Great Satraps' Revolt
In the 360s BCE the governors of Lydia, Phrygia, Cappadocia and other western provinces, in loose concert with Egypt, withheld tribute and rose against Artaxerxes II. The rebel satraps issued their own coinage and fielded armies of Greek mercenaries, behaving as autonomous monarchs within the imperial framework. Though the revolt ultimately fragmented through mutual betrayal and was suppressed, it exposed the structural fragility of Achaemenid central authority: provincial power had become personal and contingent rather than reliably imperial. This pattern of uncoordinated satrapal autonomy directly undermined Persia's later capacity to mount a unified defence against Alexander's invasion.
- Year: 366 BCE
- Category: Political
