Kian Art Group: June 2011

Sunday 26 June 2011

Ariobarzan

For the satrap of Persis and opponent of Alexander the Great, see Ariobarzanes (satrap of Persis).

Ariobarzan (fl. 407 BC - 362 BC) or spelled as Ario Barzan or Aryo Barzan, perhaps signifying "exalting the Aryans" ^[1] was a Persian satrap of Phrygia and military commander.

Ariobarzan, also known as Ariobarzanes II (Old Persian: Ariyabrdhna II) was a son of Pharnabazus (fl. 413 BC - 373 BC), whose family was related to the Persian kings. Ariobarzan was the son of Pharnabazus and Apamea and became the satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, in what is now the northwest of Turkey, following the death of his father.

Around 407 BC, Ariobarzan was the Persian envoy to the Greek city-states and cultivated the friendship of Athens and Sparta. In about 366 BC, Ariobarzan led an unsuccessful revolt of the satraps of western Anatolia against the Achamenian King Artaxerxes II . Several other satraps sided with Ariobarzan, including Mausolus of Caria (briefly), Orontes I of Armenia,Autophradates of Lydia and Datames of Cappadocia. The rebel satraps also received support from the pharaoh of Egypt, Teos as well as from some of the Greek city states, with the Spartan king Agesilaus II coming to his assistance with a mercenary force.