Ariobarzanes (in Greek Aριoβαρζάνης; ruled 363–337 BC) succeeded his father, Mithridates, as ruler of the Greek town of Cius in Mysia, governing 26 years between 363 and 337 BC for count of the Persians.1 He appears to have held some high office in the Persian court five years before the death of his father, as we find him, apparently on behalf of the king, sending an embassy to Greece in 368.2 Ariobarzanes, who is called by Diodorus3 satrap of Phrygia, and by Nepos4 satrap of Lydia, Ionia, and Phrygia, revolted from Artaxerxes II in 362. Demosthenes, in 352, speaks of Ariobarzanes and his three sons having been lately made Athenian citizens.5 He mentions him again6 in the following year, 351, and says, that the Athenians had sent Timotheus to his assistance; but that when the Athenian general saw that Ariobarzanes was in open revolt against the king, he refused to assist him. He was succeeded as governor of Cius by Mithridates, possibly his son, certainly a relative.
References
- Cornelius Nepos, Lives of Eminent Commanders, John Selby Watson (translator), (1886)
- Demosthenes, Speeches, C. A. Vince & J. H. Vince (translators), Cambridge—London, (1926)
- Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca, C. H. Oldfather (translator), Cambridge, MA—London, (1989)
- Smith, William (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, “Ariobarzanes II”, Boston, (1867)
- Xenophon, Hellenica, Cambridge, MA—London, (1985-86)
Notes
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1867).
