1When Molon was archon at Athens, in Rome there were elected as consuls Lucius Genucius and
Quintus Servilius. During their term of office the inhabitants of the Asiatic coast revolted
from Persia, and some of the satraps and generals rising in insurrection made war on
Artaxerxes.2
[2]
At the same time Tachos the Egyptian king decided to fight the
Persians and prepared ships and gathered infantry forces.3 Having procured
many mercenaries from the Greek cities, he persuaded the Lacedaemonians likewise to fight with
him, for the Spartans were estranged from Artaxerxes because the Messenians had been included
by the King on the same terms as the other Greeks in the general peace. When the general
uprising against the Persians reached such large proportions, the King also began making
preparations for the war.
[3]
For at one and the same time he must
needs fight the Egyptian king, the Greek cities of Asia, the Lacedaemonians and the allies of
these,—satraps and generals who ruled the coastal districts and had agreed upon
making common cause with them. Of these the most distinguished were Ariobarzanes,4 satrap of Phrygia, who at the
death of Mithridates had taken possession of his kingdom, and Mausolus,5 overlord of Caria, who was master of many strongholds and important cities of
which the hearth and mother city was Halicarnassus, which possessed a famous acropolis and the
royal palace of Caria; and, in addition to the two already mentioned, Orontes,6 satrap of Mysia,
and Autophradates,7 satrap of
Lydia. Apart from the Ionians were Lycians, Pisidians, Pamphylians, and Cilicians, likewise
Syrians, Phoenicians, and practically all the coastal peoples.
[4]
With the revolt so extensive, half the revenues of the King were cut off and what remained
were insufficient for the expenses of the war.
1 362/1 B.C.
2 This was the Satraps' Revolt. See Tarn, Cambridge Ancient History, 6.20-21; Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire, 411 ff.
3 For the earlier Persian expedition against Egypt see chaps. 29, 41-43.
4 The difficulties with the identification of Ariobarzanes and Mithridates hinge on the following facts: (1) Ariobarzanes in 407 was subordinate to Pharnabazus, satrap of Dascyleion (Xen. Hell. 1.4.7). (2) Ariobarzanes about 387 succeeded Pharnabazus in the satrapy of Dascyleion when Pharnabazus was summoned to the court to marry the daughter of Artaxerxes (Xen. Hell. 5.1.28); (3) Ariobarzanes refused to give up his throne to Pharnabazus' son, Artabazus (chap. 91.2), by the King's daughter when Artabazus grew up, and so became ringleader of the Satraps' Revolt. (Cp. Nepos Datames 2.5; Trogus Prol. 10; Dem. 15.9; Isoc. 15.111 ff.; Nepos Timotheus 1.2, 3.) (4) Ariobarzanes was betrayed by his son Mithridates, sent up to court and crucified about 362. (See Harpocration; Xen. Cyrop. 8.8.4; Aristot. Pol. 1312a, and Valerius Maximus 9.11, ext. 2.) (5) Ariobarzanes (this passage) succeeded Mithridates in the kingship (sc. of Pontus). (6) Ariobarzanes died (Book 16.90.2) in 337/6 after ruling (sc. in Pontus) for twenty-six years (fits with this passage) and was succeeded by Mithridates. Note that Harpocration alone speaks of the crucifixion of Ariobarzanes. The mention by Aristotle of the attack on Ariobarzanes by Mithridates is tentatively placed in the year 337/6 by Rackham, L.C.L. 450. Since Xenophon mentions the murder in the Education of Cyrus in juxtaposition with Rheomithres and Tachos, it seems probable that the death of Ariobarzanes is to be placed in 362 and not in 337/6 when Xenophon was probably dead and the Education of Cyrus was almost certainly finished. One must therefore agree with Judeich (P.-W. Realencyclopädie, s.v. "Ariobarzanes") that numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 refer to the same man, a different Ariobarzanes from numbers 5 and 6. Beloch (Griechische Geschichte （2）, 3.2. sect. 60) comes to this conclusion and says that Diodorus is here mistaken in stating that Ariobarzanes takes over the throne from Mithridates. If this is Mithridates I of Pontus, he is succeeded by his son Ariobarzanes who is most likely the nephew of the satrap Ariobarzanes in question here. The nephew Ariobarzanes, probably known as Ariobarzanes of Cios (and Arrhine (?), cp. Book 20.111.4), is succeeded by his son Mithridates II. The uncle, the revolting satrap, also had a son Mithridates who betrayed him and caused his death.
5 Mausolus, son of Hecatomnus of Mylasa who became "dynast of Caria" about 390, succeeded his father about 377/6 (see Book 16.36.2) and married his sister Artemisia, who succeeded him (Book 16.36.2; 45.7). At first opposed to Ariobarzanes, he later joined in the revolt against the King. The monument erected to him by his widow is famous as the Mausoleum.
6 Orontes was the son of Artasuras and husband of Rhodogune, daughter of the King (Xen. Anab. 2.4.8; Xen. Anab. 3.4.13; Plut. Artaxerxes 27.4). Though satrap of Armenia in 401 (Xen. Anab. 3.5.17; Xen. Anab. 4.3.4), he had by this time probably lost Armenia (in spite of Trogus, Prol. 10) and was satrap of Mysia only, but hoped, as Diodorus says, to acquire the satrapy of all the coast cities (i.e. satrapy of Sardes) now under control of Autophradates, by his betrayal of the insurrection to the King. Since Autophradates also returned to his allegiance, his aims were frustrated only to be revived in 355. He probably died about 344. (See Beloch, Griechische Geschichte （2）, 3.2.138-140; and above, chap. 2.2).
7 Autophradates was probably satrap of Sardes in 392, then of the coastal cities only in 388, and later, after the death of Tiribazus, again re-established in Sardes until his death. (See for an account of him Beloch, Griechische Geschichte （2）, 3.2.135-136).
Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.
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