps by 362. I
Artaxerxes again attempted to mediate in conflicts between the Greek
city-states at the time of the Theban hegemony, especially the
Theban–Spartan War. He sent Philiscus of Abydos, a hyparch (vice-regent)
and military commander of the Achaemenid satrap Ariobarzanes, to Delphi in
order to help the Greek negotiate peace. The negotiation collapsed when Thebes
refused to return Messenia to the Spartans. Before returning to Abydos,
Philicus used Achaemenid funds to finance an army for the Spartans, suggesting
that he was acting in support of the Spartans from the beginning. With the
Achaemenid financing of a new army, Sparta was able to continue the war. Among
the mercenaries whom he had recruited, Philiscus gave 2,000 to the Spartans. He
also probably provided funds to the Athenians and promised them, on behalf of
the King, to help them recover the Chersonese militarily. Both Philiscus and
Ariobarzanes were made citizens of Athens, a remarkable honor suggesting
important services rendered to the city. During autumn of 367, first the
Spartans, soon followed by the Athenians, the Arcadians, the Argives, the
Eleans, the Thebans, and other Greek city-states, sent envoys to Susa in
attempts to obtain the support of Artaxerxes II in the Greek conflict.The king
proposed a new peace treaty, this time highly tilted in favour of Thebes, which
required Messenia to remain independent and that the Athenian fleet to be
dismantled. This Peace proposal was rejected by most Greek parties except
Thebes. Sparta and Athens, dissatisfied with the Persian king's support of
Thebes, decided to provide careful military support to Artaxerxes' opponents.
Athens and Sparta provided support for the revolted satraps, in particular
Ariobarzanes. Sparta
sent a force to Ariobarzanes under an aging
Agesilaus II, while
Athens sent a force under Timotheus, which was however
diverted when it became obvious that Ariobarzanes had entered frontal conflict
with his king An Athenian mercenary force under Chabrias was also sent to
the Egyptian Pharao Tachos, who was also fighting against the king.
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